The Annual School Fair

St. Peter's Anglican School holds a carnival-type fair in the end of February every year.  It raises money for the school.  Each class sets up some booths from which they sell food or have games children can play.

About 3 days prior to the fair, I took the Deaf class to the garden and we transplanted some of the smaller plants into pots to sell.  We sold rosemary, aloe vera, macolito (a soft potato-like vegetable plant), mint, epezote (a medicinal plant used to rid people of worms), a yellow iris flower, cilantro, cucumber seedlings,  and zinnia seeds.  It's time to get the St. Peter's Anglican Seed Company up and running again because we sold all but 4 of the seed packets.

In the picture below three of the Deaf boys are manning the PLANT table.  They are squinting because it was a beautiful day with lots of sun.  The temperature was about 90.

Misael, on the left is my garden protege.  He is always ready to help and seems to intuitively know how to do many things.  When we transplanted the seedlings he knew to put the plant in the pot and sprinkle the soil around it, rather than push the seedling into a small hole.

 Sulmi's regular ed Standard 5 (7th grade) class had several booths.  I offered to set up a ball toss for Mr. Valdez' class. Two of the girls from the class manned it.  They did a great job!!! I kept asking if they wanted to be relieved, and they said, "No, we like this."  They earned $26 for the school.  Every little bit helps toward the goal of each class earning $400.  Mr. Valdez' big money earner was a pony ride.   :-)  He had two horses at a dollar a ride.  Many of the children had never ridden on a horse before.  Everything went smoothly.  I thank God for a good day.

Ooops Virginia Mennonite Missions Alternative Giving Catalog

So sorry I never posted the link to the "Alternative Giving Catalog" that I mentioned in the previous post.  I never thought to make the link available here.  Should of done that last November.   The "catalog" is part of  Virginia Mennonite Missions' way of allowing people to give to the work of their missionaries for specific items that will help them minister.  So those of you who are wondering what that is about can click here to see the 2012 catalog. It's over, but if you are curious...this page will help you see what it is about.

When it comes around next year I will try to remember to make a link available here so you can participate if you want. It's a Christmas thang....

Thanks to all who contributed!

Thanks!

A BIG thank you to the people who contributed to Virginia Mennonite Missions Alternative Giving Catalog this past Christmas.  Some of you gave money so that we could make dental health kits for everyone in our Deaf Church. Below you will see Brittany and Angelica making the kits. We passed out toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental floss to over 25 families.  There is enough money for us to do it all over again in 6 months.   Thanks You!

 

Some of you gave money for seeds and starter plants for the school garden. Below you will see Misael and Elizanie (both Deaf), planting tomato plants that we bought with the money you gave us.  We also bought fertilizer, parsley, and many packets of seeds.   Thanks for sharing with us!

 

Inconsistent Electrical Power and Internet

This morning I woke up to a power outage.  No electricity is something that we deal with maybe once a month here.  Recently it has been less frequent than that.  Sometimes it is more frequent.  Living in the US I take electricity for granted.  Just when I start to get used to expecting electricity here, I am reminded it is not a "given".  I started to think about what to do for my sermon tomorrow without a power point.  Preaching to our group without visuals is tough...Some know only a few signs.  The pictures really help make the connection.  So I got up to read my Bible and pray and .... 10:20 the electricity came on.  (Later Brittany told me she had heard some teachers talking about how it would come back on at 10:00.   So it wasn't miraculous but it sure was convenient.)  Just when I was starting my "we have electricity" celebration I realized we still did not have internet.  Hmmmm
My internet is always cutting off.  I think there are too many people connected to the line on my street?  I don't really know why, but we often have a problem.  Brittany wanted to check email and blog.  We decided to go to the school library and use the internet there.  Shoot.  They didn't have a connection either.   Next stop was New Balance restaurant...nope they were closed.  Last stop: the Maya restaurant.  The waiter assured us the connection was working...but we could not get it to work.  We could connect to their wireless but our computers said that there was no internet access.  Hmmmm.   With apologies for not buying anything  (yikes) we left and decided to just come home.  Both of us remarked how very dependent our lives are on internet.  Brittany said that without internet her list of things she had to do today dwindled to almost nil.
I was still thinking that I wanted to create a power point sermon with images.  I wondered how I could do that.

We decided to ask Kristel's mother if we could use their internet because they have a different server.  Maybe theirs was working.   I can pick up their wireless at my house if I have their password.  Camy generously gave me her password and I set up outside where I could pick it up with two bars. Not bad.  Phew!   I set up the fan, a table, a chair and had a nice view of the garden and all the people passing by.  What a comfy place to spend a Saturday afternoon in front of the computer!  It all worked out.  Praise God.

