Belize 2008

Corozal is a city of nearly 10,000 people and the roads are somewhat difficult to navigate.  Speed bumps slow down traffic on a few roads but most of them have enough potholes that they aren't needed.  Some intersections have traffic signs but most do not.  Most drivers are courteous and defer to each other but sometimes it's hard to know who is going where when you get to an intersection.  Roosevelt is a careful driver and he watches the traffic closely at each intersection.  There are many walkers and bikers and it's especially hard to see them at night.  Navigating some roads is like doing alpine skiing... the slalom... as you weave in and out looking for the least number of holes and uneven places in the road. 

 

No more time now... we still need to finish mudding the ceiling and building the ceiling under the church entrance.  We're also going to replace the backboard on a basketball goal. 

 

     - Gary 

Wednesday Afternoon

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

 

We have some down time this afternoon as there was only a half day of school (teachers' meeting), and the men have completed taping and mudding the ceiling of the new church already. Right now there are 7 of them working on putting up a new backboard on the basketball goal in the playground. It is at most a 2 person job :) Verlee is nursing a headache, and thinks it might be from the change in the weather. A cold front is coming, and the temperatures are due to drop into the 60's, but not for long. It has been in the low 90's, but there is always a breeze off the Caribbean, which is right outside our front door. No one has a/c, so we sleep with fans.

 

All of us except Don and Gary took a walk in to see the city market after lunch. Don was working on Roosevelt's van, and Gary is trying to get the swelling down in his ankle -- it doesn't hurt, but is very swollen. The good news is that the swelling in his knee is less -- the fluid just migrated south.

 

It is so fun to walk the streets of Corozal and have kids recognize you. Today, as we passed a tiny, tiny dwelling, a little girl sitting on the stoop shouted "Miss Lou! Hello!", then disappeared into the house and out came 3 more girls who had been in one of my classes. After hugs and kisses they reluctantly let us go on. Jim met a boy he had played basketball with before school started this morning. He asked when we were leaving Corozal, and Jim said "We're leaving Friday morning". The boy pleaded "Can't you leave Friday night?"

 

Tomorrow we leave for the town of Libertad, to repeat the assembly (and talent show) that we presented today here. 

The Eyeball Balloons Added Much Excitement

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

 

Today provided a change of pace. We started out with an all school assembly with about 400 students. It was a blessing to hear them singing as Carolyn led them. Lou and Verlee prepared a lesson comparing why we need different tools in a tool box with people having different talents. The lesson included the need to fully develop and use our talents. Verlee shared the lesson with the students. Gary truly impressed the children and adults by balancing a step ladder on his chin and Mark demonstrated more talent by juggling tennis balls. This team really has a lot of talent.  

 

Jeremy, Amanda, Robert, James and Don all helped as we talked about the fruit of the Spirit. The eyeball balloons added much excitement.

 

The rest of the morning and during the afternoon we continued to work on the church. After lunch we took a few minutes to take a short walking tour of the city market and surrounding area. At 6:00 this evening we are going to a worship service followed by a meal at the church. What blessings!

 

In Christ,

 

     - John

On Tuesday we did more work on the church ceiling. It is almost complete now. We also have to work on the canopy over the entrance to the church. Everything has us up high this year!  But I didn't really want to send you another scaffolding picture. I thought you might like to see a picture of some of the kids. They are all very friendly as expected and love for you to take their picture. John and Mark have taken to playing a quick game of basketball at recess and other times with the kids. It can be rather difficult when they are all wearing the same uniform! But the kids love it, and that's what's important!

Wednesday we did our assembly with the kids in Corozal. There were around 400 students from preschool to around age 12 or 13. We sang songs, talked about our talents and the fruits of the spirit. Particularly entertaining and amazing was Gary's talent of balancing just about anything. The most impressive one was when he balanced an aluminum ladder on his chin. I think the kids were duly impressed. I know I was! We later handed our balloons with eyeballs on them out to all the children and had a great time "looking" at each other and singing about the angels watching over us.
 
Our group has many talents, and so far we have all been able to work together very well. I think that pattern will continue. Thank the Lord for such a meaningful trip in so many ways. Tomorrow we will be doing our assembly again in Libertad. I think that those of us who have gone in years past will be looking forward to spending a little time in Libertad with some old friends.
 
Thank you all for your prayers, and keep them coming our way.
 

     - Carolyn

More photos of the Lousianna Mission Trip

May, 2007

New Orleans, Louisiana

May, 2007

Keep on working!

Abbeville, Louisiana, May 2007

Today was our fourth day of work here in Abbeville, LA. We actually don't work in Abbeville but we branch out into the surrounding area...This area we are in is spread out along highway 14 and if you follow that highway you will eventually run into our worksites!

The work today was pretty much the same as it has been the past few days. It is hard to write about each group because we each have so many different experiences on the different work crews. My crew, Team Brett, had a pretty funny experience today. We were sheetrocking part of a room in our house (Hilda and Roland). It was going well and we were starting to mud and just starting to finish up our last piece of sheetrock. As we set down our piece of sheetrock I started to smell this awful smell that could't place. I yelled, "ahhh what is that awful smell?"

Well, it turns out we had hit a natural gas valve with the piece of sheetrock so of course we immediately turned it off and vacated the house.

As we were sitting outside chilling and waiting for the house to quit smelling the mail woman walked up...she said, "ugh...what is that smell?" So it turns out the smell was permeating even the area surrounding the house so we decided to call the fire department. Alan called them sounding all serious but they said they coudn't help so we had to call 911...hehe anyways they sent two trucks and told us it was safe to go back in...so we did just that. We went back in and finished up the house we were working on!

