Day 11 - Hopping to Hopkins!!!

Okay...so we made it thru the night safe!  I listened to music with my headphones on to block out the gecko sound.

So we're sleeping pretty good, and at about 4 am it sounds like rain is going to come thru our cabana!  Gordon thought that it was going to flood....then it stopped...then it starts again...I mean it was raining so hard I thought that we were going to be given instructions to start building an ark!  LOL

Now it's about 6:15, and are suppose to be heading to catch the bus at about 6:45am, what should we do?!??!  Should we stand in the rain to catch the bus...will the Kemps still be going out in the ministry in Hopkins...okay, we should call them with the cell phone they lent us....NO SERVICE!!!!  Rut roh!!!! 

I want to get out of this place quick, why is this rain trying to stop me!!!!  So it finally slows down enough that we head out to the street and decide to walk to the bus shelter (because remember, you can stand anywhere on the side of the road to catch the bus).  Oh yea!!!!  I saw the infamous EXPRESS bus this morning passing our cabana...it looked just like I dreamed it would!  But we couldn't catch it today because we had to get off in Hopkins : (

So we head out to the bus stop at about 6:50 am to catch the 7 am bus...

 

 

We wait for the bus...it's 7:15...7:30...8:00....8:30...NO BUS!!!! We are suppose to meet the Kemps at the Hopkins Junction at 8:45!!!!  We are an hour and forty-five minutes away and there is no bus!!!!!  We have no cell service!!!!!

The only cool thing about waiting (despite me having to go to the bathroom, and let's just say that I did what I had to do) was that we saw some of the most beautiful birds and a beautiful rainbow after the rain....

 

Even the local dog was tired of seeing us waiting for the bus...she tried to commit suicide!

So FINALLY at 8:50 am, the Chicken Bus finally comes rolling down the street!  Thank you Jehovah!

There was a little girl that was sitting in front of us that was dancing to her own tune in her head!  LOL  She just kept rubbing Gordon's had, so you know what we did?!??!  You guessed it Starburst!!!!  She was just a drooling Starburst juice!!!  LOL

When we pulled into the Independence station, Gordon yelled "Erika look!" there was this man carrying this dead iguana...I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture I wasn't quite fast enough!  LOL

So we rode on past beautiful landscapes and finally arrived at the Hopkins Junctions.  We were able to get in touch with Gwen during our ride, so we knew to call her when we arrived.  So we waited for her to arrive...

 

Gwen arrived and we were so happy!  She first drove us to the Kingdom Hall to check it out.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to get inside because we were so late.  We missed meeting the group for service, we missed seeing Matt and Amy from Pittsburgh, and we missed going inside the Hall....

I never before saw a Kingdom Hall though with a basketball court...pretty cool eh?  (sorry I've been with a lot of Canadians as of late)

We met two brothers, Todd from West Virginia and Paul from the UK...

We met some friends along the way...

We then picked up Henry, Bev (a sister in the Kemps congregation) and Ben and Jodi Bolton from Canada and headed to a resort for lunch and enjoy the beach...

So Gwen and Bev head to Bible studies and the rest of us head to the beach!  It was soooooo wonderful!  It's been a busy week and half., so some R&R was quite welcome!!!!

So I was sitting on the beach in the water, and I hear someone call me.  Henry says, "You'd better check on your husband, he flipped out of the hammock while trying to get in!"  I was cracking up!  Why not ten minutes later I did  the same exact thing.  I felt like a cartoon character flipping all the way over!  It was hilarious!!!!

So Gwen and Bev are back from their studies and we pack up to head out, when Gordon get a call from Matt and Amy VanGer, they'll be there in ten minutes!!!!

It was great to see them!  We sent Curtis' love to them and their's goes back to him!  We didn't have long to talk, but it was great to see someone from home, serving Jehovah abroad...they just look like they belong there!

So we head home and I have to point this out...we notice walls and fences around houses, and for a security system, people place broke glass on top of the fence and in this picture they place nails!  What the?!??!

We stop and grab some "Hard Time Cookies" and other goodies from the store and some other good eats, and head home!

Gordon and sit and pray and start talking about where I future may be here in Belize.  We laugh about how much we traveled these two weeks...by plane, water taxi, taxi cab, golf cart, bicycle, automobile, bus and shoe leather express, it's been quite an experience.  So those of you who have taken this journey with us...where do you guys think we'll pick?!??!??!  LOL



Let's see Ladyville, Belize City, Caye Caulker, San Pedro, Belmapan, Dangriga, Big Falls (down near Punta Gorda)  we've been busy!  Whew!!!

Now we can just enjoy the ministry, the Kemps, the friends and really talk to Jehovah and ask for direction!!!

That's all for today, see you tomorrow!  Love to all