Runnin' Sweatin' n Gettin' New Tennies

The annual Special Olympics Fun Run was yesterday.  About 50 children with special needs,  their families and children in grades 5 and 6 from five schools in Orange Walk participated in a 2 K walk/run through town. The whole event started with passing out free tennis shoes to the participants.


The shoes come from an organization based in Boulder, Colorado called One World Running. They gather "nearly new" donated shoes from all over the US that have been dropped off in selected running stores.  Volunteers sort the shoes into "newish" and "too old" bins. Then the shoes are washed and shipped around the world to be donated to poor children.  This picture is from their website:

One World Running has teamed up with Belize Special Olympics for 4 years running (pun, ouch!). 

 

After the shoes were passed out,  we sang the National Anthem, had a prayer, (yes everything begins with prayer in Belize), and some dignitaries spoke while the rest of us tried to pay attention.  This year the speakers were mercifully short.  Which is a good thing when you are standing in direct sunlight since 8 AM and it's rounding 9:45 AM  and the temperature is 90 degrees (if we were in the shade!).

A police Drill Sargent who is a friend of Special Olympics and the father of a St Peter's student, led us in stretching exercises in a booming voice that carried easily throughout the group of about 425 participants.  Eventually we headed to the starting line and were off!  I hung back and took pictures and then brought up the tail end of the race.

When we got back to the finish line, someone passed out free water and bananas to everyone.

My role this year? Photographer.  I hope some of the 64 pictures that I took were good enough for Special Olympics to use for promotion.

 The little girl pushing this boy's wheel chair is blind (!)  They were cute together.

 Abner from our program. He is always doing physical humor.

 Elizanie, Sulmi, Gineli and Kristel.

 The three deaf boys from our program: Rayan, Jaheed, and Misael.
Misael came in second over all.  It wasn't really a race.  It was supposed to be a slow paced jog...so most of the people did just that.  BUT,our  ten year old boys are competitive.  For them, it's always a "RACE".

 This little girl with the lower body motor control issues, walked the whole 2K...smiling! She wears a sign that says"I am special, so are you!"

The American Dream Still Exists

Here is a school picture of Hipolito.  Now he is 17.

I wonder what it was like for my great (great, great) Grandfather, John Peter Moerschall,  to leave his home in Heidelburg, Germany, say a “til we meet in Heaven” goodbye to his family, board a ship that he’d never been on before and cross the ocean to “America, the Land of Opportunity”. I don’t know what his real experience was like.  If he was feeling excitement, sorrow, fear, or all three.  But I had a glimpse into what his experience may have been like when I took Hipolito to the airport last week.

Hipolito only had one suitcase, but the van was filled with his father who had already immigrated, a brother who was going with him and 17 other relatives including sisters, a half-brother, nieces and nephews, and his mother.

Who saw my grandfather off?  Was his mother’s eyes also so filled with tears and sadness that that she could not speak?

When our group of 20 people arrived at the airport we had two hours before the flight left. After checking in, the family tried to make small talk, but it was more silence and rocking in place while looking anywhere but in the eyes of the mother.  Finally they decided to all hug the father, Hipolito and his brother, sending them off through passport control and security.  Hipolito, embarrassed to cry, stepped outside for a minute until he was ushered back in and given his passport.

Bending low and waving, all 17 relatives who would remain in Belize watched as the travelers got their passports stamped and passed through the security archway.  An hour remained until the plane would leave.

All of the relatives watching the plane disappear into the clouds.

I don’t know if my great great great grandfather's mother was even at the dock in London when John Moerschall's ship sailed for New York, but I imagine that they were there...watching.  Maybe he stood on the deck and waved just like Hipolito’s family stood watching for him to board the plane.  No one talked.  Even the little nieces and nephews knew something serious was happening, so they just clung to the skirts of their mothers or rested on their hips. When the plane took off in the air everyone waved and must have been thinking, "When will we ever see each other again?" 

Was John Peter Moerschall’s mom also wondering that question? Did she feel like they had said the last spoken words they would ever say to each other?   

When the plane was just a speck beyond the clouds, we gathered the children and headed back to the van. The tears flowed and flowed like we had been at a funeral, and in some ways, we had.

