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).

Creative Spelling

So today I went to one of my tutoree's houses
to work with her for an hour or so. In preparation,
I made small cards containing two lists of her
current spelling words. Then we played "memory"
with them. The trick? Everytime her or I flipped
over a card we had to say the word and spell it, then
flip over another card to find its match, saying and
spelling that word too. If we came across vocabulary
words, then we had to say, spell, and read the
vocabulary words. She enjoyed it so much that we
played three times! And still she was not tired of it!
in essence, we went through her spelling words
about 6 times verbally. Verbal is good for her since
she has a learning disability and learns better verbally.

Soon, I want to try practicing spelling words with
pudding...the kid has to spell the word with their
finger in pudding! I'll see if I can't take some pictures.

Cory

Amazing! Her reading is the best it has been all year!

I have been having a wonderful past couple of weeks. Where does this joy stem from? From being able to help the students at Linda Vista School, particular students that is. As a volunteer special needs teacher, I come along side their regular teacher and help as needed. I have a few dyslexic students that I work with one-on-one and I decided that I needed to learn more about dyslexia so that I could better help these students. It is as if God knew this over a year ago, because when I worked for the bookstore I bought some learning books but had not read them, yet I took them along to Belize. Now, I zipped through the one book in just a week (and it was a complicated book) and am starting on the second one, eager to read it. I am a novel girl...books that are just information are not that interesting for me, and yet I am so drawn to these books that I have not read the novels I have sitting on the shelf.

Anyways...what has happened? I have been trying different methods (methods geared toward helping students with learning disabilities) and have found that grades are going up. One method of reading that works better for dyslexic kids is that instead of using phonics to sound out words, to use the spell-read system. That is where if they have trouble with a word, to spell the word, then I say the word and they repeat it. I have tried this method and found that they are better able to pick up on that same word in the future. Why? Probably because they have such good memories that they remember the spelling of the word and how it is pronounced...as opposed to sounding it out.

Another process I have been trying is doing clay-spelling with spelling words. One student, after doing this for 20 minutes the day before his spelling test (and only working on about 6-8 words of 30 (actually, he only did 3-4 and I did the other 3-4 words, to which I made him check my spelling and then spell the word after that without looking)), he got the best on his spelling test all term (the term is almost over)!

Another student, we spent 2 hours on Saturday afternoon creating the alphabet out of playdoe, then saying it forwards and backwards many times. Then I would ask her, "find the letter N" and she would locate it. Then I would say "what are the letters around P?" And she would tell me that. Forwards and backwards, the capitals and the smaller case. In the end, her teacher told me today (Monday) that her reading has been the best it has been all year. "What did you do?" She asked. "We just went over the alphabet for 2 hours". Praise God that the little girl really enjoyed it (since we were playing with playdoe). I think what happened is that dyslexic kids are known for having really good memories, and just as the spell-read system works by them memorizing the spelling of a word and linking that with it's pronounciation, so too when they get really good with knowing the letters of the alphabet, then their reading is effected in a positive way too.

I can't take all the credit, because I have found that God has given me a unique ability to understand these books on dyslexia (which is where I am learning all these different methods of teaching). "The Gift of Dyslexia" by Ron Davis and "The Gift of Learning" by Ron Davis. Excellent, phenomenal books on how to help students with not only dyslexia, but also math problems, hand writting problems, ADD, and ADHD. Read them if your child or student is in need of some help. It is amazing the suggestions they give. I have seen 3 cases (students) of dramatic improvement in just 5 days! And I only started reading the books just over a week ago!

Wow! I hope God can use me to help more kids!

Cory

Recruiting New Teachers

I got the update from the board last weekend. Here is what next year is looking like.

• Kindergarten: Pending response from current teacher
• Grade 1: Filled
• Grade 2: Has an applicant
• Grade 3: Pending response from current teacher
• Grade 4: Open
• Grade 5: Open
• Grade 6: Open
• Grade 7: Open
• Grade 8: Open
• Highschool: Filled
• Highschool: Pending response from current teacher
• Highschool: Open

So I posted an add on goabroad.com and updated our web page with the latest data.

I could really use your help. Do you know of anyone who might be interested in coming down here to teach next year? If so send them to our web site at http://www.authenticwalk.com/belize/index.php

Things in Perspective

In Bible class today we were studying about the start of the American Missionary Movement with Judson's trip to Burma. Man that guy suffered a lot. He was imprisoned at one point for 3 years in terrible conditions chained with only his beaten and whipped shoulders touching the ground, no light and the stench. For 6 years he never saw one person become a Christian. Yet in the end he led a movement that God used to lead thousands to Christ.

As I read this from our textbook I could feel the cracking sensation of the sunburn on my back. Last Saturday I was out a bit too long working on the trees and burnt myself. Monday it was almost unbearable trying to get through class. My students were quite compassionate. As I read this story I thought my sufferings are small. My pain is from my own silliness and will pass in a few days (it is not that bad), his went on year after year.

Anyhow after reading this I was really impressed by how easy I got it.

PS Some time soon I need to send you pictures of our trees...

Wall of Prayer

During staff meeting last Tuesday I shared some
of the struggles I have been having.  It seems
some of the other staff are feeling the same.  In
response we took some time and prayed about
this.  In addition the teachers are getting together
after school and praying in the middle of the field
and many of you on my prayer team have expressed
your support and prayers.

In response I sense God's presence like a wall
around the school.  It is not easy for many of us
but I sense hope rising.  Please continue to pray
for us all.

Discouraged

I am hesitant to write about things like this but what is the point of
having a support team like yourself and not sharing with you the
lows instead of just the highs.

I find teaching really hard.  I think everyone is getting tired.  We are
now almost 3/4 the way through the year and both the students and
myself wish we were done.  .

Sometimes I wonder what I am doing here,  why did I leave so much?
I came to make a difference and to help those who really wanted to
grow.  At times I do not feel wanted.  My students argue with me in
class, they get angry about how I mark, they tell me I am doing it
wrong, and the class gets out of hand.  I wish I had taken some courses
in classroom management.  They are still really good kids and to the most
part stay out of trouble, I just feel worn down inside and need prayer for the
strength to press on.  I also need help knowing which things to call for the
students, which to let go, and to embrace opportunties for life-change.

Sorry for ranting and I hope I have not dishonored my students.  Maybe
the biggest prayer I need is that I will love these students with the same
love God has for them.

100 Words Per Minute

In Keyboarding class today one of my students broke 100
WPM.  That is so incredible!  I felt inspired and since I had
not tested myself for a while I did their speed test along
with them.  That one student and I raced to beat each other
and almost tied.   For the first time in my life I got 101
WPM (less 5 WPM for errors).  I never knew I was so fast...
it was only a little while ago I thought I was doing 55 WPM,
I should have figured that after typing every day for 7 years
after that test I might have gotten a little bit better :)

Now I have to figure out what I can get my student for such
a big accomplishment.  Any ideas?

