Hi everyone… yep, we’re still alive and well in Caye Caulker, Belize! If you’ve been checking in here hoping for updates ever since May –  please forgive me. There’s no excuse except a lack of time.

So, the month of June was pretty uneventful (except for Maritza (my study) and Jorge’s (Rich’s study) wedding), mostly spent with Bible studies, catching up on overdue client websites, and frequent dips in the ocean to cool off, it being incredibly hot and humid!

July was much the same as June.

Getting the documents from the sale of our house notarized

August began much the same as June and July, but ended up awesome because our house finally sold after over two years on the market! Closing date was August 30th, and although we didn’t get anywhere near the price we were hoping for, we’re soooo relieved to be free of the financial burden of mortgage payments and unoccupied house insurance… not to mention the worry of leaving it unoccupied for so long! We’re so grateful to the friends who helped with showing the house, keeping an eye on it and packing out the personal items after the sale! Everything was able to be accomplished from here. We got a local notary public to handle the legal papers, etc. and between him and our lawyer back home it went pretty smoothly.

September: As soon as everything was finalized with the house sale we resumed our goal of getting our residency. This consisted of rounding up all the right documents, photo-copies, and 3 trips to Belmopan, the last of which was September 26th, our actual interview with the immigration department which went very well.

Then we had to wait for a phone call to go have a police interview in San Pedro.

An awesome place to eat right on the water at San Pedro

October. The phone call arrived and on October 10th we had our interview with the police. That too went well… we think.  It’s always nice when we’re told to go to San Pedro for things rather than have to go to Belize City or Belmopan as you can see from the picture of where we ate lunch that day 😉

We are now waiting for – hmmm – something –  just not quite sure what at this point. I imagine it will be a phone call telling us to go to Belmopan to pay the fee for residency, which we are still unsure of the amount of. It doesn’t seem to be consistent.. different people get charged different amounts. Some say it’s cheaper for Canadians than Americans, possibly because Belize is part of the Commonwealth… don’t know for sure… we’ll have to wait and see. Our regular pioneer couple (the Falks) finally have their official residency. It took roughly 5 months from the time they submitted their application until it was in their hands. Not bad, considering others have taken up to a year!

October went out with a BANG! – literally – a bang that broke Richard’s arm! You see, Richard’s bike was getting worn out, so a brother in San Pedro gave him his (really awesome 24 speed Univega 900 series with active suspension) mountain bike because he wasn’t using it anymore since he got a motorcycle. So, Richie set to getting it all spruced up  and when he had it all spiffy – new brake cables, chain, etc. etc., he took it for a good spin on the trail down at the far south end of the island (where there’s rarely any people) – well, you all know Richie’s nickname – ‘Jehu’ right? So, he was bootin’ it and came to a bend that he knew he was going too fast to take, but didn’t listen to his own wisdom. He just hoped there was no one coming from the other direction, when BANG! he was lying on the ground with a broken arm. There was someone coming from the other direction – a golf cart! Fortunately he didn’t hit the golf cart…it’s just that when he hit the brakes, the front ones grabbed too well and over the handlebars he went!

You can see the break on the one bone and the dislocation of the other one at the wrist

The driver of the golf cart was a sister’s son out delivering some building material to a new house being built at the south end. He helped Rich up and took him to the clinic and then came to me to tell me the news and drop off the bike (which wasn’t harmed at all btw). The nurse at the clinic said he’d better get to the hospital in Belize City because they can’t set broken bones without an x-ray. Since this all happened in the late afternoon, we only had time to catch a water taxi to the mainland, but we wouldn’t be able to make the last one coming back, so we had to spend the night in Belize City. Brother Hagerty kindly called ahead to a brother in the HLC who would meet us at the hospital and drive us safely to our accommodation. (not safe to be out and about in Belize City at night)

The doc at the hospital wanted to repair the break surgically, but Rich opted for the non-invasive method of just setting the bone in place and applying a cast. He’s going to have quite a handicap for 6-8 weeks which takes in the C.O. visit, the Kingdom News 38 campaign, the district convention (where he is assigned to oversee the attendant department!) He should be rid of it by the time Lara comes for her month visit at the end of January. Good thing, because we are planning lots of activities involving action and water! 😉

