Day 3

Today the travel and heat defiantly caught up with all of us. We got up early to go to town and get some vegetables and fruit. By the time we made our four stops, (no store has all of the supplies we need), Grace was beet red and wilting. She asked me what heat stroke was. I told her she did not have it, but we needed to get her back to the property.
For us, this day has been a day of training so to speak. We had to be brought up to speed on where all of the switches, generators and glitches are. As we were learning the ropes, we had an unexpected visitor. A woman we used to work with at the school drove over to see us. I could not believe my eyes. She cried when she saw us. We took a couple hours to get caught up on what we have been doing since leaving and also hearing about how Toledo Christian Academy is doing. She and her husband, Emerson have gone from being teachers to running the entire school in a short, three year period of time. In that span, Julianna's mom and dad have had strokes, and they have weathered some very difficult times at the school. I was so struck by how much Julianna spoke with authority and confidence in what they are doing at the school. There is no question in my mind that these precious Belizian students need to see their own neighbors, like Julianna and Emerson, stand strong and live out their faith in the midst of great hardship. I know that we contributed to the school by teaching, but what they are doing is so much more valuable and will be long lasting.
The kids swam and stayed in hammocks for the better part of the afternoon. It is quite a bit hotter in this part of the country as compared to Belize City. Having all of the vegetation creates a green house, thick, humid air that feels as though could be cut with a knife. It is very hard to work and stay focused in the heat. We are hoping for a good rain storm tonight to cool things down.
I made dinner for everyone tonight. Tomorrow the owners of the lodge will leave us! However, they have staff that will be here. We actually have hired one of their cooks. She is coming in tomorrow morning to make us bread, tortillas, cinnamon rolls and yogurt. We will have her come over several times during our stay to cook authentic Belizian meals. I hope to get in the kitchen with her and learn once again how to make fluffy, flour tortillas and stew beans and rice.
Tomorrow we will take Aaron in to see his fourth grade teacher, Emerson. Emerson plays soccer every day at 4:30 with the Machaca Road kids. They are about 50 kids living in this village, all ages, many of them go to our school. Aaron is so excited to get back on the field with them. While he is playing, we are going to see the school again and get our painting project supplies ready. We will be making some murals on the classroom walls and pain some signs.

Today, I also met Marta's mom, Noel for the first time. Noel is in her 80's and is almost bedridden from heart attacks etc. Marta moved her mom down from Portland Oregon into a new, little bungalow on their property. It is a darling place, but I wonder how my mom would do moving to this sort of get up at 80 yrs. of age! Noel has two Mayan women looking after her. My job, during this visit is to go and sit with Noel every night at about 6:00 pm when she is on her veranda wanting to have company. Grace and I went to see her tonight and we quickly became more than acquaintances as she told us all about her family and her life when she was a young woman. We promised her some homemade pizza Wednesday evening when we go to visit....she was delighted!

Lots going on in my heart and mind right now...too much to put on paper. Maybe tomorrow my brain will be able to sort some of these things out. It is very strange being here and missing all of the things that I hated when we actually left. I remember Kevin saying to me so many times while we were living here, and when I was struggling, "This time is going to go so fast, let's not wish it away because it is hard. When we are gone, we will look back and wish we could have been better." He was so right.

Sorry not photos tonight, I am lucky to get this out, there is some lighting and I keep getting an error message that the satellite is not working to capacity. So, I will have to send some photos in the post tomorrow. Time for another shower...and bed! The kids are all in one cabana looking after one another! Very quiet, I think they are asleep.