Tomorrow is our last day of work and I am kind of dissapointed about that. It seems like there is still so much more that could be done we could stay here for the whole summer and still have things to do, which is crazy to think about. We are working early tomorrow and then staying until about 330 and then coming back here to clean up so we can head out to our dinner! I am oober excited about that too because the food promises to be ultra delicious!

It rained here like crazy today. It was sunny all day until about two oclock when the rain started to pour down on us. On our way back from our work sites in the bus we saw the streets and parking lots that were flooded.

They flooded so quickly and the crazy thing was that people were still driving down them and a few got stuck. Later on tonight Chris tried to go to Wal-Mart but it was closed because the power had gone out.

She went to Win-Dixie (the supermarket) and it only had limited power but they were allowed to buy things. Back here at home in our warehouse our power went out too but only for a short time. For dinner we had brisket and green beans and baked potatoes and it was superb...we all thourougly enjoyed it!

Then after we all recovered from our large amt of dinner we decided to have a volleyball tourney with three teams....my team lost everytime but we had a good time and right now they are playing the championship game! We are all going to be tired tonight and I am really looking forward to bed!

Much love back home!
JK

Let the Good times Roll

Abbeville, Louisianna ~ May, 2007






Today is Wednesday the 30th of May...We all went to our work sites this morning! The Brett Team finished sanding our house and mudding for the second time. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to sand and then start painting but we aren't sure yet...That is just our hope because if we do that then Hilda and Roland can move back into their bedroom for the first time since Katrina!

The painting crew was still painting their second house today when unexpectedly the group from Kansas showed up to help them. They weren't really in need of help but it worked out perfectly because we were leaving to go to New Orleans so that gave the Kansans something to do.

The siding crew worked all day long and none of them took the trip to New Orleans with us. It sounds like they had an extremely hard day of work but it sounded rewarding at the same time.

The work has been going well for all of the groups and I feel like our help is still desperately needed down here even though the destruction happened two years ago the need is great! So it is great to be here. I talked to Hilda while we were working and she told me about how grateful she was that we were here (they haven't had help in over a year.) She asked where we were from and I told her and she was amazed that we drove all this way to help people down in Abbeville. I think it really touchd her that we cared that much and that was a great feeling.

Today a group of us went to New Olreans. It was about a three hour drive but it was definitely worth it. We got lost in the projects and we saw a lot of interesing things. On all the doors the numbers of the survivors and the dead were listed along with the date the house was cleared. I would say about 1/4 of the city was still ruined but the rest was up and running and it was really cool to see. It poured on us the whole time but in a way that just added to the experience.

The ride home was great for me because i had a great conversation with an old friend who i haven't talked to in far too long. it was a good end to a good and busy day. in about five minutes i am going to fall into bed and crash until we all rise early in the morning to continue on with our work!

much love back home! we miss you!
JK

Tuesday in Abbeville

Louisiana ~ May 2007
God is good - All the time!

Once again we headed to the same work sites as yesterday, so here's an update:

Group 1 - "Team Brett" (Brett, Brook O., Jessica, Alan, Jim, & Cathy) finished sheetrocking and began the mudding process today....a little mud here....a little mud there - what fun! Learning something new - the sanding comes tomorrow! Roland & Hilda (the homeowners) are great people and are so glad to have us there as they have not seen any help in about a year!

Group 2 - Erica, Will, Andy, Katie, Brooke A., Carol, & Sue completed their paint job and moved on to another painting location (Delta's house) - they're learning the value of each individual job in these homes. The folks down here have been out of their homes for 2 years now and so appreciate all the help that comes their way, even though it may seem to us as if they can do this on their own - it has been such a long process for them and it's great to be a part of helping them get back in their own home!

Group 3 - Casey, Jessie, Chris, & Tom had a frustrating beginning but finished the soffet job and have moved on to siding a home and will be at it the rest of the week!

There is often so much beyond just the work that goes on during mission trips that ties and produces growth - we're just beginning to see those things, so pray for continued safety, for open eyes & hearts to see these growth opportunities, and ways for us to be Jesus Christ to any and everyone we encounter!
CM

Our first day of Work!

Abbeville, La. ~ May 2007
Today was our first day of work. We split up into four different teams and worked on various projects.

Group #1:
Casey, Jessie, Chris, and Tom these four worked outside all day. They did "cool stuff" according to Casey. It seems like they had a really good time and they definitely didn't want to stop working when we came to get them at four fifteenish! The house they worked on was up on really tall stitls at least ten feet off the ground and it was beautiful inside!

Group #2:
Will, Brooke A, Carol, Erica, and Katie. This group pretty much painted all day and they still have more to do tomorrow!

Group #3:
Brook O, Cathy, Sue, Jessica, and Brett. We worked on a house that had been flooded and had the roof ripped off. Our work was hard and dirty and consisted of drywalling a doorway and a ceiling. It was good tiring work and I know at the end of the day we felt like we had accomplished a lot! We still have about a whole weeks worth of work left to do on our house!

Group #4:
Jim, Andy and Alan. This goup rode around with Shelton. They were supposed to help unload and load things but really there wasn't too much need for them so they came and helped us drywall our house...That was amazing!

Backpedaling a little bit...last night we played hours of volleyball! It was really fun and everyone participated so that was great! We all slept well and woke up to a breakfast of biscuits and gravy. Brook O had a little trouble waking up so Casey and someone else (i forget who) came and carried her sleeping bag downstairs!

Tonight another group arrived from Garden City, KS so we have been getting to know them. We are all looking forward to another day of work and a good nights rest!

Much love back home
and ps everyone misses Brady!

After A Long Day of Work

Abbeville, La. ~ May 2007Birthday boy!


Roller Hockey

Volleyball

Guitar


Lotball

Games
Puzzles
Reading