The Adventures of Cory and Chris

The Adventures of Cory and Chris
January is now over. We have been to 4 countries since the new year has begun...starting in Canada, traveling through the US and Mexico on our way to Belize. And then, just the other Sunday, Chris and I took a leisurely walk through La Union, Mexico. In Blue Creek, we live literally a 1 minute drive from the Mexican border. After paying a boatman $1 Bz to travel across the river, you arrive in Mexico.

With the change in schedules for us (whereas, we used to both go to school for 7:30am [or earlier] and both leave around 5:30 or 6pm) now, since, I am not teaching full time, we have different transportation needs and so we decided to get a bike. Gas in Belize is very expensive (about $5 a gallon) and the bike only costs $4 US to fill. We think we can ride it for about 5 days or so on a full tank (which is only about 1 gallon). It is perfect for our needs. And we can resell it in the end, probably for the same amount that we bought this used bike for. Although not common in Belize, we believe in wearing helmets!

I (Cory) am volunteering these days and enjoying it. I find that I do indeed fill a need in the school for someone to come along side the teachers and provide an extra set of hands, eyes, and help in the classroom. I have spoken with the teachers from grades 1 to 5, asking their needs and have arranged to come in during certain times of the days. For example, the grade 5 class needs some help from 8:30-9:15; the grade 4 class needs help from 9:15-9:45; the grade 2 class needs help from 10-11:30; the grade 3 class needs help from 12:30-1:30; and the grade 1 class needs help from 1:30-3. It is so amazing how God has designed it so that, I can help out in so many different classes throughout the day...what a difference I feel that I am making.

Some classes just need someone to come in and read with the kids in their reading circles, freeing up the teacher to help the other kids one-on-one with their seat work (or I can do the seatwork and the teacher can do the reading circle). Some classes, need someone to take a child or two aside, providing them with some extra practice reading time. Some classes need an extra person to come along and help the students with their math work.

Today's schedule was: 8:30-9:45 with grade 4's doing math; 12:30-1 with a grade 5 student working one-on-one with his math; 1-1:30 fifteen minutes each with 2 grade 3 students who needed some one-on-one extra reading time; 1:30-2 with six or seven grade 1's helping them to understand how to count money; 2:15-3 with three grade 1 students who needed some extra reading time. This last bunch I had a lot of fun with as we read a small story a few times, then we tried to see who could read it the fastest. We will keep record and give a prize at the end of the week. (And extra points were given if you followed along while the others were doing their verbal readings). I don't know if I have ever seen kids so excited about reading...and these are the kids who are struggling!

I am also providing lunch (for a small fee to help cover the cost of the food) on Tuesdays and Fridays. This is a big venture for me as I don't really cook that well...and yet it is an opportunity to learn a new skill. So far, I am doing well with the meals and breaking even on the money collected compared with the expenses incurred. I know what is was like as a teacher, trying to figure out what to eat for lunch everyday while living in a foreign country where food is not quite the same as you are used to in your country of origin. (E.g., in Canada I would have a sandwich for lunch practically everyday. Here, it is difficult to find good sandwich meat).

That's it for now.
Cory

2000 trees planted

Last weekend Cory and I got together and planted a few thousand trees. At first we were putting them in plastic bags (to transplant later) but that was taking far too long. So we just made a garden and threw all the seeds in it and buried them. In about 4-6 weeks when they come out of the ground we can put them in bags.

The plan is the following

- 2000 mahogany
- 2000 spanish cedar
- 500 teak
- 500 maligna

We are just about finished buying 10 acres of land. I found out yesterday the guy we are buying off also moonlights as a logger so I booked him to log it with me in a couple weeks. That will be fun!

So what is the point? Well if we plant trees now then when we retire we can sell them for about $2000 each. I'll let you do the math but if it works out it should really be a great way to free us up for ministry.

God of Second Chances

I am preaching in chapel tomorrow. I have been
working on this sermon entitled "The God of Second
Chances." I want to start off with New Years and ask
what is there Christian about it? Then I want to ask
the same about Christmas which was originally a pagan
holiday. And then the cross of Easter which was an
instrument of torture.

The key is conversion. God is the one who loves to
convert things.

He took an old rugged cross that was used for torture
and used it as the symbol of love.

He took the pagan ritual of the darkest day of the year
and turned into the festival of the coming of light.

And He took the New Year and gave us all a fresh
start.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come" - 2 Cor 5:17

For me, when I was younger I used to have a temper.
Last Christmas my dad asked, "When did you finally
settle down so that I no longer had to sit on you?"

A young gangster named Nicki Cruz stood face to
face with a preacher of the gospel but then God
changed him and turned him into a preacher of the
gospel.

And then I want to turn to the students and ask,
"And what about you?" What are you now?
What do you want God to change you into?

After letting them think on that I am hoping I can
have them turn to their friends beside them and
share what they really want God to change in them
and then have them pray in circles.

It is a good question though, "If God really is the
God of second chances, what do I want a second
chance in?"

Home Safe

After three days of travel we are home safe. Thanks for all your
prayers today went much better. We made it through customs
okay and had to pay some money in duty but they were quite
understanding that most of it was donations to the school.

Also we got a ride from some people from Blue Creek which
we were very thankful for since they had to wait for us b/c
our bus was full and we had to take a later one.

We went and saw Noelle and Rebekah. The are both in a
sling but one has the right arm and the other the left so I
guess they can work together. I saw the x-rays, Rebekah
has 7 screws in her arm cause the bone was broken right
through. Boy does it look weird.

Cory will be helping Noelle this week with her class. Oh ya, and
Rodney (from Blue Creek) will be taking over Cory's class for the
rest of the semester.

So tomorrow I start teaching again. I am looking forward to it.
Hoping and praying that things will go smoother with the classroom
management.

Thanks for being on our team!

Please pray for us as we travel

Cory and I are enroute back to Belize. We made it through to Mexico
today and are staying the night. So far it has been really tough. In
Seattle they found out the person in Cancun took all my tickets away
and I had to put up money to buy a ticket till they research to find
the ones the guy took. Good news though I found the guy who did it in
Cancun and he remembers he did it wrong.

Also in Cancun we had a terrible time getting through customs as we
have lots of old computer parts and they were afraid we were going to
sell it. Finally they let us through at no cost but it was scary for
a bit with looking at over 200 in tax

Pray for our border crossing in Belize tomorrow which likely will have
similiar problems. And safety.

God's peace be with you

Chris

A Change in Focus

After a lot of praying, discussion and waiting the board and us have decided it is best for Cory's health for her to step down from full-time teaching for this next semester and focus on substitute teaching. Of course this was not an easy decision to for a number of reasons:

1. The school is so short of teachers already and, like the grade eight class, this class may be left with one teacher after another filling in for the remainder of the year.
2. Stepping down half-ways through a project is not Cory's style. She desires to see a project through to the end, no matter how difficult. And yet, this situation is beyond her ability. We have seen her struggle with her health and in many other ways, knowing that something needs to change.
3. There are kids who do not deserve to lose their teacher. We hope that their studies will not suffer because of their classmates actions.