Getting to know the OW Hospital

UPDATE ON EDGAR: Edgar came home today! He's a little bit better.  I'm glad he is out of the hospital.

Edgar and his mom watching a movie on the DVD player.

The hospital in Orange Walk is a scary place.  On Monday I took Edgar and his mother to the hospital to find out why he has lost 30 pounds, has no appetite, and feels very weak.  My job was to give support and translate for Edgar. We arrived at 7:00 AM. At 7:30 we got a ticket (#11).  So there were 10 people ahead of us. We waited in plastic chairs in a crowded room where everyone around us is coughing and sick with something...I wished I had a mask.  At  11:30 we finally saw a doctor. The doctor poked a little and asked questions and then sent Edgar to the emergency ward to have his blood drawn and an x-ray of his liver. The Dr. never told us what she thought it was.  I think they are used to not explaining. The nurse took his blood ...not wearing gloves and not washing his hands between patients. Edgar was told to lie down on a bed with a soiled sheet.  We waited for the blood test results.  He was told not to eat or drink anything. At 2:30 the nurse came in and said he has the results of the x-ray and blood but we have to wait to see a doctor. Just about that time two people came into emergency with head wounds and gushing blood.  It took 4 people to sew them up and try to stop the blood flow.  Then someone else came in with a machete wound on the top of his head.  There wasn't a doctor free until 5:10.  When the doctor spoke to the mother he never explained the tests...he just said Edgar has "low blood". A lot of people here go to the hospital and the diagnosis is "low blood" (???) I think he probably has Hepatitis A. You just kind of get treated.  No one does much explaining.

At 6:00 Edgar was wheeled over to be admitted in the Hospital Ward.  There is one room for men (6 beds), one for women, and one for children.  There is one room they call ICU, one private room, and the isolation room for people with extremely contagious diseases like AIDS.    After Edgar was situated and eating something the hospital provided, I left.  The next morning when I returned he said the man in the bed next to him died in the middle of the night.  The family was called and came to pray for him and the hospital staff tried to clean up the diahhrea and vomiting. Edgar was "sleeping" three feet away. EWWW. 

  I asked for a pillow and they said they did not have one for him...but he had clean sheets.   Today I noticed a pillow on his bed.  I guess they cleaned them and he got one ...this his 4th day in the hospital.  Still I wonder if I would sleep on it.

So how is Edgar?  He is still weak and tired.  He is still thin, but he is more alert.  His palms are yellow and his eyes are white as if the veins are very dried out or gone, but he is definitely on the mend.  They are giving him a dextrose drip, along with food.  He is getting a vitamin drip (potassium and saline and other things).  I think they are giving him electrolytes because that is typical of this hospital.  He also has some antibiotics in the drip and oral iron pills. They said they will give him blood tonight. I dunno.  I'm not a doctor.  I don't know what's right.  I just know this hospital is a very very scary place.  I brought my DVD player and some movies for him to watch to help pass the time.  He liked that.  And I pray with him.  He likes that too.  The doctors said he can go home on Saturday. Please pray Edgar's body is able to kick whatever he has.  Thanks

God Answers Prayer

Our Church Sunday January 25, 2013

I've been praying for our church family that we all would grow more mature in our faith walk. I've wanted to have a series of lessons on spiritual gifts and serving Jesus, but if they are just coming to church to hang out with other deaf people, the jobs that they are given will be "duties", not an opportunity to give part of themselves to the work of the Lord. They will think the job interferes with their goal of socializing.  I don't want them to grudgingly feel obligated to help in some way. I want them to WANT to help so that in helping they are giving back to God.

I've also been praying that they learn to read God's Word. Since the new year began I have been passing out a list of daily Bible readings. These are thematically based on the readings we used for  Friday and Saturday night Bible studies.  Not many are reading the verses, yet, but I am confident if I don't give up, God will add to the number of people who are reading their Bibles and praying.  Spiritual maturity has to begin with listening and talking to God. I see some progress. Last Sunday Martha stood up at the testimony time and paraphrased one of the verses she had read that week.  Today Alva stopped by my house to get an NCV Bible.  It's hard for many to read anything, but just one verse a day and to pray, I think is doable.

About a month ago Phyllis and Galen Groff told me that the Mennonite Church in Hopkins is growing because, they said, the pastor is praying. I thought, of course the pastor is praying...
but I wasn't praying enough.  After seeing the number of men dwindle we got the women together to pray specifically for some of the men.  Some of us even fasted.   God is faithful  He wants us to pray because he wants us to know his power and love.  Otherwise, we think when good things happen it is just coincidence.  If we pray and see a difference we can say, "Look what God has done!"  It gives him glory and recognizes His faithfulness. So I continue to pray and testify to God's answers.