We have a busy couple of months coming up starting today as we begin the visit of our C.O. Bro. Mike Lachinski and his wife Heather. It’s great that it coincides with the Kingdom News campaign! Then December 6-8 is our District Convention (yes, we’re almost the last district of the year!). Probably all of you have been enjoying the benefits and releases for quite a while already! January 25th is doubly exciting because it’s the day our granddaughter Lara arrives to stay with us for a whole month! And, it’s the first day of our Circuit Assembly, so at lunch break we will go pick up Lara from the airport (pray that her flight is on time!) then take her back for the afternoon session. This is great because she’ll get to meet lots of Belizean brothers and sisters as well as many who are here serving where the need is great! A perfect introduction for her first trip outside Canada. Sure wish we could see Emma too – it’s been two and a half years since we saw them last!

We were pretty disappointed that the whole English-speaking world tapped into the Annual Meeting and received the new revised Bible except us here in Central America (Belize being the only English speaking country in Central America). We’re really hoping our C.O. will surprise us with some tonight, though it’s pretty unlikely since he was in Mexico last 🙁

Two of my Bible studies continue to progress – Shehady and Maritza both want to study twice a week! Both are further in the Bible Teach book than I’ve ever studied with anyone.

Finally, in case  you weren’t aware, you can sign up to receive a notification whenever I update this blog. It will save you time because you won’t have to come to this page over and over and be disappointed that there are no updates. Don’t worry, it’s not like Facebook where you ‘join’ a social networking site. No one can get to this site unless they’ve been sent a link by me. Rich and I would love for you all to leave us some comments so we know you’ve visited 🙂

So, when I left off in the  last blog, we were looking forward to the month of May being a thrilling whirlwind of theocratic activity… well, it was… for everyone but me 🙁
May 4th we travelled to Ladyville for Rich to give the public talk there, even though Rich was suffering the remnants of a pretty bad cold. That actually went great, but that night we ended up sleeping in a room where mothballs had been placed to ward off creepy crawlies, and if you recall, I have MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity), so needless to say, I was a mess by morning, and for a few days afterward with a migraine and myriad other symptoms. This caused me to miss the first public talk in Caye Caulker given in the Belize Kriol language! (I managed to get a little of it drifting in through the window that faces the Kingdom Hall.) It’s such a cool language to listen to… very entertaining! Directly after recovering from that, I ate a mango that (I discovered after eating half of it) had worms… ewwwww. Anyway, I got quite sick and Rich went to the pharmacist to see what I should do and she gave us both some pills for parasites, which kept me from going anywhere for another couple of days.

Just as I thought things were looking bright, I came down with the cold that Rich had just got over, only much worse. This caused me to miss our Special Assembly Day! I spent that whole week in bed and by then it was only a few days before the C.O. and his wife were to visit our congregation and were slated to stay with us! Surely I would get over it before that! Not! The day arrived and I was worse, so Brother Hagerty (upstairs) offered to take them.

I was also supposed to be auxilliary pioneering for May… this did not happen. I tried to keep my appointment to work with Sister Garcia during the C.O. week… showed up for the arrangement, took her to my bible study and part way through, my coughing hit me so bad, I had to run out of the house hacking and and gasping for air. For a long few seconds I thought I would die as I could not breath in! This was just the beginning of the next 3 weeks of the worst coughing fits of my entire life!

As you may know, we’ve been trying to sell our house back in Nova Scotia. We honestly thought when we left to serve where the need is great in Ecuador that it would only be a matter of months before it would sell. It has now been two full years, and a move to a higher cost of living in Belize, so, our finances have been suffering…to put it mildly. There was no better time than this miserable May to be informed that our insurance company would no longer insure our house because of it being vacant. We had 2 weeks to come up with a solution. Should we find a renter? Are we going to be forced to leave our assignment here? We started looking for another insurance company that would insure the house. We found a few, but the quotes were outrageous! Not even possible for us to afford. We were distraught! The bank would take our house away if we failed to insure it! We were praying fervently for direction, a solution, anything!! It seemed the only solution was to get a renter so I went onto kijiji … and there was what looked like the perfect renter… a retired single senior… non smoker who just wanted to rent for 6 months because she lived in Mexico the rest of the year.

