Silly Girls and Smelly Markers

 

Every year around the third week of October, our school has a Harvest celebration in the chapel.  Each of the children are to decorate a box and bring canned goods that will be shared with "the poor".  (I can't think of many people who are poorer than the children themselves, but nevertheless, it is good to share and celebrate what God has given us.)  On Tuesday night before the Harvest worship, Sulmi and Gineli decorated shoe boxes for their offerings. I got out the smelly markers and they were using them to write on their boxes when Sulmi sniffed one, leaving a bright red mark on her nose. Then Gineli sniffed hers and left a blue mark..  We laughed at their funny noses and soon they were sniffing and dotting their noses with all the colors.  I thank God for their laughter and joy.  They make my world a happy place.

Using Our Assets

      Most of the people in Belize who don't have enough money to buy "anything they want" for supper, tend to eat flour tortilla and beans for la cena (the evening meal).  Knowing how to make tortilla is a lesson taught from mothers to their daughters and sometimes their sons as well.  You can make enough tortilla for a family of 6 with about $1.50 US and you don't even need a gas stove.  A fire works great.  Although I am a pretty good tortilla maker, it takes about an hour (or more) that i don't have.  When we have Girl's Night and need about 30, I buy them from a woman up the street.  They are delicious, fast, warm, ready to eat...and I feel good about helping the woman sustain her business.

BUT...

      I am finally learning about this thing called the Kingdom.  One of the ways we recognize the Kingdom is here is how the community loves and helps each other.  I am also reading a book called When Helping Hurts How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor.   One of the concepts in the book is that we as missionaries are hurting the poor if we become their resource when there are assets in their community that they can use or develop. 

So...I started thinking about the tortilla for Bible study. I know that Angelica makes tortilla EVERY night.  She's good at it and could use the income.  Then I thought about Alva.  Alva was abandonned when she was 12 years old.  Her mother never taught her how to make tortilla.  She wants to learn.

Ah ha!  Praise God for shining a light on our paths.
Last week at Girl's Night I asked Anegelica if she would be willing to make the tortilla for the following week.  She said sure.  Then I asked her to teach Alva how.

So the girls decided to meet at Angelica's house.  When I picked them up, Alva was beeming.

At Girl's night we are learning about "worship". We read Psalm 145 and are making these embroidered plaques with a phrase from the psalm.  Again I was tempted to be the resource.  Kristel wanted to know how to make a stitch. I started to show her and Alva jumped in...so I backed off thinking, "Right.  The older girls know. Let them be the resources."  That's empowering.   It builds self-esteem. I thank God for teaching me this lesson this week.  It will change how I minister.

D Boys, D Girls, and Drama (the good kind)

Praise God for the unity and cohesion we are feeling in our Jesus Deaf Church Community these days.  These pics are from last Sunday.  It was wonderful to have Fermin Cal visit.  He used to attend CDI (Deaf Mennonite School in Cayo, Belize) and has a good heart and depth of Bible knowledge, but he lives 2 hours away. I would love to see God bring him to Orange Walk and work with our leadership team.

The boys range in age from 8 to 30.

The girls (ages 5 to 26)...are wonderful conflict resolvers. They also take part whole-heartedly in dramatizing the scripture.

100% Adorable

This is Glenford, one of the deaf three-year-olds that I am teaching.  Isn't he precious? 

 In the picture he is signing "eat".

Boyz Night

Whoooo hoo. Go God!   

Now that Manuel is coming to Boy's Night, he is inviting the other boys to come.  

We had a good time studying Psalm 145...and some of the many reasons God is great that are listed there.

After our study, we created a choral reading based on the psalm that the boys will sign in worship tomorrow.

 Alejandro turned 16 on Friday so we had a cake with candles to celebrate.   He was happy and everyone used their phones to take pictures.  When the evening was winding down, Juan, who has not been in church for about 2 months said, "Maybe I can work early tomorrow and be back in time to get to church."  Hmmm... God is Great!


