Unexpected Ministry

Last Sunday Cory and I travelled to the neighboring village called San Philepe to find a Church. We drove around in our old pickup until we found a group sitting around a tree outside a Church. We called out the window, "Are you guys a Church"

"Yes", they replied.

"English or Spanish?".

"Spanish" they called back. So we waved goodbye and kept up our search. The problem was we could not find anything that was open. So we turned the truck around and went back to our little circle under the tree.

When we got there they invited us to join them. As soon as we sat down they asked us to share. "I thought this was Spanish?"

"Yes, but we also speak English too"

"What would you like me to share on?" I asked.

"Teach us from Revelation chapter 10". So I flipped open my Bible and took a look. After a quick glance I knew I was not ready for this one. Oddly enough we happen to be studying Revelation in class right now and had just finished chapter 8. So instead I shared my testimony. What was neat is that at the end of it I said that every story has a beginning and an end and everything that is in the middle is understood in light of how the story began and how it will end. In just the same way the Bible starts in Genesis and works it's way through to Revelation. The history in between (including our lives) are the threads that weave this story together. So just as in my story God has a journey that he is taking me on that is part of His greater plan, so each of our lives (I explained to them) has a purpose and is part of that bigger picture.

Afterwards we met the pastor and were invited over to lunch by a very nice family. The pastor asked if we could come back and speak at the Church. At first I said not at this time because we are so busy with the closing of school but I really felt I needed to so I found him later that day and arranged to come in two weeks time.

This will be for Saturday night May 6th and the topic will be Evangelism. Interestingly enough, 25% of the town goes to an evangelical Church. It should be interesting...

Thanks again for all your prayers.

Recently, Chris and I organized a weekend with a few of the other international teachers to go into the Cayo district (about a 3 hour drive) and go cave tubing. In true Belizean style, since our truck did not have enough room for all 6 of us, four sat in the cab and 2 rode in flatbed...perfectly legal in Belize. But my! Did they get sun!

Ians Caves Branch is one of the few places in Belize where they offer adventures in Cave Tubing. A guide told me that while the caves belong to the government, the entrance to the cave is located on Ians Caves Branch property so they are the only one who has access to that particular cave.

We arrived at Ians Caves Branch, after first stopping in Spanish Lookout for ice cream of course!

Our cabin, while spacious enough, had no electricity...pardon me, it has electricity enough to run a single ceiling fan, for everything else we used oil lamps. We ladies were lucky enough to (without realizing it beforehand) pick the cabin with a bathroom (no shower, just a toilet and sink -- and yes, no electricity in there either). The showers at this "resort" were jungle showers -- with hot water.

I choose to believe that the "resort" was saving us money by cutting back on electricity and showers in every cabana. However, they do not claim to be a resort and even state "we are not sanitized from the jungle, we are apart of it".

The first adventure we went on was cave tubing. That of which, I have not developed the pictures as yet since they were taken with a 35 mm water camera. I will post pictures as soon as I can. And explain about the trip too.

The second adventure we went on was a jungle walk in which a guide explained to us many different medicinal uses of trees and leaves...etc.

This tree is called a Sabor Tree. It is the national tree of Guatemala and thus is also protected in Belize. The ancient Mayans believed that the roots of the Sabor Tree were actually the stalactites of the caves (the big boulders that hang down from the ceilings of caves). They believed that if they offered sacrifices in the caves, the stalactites would carry the sacrifices use the roots of the tree, through the tree, and into the heavens. That is why they used caves for doing their religious sacrifices. This particular tree (in the picture) is about 300 years old.

This is Santa Maria. Add lemon or hot sauce for favor. It is good for a toothache as eating it turns the mouth numb. (Looks like celery, doesn't it?)

This plant is good for curing malaria.

I thought the way these vines crept up the trees was just beautiful.

Our guide (Neko) told us that terminates are good to eat.
And true enough, they were crunchy and surprisingly minty. It would sure take a lot of terminates to be full. (Yes, that is my tongue! -- Cory)

He said that you could take a terminates nest, divide it into four and burn each at the corner of a camp to keep away mosquitoes.

These leaves (the small ones), if boiled and made into a tea, are good for toothaches (not sure if it numbs the mouth this time). This tea, however, is not to be drunk, just swished around in the mouth and then spat out. Notice this before picture (on the left) and then the after picture (on the right). Before shows before the leaves are touched, and after shows after they have been touched. The leaves retract inward as a defence mechanism. And it works, since when cows come by to eat the leaves, when they are touched and they curl inward, the cow is fooled and moves on to find a different leaf to eat.

The roots of the cohune tree are good to eat. As well as the nuts (which are on the ground). They grow into beautiful trees.

We don't have a picture of the harball tree. That one, if you cut the bark or open its fruit, it seeps glue!

