San Pedro- "I Like That"

So as we stated we took a mini trip within our trip. If you care this is the route we took...

Dateline Monday January 30 2012: We hop on a Water Taxi headed for San Pedro. An hour and half later we see this...

Needless to say we were excited. When we arrived we meet our gracious hosts. The Kay family. A wonderful couple. Dennis is the only Elder involved with sign. They opened their lovely upstairs apartment to us for the week.

This beautiful apartment is in the Belize Yacht Club right on the beach. We were so excited to stay there. We had hot showers, AC and yes the internet! Brother Kay and his wife were off the next day to celebrate their anniversary. So that night we got a chance to chat with them for a while. He told us the plans for the following week. He also gave us the keys and said “Welcome and have fun”. First things first, we took showers. Warm showers! Following that we went for dinner. We ate at the Blue Water Grill. The food was wonderful.

Tuesday we showed up at the Kingdom Hall for preaching. We had hoped to go out with ASL, but only English was out. So we went out with a sweet local sister and a family from Canada. The father was the speaker from the previous Sunday we were later told. One thing I should share...

This is the Kingdom Hall parking lot. Yep those are golf carts. In San Pedro most people use them as their main transportation. That’s right we went out preaching in golf Carts!

The next day Becky and Crystal were not feeling well so we took a lazy day. Most of the week was cloudy and some rain. So we didn't do a whole lot. We did do some exploring. We could have done more if we had more money. San Pedro is a vacation spot so not cheap. Thursday we all prepared to interpret the meeting that night. But when we got to meeting no deaf showed up so we had the night off. After listing to one brothers talk I was relieved. He had a heavy Creole accent. Pew!

When Friday rolled around I was a bit stir crazy. I look online for things to do in San Pedro. One thing I found recommended renting a golf cart and heading south to stand on the southernmost point of the Yucatan Peninsula. So we did.

We had so much fun. We did some golf cart 4 wheeling. The road was sand and it had rained all day, so it was cut up by big pot holes full of sandy water. We saw some incredibly beautiful spots. Pictures just don't do them justice. But if you want take a look at more photos see link below. We found a spot that said follow path to Mayan Trading spot. So we followed, and followed, and followed. We followed for a while. I ran ahead to see if I could see the end. I couldn't. We didn't have long to get the cart back, so we decided to give up on the hunt. :( But for only like $25.00 US we had a really nice adventure. Take that tour companies! We also got some huge beautiful sea shells for free.

That evening we celebrated Crystals one year anniversary in Belize. We had fresh made chicken wings and some local coconut rum drinks. I was hooked on the chicken wings! Ty, they were way better than Albertsons. :)

Oh take a look at the fearsome guards posted at the entrance to the club.

Dateline February 4-5 2012:

Finally the sun came out. The weekend was beautiful. We spent Saturday morning meeting the local deaf and inviting them to the special meeting Sunday. You see normally they just interpret the English meetings Sunday. But if they can get a speaker in sign they will hold a special sign Meeting. I digress back to Saturday, the afternoon and evening were spent swimming in the Caribbean Sea and eating an expensive dinner. I wasn't happy with the restaurant choice but of our guide, but it was nice. We spent the day with Dennis and Trent. Trent and his family are from the states. Dennis in from Belize City. They all support the ASL group. They were very hospitable and welcoming. This is having lunch after service.

Sunday we had the special meeting. I gave a talk followed by Congregation Bible Study. Later some of the deaf still wanted to go to English meeting. So the three of us were able to help translate the meeting. Becky did the talk, it was full of science facts and statistics. And the brother didn't take his time covering them. One deaf girl said Becky did awesome. I felt the same. After meeting we ate and did some more swimming. Oh it should be noted that this was after sunset. Night swimming in the Caribbean sea! It was awesome.

Monday we packed cleaned and headed for home. But as for San Pedro, I can sum it up only with the Immortal words of Tylisha “Jazz Feet” Ruffin : “I like that!”

For more photos click here.

Thank you all for your comments. Keep them coming it means allot to us. We miss you all.

The Build!

First off I would like to inform you that I am typing this blog post while sitting on our balcony/patio at the yacht club we are staying at in San Pedro. And yes it looks out over the Caribbean Sea. You'll have to wait to hear about San Pedro though. I need to catch you all up first.

Monday January 23

As afore mentioned there is going to be the first Creole Assembly in Belize on February 4^th & 5th. On Monday we were invited to go help build the Meeting Place (not a Kingdom Hall...yet) for the local Creole Congregation. Up to now they have been meeting in someones house...from what we hear it wasn't so nice.

8 a.m. Maine was picked up by a brother to go pick up gravel...which of course involved shoveling it. :) Meanwhile Crystal and I waited at the house for our ride.

After Maine arrived at the build site he got to help move all the scrap wood from inside the building. It should be noted that this wood is called Bullet Tree because it can literally deflect a bullet. It's strong and heavy. We were told Belize has 3 types of heavy wood and they are like no other in the world. One is called Iron wood...I don't know what the third is called...Meanwhile Crystal and I waited for our ride to pick us up.

Eventually we were picked up around 10...while we were driving the brothers gave Maine a pick and a shovel and said “we need a 25 ft ditch from there to there and an 8 ft ditch from there to there. Someone will be here soon to help you.” So he got to work. Thankfully we showed up soon after with the promised reinforcements.