I sent off an email to her and she was thrilled with the pictures and description of our house and made an appointment to view it. The very next day, our friend, neighbour and brother Victor told us he had received a call from a person who wanted to view our house …. to buy!! Arrangements were made. The renter person, in the meantime, drove up, saw how lonely she’d be way out there by herself, and just left a note on the door… didn’t even wait to view the house. The next day the prospective buyers viewed the house, loved it and emailed us an informal offer that was too good to be true. They wanted to pay our full asking price if we would throw in as much of the furniture as possible!! (we had planned on doing that anyway!). We really thought this was the answer to our prayers. But alas! A few days later they requested to have a second viewing, and upon going over the house with a fine-toothed comb, changed their minds 🙁

Back to square one and faced with the monstrous insurance cost, we were once again distraught, not knowing what we could possibly do! Through all the praying this has prompted, one thing has become crystal clear to me: Satan is playing his hand, thinking that we will crumble and lose faith. I have been reminded that sometimes brothers and sisters have had the privilege of showing Satan how wrong he is. They have withstood extreme pressure after losing everything and come up even stronger in faith, and happy knowing they had given Jehovah a reply to Satan’s taunts. Others, like the Apostles Paul and Peter, endured the ultimate trial, being put to death rather than turning against Jehovah! So, even if it seems distressing right now that we *appear* not to be having our prayers answered, I am confidant that Jehovah knows the situation and I’m prepared to take on whatever outcome is over the horizon, “knowing that this tested quality of faith works out endurance”. And like the Watchtower for tomorrow pointed out, “Jehovah is cognizant of those seeking refuge in him” and protects them like “a stronghold in the day of distress.” And so, like the brother in the example I will ‘stop worrying overmuch’ and keep on in the preaching work… the whole purpose we are here…and thus show trust in him while we keep searching for the right solution.

Maritza & Jorge

Despite the month of May being mostly miserable, there is a silver lining. My Bible study, Maritza (and Richard’s study Jorge) got married!! And, although it was a very small private wedding for family only, we were invited! That was very special to me because it told me that she was doing this because she wants to please Jehovah. Special arrangements were made for the ceremony to be free of any false religious teachings, and, because most of the guests were worldly, they decided on no alcohol or dancing. Just a simple ceremony, saying their vows, and after, a yummy dinner prepared by Jorge’s sister (who is in the Spanish congregation). It brings such joy to see them take this step to bring them closer to Jehovah!

Just occured to me… this wasn’t part of my miserable May… it was a June wedding 😉

Well, actually I had meant to post a blog on the anniversary of our 1 whole year here in Caye Caulker Belize, but… well, oops is all I can say 🙁 You know how Memorial seasons go, right?

Ok, so, as usual, lots of catching up to do! So, let’s see, last blog was on the last day of February, so here it goes:

March & April

Rich and I enjoyed our month of auxilliary pioneering and distributing Memorial invitations in March tremendously! Our little English congregation of 22 publishers covered our whole territory (including the north island (other side of the ‘split’) and Chapel Caye (another island about 20 min. boat ride away). Despite this amazing coverage with the invitations, surprisingly and disappointingly, we had a smaller Memorial attendance this year rather than a larger one as we had expected! Still though, 79 is still awesome for 22 publishers, right?

Richard and Bro. Hagerty were asked to give the prayers for the wine and bread at the Spanish Memorial because they didn’t have any servants to do so! He did a great job for being totally rusty with Spanish! First time we’ve ever attended two Memorials in one night!

My study, Maritze continues to make great progress and is attending meetings, although because it is so difficult for her to get to the KH from where she lives, she’s been attending the Spanish meetings (she gets a golf-cart ride with her soon-to-be inlaws). But she attended both the English and Spanish Memorial observances! I asked her afterward “So which one did you get the most out of, English or Spanish?” She said “Both equally”.