Yet, we know that this is God's will for Cory at this time.

Over the last years, this particular class has been challenging to many teachers. Mix that "energy" with the changes and challenges that come with puberty, and you've got one wild class. The community has been really supportive: the board has come in and spoken to the class and parents have regularly sat in during the day to help with discipline. Although there have been some improvements there reaches a point where you are not certain if you are the one that will lead the kids through the steps they have to take in order to turn around. As we shared these struggles with the board they opened the door for us and said they would rather have Cory step down, get some rest and support Chris in his teaching than potentially have everything blow up part way through the next semester and lose both of us. As to a new teacher, the board says, "God will provide." We truly feel they love and care for us.

So as of this January Cory will be focusing on substitute teaching and looking for other opportunities to do ministry that God will give her. Chris will continue to teach Bible and Computers for the high-school students.

Please pray for the following:

1. A teacher for the grade 7 class that can lead them back to focus on their studies, and provide the right amount of discipline.
2. God's help to the students (esp. to those who do not deserve this and yet will suffer along side their classmates) that they can still pass this year and those who are struggling with their classroom behaviour will have a change of heart
3. For Cory to get well rested and not be discouraged.

Please pray for Noelle, Rebekah and others

I recently recieved news about some of my fellow teachers back in Blue Creek and request your prayers for them. Noelle (whom we went with from our care group) - grade 4 teacher, Rebekah - highschool engligh and history teacher and 3 others were out for a walk a couple days ago. It was dark and a motorbike came around the corner and without seeing slammed right into the group. Noelle has a broken arm and a slipped disk in her back, Rebekah has a broken arm and head injuries and another girl took some serious hits to her head. I heard yesterday that Rebekah was released from the hospital and Noelle is supposed to be released today. I haven't heard much about the driver or the third girl.

I can only imagine this is really shaking up the community and definetly those young lives and their families. Thank-you for your prayers.

Going home for Christmas

Tomorrow morning we leave for Cancun. After 3 hours of driving then 6 hours of bus we will be there and start looking for a hotel. I wonder how much is rebuilt now after the hurricane? On Thursday we fly out at 5pm and arrive in Seattle around mid-night. Then off to Abbotsford for Christmas and then on to Kamloops later next week.

Thanks for all your prayers duing this travel time. Pray for:

- Safety
- Opportunity to share Jesus

Pray for Exams

The students are starting up Semester Exams today and will continue that all the way till next Tuesday. Please pray that they will be able to remember what they studied and put it to good use. Thanks!

Praise God for my Bursery

I got news a little while ago that my bursery has been approved. That means I get another free course from ACTS seminary as a benefit of working for TWU. That is very gracious of them since I am only 5 hours a week right now and the course is worth about $1000. But praise God because I really want to finish next summer. Only three more courses to go. So this one will be my master's paper (kind of like a thesis but only 50 pages long). I have been thinking about writing something about online ministry. Any ideas?

Our Christmas Program

This is our Christmas program that level3 and the highschool put on. Level3 was about "The Cost of Christmas" and was a retelling of the manger scene. The High School did "Mary Did you know" which walked through the life of Jesus leading to the death and resurrection through Mary's eyes. Phil DeHart put it together.

Hallelujah Church!

There is actually more than one Church in Blue Creek where we live. There is the EMMC (Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church) where we go, the Gleindemeihn (sp?) which is the old German service on the other side of town and there is the "Hallelujah" Church. Today we decided to visit this last group.

The chairs were in a circle around the Lord's table and the service started off with people reading from the Hymn book. Sometimes in unison and sometimes individually. People were free to put lots of emphasis on the key words and to give a good old "Hallelujah" when they really agree. Then after reading/ praying the Hymn we would then sing it a few times and then go back and read the good parts again.

Then someone would pick the next hymn. There was no designated "leader" as far as I could tell and the worship time just carried itself along as people felt lead. Communion came in the middle with the passign around of the bread and the wine (juice). Once the singing was done we read from a devotional book and people shared their words of encouragement and the messages God has been giving them on it.

The hymn book, Bible translation (Recovery Version), and study plan was written by Witness Lee and published by Living Stream Ministries out of California. Has anyone heard of this group?

My observations.... it was different. It had a sense of spontinuity and freedom where people could go as they felt led but in all this there was a clear rythme and tradition had formed even in the spontinuity. Every line read ended with some form of shouting emphasis on the word that made it sound somewhat "prayer spiritual". There was a very strong emphasis on the unity in the Church and how we are not individual Christians but need to minister together which is much needed in today's day. There was also a lot of emphasis on how this unity comes through "eating Jesus" which is the Lord's table, I don't think they are Catholic in their view but retain that communion is a simple... I even think they connect "Eating Jesus" with reading the Bible regularily.

One thing Cory and I had struggles with is when they sang and talked about becoming divine. One person shared how there is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and they are all one and so three in one. And how there is Father, Son, Spirit and Body and so four are now one. And how Jesus was God-man and now we are man-God b/c partake of the divine nature. Cory and I had a long talk to help clarify this. We explained how we saw it more that where when we are saved we recieve the Holy Spirit and so we are "filled" with God and partake in Him that way. Our nature, we said, never changes to God and the two are seperate. When we are born again we are not becoming God's begotten children as they suggest by the term "Jesus is the firstfruits [thus we are the secondfruits]" but rather born again spiritually to a new life. I was thankful however that when they talk about divine they at least claim that we do not become part of the Trinity but I am not sure how they are distinguishing it. I warned them of J.W. and Mormon teaching which minimizes the unique Sonship of Christ and puts us all on part with Jesus and of using such a strong phrase as "becoming divine". I also exhorted them to read more books than just Witness Lee and Cory exhorted them not to use words like "become divine" so as not to confuse others; but I am not sure how much progress we made or if we truely understood them.

Thanks again for all your prayers.

Taking a break today in God's creation

Cory and I are on a much needed holiday in central Belize. The place is called Hidden Valley Inn. Today we checked out about 5 waterfalls. Tomorrow we head back, stopping over in Belize City for some much needed shopping.

Pulling Back from Youth Pastoring

Cory and I met with the pulpit board earlier this week to discuss the progress of their decision to have us on as a youth pastoring couple. Last spring when we were here their youth pastor resigned and so we offered to help out as interim youth pastor till they could find another one. To facilitate this the school board tried to bring me on for only quarter time but due to a lack of teachers (we are still short a grade 8 teacher) I have been working about 50 hours a week and Cory quite a bit more. This has been rather tiring for us and everyone (the board, us and the youth chair) felt it best if we withdrew our name from the youth pastoring role and focused on the teaching ministry.

This has really helped reduce the stress here. Of course, we are still offering to help the youth leaders if they ever need our help.