I suspect the experience was a little different for Hipoloito.  Riding in a plane for the first time would have been exciting. The stewardess would have asked him if he wanted earphones while he was trying to figure out how to manipulate the little TV on the back of the seat in front of him. He probably wondered if he had to pay for the coke he was given for free, with ice, even.  Maybe his thoughts lingered on the sad goodbyes but soon he would have been looking ahead to what it would be like in America.   He would attend the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin.  He would be surrounded by deaf people and high tech equipment. He would get to hug his deaf brother who immigrated 6 years ago. Their first hug in 6 years would last long and also be tear-filled.

What does Hipolito’s future hold? Lots of good things. We will miss him.  We already do.  But we know God will be with him, guiding him and beckoning Hipolito to make good choices.

John Peter Moerschall, great great great Grandpa, I wouldn’t be here without the choices you made. Thanks for chasing the dream.

Thank you, Father.

Many of you have been praying for us.  In this blog post I want to show you how God has answered those prayers.

 

We prayed that "the boys" would avoid the temptations that they had, at times, been frequenting.  Now Alejandro (16), Juan (29) and Edgar (18) and Manuel (20) spend time together, playing cards, watching videos, playing soccer, using an internet cafe to facebook to friends, gathering at Juan and Angelica's house just to chat and basically avoiding places where beer and sex is sold.  It's been two months now that they all have chosen to hang together and help each other.  Sometimes Mario is in the group, too. This togetherness has given them strength and courage to face their strongest temptor: Sherwin. Praise God for this answer to prayer.  My prayer now is that they will create a "business" or a volunteer activity that they do with their time to serve others.  Just what that will be, I don't know, but I think God will let them know in a powerful way.  Please pray about this.

 This fuzzy photo from my phone shows another miracle.  This is Morine, who is deaf and watching a sign language video with her mother, and her sister Adrienne. We have been praying since September that her mother would become interested in learning sign language.  In the fall the mother was initially resistant. Morine made sounds (not words) and she hoped Morine would "talk".  As Morine learned more and more signs the mother became more and more aware of how the signs help Morine communicate and help the whole family understand what she is saying. Yet the mother was still not too enthusiastic about learning them herself. The big change came in the beginning of February when the mother started asking what the signs meant that Morine was making.  I took 86 photos of things on their family farm and of all of the relatives. We put the pics in a book and  Morine quickly learned all of the signs.  Now the Mom (goosebumps) has learned them too and wants to teach the rest of her family.  They all live together on a farm with the Grandparents and her husbands brother's family.  Now the Mom is the one encouraging everyone to learn.   This is a picture of the Mom teaching Adrienne some of the signs from the video. Praise God for this big transition.  Pray that the whole family learns and is able to communicate in ASL.

 This is Manuel showing Edgar how to act out the story of Job for Sunday's worship.  We have been praying for Manuel to grow in his role as leader of the Deaf Church.  A couple of times this past week while we are eating dinner or just talking..Manuel has said, "I know, now, that I am called by God to Pastor the church.  I know God has chosen me and has a plan for me."  He said, "Before I thought Nancy was just telling me that but now I know God has called me.  God has shown me with the miracles we have seen, like the miracle of the "Believe" video, and the way he has given me power to remember the stories and sign them clearly. Words and ways to say things just come to me when I preach.  Just many things.  I know God is walking with me. "   The previous Sunday Manuel had preached about Moses. Manuel said Moses was not sure of himself, reluctant to lead, but God showed him miracles to prove to Moses 'I am with you".   Manuel believes at a heart level that God is showing him "signs and wonders" to encourage him that God is with him and will help him.  Thank you Father!  His faith is getting stronger every day.

This is Alva's baby Josue (Joshua) Delina and Alva.  Whew!  We have been praying for Alva for 7 years. If you knew her then and could see her now it would make a Believer of you.  She has been in a tumultous relationship with Sherwin for most of those 7 years. She has two children that she says he fathered. It's all too ugly to put in this blog, but to make a long story short: While Alva was pregnant with baby #2 (Josue), Sherwin was being demonstratively the "boyfriend" of Delina. Ouch! It was a triangle that made Alva hurt everytime she saw Sherwin or Delina.  There were fights and shouting and for a year it was disrupting our fellowship as everyone else was on pins and needles waiting to see how the three would respond to each other or how Alva would deal with Sherwin sitting next to Delina. Throughout that time Alva was determined to stay on the fence by both entertaining the JW and going to Deaf Church.  She refused to make a commitment for Christ.  That changed on New Year's Eve and the weeks following. A few weeks after her brothers prayed for her and several of you as well, she came to the front of the church and said she wanted to stop juggling a lot of beliefs and make a commitment. She's changed immediately.  She's happy.  She has released Sherwin and Delina. At the swimming party she and Delina sat together on the swing and Alva let Delina hold her baby.  Amazing transformation.  Only God could have done that. Thank you, Father!