Jaime and Ulysis also attended, but that’s all. Nearly all my other studies said they were coming, but didn’t show up. Possible reason for the low attendance was a downpour began just at the time people would have been leaving to come to the KH. Also, March/April are THE biggest tourism months here and since most people work in that industry, it’s hard to get time off without getting fired! Actually, it’s for this reason I’ve only been able to report 4 studies lately. Things are slowing down now though, so they should have more time to get back to their spiritual routine again.

Oh yes, you may have noticed that I mentioned ’22’ publishers whereas last blog said we had 17+2 pioneers. Well, yes, we have 3 new publishers since then. One is a reinstated sister (Reina’s daughter). Another is Christian Magana (Buddy & Maria’s son who Rich has been studying with) and the third is 9 yr old Gavin Henderson, son of the family that moved here just after we did, from Mississippi.

Richard’s study Evan from the North island, had to move to the mainland, but promises to keep up his study there. Rich has a number of very regular studies, one of whom comes to meetings frequently.

Dianne (upstairs) had to make a sudden trip home to Michegan because of the tragic death of her grandson. She will be gone for a few months and we’re really missing her already. They couldn’t afford for them both to go, so Larry had to stay behind.

We’re also missing young Luke who went back to B.C. last month. Rick and Donna Falk get a constant stream of friends visiting them though, so we always have fresh new faces here to help out and add their encouraging comments at the meetings.

The other day I was excited to re-establish a bible study with Shehady. You may remember she was the girl who worked at the first place we stayed when we arrived last year. Hopefully it will continue this time!

We’ve begun the process of applying for our residency here now that we’ve completed the required 1 year. We got our blood tests done yesterday here on Caye Caulker, but for everything else we are going to make the trip to Belmopan, the capital. We need a police record from there and other things which escape my memory at the moment. We’re combining it with the trip to Ladyville where Rich is giving the talk on May 4th.

We were excited and hopeful when Isaac and Jo last month started asking us about the possibility of a need here in Belize for sign language publishers… but then they were contacted by an elder in Otavalo, Ecuador who encouraged them to consider going back there as the sign publishers had greatly diminished and so there is a big need there again. They’re seriously considering it. We were so close to being reunited again in the same country, but, of course, it’s where they’re needed most in the preaching work that is the important thing! Putting Kingdom interests first *always* results in blessings… and especially we can all look forwarded to spending countless wonderful hours, days & years together when we’re all enjoying ‘the real life‘ in the new system… soon!!

Which reminds me… looking forward excitedly to tonight’s special meeting (which I assume all of you are as well) with the tie-in with the zone visit! Our’s is at 5pm and we’ll be joining with the Spanish congregation for it. We’re still unclear if it’s going to be in Spanish or English and whether there will be translation done or what. We’ll know in just over an hour from now 🙂 (update: The WT, the Report Talk & the talk on Generosity were all in Spanish… no subtitles even. The only one we understood was the talk by the Zone Overseer ‘Display the Mind of Christ…’)

May is going to be another busy month! Besides our having to jump the hoops for our residency we have the talk in Ladyville trip on May 4th, the Special Assembly Day on May 12th, then immediately after, the C.O. visit starting on the 14th! They will be staying with us… first time our spare room will be put to use since we’ve lived here! Rich and I will be auxilliary pioneering again for May as well, so we’re looking forward to attending the meeting with the pioneers during the C.O. visit as well! I think there are again quite a few doing the same!

The other day a couple who are serving in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, stopped out front to take a picture of the KH and I went out to talk with them. Turned out we had a friend in common… Morgan Pintar, who they had just provided hospitality to the week before when he had gone to their congregation to give the talk! Of course, Morgan lives in Cozumel, not far from them.

Oh, yes, that reminds me, also last week I received a Skype message from Cora (Lambie) Ketchabaw telling me that they had just had lunch with none other than our former C.O. and his wife (the Lachinski’s) and that they were telling them all about the congregation in Caye Caulker and mentioned our names… and that we had lived in Cape Breton, etc etc. and Cora told them ‘so did I!!’ So much fun when that happens because of our loving brotherhood!