A tough week

For those who have not heard yet we had a really tough week this week. On Monday night our car was covered in flour and egg and a snake was left to greet us outside the door. It turns out it was Halloween night and despite how it is a predominately Christian community I was surprised such pranking went on. I had to power wash the car which was already suffering with it's paint peeling off the hood (and we are borrowing this car for the year) and bits of flour were stuck all inside the windows and door jams.

Class didn't go much better that day for either of us, especially Cory. Of course the Devil would want us to give up and at times that seems like an easy road. My mom says, "The Devil doesn't bother people he isn't afraid of."

Of course the kids were just trying to have fun but with some of the troubles we have been having it really looked like, "We don't want you here!"

Some points of grace in the midst of it all:

• The pastor and his wife spent quite a bit of time with us and encouraged us
• The students involved have since confessed and taken responsibility by washing all the nooks and crannies where the flour went.

As our prayer team we could really use your help. It seems we are indeed involved in a spiritual battle. That means God wants to do something through us and someone else wants to stop it. Personally I want to see what God has in mind!

• Pray for small encouragements in our days
• Pray for break-throughs in our classes. They are getting more and more out of control and it is hard to be the "mean" person to call them back into line so they can learn.
• Pray Cory doesn't have to work so much, she is currently getting up at 6am and working till about 9:30-10:00pm and this is really hard on her.
  

Christmas Wish List for the School

Cory and I will be heading home for Christmas to visit family for 2 weeks. We will be visiting Cory's parents in Abbotsford, then my parents in Kamloops and my friends back at the office at Trinity Western University for some business meetings.

There are a few things that I wish I had here for the computer lab, if you have any of these things lying around could you please pass them off to either one of our parents or my office at TWU?

• Mousepads
• Optical Mice (the ball-mice keep getting clogged with dust)
• Keyboards that are not super stiff (we have some but they really slow the keyboarding students down because they are so hard)
• Hard-drives (Anything over 2 GB)
• Network cables (those blue or grey things used for Internet - not the phone lines but the high-speed ones)
• Wireless router (for our teachers who have laptops)
• Network Switches (10okb or higher)
• Memory (especially 333 DIMM's but also 100 and 133 too)
• NIC (Networking) cards
• Wireless Network recievers
• USB scandrives for teachers to save files onto
• Legal copies of Windows 95 or 98
• Legal copies of Office 97 or 2000
  

And if you have anything that would work for a school bell (electric thing for 3 different buildings) that would be great.

(If you have anything could you please add it to the comments below and where you will drop it off - my parents in Kamloops, Cory's parents in Abbotsford, or my office at TWU)

Chris

Opportunities and Encouragements

Two things we really need prayer for

1. Opportunities: I heard something the other day (but I fogot what it was now) about how we need to pray to see the opportunties all around us. Cory and I prayed that yesterday and before we even said amen we saw some fellow teachers we could give a ride. Small things yes, but we really want to be a blessing. Could you please pray God gives us opportunities.
   
   
2. Encouragment: We just passed mid-terms and are now a quarter of the way through our time here. We have found he honeymoon stage to be over and are learning to rely on God for strength to face new challenges and to find pleasures in the joys. Please pray God will give us little encouragements throughout our day.

Thanks again for all your prayers.

Hurricane Update

Thanks for everyone who has been praying for us. Other than a lot of rain and strong winds everything is the same as normal (in fact the rain and winds are sort of normal too). Please keep us in your prayers and all those whom the hurricane might hit.

Chris

Have you ever wanted to throw a computer out of the window??

One of the neat parts of my role here is looking after the computer lab. Ever since my first computer of Christmas grade 8 one of my favorite things is to take the computers apart. So in computer class we sometimes take the computers apart. The problem is some of them are just barely hanging in there, that was the problem today.

Senerio: We have 9 computers, 6 work well and 3 are almost dead. I need to reformat the 3 to make them work better but if I start I'm not sure it will work out since I don't have the original disks for all the parts.

Blessing: One of the parents just gave me two of their old computers. One is actually a 500mhz computer (fairly decent) but when I turned it on the hard-drive was dead. No big deal I have an extra drive from a dead computer (but no OS yet). The other one is a 166MHZ and surprising I just plugged it in and it worked.

Process: So I decided to back up all the computers by making an image of each drive so if I mess up or something goes wrong (like the power going off twice a day and corrupting the system) I have something to go back to. I backup up the new 166mhz system and then formated the drive to test it. When I restored it the computer no longer accepted the drive. Nuts! So I stuck it in another computer and the drive actually loaded (until it froze b/c the hardware was so different). Then I took that computer drive and stuck it in the 166 and it loaded which means the cables and all are working. That's good. But when I put the other drive back that computer did not work now. Oh oh! Several hours later I still haven't figured it out, I'm hoping that when I come back in the morning it will work. So the drive works and the cables work but they don't work in the computer.

Solution: None known yet. But we have 7 working computers and 3 temperarily disabled ones.

Prayer Request: Pray I can get the computers working again and not lose too much hair in the process.

How did the Marriage Retreat go?

Thank-you to everyone that prayed for Cory and I at the marriage retreat. We really needed it. There has been so much rain lately that the road was all washed out. Fortunately someone borrowed our group a really big 4x4 and we plowed through about 2 feet of mud and water.

The talks went well too. I was concerned about them because we were cramming 6 weeks of marriage planning into 3 hours but God answered our prayers and people made some progress. Probably the most helpful was just having everyone sit back and just think about what is most important in life. I mean so often we spend our life working for something we think is important and then look back and go, "I wish I had only...." "been at home" or "given more to God". So we tried to skip the step of wasting time and focus on what is important now.

Download the PowerPoint presentation here

Speaking at Young Married Retreat Oct 7-9

I have been invited to speak at the young married retreat this weekend (Oct 7-9th). It will be at the Cahal Pech Resort in San Ignacio. On the fun side this will be a great retreat for Cory and I including a trip to the Mayan ruins, canoeing the river, strengthening friendship with other young married and maybe even doing some cave tubing or canoeing (something we so want to do).

I have been doing a lot of praying about what I should speak about and after talking to the leaders it seems best to do a strategic planning workshop. The core idea is that God has been taking each couple on a journey and has brought them together for a purpose. It is important to stop and reflect on the path God has brought us on so we can align (or at least surrender) ourselves to the path God has before us.

Friday night: Values - What is most important to you
Saturday morning: Mission - What do we believe God has called us to do
Sunday morning: Vision (and Plan) - How are we going to get there?

I took a class last year at ACTS seminary on Strategic Planning and for my major assignment Cory and I rewrote the strategic planning process (usually done for Churches and businesses) and applied it to marriage. In this we wrote a very detailed plan which we used to decide if Belize was a match with where we sense God is taking us.

