THE DAY BEFORE...

Harry Ashton, a young brother from England serving in the Hopkins Congregation. He is the first homegrown Ministerial Servant in Hopkins! He is a GREAT brother... everybody LOVES him, and he makes GREAT nachos! Here he and Eric are putting Liquid Nails behind the sink in the bathroom to keep it from wobbling. Can you believe this is the day before the first Sunday meeting?

The finished podium.

Lacy, Carole and Lindsey go to work trying to get any last minute over spray off the floor.

April was trying to decide where to hang the mirror in the bathroom... and I caught her in the act :)

The guys downstairs laid the concrete walkway between the 2 staircases. Can you see the the person in the concrete is barefoot? That's the Belizean way...

A trial run at what we were going to write in the fresh cement... but somehow all the different names just weren't cutting it...

I was asked to write something timeless and classic...

It now reads: Hopkins Congregation 12-31-2011

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

The last three days before the first meeting were INTENSE! It was all about the finishing work...

 Eric's trade came in handy to say the least :)

Stefan, a Norwegian brother who came with his family for 2 months came to our rescue! His experience with carpentry and building homes in Norway came in so handy... it was definitely not a coincidence that he was there right when we needed him! This is him putting together the stage... to help the short brothers with their audience contact :) ha ha ha

So fun to have Will Shin in town during the finishing stages...

Aaron received the year text from the branch... it was official!

This is our wonderful young pioneer sister Azula Perez. She got to work sanding the stage to prep it for staining... Take a look at the floor. In the States that beautiful hard wood floor wood cost a fortune! But here in Belize... it comes standard!

This is Marisha. Recently appointed as a publisher at 14 yrs old...  for the month of December she got more than 14 hours in the ministry, and that doesn't include the time she spent helping on the Kingdom Hall! Here she is working with Cris to build a podium.

Staining the stage.

 

 

 

 

IT'S WHAT IS ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS

We had done so much work on the outside of the hall to the property... that it was now time to work on the inside. First things first:caulk EVERY seam!

This metal frame is the start of the partition that soon blocked off the bathroom. The little work station in the back left was where I cut the pipe to size... Yoni trusted me with the pipe cutter! The little boy in the picture is Christian Aibengbae, originally from Dallas. He's 6 yrs old... he's supervising :)

While the girls filled gaps with silicone caulking... Eric and TJ went to work with the spray foam! There was NOTHING getting in here that wasn't welcome!

Yoni, Hopkins' new special pioneer, and our fearless leader on the project.

In the middle is Don Niebrugge (probably butchered the spelling). He was mentioned many times in the 2010 yearbook about Belize. He has over 35 years of experience living in Belize with his wife as a special pioneers... the wisdom oozes out of his pores! 

BLURBS FROM HOPKINS

This is Sue Rose and her bible study Carmelita. Sue is originally from Tunisia, and grew up in France. She moved to London with her husband Paul (introduced in an earlier post)... so imagine her awesome accent! I LOVE HER! Her study Carmelita cannot read, but is soaking up the truth from the Listen to God Brochure. Her children sit in on the study most of the time, and they answer too. Did you notice they're having their study on a random set of concrete stairs in her front yard?

Same scene... just different cropping I guess?

This is Ebony. She is 11 yrs old, and comes to ALL the meetings by herself... on foot! While her bible teacher is out of town I have the privilege of studying with her, and we make an evening of it. She comes over around 5pm, we eat dinner, we study, and then we play games, Eric included :) This particular study was on a Saturday when she came over to study for the meeting so that we could prepare simple answers for her to participate. This is her practicing the Kingdom song we were going to sing at the meeting the next day... SO CUTE! She sings at the top of her lungs at the meeting, her zeal is amazing!

This is baby Sanjay. Look out... Azelia is NOT coming home! ha ha ha

This is baby Sanjay's real mom :) Her name is Rosie. She is studying with Sue Rose. We were studying about the ransom with her the other day, and as we used the pictures in the Listen to God Brochure to illustrate what Adam lost that caused us to need the ransom... she asked, "Where did they get those clothes from?" (You know, the picture of them being expelled form the garden of Eden wearing skin garments). So we turned to Gen. 3: 21 to show her that Jehovah clothed them. Then Rosie said, "That is how we know that we worship a loving God... he didn't send them out naked to be ashamed, even though they deserved it!" I could not believe the connection she was making... I NEVER got that from reading that verse, but she was absolutely right! The studies here are SO encouraging!

Can you see the 3 guys on the scaffolding? Which one do you think is Belizean?

She's got the knack!

The Belizean way to move scaffolding...

Do you think this is RBC approved? ha ha ha I took the picture but did not stick around to see if they fell...

SOGGY & HAPPY

:

It was a Friday... the Sittee River day... and for those of you who forgot what Sittee River Day means... it means a 45 to 60 min bike ride to the service meeting. That means leaving Hopkins on bike at 8am. Well, we had a study in Hopkins at 9:30 so we decided we would meet the group in Sittee River around 11:30. The morning study went well, and we were now off to Sittee... and wouldn't you know the second we were out of town (too far to turn back) the heavens opened up with crackling thunder and BUCKETS OF RAIN! ha ha ha We were soaked!

We took shelter under a tree to wait out the storm... but this storm was too big to wait out! It lasted the whole day!