So, besides missing all of you… our family and friends, we’re happy to be serving where the need is great here in Belize! We’re still hoping our house will sell so we can afford to take a trip home for a visit! Any extra prayers along those lines appreciated 😉

Ok, picture time:

Invitation Work by Boat

 Memorial

 Novelties

February just sped by like a fast train! Reason being partly because the winter is my slump period for business income so I advertised a special offer for website makeovers.  I was not prepared for the response! Nice for a little boost to the pocketbook, but unfortunately I ended up with too much work to do all at once!  As a result I pretty much just worked, went on studies, worked some more, ate, went to meetings, worked late, slept… with no time for anything else. Plus, since February only has 28 days it will be gone all that much sooner than any other month… today being the last day! I’ve been really trying to get as ‘finished up’ with work as I can before big month of March!

Tomorrow Rich and I both start auxilliary pioneering! There’s the 800 Memorial invitations to deliver, but hey, with 11 aux. pioneers (out of 17 pub.) plus 2 regulars we won’t be short on help! We have so much work to do just getting to all the return visits we’ve accumulated to try and encourage them to come. Then there will be the actual Memorial (Richie is giving the talk). We had 83 last year, so with all the cultivating that has been going on and the common knowledge around the island now that there is an English congregation again, we are expecting a lot more this year. After Memorial, of course, there will be the joyful work of visiting any new ones who will be there.

We were sorry to have lost Hadrian a couple of weeks ago – he went back to B.C. to save enough to go on his next ‘need-greater’ adventure. Luke stayed on here though for, he hopes, another few months. Plus his sister is arriving… wow.. that’s today! along with a couple of friends, so even more help!

Remember my study, Maritze? The one who had the baby back in August? Well, she is really progressing and loving what she is learning. One day she told me about her nephew who is 8 yrs old who is always asking her about the bible. Well, he is the boy named Jaime (pronounced ‘Hi-may’) that I am now studying with (see the January highlights below).

Also, she has convinced her husband (who was raised in the truth) to start coming back to Jehovah and now he is studying with Richard! A couple of weeks ago she asked me if I could get her a Spanish bible and Teach book (that worried me at first because I thought it meant she was thinking of switching to Spanish, her first language) to give to her mother. She took a trip over to the mainland to visit her and took the books along, placed them with her, and she says her mom started reading the Teach book right away!

Then, on another occasion when my ‘boys’ didn’t show up for their study (they accidentally sleep in sometimes) I went to their house and their mother was home (Maritze’s older sister) so I took the opportunity to tell her that I was enjoying studying the bible with her boys, then asked her if she had ever wanted to learn more about the Bible… she replied ‘When, what time?’ So, yesterday we had our first study and she responded very well to the first lesson and when I finished up with our last paragraph and said we would continue next time, she said ‘When? Tomorrow?’ Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of Maritze’s family embrace the truth?!

And so it goes here on Caye Caulker… we are forever shaking our heads in disbelief over how different the ministry is here compared to back home.

Richard has started many new studies this month! He’s still making his weekly sojourn up to the North island to study with Evan, who, if ever he does come into the truth, will be a force to be reckoned with! He is such a diligent digger… he investigates every last detail… like the Boreans he is ‘carefully examining the scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.’ Acts 17:11 He did study to be a lawyer, so that might have something to do with it… very analytical mind.

Then, there is Maritze’s husband George; a young man named Brian with a wife and 2 small kids; another young man who saw us coming from a house on service and asked him… “Are you guys Jehovah’s Witnesses?” He told us he had 4 aunts who were witnesses… 2 in Belize and 2 in Los Angeles!; Then there’s a middle-aged man named Baito who is Mayan… he comes to the meetings fairly regularly; There’s Christian, one of the Magana’s sons; a rasta guy named Kevin; and a few others that he’s just started the first study with!

Must admit, we have also lost some that we used to study with. Well, not even exactly ‘lost’… just that they got too busy to keep their study schedule because of having to work too much, or, in a couple of cases of mine, they had to move off the island for one reason or another. No one has actually said ‘I don’t want to study anymore.’ Lavita, the woman I started a study with here in 2007 is one of the ‘too much work’ ones. She lives in such bad conditions, I sometimes think I can’t blame her for wanting to ‘upgrade’ by making more money, but…then again

Other noteworthy items: Brother Buddy Magana bought a good sized motor boat, so today, Rich didn’t have to kayak up to Evan’s… he and Buddy went in probably a quarter of the time!

