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!

OUR HOUSE... IS A VERY VERY VERY FINE HOUSE...

This is the little house we have ended up calling home. It's PERFECT: although Eric wishes the rim weren't pink! ha ha ha

But you seriously can NOT complain about the view! Now... we have cleared all of the grass away, so it's just sand in front of the house, and we of course burned the trash pile so that it wasn't such an eyesore. This is a beautiful thing to come home to after a long day in the ministry.

One of the first projects that the new house was to paint the slats on the windows and put up screens to keep out the bugs! Screening our bedroom was the first priority, unfortunately we haven't managed to find time to finish the rest of the house yet... so our ritual every evening at dusk is to run around shutting all the windows in the rest of the house.... let's just say when we forget the ritual... we pay! Hopefully we will get a day next week to finish them so that we can get the breeze at night without the itchy aftermath!

Yep, Marlin came over to help! And if you look closely you'll see that he discovered bubble wrap! ha ha ha That stuff translates to loads of fun even when you're deaf! He was laughing out loud! HE must have been able to feel the vibration???

I never knew this stuff existed before Hopkins. EXPANDING FOAM: my new addiction! Mom, it's better that liquid nails! ha ha ha Eric has methodically been "sealing" all the gaps and holes in a greater effort to keep out "unwanted guests" a.k.a. those with more than 2 legs.

Here I am, painting the wooden slats on the windows.... try balancing on a ladder in the sand... ha ha ha Eric kept hearing, "Whoa... BANG" ha ha ha but I never fell off! By the way mom, child labor did me good! :)

AND THE PROJECT BEGINS...

 You will soon see what this lot turns in to....

With no heavy equipment... it really felt like we just moved piles of dirt from here to there day after day... P.S. Janice, I am now know what it feels like to "shift dirt" all day :)

Try digging a trench in soft sand... the more you dig, the faster it fills up!

This is the most popular form of transportation for the workers... some of the studies ride their bike 6 miles to get to the work site early, work ALL DAY, and then ride their bikes home at dusk when all the bugs are out on the the flooded, rocky, dirt roads... now that's appreciation!

Aaron, and Paul (one of the elders in the hall from the UK) are the only 2 with trucks... so needless to say, their short-beds were getting a work out! And yes, riding in the bed of a truck is a legitimate form of transportation here...

"LOVE IS THE GREATEST TEACHER"

As many of you who have visited Belize know... there are no sound ordinances in the country. In other words... you are allowed to blast whatever type of music you want, or light fireworks, or have a HUGE bash whenever you are in the mood... so ironically the neighbor to the new Kingdom Hall LOVES the "Jesus" radio station! ha ha ha So as we're digging and working for Jehovah, Christmas song after Christmas song comes blasting over the property: "White Christmas", "All I Want for Christmas is You" (thank you Mariah Carey :)) I wish you could have actually heard it in the background of this video... but I think the wind blocked it out.
Oh well, if you even go out of your house between Nov 27th and Jan 1st... you all know the tunes anyways...
 :)

So let's make this post about the main boy digging in the video, Marlin.
The Dushey's had some friends come down a couple weeks ago from Oregon. They are in the ASL congregation so of course, they were interested in finding the deaf people in the village. Oddly enough, the couples that had been serving for years here had never heard of anyone deaf in the village. Dane and Sloan were a bit bummed, but decided to do search work anyways.

Tuesday after Dane and Sloan arrived, Francisco (the guy that sells vegetables out of the back of his Dodge) comes to April's house for her to stock up for the week. This day he had a little helper with him (Marlin), and April of course was trying to ask him questions about the vegetables, and he wasn't answering. "What a rude kid, " April thought... and then Francisco smirks and says in his Mexcian accent, "he can't hear you he's deaf". Um, did Jehovah plan that one or what?
So long story short... Dane and Sloan spent the next 10 days with Marlin. Everyday he came to wake them up at their cabana at 7am, they went fishing, snorkeling, walking around, and studied multiple times a day with help from the videos so easily downloaded from the website. He attended every meeting, and of course we all ended up staring at the translating instead of the speaker... it could bring tears to your eyes.
Unfortunately Dane and Sloan had to return home... but Marlin continues to come to meetings, help at the Kingdom Hall build, and follow April around to all of her bible studies! :) It's true, that even though he can't hear, he feels the LOVE among Jehovah's people... and it has proved to be the best teacher! (John 13:35)

The other night we heard a knock at the door, and as we're living in a new place with minimal security... Eric grabs the machete, and I'm hollering, "Who is it?" No answer. But the knocking persists....
As Eric gruffly opens the door... there is Marlin, with his BIG white smile against the pitch black night sky... holding up a book called, "The Joy of Signing"... we could have cried! He wants to communicate! :) So we're trying our best to learn a few things to chat with him... he seems to be loving every pathetic attempt we all make. :)

CREOLE MEETING!

Last Sunday Eric and I got to hear our first public talk in Belizean Creole! It was given by one of the new Special Pioneers assigned to Hopkins named Yonni Coke. Our Mexican Circuit Overseer calls him Johnny... for anyone that loves Latinos :) By the way, sorry I couldn't figure out how to turn this video right side up...

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO LOVING A MAN WITH A BUS PASS?

We started out the 55 mile journey to Belmopan by bus. Now the bus leaves Hopkins only TWICE a day: 7am or 2pm. Needless to say we were on the 7am bus. By the time we actually got on the Hummingbird Highway, every seat was taken, and the whole middle aisle was filled with standing passengers, the three of us included. But we didn't care... because our truck was in Belmopan... and having a truck means INDEPENDENCE and FREEDOM!

We finally arrived in Belmopan... let's just say we should have taken the Express bus, and not the one that stops for every living thing on the side of the road. When you want to get off the bus... you holler out, or you bang on the roof. If the path to the front door is clogged... you climb over all the passengers, and suitcases piled in front of the emergency exit at the back of the bus, unhook the latch, and jump down to freedom. Eric caught on quite quick! :)

"Is our truck supposed to sound like a lawn mower honey," I asked respectfully. "Man, this thing has no guts," he blurts out obliviously. "Wanna taste the rainbow," Azelia says as she holds up the Skittles bag. "What's that noise," we all say in unison....

A picture is worth a thousand words... but in this case it's only worth four: WE HAVE NO TRUCK! After finally making it home in a truck that would not switch out of first gear, we figure out what really happened: the truck was lent out with out permission before we arrived to a couple of "responsible" guys from Arizona who drove it with no radiator fluid, or transmission fluid until the engine seized and then they conveniently caught a flight home where they arrived as celebrity "need greaters"... ha ha ha wonderful! Needless to say this was NOT a repair we were willing to pay for... so we cut our losses and we take the bus.

But if we had a truck... we would have missed out on seeing April's study Cheryl studying her Watchtower on the way to town! I must not fail to mention that there were four baptized Witnesses on this bus with NO literature! ha ha ha Jehovah gave us a little smack down with Cheryl's good example.

We missed the last bus in to Hopkins (easy to do). So we we got dropped off at the junction with all of our wares, and began walking the 4.5 miles thinking that surely a truck driving by would pick us up before we knew it. Conveniently the first ruck that we hitch-hiked in broke down... and the second one came when we were only about 1/2 a mile from town... we felt justified to eat pasta that evening.