Update Sunday October 2: Juan DID work early, leaving home at 4 AM to fungicide sugar cane so he could come to church at 10.  He particiaped in the choral reading AND gave encouragement to Alejandro. I am thrilled to see him walking in the Spirit again.  He seems happy again, too.

Pics from the School Garden

Sulmi took these photos while I was watering the garden on Monday.  In addition to the plants in these pictures we have okra, calaloo, plantain, habenero peppers, carrots, oregano, red beans and black beans that are just starting to sprout .

Hibiscus

A white flowering bush that a fellow gardener gave us.

Yellow flowering bush in the garden near the school gate.

A hardy blue flowering plant

Little radishes...can you see them just starting to pop up?

Belize cilantro

cucumber

coco...it is a root vegetable like potato.

chaya...you cook it like spinich

our baby almond tree...it will eventually provide great shade.

George Cadle Price

George Price is the "Father of the Nation".   He is the first Prime Minister of Belize (and was also re-eleceted as the third Prime Minister.)  He died last Monday from hitting his head when he fell in his own home.  He was 92.  Today was his funeral.

What a uniquly honorable man he was.  He never married and wanted to be a priest but became consumed with Belize's struggle for independence and changed his focus to law, even though he kept his faith through all the years.   Although there were others who helped to forge the peaceful independence that was won in 1981, everyone says that it would not have been won without this man.  He was able to listen to opposing points of view, maintained a cool patient attitude, but was able to be decisive when they ran up against a wall.  Prime Minister Musa said the British were trying to stall the process.  They said Belize was not ready. Belize needed better infrastructure,(some paved roads),  more experienced leaders.  They said that if Belize went ahead with independence, it would be chaos.  To the small group of Belizeans who were trying to negotiate with England at the same time they were trying to encourage the UN to support them in Guatemala's claim on the land, George Price was reported to have said, "Ever forward, never backward".  They moved ahead and the result was a new nation.

I have been asking people if they ever met him, shook his hand or talked to him. Almost everyone has.  It's amazing to me that this man got around the country not so much as a political effort, but from the people's point of view he humbly wanted to stand with the people and know them.  He wanted to unite the people into ONE country with many different language groups and cultures.  Angelica's mom remembers him going from house to house in what was then the village of Trial Farm. She said here was this powerful important man who was willing to sit down and eat beans and tortilla, just a little bit, with each family.  He didn't have to have fancy things.  People say he never had a TV or radio.  Every person seems to summarze George Price's character in these words, "completely dedicated and consistently humble."

His vision for Belize was to raise up the common person and erradicate poverty.
I thank God for walking with this man, leading him and in turn leading Belize to freedom and self-determination. Almost everyone says it might not have happened as peacefully or quickly without him.

I'm So Proud of This Guy!

This is Alejandro.  He is Deaf and turns 16 next Friday.  He has a job working with a plant propogator and landscaper.  He says he "Kiss-Fist" his work. ("Kiss-Fist" is an ASL sign made by closing the right hand into a fist and bringing it up to your mouth and kissing it.  It is the sign for really loving something).

Why is he giving the thumbs up sign?  I have been trying to help him and Edgar save their money.  When they get paid every Friday they give half to their mothers and then tend to blow the rest of the wad before the light of Saturday shines.  Alejandro wanted to buy a phone.  I offerred to be his bank. This gave him some accountability and also I am "open" Friday night after he gets his pay.  Using the bank is hard because by the time he gets home from work, they are closed.

Every week for 5 weeks he brought me $25 from his Friday pay. We put it in an envelope and stored it in my safe. In the meantime we went to look at phones.  They are so expensive here, especially if you want to have a QWERTY keyboard, which makes texting easier. When he had $125, we went to the Cellular Store and bought this phone. He is so proud that he bought it himself... the whole thing from his work money.  Now he KISS-FISTs his phone (smile),