Here are some prayer requests:

• For incredibly insight and inspiration as I prepare the talks. I need to fit a 1 month process into 3 one hour sessions.
• For clarity as I speak that the group will understand and be able to apply it
• That God will give the group incredible insights into the path he has for them and direction on what He wants them to be focusing on at this stage in their marriages.
• That Cory and I will be able to build rich and meaningful relationships that will have a lasting spiritual impact on us and them.
  

a Sunday afternoon...

It is Sunday afternoon. We just returned from having lunch with friends. Sundays can be nice and relaxing or very busy. There is the young marrieds' get together one Sunday out a month. It starts at 3pm and goes until 7pm. Then there is youth Sunday once a month. It starts at 2:30pm, goes till 5:30pm at which time everyone goes home for dinner and then comes back again at 7:30pm for an evening program. This Sunday is Friends and Fellowship...for anyone not in youth or young marrieds. They have, however, invited the young marrieds to join them this Sunday for games at the park, starting at 3:00pm.

Since Chris and I are young marrieds (you are considered such until you've been married for 10 years), and since we are helping with the youth group, we tend to go to both events. Today, we have decided to take it easy, rest, relax and get ready for the week ahead.

Being a grade 7 teacher, teaching my students proper grammar, I am suddenly noticing all the areas where I am using improper grammar in this blog and am hoping that no one else will notice :)

We have just finished our info prayer letter. Feel free to down load it (just below this update).

Another week of school starts tomorrow. More tests, quizzes, and homework. May the Lord give us strength that matches the energy of these kids.

-Cory

September Prayer Letter

The following prayer letter will be coming out in the mail in the next few weeks. For those of you who did not get it or want it early, here it is...

Download the full prayer letter with all the pictures here

I find that every year of my life seems to have a theme. This year one verse really stands out, “Leave your country, your people… and go to the land I will show you.” (Gen 12:1) Some say life is a journey; and like in this verse, it is a walk of faith, stepping out, not sure where we are going but knowing there is someone greater who walks with us.

It is interesting how God leads; take this year for example – at the beginning of the year Cory was working at a Christian Bookstore and Chris was making web pages for Trinity Western University. But a hand began to move us. At first we just heard about Belize and how there was a small school in the jungle just south of Mexico looking at being short 8 of it’s 12 teachers this fall. Something grew within us till we finally had to check it out. Little by little God kept confirming that this was where we were to be. So in faith we stepped out into the unknown in confidence that God would walk with us.

There is a joy in being involved in something supernatural – to have a sense that God has called you and there is a purpose for the steps you are on. It is kind of like how when I (Chris) was training my students to lead chapel for the younger grades I told them that God is already at work in those younger students lives and they have been invited to be part of the work of God. So Cory and I often pray, “Thank-you God for inviting us to do ministry with you today, show us where you want us to serve.” The interesting part is God was walking with these young people before we arrived and God will be the one walking with these young people long after we have left.

So why are we writing this letter? We would like to invite you to continue to walk with us. The amazing thing is that the God who is walking with us in Belize is the same God who walks with you in your city. The moment you enter into prayer with us the miles between us disappear and we walk together. In this way we can join hands and do this ministry together.

To support this we have created a web site called www.coryandchris.com where we are writing regularly of our stories and experiences here, of God’s answers to prayer and of urgent prayer requests. In addition we have included in this letter a prayer card that you can put on your fridge.

Thank-you for joining us in this ministry. – Chris and Cory Priebe

Continued....

Grade 8 teacher urgently needed - do you know of anyone!

The good news is we have 11 teachers working at the school now. The bad news is we are still missing a grade eight teacher. Leroy filled in for the first few weeks and one of the school board members has been filling in this week but it is really important to get a teacher in there who can guide the students through the year.

Would you be willing to help out or do you know of anyone that could come and help out? The qualifications are a person needs to be a growing Christian and able to teach from a home-school curriculum. If the person has a degree than that is wonderful but all they have is a servant heart and desire to teach then they could probably be used.

I am been emailing different Bible schools and Universities I am connected to and also tried to get a hold of a few Christian schools and ask if they had any applicants they did not have positions for this year.

If you know of anyone who might be a good match send them to http://www.authenticwalk.com/belize

If you can't think of anyone could you please join us in prayer for this one?

Thanks

Reflection on Love

An interesting thing happened the other day. It was during study period when my students were supposed to be studying. They came to me and asked if they could go to the store to get some icecream. Of course, it is study period so I asked how they were doing on their homework. I knew they had work to do in my Bible class because a Bible memory test was coming up quick so I told them if they memorized the passage for the quiz and said it to me 100% then they could go.

The next half hour was chaos. The students kept coming to me every 2 minutes and asking to quote their verse or complain about why they can't just go to the store. I admit (after sleeping on it) that my attitude was not very good. I got a bit annoyed and would not let them go until they got their verse down perfect without even pausing. I figured they should be studying. Sadly I watched the students become more and more frustrated and feeling like they want to just give up. Both sides were a little bit stubborn I think....

Anyhow I was praying about the whole thing that night and I started to realize I was not acting out of a Spirit of love but of frustration. The next day I had to humble myself and apologize to the class. They took it well and surprisingly they are studying more. Now I am praying for God's love to really pour through me and when I get frustrated I try to take a moment to just pray and find peace in God.

Of course, God loves to make His points clear so that same night I happened to bump into the pastor and we were talking about leadership. He said of himself, "People won't remember all that I said but they will remember who I was and if I loved them."

Speaking at Youth this Wednesday Night

Well we are over our colds now. Thanks for all your prayers.
Highlight for today was taking the high school down to the river for
PE canoeing class. Funniest part of today is I opened the windows to
cool down the house and the rain blew so hard and fast my bed sheets
got wet. Now Cory doesn't want to change them because it is my side
that is wet...

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) I am speaking to the young adults about
"Potential" It is part 3 of a 4 part series the youth leaders are
doing on "What does it mean to be a leader" in preperation for the
youth elections the first Sunday of October. I will be talking about
how God took clay which is nothing on it's own and breathed into it
just as he took David whom people thought was not much, and the
disiples whom people thought were not much, and you and me, well....
you know.... and breathed His spirit into them and they did amazing
things. Like them we need to offer ourselves as lump of clay into
God's hands and let Him form us and then breathe His power into us.

Thanks again for your prayers. Pray specifically that some of the
youth will feel called to leadership and rise to the challenge.
Blessings on you.

- Chris

Sick this week

Cory and I are sick this week. Looks like a strong head-cold, soar throat and perhaps flu is going through the community. Several of my students are sick too. Seems strange in that it is so hot here and yet you can still be sick, oh well. Please pray for Cory especially as she is really tired and we only have a substitute available on Tuesdays.

Chris

Leadership Training

At my seminary (ACTS seminary on Trinity Western Universities Campus) we are taught over and over again about leadership. I noticed a shift has actually happened in my life. I used to always focus my energy on teaching about holiness and leading seminars on how to live for God. Now I feel just as strong about leadership and training godly leaders (an integration of the two topics).