This is a typical scene in Maya territory: a handmade stove (made out of white limestone powder, and the water from washing the corn), with a fire in each hole, and a pot of beans boiling on top... except if you look closely a chicken has jumped up into one of the cooking spots and laid 19 eggs in the warmth :) ha ha ha when I first saw her I thought she was dead!

The same chicken....

Yes, can you tell I couldn't get enough of this chicken?! ha ha ha

While I was going nuts over the chicken, Sue and Azelia were going nuts over the cat... YUCK!

Another typical scene in Maya Center. It's the best territory: you eat while you preach! At various houses in the village you can buy fresh eggs, small sweet bananas, plantains, rice prepared all by hand, corn, oranges, etc. It's wonderful! This lady just hacked down a bunch of small sweet bananas with the machete :) she charged us $5 BZE which is $2.50 US

THE BUILDING ARRIVES!

The sight of it made you want to laugh and cry at the same time... the Mennonites came to deliver the Kingdom Hall right on time!

Ytu and Alberta. Alberta is April's bible study... she just gave her first talk last Wednesday! She has THREE kids and we are the same age! AGH!!!!

This is Sarah, my friend. She is studying with her fleshly half sister who studies with April and was recently baptized... more about Sarah later :)

The happiness is oozing out of their pores!

Did I fail to mention that the Mennonite driving the semi truck was on the phone as he maneuvered the building between the dug out trenches... ha ha ha He was wearing a trucker hat with a plaid shirt, and had the belly to complete the stereotype!

This is the one other truck besides Aaron's.

YAY! What a privilege to be working on this project! And yes by the looks of the concrete mixer in the background... we finally found the right size hitch to get it to the site!

The Kingdom Hall is now on stilts! Little did we know we would spend the net week digging a foot deep and a foot out from all of the stabilizers to lay re-bar and concrete to help secure the place! By the way, my new favorite job is tying re-bar... ha ha ha OCD much?

 Ecclesiastes 5:12- Sweet is the sleep of the one serving...

MEET OUR "FELLOW WORKERS"

This is Crisencio Cho, a newly appointed special pioneer. He speaks Maya Mopan. He and another special, Yoni Cok have been assigned to start a Mayan group sponsored by the Hopkins congregation. Cris (pictured) has only been in the truth for about 4 years, he is 23 years old... and already being used by Jehovah in a big way! He is a wonderful brother... come for a visit and hear his story... you will be blown away! Here, he is setting the fishing line to measure how deep the trench for the fence will go.

Here we are... digging a trench for the fence. As we dug, we smelt poop... yep, I said it... poop. And soon found out that the guys that brought the fill for the land brought cheap stuff (dirt mixed with rotten oranges)... never knew that something that smells so wonderful when fresh, can smell so putrid when dead! Between the smell, and the hard blue clay we had to break up... we had our work cut out for us! Needless to say we could eat whatever we wanted during the digging days... burn those calories baby!

We unloaded concrete block to get ready for the brothers that do masonry to come up from Placencia. Of course the cute girl in the brown shirt and baseball cap is April. For those of you that don't already know her, she and her husband Aaron have been in Belize for 4 years, and were sent from Dangriga (an hour bus ride north) to start a group in Hopkins... and we can definitely say Jehovah has blessed their efforts! There is now a newly appointed congregation here! The petite fire ball in the brown floppy hat is Ytu, a need greater from Northern Belize that moved to Hopkins about 5 months ago. Her name means "Soul Sista"... enough said. The man in the middle that looks like Mr. Bean is the beloved Paul Rose... we call Aaron Paul, as in the apostle, and Paul, Barnabas... he is so good at making the brothers, studies and people in the community feel loved... he and his wife will be sorely missed if they have to return to London.

Here we are again... let's just say this was a big job!

Now for mixing concrete... Long story short the concrete mixer we were supposed to be renting got concrete left in it the day before, so it was out of commission. The back up mixer we went to pick up in Sittee River wouldn't fit on the Aaron's tow hitch... so we rectified the problem by mixing by hand!

The booty shot is Cris, which you met earlier. You have already been introduced to the girl in the brown floppy hat. The woman in the green shirt is Carol Aibaengbee (pronounced A-bang-bay). She is down here with here 3 kids: 14, 10 and 6. She is pioneering, working part-time as a medical transcriptionist and a web page moderator, and home schooling her children! Meanwhile her husband is stuck in Nigeria. He is of Nigerian descent, went back tovisit his brother there, and now the government refuses to let him leave! Jehovah has given Carol remarkable strength and the BEST attitude! We all cannot wait for him to come join us! Hopefully you know who the girl in the striped shirt is :)

The man in the yellow shirt is Yannick Camm. He and his wife are from France, and have been in Belize for 6 years. When they moved here they did not speak English, and seeing them now, you would never know! Yannick is happy go lucky... and they both have a ton of studies. They are leaving January 18th We are going to miss them. . I'm sure you recognize Eric. :) And of course the smiley face at the bottom is Marlin!

Eric and Yannick were asked to make a prototype for a bench to be used in the hall... sad to say... it was broken up and the wood used for something else the next day! ha ha ha

Mixing concrete again... the sister on the left in the navy blue shirt is Shawn. She is April's study, and she just got baptized at the last district convention... with so many obstacles to overcome: internal and external, she is an encouragement to us all!