Mennonite Fellowship: Sunday, June 7

We started the day with an American-style breakfast at the Aguada: about $15 BZ total. It was very good!















The service at the Spanish Lookout Mennonite Church began at 9:00 a.m. and we made it just in time. Women sat on the right, men on the left. We found the computer monitors so we could follow along hear and there as the translation was typed. A few hymns were in English, some familiar, from their “Christian Hymnal” They also had a German hymnal; I recognized the tune to one of the German hymns! All the singing was acapella. The devotional and messages from the two guest speakers were mostly in German, but they occasionally read a story in English. The first guest speaker, from Nova Scotia, was one of the Mennonite people we saw at DFW and on our flight into Belize! There was a clock right above the pulpit on the back wall, and many Mennonites wore watches. Up until that point, I had seen very few clocks in Belize! There was no A/C in the church, but lots of fans (which they turned off whenever they opened up the service for sharing from the congregation), a nice sound system, and hearing devices available. At a specific time after the devotional, when the teachers got up to head back to Sunday School, then sections of children left in groups. If we could have understood German, we would have heard the cues, but how they knew when to get up seemed a bit mysterious to us at the time! They all came back later in the service.

Once the service was over, everyone exited quietly but lingered on the patio for fellowship. We received two offers for lunch that day, and one for lunch the next day! We accepted Peter & Esther Reimer's invitation that day. They have four children who are very nice and quiet. Esther's sister was also there, she was finishing teaching a semester in Spanish Lookout, then returned to Nova Scotia where she teaches in a deaf school. We had a delicious meal of rice and beans, gravy, salad (coleslaw), chicken, and rolls, with homemade cookies for dessert. We had a nice talk. After lunch, Dean helped Peter with his computer internet problems. (Having BTL for an ISP seems to create frequent problems, getting to certain sites can be challenging at least.) I helped dry dishes with the ladies. In addition to Peter's pastorate, bookstore, and tours, the Reimers also have milk cows, butcher hens, laying hens, and a garden. They have a nice house, full with all six of them. They have electricity, two chest freezers, a refrigerator, a small oven/gas range, a nice bathroom, no A/C, no dishwasher.

Dean talked a lot about America and technical advances, both in the present and future. Everyone says we are very wise to be visiting Belize as we consider a possible move. We took our leave at about 2:00 p.m. There was a wedding at the church at 2:30 that we were invited to attend, but we opted not to.

I really wanted to visit Xunantunich, but the hand cranked ferry to cross the Mopan River closed at 4:00 p.m. So we drove through San Ignacio, Benque Viejo, to the Guatemala border (pictured at right), and back. The river was a place to play, do the laundry, and wash the car. We saw a man walking his bike and leading a horse along the side of the road (we had seen a boy doing this before). We stopped at Benny's for dinner and it was nice. If we hadn't heard that it was a good place, we never would have made a point of finding it! We had to wind our way through tiny side streets, following little signs. At one point, we had to stop and wait for some police action to be resolved ahead of us. The hauled a man off in the back of the police pickup. (At least these cops had a ride; apparently many are on foot and have to hitchhike just to get back home.) Dean told me to take a picture, and just as I did, the cop glared back at us. For a split second we thought we might get in trouble, but he turned back to get into the truck.

Loose chicks and dogs wandered in and out of Benny's. They had a trampoline in the back as part of a play area. I can only imagine the fuss that would raise back here in the states! A band was practicing nearby, so we had nice music to eat by. It cost about $24 BZ for good food and Cokes. As a side note, the waiters didn't hold plates until all the orders were ready – so far most restaurants brought out whichever one was ready first.

Many stores close on Sundays.

We began to think that our next step should be participating in a mission team to Belize. January or February would be great! : ) Because we avoided the cayes and other big tourist spots, we never got a romanticized, tropical paradise impression of Belize. Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful, in a suffocatingly hot and humid way! But to move there? We would need God's specific leading and a source of income – support as missionaries or ?? It seemed challenging to make a living in Belize. We would miss family terribly, have to give up a lot, and endure the heat.

After relaxing in our room (and watching “Get Smart”), we had some chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream at the Aguada's restaurant. ($4 BZ each) Yum! We soaked our feet in the pool afterwards and watched the frogs nearby (and a local cat). Geckos hung our near our room each night.

Dean though he felt a quake around 11:15 p.m. that night. I though I heard something about it on the news on the radio the next morning – a 5.3?