The youth group is having an election for 2 new youth leaders from the youth group. In preperation for this we are doing a four part study on what it means to be a leader to help the youth think through whom they want to elect and for those elected to think through what it means.

The four key topics are:

- Heart - Leader as a servant (John 13)
- Hands - Wise stewardship of the gifts we have been given (1 Cor 12; Rom 12; Eph 4)
- Life - Being a leader worth following (1 Cor 11:1, "Follow Me" statements)
- Feet - Stepping out and trying. (David, who although young and overlooked stepped out in faith, likewise we need to step past our fear with faith in God)

In addition to this I am working with the students in Bible class and teaching them how to do chapel for the younger grades. Our first chapel is next Wednesday Sept 7th.

Geckos in the Computer!

Since I have moved to Belize I have had about 6 requests to, "Please come over and fix my computer". I don't mind doing that but my passion is really to pass on what I have learnt to others. So I hosted a "Computer Repair Clinic" after school for my students where anyone could bring their sick computer and the students learn to fix it.

I invited my new friend, "Abe Dyck" who for many years has been fixing the computers in town but is now far too busy. So I let him take the show this week and he did great! He talked about hardware (I am more into software so I really learnt a lot). The biggest problems here have to do with the heat, humidity and dust. Most often all a computer needs is a good cleaning. We fixed two machines just by cleaning them out (including taking the video card and memory out and brushing off the cobwebs, dust and sometimes eggs from geckos or others). We learnt that a long beeeeep sound followed by a pause then another long beep means the memory is not working so take it out and clean it.

3 Other computers had fan problems. In two cases the fan was just burnt out. In the heat of Belize that means the CPU is overheating and when it does that it just stops until it cools down which means the computer just hangs and waits for the CPU to come back on. So we need to find new ones of those.

One fan we looked at was not spinning at all. It was on a computer nicknamed "Methusala" because it is so old (not to mention rusted because of all the humidity). After closer examination there was a gecko (small lizard in it). I wrote my friends who are in charge of technology at the leading Christian universities in North America about this one and the best suggestion was to put up a poster outside the computer advertising positions available as a stunt-double for the "Geico Gecko". Or just to put a screen over it.

Once again I left the pictures at school so I'll have to post the photo later.

Old Colony Service

We (most of us oversee teachers and the pastor from the Church here) went to Shipyard this morning. We had to get up just after 5am so we could be there when it started. It was really amazing to see all the horses and buggies all tied to posts in the Church parking lot. The ladies went to the south side and we went to the east side and stood at the door till someone invited us in. Then we took our seat on the wooden (no back) chairs. Everyone was dressed in coveralls with long-sleeve blue or dark shirts. All the straw hats were hung on nails about the pews (for the guys, the women kept their headcovering on).

We sang three songs out of an old high-german hymnal, each song was about half a page long and lasted 15 minutes. The singing was more in the form of chanting each word taking 5 seconds with a pause for the commas, etc where the song leader did a short solo. It was kind of neat in that it set an atmosphere of unity and consistency over the last 350 years. As the song continued to go on shall the faith through the generations (at least that was my reflection).

I could not understand any of the words in the song or sermon (both in high german) and unfortunately most of the people could not either (since they speak low-german) so I tried to pray for the church. Praying mostly that God would show me what to pray and praying that God would help the people to understand the words they are singing and the Word of God. The insight I had was, "You have to understand in order to serve", I mean understand these people until I can think from their perspective even if I do not agree with it.

When the sermon was over we sang the third song and then everyone immediately left. Two men stopped to talk to us (in English) outside and the preachers passed by and I made sure I shook their hand and thanked them with the little german I knew (they understood danke-shein)

From here we went to the contemperary EMMC church (planted by the one in Blue Creek). We spent a lot of time talking with the brothers there about their journey out of the old colony and how they were asked to leave for conducting Bible studies in their houses or having rubber on their tires. Surprisingly they seemed very loving to those who had ostrasized and forced them out. Instead of being bitter I sensed they were genuinly loving and praying for those in the old colony still.

This contemperary church sang some songs in English like "Jesus loves me" and some hymns in high german (all this high german is because low german was not written - at least not the Bible and hymnal till recently). Our pastor from Blue Creek was preaching on Habbakuk and that was in English.

Following this we had lunch at their pastors place and had a wonderful time of fellowship.

Please continue to pray for these two churches. One of the struggles for the old colony is they do not understand the words they sing and hear even when they are clearly the gospel so they are left only with a set of rules to obey or to be excommunicated. The new Church needs much prayer because they have been excommunicated from their family and friends so they cannot shop or visit and it is very hard to make a living and very lonely. For now there is only a handful of them but a huge number are just waiting till the time is right to make the switch. It is as if a revival looms on the horizon, may God breathe life anew!

Ministry in Shipyard this Sunday

Several of us teachers are going over to Shipyard (the old colony) this Sunday at 6am to attend the old colony service. Afterwards we are going to the Evangelical Church where Pastor Darryl (From Blue Creek) will be preaching.

Please pray that we will learn a great deal about the old colony culture tomorrow, that God would give us opportunities for ministry and that we could be a blessing on the new Church (the evangelical one) that our community has been helping to plant there.

To learn more about the old colony listen to this sermon I preached at AWANA camp a few Sundays ago.

Missionary Status Accepted

I got an email today from the EMMC Church saying that our status as missionaries has been accepted. Thank-you to everyone who has asked to support us, here is the information you will need.

Funds going toward our ministry should be sent to: EMMC, Box 52059,
Niakwa PO, Winnipeg, MB R2M 5P9.

All funds should be clearly designated toward "Blue Creek Linda Vista
teacher support" and "Chris and Cory Priebe" so that the deposit is made to the right
accounts.

Once again that you to everyone who has asked to support us. This is a huge blessing.

AWANA camp sermons are now online

I wrote a few weeks ago that I was working on putting all the sermons I did at AWANA camp online. It was kinda fun cause I was on a bus somewhere in Mexico working on my laptop as I converted the audio files to be web enabled. The challenge was then to figure out how to upload such big files a satellite internet connection that was hit by lighting just before we got here.

Oh well, here is the link. I pray that you will be blessed by these sermons even as I (and many campers) were blessed a few weeks ago.

http://www.authenticwalk.com/camp/sermons/

Listening to God's Voice all around me

It finally dawned on me, I should be sharing some of the amazing things God has been teaching me in class and what I am learning along with the students.

Well in Bible 11/12 class we are studing Genesis but the course begins with "The Bible" (which is a good place to start when you are talking about first things first). This week we learnt that God has two books - natural revelation (Creation) and special revelation (The Bible). In class I pointed to a large tree and asked the students what they can learn about God from that tree. I quoted A.W. Tozer who said to C.S.Lewis "Beyond this great oak with it's roots reaching deep into the earth and his arms stretched high into the heavens" (rough paraphrase) Likewse we too need to be rooted in God's Word and reaching up to God to pour into us.