The Hendersons also bought a motor boat, but not as large as Buddy’s, but still handy for 4-6 people to go a short distance. They’ve also moved into the bottom floor of the house they are building. They’ll save a bundle of money not having to pay rent for the apartment they’ve been living in for the past 9 months.

Tomorrow also means we only have 1 more month to go before we’ve been here 1 whole year. And *that* means we can apply for residency and once we have that we won’t have to keep going every month and paying for extensions at $100. US per month…and *that* will be nice!

Here’s February’s meager photo offering:

• Of course the biggest highlight in January was our long-awaited ‘Safeguard Your Mind’ circuit assembly January 12th – 13th. (remember that because of timing of moves, etc. we missed 2 circuit assemblies in a row!). So, we thoroughly soaked that up… and what a great assembly it proved to be. I particularily appreciate the focus on ‘bracing up our minds for activity’, as we have never before know such activity as we are seeing here on Caye Caulker. It’s unbelievable really. The appetite of the people here for bible truth is astounding! And, that being said… the second best highlight of January was:

• The visit of our circuit overseer the week of January 21st. (If you look in the new brochure we received ‘Who Are Doing Jehovah’s Will Today? at the assembly the week before, you can even see what they look like  – pg. 14 on ‘What Is Missionary Service?’) Their experience being missionaries in Panama added to their mild personalities and zealous attitude. Brother Laschinski, in his talk on Tuesday evening made an interesting comparison. After observing what seems to be an out of the ordinary amount of interest here, he asked us ‘What was the conversion rate of the Ninevites after Jonah preached to them?’ 100% !! He then added ‘Who knows if Caye Caulker is not going to be one of those places?’ We were encouraged to try hard to cultivate all the interest shown even though it seems like a huge task! Our regular pioneers have such full schedules as it is, but more studies keep being started!

He ended his talk by saying he wanted to see every seat filled for the talk on Sunday… then added ‘No, not just every seat filled… I want to see all the brothers standing at the back because there are no seats left for them’. Well, when Sunday morning arrived, guess what… one of the biggest torrents of rain we’ve had yet! Only a few interested ones braved the weather to come to the Kingdom Hall… don’t forget, here folks can’t just jump in a car and dash into the hall from a parking lot! Most would have to walk, some for up to 20 minutes, wading through deep puddles!

But, I’m happy to say that 2 of my studies and 2 or 3 of Richard’s are now coming fairly regularly.

• Another highlight here in Caye Caulker English that followed the CO visit was the reinstatement of Sister Reina’s daughter! Reina is sooooo happy beyond words! She is now able to visit freely in her home and is enjoying having studies with her 3 grandchildren! It’s been 13 years! The children are already commenting at the meetings! I can only imagine Reina’s joy that I still hopefully look forward to experiencing some day!

• A lesser, but still significant highlight in January was … remember that pink building that used to be sitting in front of our apartment (it was for sale – to be moved). Well, it’s gone! Yayyy! The only drawbacks is that now we have no ‘buffer’ from the street noise, or shade from the afternoon sun. But, we now have a free-flow of air through the windows on that side, plus we don’t have to worry about the kids playing around and under a degenerate building before and after meetings!

Ever tried studying the bible with 3 boys on a see-saw?

The day after the building was moved away, I was awaiting 2 little boys to arrive for their bible study. They are supposed to come to my house on Saturday mornings. They didn’t show up so I went looking for them where they live but was told they moved. I passed by a sister on the street and mentioned that I was looking for the boys and she told me she thought she had seen them and gave me directions how to find them. When I followed her directions, this is where I ended up!! Here we are having our study on a ‘see-saw’ right in front of the old pink building where it now sits! Sister Donna and her visiting friend Gale happened to spot me while going door to door and couldn’t resist snapping this shot! The 3rd boy’s father was the contractor hired to move the building, so that is why they were playing there. He wanted to join in on the study too. Jaime, (the older of the 2 I study with) suggested we move over to a solid block of wood… his little brother Ulesis is pointing to it. It proved to be a good idea since the 3rd boy couldn’t resist trying to catapult me skyward!