We prayed for the Holy Spirit to fill our fellowship with Unity. Thank you, Father.

Teaching Makes Me Smile

This is a picture of me teaching Glenford.  He is 4 years old and deaf.  He has a wonderful mother who continues to teach him during the rest of the day and rest of the week when I am not in his home. (He also has a terrific father who loves him and aunts and brothers and sisters and cousins who are quick to give him a hug.)  Glenford likes to tease and laugh.  He loves "hiding-can you find it?" games.  Glenford started out in the preschool at St Peters but he could not follow the directions and was destructive, throwing things, breaking things and laughing about it.  It was also hard for him to sit for the circle time like the other children.  After giving it a try for about a month we decided that maybe I should teach him in his home and help him to learn the skills that are needed to be able to function in a classroom.  We got him a table and some toys to help him learn to sit down to do an activity and to put it away when he is done with it. He still has destructive tendencies... and is easily distracted, scratching an "owie" or his head, or his leg or looking outside when we try to get his attention. But, he is showing improvement in signing words in imitation. Sometimes he shows he understands the sign when I sign a word like I am signing "One" in the photo.  Then he finds the picture that I sign.  He is just beginning to show this kind of "receptive" language. He also has a few signs he can make without a prompt (bird, fish, "gimme").

The steps and progress are slow, much slower than I expected from this very alert child. Yet, I think once we get him to focus on the teaching activity instead of a multitude of distractions (both real and made up), he will begin to learn more quickly.  Please pray for him and his whole family.
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Just a note about God's hand on this family.  One day in December I went to the house and saw the father was there. He was laid off from his job a few weeks before Christmas. Money was already tight and this meant the family was really stuck...with no food for several days. Literally, their cupboards were bare. The father had tried to find a job looking at the usual places but every place was full.  The next week when I went to the house to teach Glenford, the father was there again and this time he was reading a Bible.  I asked him what he was reading and he said he was looking for a verse to help him.  I had just read Psalm 37 in my devotion and told him to look it up:

Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.  (Psalm 37:5)

We prayed briefly and he left while I taught Glenford with the mother.
The next time I returned, he said that when he went out, he walked the street to find a road crew.  When he happened on one, he asked if he could work with them.  The foreman said, "Yes." and from that moment on he had a job.  He has even been moved from "temporary" to "permanent"... which means he can keep his job even after the pre-election road clearing blitz.  Praise God for his compassion, mercy and love on all of his children.

What do you when the electricity goes off?

Merry Christmas!

What do YOU do when the electricity goes off?

 

The electricity goes off in Belize quite often.  Sometimes it is for a few minutes and other times it is for 6 to 8 hours.  Last week the electricity went off at 7 PM just after we had finished eating. It was total darkness.  Sulmi and I felt our way to the bathroom where I keep flashlights and candles on the shelf.  While I got busy lighting candles... Sulmi did the dishes "by flashlight".  The picture doesn't really portray the moment because the flash in my camera made it look bright.  Imagine this with just the light of that little blue flashlight under her chin. I laughed thinking...who does dishes by flashlight?

Later we tried to sign in the darkness by the light of the candles. Sulmi liked the smell of this "Christmas Cookie" candle and held it up to her nose.  It lit her face in the darkness.  About ten minutes later the power came back on.  I thought, ah shucks...this was fun :-)  Sulmi thought I was weird and walked into the living room to watch TV.  Hmmmm... I wish they would cut the power in the evening more often.

An-ti-ci-pa-tion It's making me wait!

 

When the girls came home from school I had their Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree. They noticed them right away and sat down under the tree to look at them.  They started shaking them and trying to guess what was inside.  Because Gineli was leaving on Friday for the island with her sister, we decided to open presents on Friday morning.  I made French Toast and we invited Kristel to come over to open hers at the same time. 

Gineli and Sulmi sign, "What's this?  What's inside?"

When I was a little girl my mother used to keep the presents in the attic, where my bedroom was. Once or twice I went into the storage room to see them...to gawk at the shopping bags and to wonder...but I never peeked. Surprising, huh?  I like the anticipation, the guessing, the waiting and the surprise.  It was fun to watch the girls guess... and to each guess I replied, "Hmmm could be."