Please pray with us that we will all mature in faith.  So that next year when we celebrate 2014 we will look back and say, "Look how far we've come!".

Alma lighting a candle as part of our worship on Sunday.

I realllllly wanted to use helium balloons but I couldn't think of anywhere in Orange Walk that sells them. We have been talking about forgiving one another. This last Sunday's sermon was based on Matthew 5:21-25, the passage that is familiar because of the line "Leave your gift at the altar and go make peace with your brother."  I tried to talk about anger and conflict resolution. Part of conflict resolution is eventually "letting go" of past hurts and injustices and choosing to go on from this point where we are right now. That's why I wanted the balloons. Gee, the symbolism would have been great: all of us standing outside the church clutching our hurts and letting them go....up to Heaven.  Instead, though, I invited anyone who wanted prayer to come forward and I prayed for them to have the courage to face the conflict and talk about it with the person they were mad at....to try to resolve it.  Those who came forward were invited to light candles as a symbol of giving the conflict to God, or the hurt, or frustration.  It was just a beginning. The whole idea of resolving conflict instead of complaining about the person to a third party, or denying the conflict even exists is new.   Evenso, I am " confident of this, that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

Kristel's Quinceanera

                                    Last Sunday we celebrated Kristel's Quinceanera.  Her family chose to have a traditional ceremony that recognized that Kristel is now a young woman and no longer a child. She danced in a formal way with various boys because she is now "allowed to date",  and she made a public commitment to follow Jesus .  It began with a worship service at our church.  Kristel and her court of 4 boys and 4 girls as well as her parents and her godparents, processed into the church.  Everyone was dressed in matching purple dresses that were made by a neighbor.  The beginning of the ceremony resembled a wedding march.

 

The worship service included songs signed by Deaf friends, an opportunity for people to come forward to share a memory of Kristel when she was younger, a dream, or a compliment and the last section where Kristel confessed her faith and promised to try to make God choices and follow Jesus.  This part of the ceremony was followed by a commitment to purity and being given a purity ring by her mother.

 

This is Kristel and her court outside of the church after the service.

When the church service was over we went to Crystal Palace (a huge reception hall) which was decorated beautifully with purple and white sways of cloth and balloons.  At the reception Kristel's court processed in again with their procession dance, then they danced together symbolically with each boy having a chance to dance with Kristel.  At the end of the dance Kristel danced with her father and then others. 

 

We ate lots of different traditional foods: pabil, cerviche, rice and beans with beef and chicken.  Eventually Kristel cut her elaborate cake that was made by her sister-in-law.

 It was a night Kristel will remember forever. 

Note: Brittany also blogged about this event with terrific pictures and more details, if you want to see more go to her blog at http://brittanylentz.wordpress.com/

The party was fun but the part I enjoyed watching the most was getting the girls ready for the big event. They had first measurements and then fittings for their dresses. Sulmi had a pedicure, got her hair done, had the haridresser put on her make-up.  They felt as pretty as princesses.  It was fun to see that confidence in all of the girls.  Below are a few of the getting ready pics.

Yikes! They are growing up so fast!

New Year's Eve

Several years ago I started the tradition of having a New Year's Eve party at my house as an alternative to what many do here, which is to gather with friends to drink whole bottles(plural) of rum (usually mixed with Coke). Because some of our young adults find that is a huge temptation, I thought having a party might show them that fun can be had without the rum.

Our party started at 8:00PM and continued til midnight. We had about 15 people (mostly the young, singles). Everyone laughed and became involved in the "Minute-to-Win-It" games, eating snacks and pizza and chatting. When one boy showed up late, a little drunk (or maybe very drunk) I realized that their attempts to resist temptation have to come from within them with dependence on the Holy Spirit.  Each one has to choose to invite God into his decision-making or run helter-skelter doing whatever feels cool.  As much as I would like to somehow manipulate the decision-making by throwing a party, etc., ultimately the choice comes from each of them.

Even though I was forced to realize that I really cannot prevent anyone from falling, it was good to see that the boy who was drunk, came anyway.  It was good to see 14 of our deaf members make a choice to stay alcohol free that night.  It was also wonderful to have fun together in a relaxed playful way.  Here are some pics:

 

"Marshmallow Toss"

 "S-Turn"

 "Baby Blockin'"

 

"Baby Blockin'"

 "Blow Hard"

 "Hangover"

 Breakfast puzzle

 "Nutstacker"

 "Noodling Around"

 "Hangnail"

 Elisabeth doing "A Bit Dicey."

 Joshue slept through all of the noise.

 This game is called "Defy Gravity".  We did it as teams.  After the games we went to the park to light the packs of cherry bombs Alejandro brought and shine the light wands that Sulmi got for Christmas.  Happy New Year everybody!!!