I said, "Look at the sky, what do we learn there?" That it changes, it is vast, it is big and must have had a big vast God who loves rythme and beauty.

So I had all the students sit carefully in their chairs and take notice of what was around them and let God speak to them through it. For me, it was the breeze which blew through the door and past me in the hot morning air. Like that breeze I need the refreshing wind of the Spirit to keep me anew each day.

In the end my challenge to the students (and to myself) was this: Pay attention, God is all around wanting to speak to us.

How to Overcome SPAM!

Several people have been asking me how to overcome SPAM. With over 80 emails a day making it through my filter on YAHOO mail I figure I have some experience with it. Here are some of the lessons I have learnt (feel free to add your own tips below)

Here is my basic theory: "The primary reason why people get spam is because they gave away their email address to an untrustworthy source." In other words, spam is really the fault of the user (or his/her friends) and not the email provider. I have tested this theory by creating unused accounts and it seems to be true (except for a few small cases where spammers guess my email address because it is too simple like info@domain.com)

The problem is that if I never give my email address away it is completely useless to have an email address.

Here is my solution: Get 2 email addresses!

Primary email address: This is your email that you want to keep for life. Only give this away to your closest friends and family and those that have proved to you that you can trust them. As soon as enter this address on a web page or give it to one of those friends who send out one of those chain letters or mass mailers with everyones name in the TO or CC you have might as well kiss that address good-bye.

Secondary email address: Sign up for one of those free address at hotmail.com, yahoo.com or gmail.com. In fact I highly recommend gmail.com.

Use this secondary email address to book all your flights online, buy stuff online, sign-up for newsletters and give it to new friends. If that friend or organization proves reliable either let them know you have changed your email (give them your primary one) or if you are not sure yet set up a rule to forward email from that person to your primary.

Once this address becomes too full of spam then create up a new account. With your old account set up an auto-responder that says something like. "I am no longer using this account because of too much SPAM. Please try my new address at 'mynew dot name at-sign gmail dot com.'" (Of course you don't want to put your new email address as 'mynew.name@gmail.com' because all the spammers will get your auto-responder and add that address also to their records).

Turantula outside our door

[This post would be better with a Croc Hunter accent] Cory and I got home today and found a big old turantula on our sidewalk by our gas tank. The thing was huge, dangerous and having a bad day. I approached it with my camera and it reared up on me. But I pressed onand got some really good photos. (Stay tuned for the next part when I develop them on my computer)

Commissioned in Church Today

This morning all of us teachers were called up to the front of the Church and prayed for. It was a real blessing. Here are our teachers (left to right)

Phil (Highschool math and science)
Susie (Kindergarten)
Lisa (Grade 2)
Cory (my wife, Grade 7)
Chris (That's me, Highschool Bible and Computers)
Noelle (Grade 4)
Rebekah (High School History and Language)
Alicia (Grade 5)
Liz (Grade 2)
Jennifer (Grade 6)
Rosy (Grade 3)
and Pastor Darryl in the front

High-School Building Dedication

We cut the ribbon on the new high-school building today. Last year the grade 11's had to meet in the basement of the Church so all summer the school has been working on a second level on top of the middle school. Today the ribbon was cut and the keys were handed over to the school board.

Urgent Prayer: Grade 8 Teacher Needed

We received news this week that our grade 8 teacher will not be able to make it. Unfortunately he could not sell or rent his place and so called and said he would not be able to come. Classes start on Tuesday and so far we do not have a teacher for that place.

Please pray that we God will provide someone (either from abroad or locally) to teach.

Thanks

(If you know of anyone interested please send them to www.authenticwalk.com/belize )

I Know What I am Doing ... I Think!!

Lots of people have asked me, "So Chris, what are you going to be doing in Belize?" This has been hard to answer so far because the community had not decided on what they would want me to do. At first I applied to teach in the school but then the youth pastor resigned so they talked about using my gifts in that area.

I had a meeting with some of the school board yesterday and they shared how scheduling is really tight right now. We are still missing a grade 8 teacher and we don't have another teacher to teach all the electives I would be missing by working part-time. In contrast (and to my joy) the youth ministry is doing really well at this time with their volunteer leaders. It seemed best for all of us that I should teach full-time and then we will re-evalutate in January based on how the school and youth ministry are doing. So here is what I am doing.

8:00 - teach Bible Doctrines to a grade 9/10 split class
8:50 - teach Genesis to a grade 11/12 split class
9:40 - Recess
9:55 - Study Hall for grade 9's
10:45 - Computer Applications for grade 12 students
11:30 - lunch
12:30 - (another teacher will teach the Spanish and Automotive electives)
1:20 - Keyboarding 9/10 (Typing and Word-processing skills)
2:15 - Computer Applications for grade 11 students on Mon,Wed, Fri and Physical Education on Tues, and Thursday (so glad it is last period)
3:00 - Mark student work and prep for next day.

Cory is teaching grade 7 all subjects

Sunday night once a month is youth and we are volunteering to help.
Wednesday night is youth Bible Study every week
Friday night is games night with all the teacher and college and careers

We are also volunteering with the Church to help the youth leaders and at times the Church if they need some leadership develpment based on Cory's and mine's masters degree (although I still have 9 credits to go)

AWANA Camp Sermons Online

I had a hard time sleeping on the airplane and bus ride to Belize so I opened up my computer and converted the audio and powerpoints into a web page for the campers last week to download. I was so blessed and encouraged as I prepared and preached these sermons. I pray that God will bless you as well as you listen to them.

See http://www.authenticwalk.com/camp/sermons/ for the list of sermons and powerpoint slides available

Settling into Belize

After 30 hours of travel we finally made it to our new home in Belize. Boy were we glad to sleep in, well at least till 9:30 and then the welcome crew arrived. Wow, can hardly believe how friendly this town is. Everyone we met so far is so thankful we are here. Thanks for all your prayers.

"Dear God, here we are, use us as you will!"

On the bus somewhere in Mexico

Laptops are cool. Here I am in the middle of Mexico and I can type a blog. Too bad there is no wireless here… So we finally left. After 3 weeks of packing, organizing, running errands and going to camp we actually pulled out and went. My mom and dad came down from Kamloops to see us off and my uncle Willis drove us down in his big old van.

10 bags. That was the total of what we took. 6 pages of stuff listed on our inventory. Do you have any idea what it is like to move that much stuff by airplane. Praise God, so far it is going well. We successfully made it through 2 borders (although in Mexico we were the only ones selected to have everything x-rayed but fortunately they did not take everything apart). One more border to go which is the Mexico / Belize border. I keep praying about that one with all the import regulations and all. Should find out tonight, providing our emails went through and someone from Blue Creek is there to pick us up, that is.

