How much more could we widen out, right? Well, besides in the belt area haha.

If you remember from a few weeks back, when we moved into the apartment here by the Kingdom Hall, I mentioned that there was a possibility we could rent both lower units. But we didn’t want to unless we would be allowed to make a doorway between the two. Otherwise to get coffee in the morning we would have to go outside in our jammies, unlock the front door to the other apartment, go in, get the coffee brewing, go outside again to the other apartment door, etc etc, you get the picture. Well, it looked doubtful since the wall between is cement! But, yesterday we got the ‘ok’ from Sister Canto, the owner, to go ahead and break through the cement wall between the two apartments! Yes! Now we’ll be able to have somewhere to sit and relax in the evenings (besides either the hard kitchen chairs or the bed) because we will have room for a couch. But, since there are now 2 kitchens, one will need to be removed and made into a living room. Uh-oh… and we said we were finished with renovations in this system!! Oh well, this will be a really short one… I hope! We begin this Friday! I’ll post some pictures as we ‘widen out’ our cozy living space.

A couple of weeks ago, on Sunday, May 20th, we travelled to the mainland to attend the English Special Assembly Day. Had to rise bright and early to catch the first water taxi at 7AM so we could be in Ladyville in time.

An interesting ‘1st’ for Belize was a Special Assembly Day in Creole, from now on to be a regular feature. Creole used to be shunned at meetings, but now they are starting up Creole congregations and now assemblies. They’ve realized that even though the official language of Belize is English, the language so many speak within the household is Creole, so they are more comfortable with it. Thus, as usual, Jehovah’s organization is making adjustments … ‘tweaking’ how things are done… all for the best interests of Jehovah’s sheep.

At the Assembly Hall for the Special Assembly Day

Things are happening on Caye Caulker!

Since we moved here exactly 2 months ago, we’ve had a family of four move here from Mississippi, a young couple with a boy and a girl. Then today, a couple about our age moved in. He is a MS so that will sure be helpful. Plus, they are both regular pioneers… he for 2 years and her for 11!  So, before we arrived there was only 1 elder (Larry) and no MS. Now there are 2 elders and 1 MS!
A cute little coincidence with names: The elder and his wife who live above us here are ‘Larry & Dianne’. I mentioned to them just last night that our long-time dear friends in Nova Scotia were ‘Larry & Donna’. Then today we were introduced to the new couple that just arrived… their names: Richard & Donna … so weird.

• I now have 5 established bible studies and today, using the example of how to start studies on the first Saturday in June, I started 2 more!

• Last week I followed up on a young lady who Rich found door to door. She said she would like to start learning the Bible right then, so she invited me into her tiny 1-room ‘shack’ and we began. After a couple of paragraphs her sister arrived with a baby carriage which we helped her pull up into the room. She then began leaning over her sister’s shoulder to see the book we were studying in, then grabbed it from her, read a paragraph or two, asked me if we were studying the bible with her sister, then said “Can you come every week? I want to study too”. The following Wednesday it was a downpour so I couldn’t go. I felt really bad, but the next day was nice so I decided to go see if they were home. Along the way I met up with the one with the baby and I asked if she was heading home. “Yes”, she said. We walked on a bit together and I said “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it yesterday… would you like to have the study now?” Then she replied in a surprised tone “Yes, I thought that’s what we were doing.” Ended up having a really nice study with the two of them again and it looks very promising!

• Our meeting day for the Theocratic school and Cong. Book Study have been changed, thankfully! They have been on Saturday at 4pm. Now they’ve been moved to Wednesday evening at 7pm. Yayy!

• Our District Convention will be in September, apparently the hottest, wettest time of the year. As you can see from the picture above of the Special Assembly Day, the assembly hall is open-sided, but covered. So, of course, no air conditioning, but at least protected from the rain, unless it’s really windy, then it would blow in from the sides!

Well, all the news I can think of for now. Keep coming back.. and please feel free to comment. We’d sure like to hear from you! I have been adding pictures to the Gallery, so be sure to check them out.

Can you guess why Rich is pleased as punch?

Well, I’ll give ya a little hint. If you were following our blog five years ago you might remember we told you that the C.O. at that time had mentioned that it would be great if someone had a sailboat because then the islands could be reached with the good news and that they hadn’t been worked in ten years!!

Well, Rich was scheduled to give the public talk in San Pedro on Sunday… well, actually twice… once at 10AM for 1 congregation and again at 6pm for the other, so because the water taxi stops running at 5pm, we had to spend the night. Anyway, while chatting with the brothers before the 6pm meeting, Brother Smith asked him if he liked to fish. Of course anyone who knows Rich knows the answer to that one… no. So he asked him what he likes to do for recreation, so, naturally, he said ‘sailing’. (starting to get the picture?… keep reading though)

Brother Smith was instantly excited and went on to explain that another brother, now living on the mainland, who was special pioneering in Belize since age 18, owned a sailboat and that he had given it to the San Pedro congregation for preaching in the islands but, said Brother Smith, ‘there is no one that knows how to sail’! Soooooo…;)

just a few 'minor issues' to attend to, but hey, nothing half so worth doing!

Well, the next day Randy Smith drove Rich & I out to the boat yard (way out of town) where ‘Aqua-Mar’ was in the water. He had some calls to make, so he dropped us there and left. He hesitated for a moment and yelled… “are you sure this is ok? I feel like I’m leaving you to the wolves or something!” Ha! no worries there, eh! As Richie has often quoted ‘Water Rat’ from the Wind in the Willows, I’ll post a little excerpt here that will explain quite well:

`Is it so nice as all that?’ asked the Mole shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him.

`Nice? It’s the ONLY thing,’ said the Water Rat solemnly, … `Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING–absolute nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,’ he went on dreamily: `messing–about–in–boats; ‘

I know, I know… I should have known better… should’ve covered up, should’ve used sunblock, should’ve, should’ve, should’ve!

We decided to take a 1/2 day kayak rental deal on Friday, but dilly-dallied getting out of the apartment and by the time we got into the kayaks it was already 11AM, getting near the hottest time of the day! We headed toward the reef against a constant headwind and 2 hours later we had hardly made any headway. So we hitched up to a lobster trap marker and swam for a little while, then headed back toward shore. We asked a guy on a dock what time it was and found we still had an hour and a half left on our rental deal, but, we both noticed we were getting pretty burnt, so decided to use the rest of our time relaxing in hammocks on the kayak rental owner’s dock. By the time I got out of the hammock I was noticing the sunburn pain… stopped at a store to buy some Aloe Vera and put it on right then and there… by the time I walked home I was really in pain.  Layed on the bed all evening and when I finally swung my legs over the side of the bed…. yyyyyowwww!! Then when I went to stand up I cried out in agony!! It felt like hundreds of knives were trying to burst out through my shins from the inside! I could NOT stand up. This went on from Friday night until about 11AM Sunday morning when I finally could hobble next door to the Kingdom Hall in time to catch the second half of the meeting.

But it was so awesome to be out on the water again!! I’m not exactly saying it was worth getting this severe burn… next time we will definitely make sure we have better quality and higher SPF rated waterproof sunblock! (surely they will have such a thing here… hmmm… or not)

Here is the view looking back to Caye Caulker that day: