Easter

I love Holy Week. My sisters and 7 of our friends studied the 7 last word of Jesus from the cross the six weeks prior to Easter.  It kept me meditating on the sacrificial work that Jesus did on the cross.  The regular emails and thoughts from my sisters and friends put my attitude in the right place to celebrate Easter.  Thank you sisters! Thank you Jesus!

Maundy Thursday

We had 22 Deaf people at my house for the Lord's Supper.  We worshipped in song and prayer  and then Manuel led a sermon explaining the significance of the passover and the meaning of the bread and "wine"(grape juice).  Unfortunately I don't have pictures of our worship service because sometimes it feels that taking pictures ruins the worship moment.  BUT after the service we had a light meal (sandwiches and veggie dip) and I took some pictures to remember the day.

Misael and Rayan eat while watching Alejandro tell a story.

Felipe and Martha, aren't they a nice looking couple?  He's hard of hearing and she is more deaf and knows how to sign.  This was the first time they worshipped with us.  I hope they come back again.

Yelitza, her daughter Kristen, Alva and Alma.  This is the first time Alma worshipped with us, too.  Elizanie lives right next door to Alma and has been helping her learn ASL. Alma never went to school .  That sounds surprising but actually it is pretty typical of all of the Deaf in Belize over 25 years old. I love Alma's warmth for people. She's been coming to Girl's Night.

These three children belong to Selena.  Angelica is helping to get the children set up with food.  She is often thoughtful like that.

Good Friday Procession

 The Catholic Church has a procession through town that goes passed re-enactments of the 15 stages of the cross.  About 2000 people start at the Catholic church. As we walked the 2 miles we gained another thousand people along the route. When we arrived at one of the stations, there was a group of people reading a prayer or verses or giving an explanation of the station.  It's a nice reflective somber event.

Easter Sunday

Manuel told the Easter story with pictures (our projector had broken the week before  :-(

It was a great retelling and he asked enough questions that everyone was involved.  After the lesson, the six who came to my house on Saturday to practice, gave an Easter drama.  It was nice.

We lost power in the middle of it, which often happens on Sundays, but it didn't matter or affect the mood.  Some deaf traveled from far away to be part of our worship.