Another look out the window. The trees are really short here… and dense too. I heard it is because the ground is all rock with very little topsoil. They got all these buildings right off the highway in the jungle. Sometimes it is a burnt out factory, othertimes a gas station or some tower in the middle of no where. Cory and Noelle are watching Princess Diaries on their laptop. (I’m rendering the sermons from last week so I can put them on a web page for the campers)

Oh well, just thought I’d drop a line and let everyone know we are on our way and so far… so good. Thanks for all your prayers.

Camp was Amazing!

Thank-you for all your prayers this week. Camp was absolutely amazing. I preached 7 sermons in 7 days. At 50 minutes a talk I was wondering if the campers would get bored but they kept engaged the whole time. The Spirit of God was obvious in that place and at several times tears came to my eyes as I watched the spiritual enthusiasm and commitment of these young people.

On Tuesday night a whole group of the older campers huddled together, prayed and sang for an hour after chapel. On Wednesday night all the older campers were gone on a missions trip and I spoke just to the younger grades (6 through ??) We did the Gospel presentation where I set up a plank that spans the gap between the life lived by ourself and the one given to God (where Jesus carries us over by faith). Three campers gave their life to Christ and another seven or so rededicated their lives. And that was only half way through the week.

I was blown away by the campers. What a bunch of great youth people! At several points I was getting ready for chapel and they would just walk up to me and start praying for me. Talk about a blessing.

I will be putting the sermon notes online later this week once we get our stuff all packed up for Belize. You can see them at http://www.authenticwalk.com/sermons/camp2005/

I would love to have some of you campers from last week leave a note saying what God did in your life at camp.

Chris

Prayer needed for Awana Camp

Cory and I are at AWANA camp this week. I am doing the camp speaking every night. Imagine 7 sermons in seven days. Last night the topic was "Life is a journey". Cory and I had read Gen 12:1 yesterday morning where Abraham left his homeland and headed off in response to God's call. In many ways I feel like that. Leaving our home and family and going to a place with so many unknowns. "Life is a journey", I told the campers, "Full of bends and twists. The important part is to be heading towards God and everything else will work out."

This will be the theme for the week, "Authentic Walk". Tonight we are looking at what it means to be "Authentic" and Monday on "Which path will you walk on" Please pray that God will continue to give me words to say, and the campers hearts will be open and everyone will grow and be kept safe.

Sharing at Summit Drive Church

I am in the Church foyer of Summit Drive today and found a wireless signal and thought I'd drop a note. I love this Church. I spent 1999-2003 as a youth director and then youth pastor here.

As we came in it was such a joy to see all our old friends and how warmly we were greeted. We shared a bit about our adventure to Belize coming up next week. Next week! Wow, it sure is coming fast.

Jim Holm preached on Acts 14 and perserving through persecution and suffering in order to bring the Gospel. It was really cool to hear a sermon about missions right when we are packing up and getting ready to go.

Well I should go, but it has been great to be here again. Blessings to you all.

Chris

Praise God, we have Renters!

I want to make this blog into a sort of prayer journal of how God has answered our prayers. I tell you it is so cool to be involved in the work of God! So here is our latest story...

In order to go to Belize my wife and I needed to do something with the condo. It is really unwise to sell at this time because the prices are going up and we would be both without a place to live when we get back next year and "out of the market". So we needed to rent but our strata only allows about 5% of the units to be rented and they currently have about 10% being rented. It was not likely they would approve us. But our care group prayed and God gave the strata committee grace and they gave us the 10 months temperary renting status we needed.

Now we needed a renter. So for months Cory and I prayed and advertised but nothing. Finally we called a few realtors and started thinking about selling. The next day we received three phone calls of people who wanted to rent. Two of which came over the following day and then we had to make a decision. Which one God?

So we prayed. And we wanted to go with this one person because she would let us keep most of our stuff here and we would not have to move it all out and find storage space. That morning I prayed that if she was not the one that it just wouldn't work out today. So I called three days and no answer. Finally at 8pm I called the other fellow (also a great choice) and he had just been at Church praying about which place to take. He walked out, checked his cell phone messages and there we were offering him the place.

So what happened to the other lady? Well I bumped into her at Church at she said she had been out of town all day and had forgotten her cell phone. We both agreed that perhaps God has something else in store for her and we left in spirits full of hope.

God is so good to us. I love being in His hands!

Comissioned to Go!

Welcome to everyone on our prayer team. Here is a short update. This weekend we were being commissioned at our home church "Northview". The response was really amazing. We had so many people wanting our prayer card and wanting to learn about the adventure God is taking us on. Watch our commissioning service online.

What was really neat is we were commissioned in all three services - now that is a marathon! In each service the songs got deeper and deeper in my heart and I got a little bit more out of the sermon each time. What God said to me was that I need to love more and forgive deeper (especially myself and my little mistakes).

Here are some specific prayer requests out of this time:

1. Pray that 2 more people will sign up to be teachers (one for grade 8 and one for high-school electives)
2. Pray that Noelle (she is from our care group and we are going with her) and ours support will come in. Praise God the Missions Board at Northview said they would support us. We are just waiting for the Church in Belize to approve our budget so we can get a project number with the EMMC mission agency.

Where on Earth is Belize???

Whenever we say we are going to Belize people tend to look at us funny, "Where on Earth is that?" So I downloaded a program called "Google Earth" and made some images for you.

Wisdom removed

So I did the most horrible thing to my face last week...I go the Dentist to remove all 4 of my wisdom teeth! I will never do that again.

I took lost of pain medication and slept really well during the day. So well, that come that evening, I could not sleep. I thought Chris couldn't sleep either (turns out that I was wrong and he was just talking in his sleep), but I tickled him until he gave in...then we went to Tim Hortons for a 1:30am snack.

Now, I must go and rinse my mouth with salt water.

Download our Prayer Card

Our visit to Harrison Gospel Church

Cory grew up in Harrison Gospel Church as her family used to minister there. Last weekend we had the wonderful opportunity of being able to visit that congregation and share with them about our trip to Belize. The people were very friendly and we had a great pot-luck afterwards.

In the afternoon we tried to find this waterfall that Cory and I found back when we were dating. We made it 13km up this old dirt road but then had to turn back because we ran out of time (and the road was way too rough).

Following this Cory's work threw an amazing farewell party. I was deeply impressed by how much her collegues loved her at work.

Is it is procrastination when you start 22 days early?

I am working on my hermeneutics paper today. It is not due for another 22 days but I know that these next few weeks are going to be killer. After this I have 6 sermons to write for Awana camp plus all the preperations for Belize.

So here I am working on my computer and I keep finding myself loathing the idea of writing another paragraph. It is July 1st and I'm inside on my computer.

So here are a few tricks I have for procrastination.

- Convert all our CD's to MP3. At least it gives me a break as I change the CD even if the rest of the process is all automatic. I'm stuck here anyway.

- Check my email

- Write a blog entry (I'm actually sending this one by email to blogger and then RSS reading it into myTWU just for kicks)

- Make sure the server is still running

- Go into the living room and wonder why I am there

- Make tea

- Call friends

What do you do?