I may not have mentioned before, but it is really hot here. REALLY hot! Like dripping with sweat by 9 a.m. hot. So now imagine my poor hubby digging a ditch in direct sunlight at about 10 a.m. Do you feel bad for him yet? He of course was very happy to be there helping out, but he did say it was one of the hardest days of work he has ever had. Though he now knows how to install a septic tank since he did allot of the pluming. Well...he knows how to do it in Belize. I'm sure it wouldn't be up to code in the States.

Things here are done differently....Especially since this wasn't a Kingdom Hall build which meant no RBC (Regional Building Committee, they oversee Kingdom Hall building projects). It was all local brothers and sisters helping this congregation of 13.

While Maine was outside in the sun. Crystal and I were inside. The sisters that were there before us had already swept twice, but it was still dusty. So we dusted and swept again. Then we mopped. This all took a couple hours. Then we helped with the lunch that some had brought for everyone.

And this is our little friend that comes around the build whenever there are ppl there. She was sooo sweet.

After lunch we needed to paint the ceiling. So we did...

And that was about it for that day. They were hoping to have the first meeting there on the upcoming Thursday. We haven't heard yet if it had been ready in time.

The Rest of the Week...

After the build it was back to our “routine”. I use that word loosly. We went out in the ministry. On Thursday Maine had an good conversation with a young man sitting in the park. It should be noted that even if people down here say they are busy they will still take time to listen to a scripture. So conversations are easy to come by. For example, Maine talked with one man for a little while the man said 'I'm busy now, but can you come back later'. That pretty much never happens in the States. Down here people really have a deep respect for God and the Bible. It's so refreshing.

Meet Diana and Melissa. They live in Guatemala. But are in Cayo ASL.

So Maine approached this young man in the park and he told Maine he was really depressed. So Maine shared a comforting scripture. Eventually he told Maine that he had been sitting there contemplating suicide. The young man explained that he was depressed because he is homosexual and has been treated badly and looked down on by many people. Maine never having come across this type of situation before was a bit at a loss for words at first. But then he remember a past AWAKE! magazine that had discussed this topic, and was able to share some comforting thoughts with the young man. To make a long story short they had a nice open conversation for about 45 minutes, and it seemed that they young man was feeling a little better when they parted ways. We hope so anyways.

Oh yeah. So Thursday while out in the Ministry we saw a group gathered around people in a hole in the street.

Turns out a road crew found some Mayan artifacts while digging. Some archealagist came and excavated them. They said it was an exciting find, first evidence they lived in that area. They found some bones and dishes.

This is a picture of a playground for Sheep:

Too bad all the play structures were made for bipedal creatures. :)

The Weekend

Friday we got up and packed for our little trip around Belize. At the Bus station Crystal and I were signing to one another and the woman sitting next to me asked me how I learned Sign Language. Then she told me that her Aunt is deaf, but doesn't know any sign at all. I explained to her that we are in Belize to help the deaf and we can teach Sign Language to her and aunt, and of course teach the Bible in Sign Language. So we swapped phone numbers and I will be calling her when we get back to Cayo. Looking forward to it! All of the deaf we have met so far have already been found by others in the congregation so it's exciting to know maybe we have reached a new person.

The bus we were supposed to take that went more directly to Orange Walk was broken down, so we had to take a bus to Belize City, then from there catch the bus to OW. Almost doubling the length of our trip. Oh well. We arrived late in OW, but were met at the bus station by the oldest son of the Family we were staying with. Meet the Hernandez Family!

They were SO sweet and hospitable. Crystal stayed in another house with a girl from California that is here supporting the OW ASL congregation til May. The next day Maine gave the talk. This is the congregation.

After meeting we went back to the Hernandez's house and had the biggest tomales we have ever seen! Seriously they were huge! Also we had Mango wine, mmmm! Another couple came over too, they are from Colorado. Meet Ben and Sherry.

They are staying in Orange Walk for 7 months. This is their second time to Belize. And they plan to come back.

After we ate we piled into the truck and went to get ice cream. The ride was fun, the ice cream was so so. It's just not as good as back home.

Sunday we left on the bus for Belize City. It's scary there! Thankfully we were met at the station by a couple brothers who took us to the little apt they were letting us stay in. Everyone here is so hospitable. We hurried to change for meeting. Maine road in the back of the truck. He thinks it's pretty awesome that it is legal to do that here.

He gave the talk there too. Meet the Belize City ASL congregation.

After meeting we got to eat and hang out with a really nice young couple. Henry and Tatiana. We didn't get there pic :( But they were lots of fun. They live upstairs from where we were staying.

Next day, Monday we woke up and took the water taxi to San Pedro. It was quite an experience getting there. See Belize City is the most dangerous town in Belize... and we had been totally freaked out by the kind warnings the brothers and sisters gave us. Example: Maine walked across from the KH to talk a picture and the sister was really concerned someone would steal his camera...So when we had to walk to the water taxi carrying all our bags looking like total tourists... let's just say it was like wearing a sign that says “rob us”... it may have been exaggerated in our minds, cause we made without any problems.

And that brings us to San Pedro. We have been here for 2 ½ days and it's awesome! But more on that later. For more pics click here.

Love to all, thanks for the comments. We love to hear from everyone!

-Becky