We also went to the Blue Hole National Park. I believe it is because of a natural underground spring, but a section of this "pool" is a brilliant blue, almost like the ocean. Funny thing is, I discovered that if you spit in the water, small fish jump up to the surface of the water and eat it. Gross, but it sure is cool.

We hiked around in the park a bit...and came across this beautiful sunset:

In this national park there was also St. Herman's Cave.

These are stalactites. Which are actually mineral deposits coming down from the ceiling. Eventually, they will combine with stalagmites that come up from the floor to form a column. But the ancient Mayans did not understand this geology and just thought the stalactites were the roots of the trees and that the trees were their access to their gods in the heavens.

We traveled through the cave and thankfully emerged on the other side. Thank God! I was never so happy to see daylight.

Oh, and our truck ran out of gas 1 mile from home!

That's our Cayo trip with Phil (from North Carolina), Rebekah (from Manitoba), Alicia (from Manitoba), Noelle (from BC), and Chris and I (also from BC).

Stay tuned for the tubing pictures and commentary.

Reading is her favorite!

"Reading is her favorite!" she said.

How exciting to hear that. This from a girl who has struggled with reading immensely. And now, she loves it. I feel so blessed to have been given these glimpses into knowing how my work (tutoring in this case) is making a difference in people's lives.

Update on the spelling-memory game: her spelling tests are better than normal.

So a student I (Cory) work with while volunteering at the school....I am amazed at how far he has come in his math. He has improved like night-and-day in his cognitive ability in math. Just the other day, he came early for our time together. He told me that they were finished Bible early and just playing some games, but he wanted to come and do math. "I used to hate math; but now I like it". How encouraging to hear!

A typical week for Cory:
Monday -- all day at the school volunteering (first one-on-one Math with a grade 5 student; then helping out in the grade 2 classroom as an extra set of hands; then after lunch working one-on-one with two dyslexic students from grade 3; then reading with 4 grade 1 students who need some extra practice; then as needed working a small group from grade 4 in whatever area needs to be covered that day; tutoring after school for 1-2 hours)

Tuesday -- Math with a grade 5 student; then going home and making lunch, only to bring it back at lunch time for 6 six teachers; doing one-on-one with grade 3 students; then tutoring for 1-2 hours; then a second tutoring job for 1 hour.

Wednesday -- Math with a grade 5 student; after lunch doing one-on-one with grade 3 students; reading with 4 grade 1 students; working with a small group of kids from grade 4 who need some extra help; tutoring after school for 1-2 hours.

Thursday -- Math with a grade 5 student; working as an extra set of hands in the grade 2 classroom; after lunch working one-on-one with 2 grade 3 studnets; tutoring for 1-2 hours; then another tutoring job for 1 hour.

Friday -- Math with a grade 5 student; going home and making lunch for 15 people (to be brought to the school for teachers and students who need it); after lunch reading with 4 grade 1 students; tutoring for 1-2 hours. I do like it that when I am done for the day, then I am done. As\na full-time teacher I found that I was taking the work home with me --\nmarking and planning...etc. And was up till late at night trying\nto get everything ready. As a volunteer and tutor, there is\npractically no prep work. However, since I work with 3 dyslexic\nstudents (2 at school and one I tutor after school), I am reading some\nbooks that will help me best meet their needs...and boy am I learning a\nlot about dyslexia! Oh my, it is amazing what I didn\'t\nknow. Check out "The Gift of Dyslexia" and the "Gift of Learning"\nby Ron Davis. A dyslexic himself, he has actually discovered a\ntermendous method of helping dyslexics overcome all that which holds\nthem back. When I mentioned above that "reading is now her\nfavorite subject" -- that is state only weeks after using Davis\' method\nas outline in his books with her. He has some wonderful methods\non helping students with ADD, Math, and handwritting problems...not to\nmention getting beyond the normal hurdles of dyslexia (e.g., making the\nletters that float around stop floating).

I do like it that when I am done for the day, then I am done. As a full-time teacher I found that I was taking the work home with me -- marking and planning...etc. And was up till late at night trying to get everything ready. As a volunteer and tutor, there is practically no prep work. However, since I work with 3 dyslexic students (2 at school and one I tutor after school), I am reading some books that will help me best meet their needs...and boy am I learning a lot about dyslexia! Oh my, it is amazing what I didn't know. Check out "The Gift of Dyslexia" and the "Gift of Learning" by Ron Davis. A dyslexic himself, he has actually discovered a termendous method of helping dyslexics overcome all that which holds them back. When I mentioned above that "reading is now her favorite subject" -- that is state only weeks after using Davis' method as outline in his books with her. He has some wonderful methods on helping students with ADD, Math, and handwritting problems...not to mention getting beyond the normal hurdles of dyslexia (e.g., making the letters that float around stop floating).