(Side note!!! I forgot to add that my crazy husband went outside and got some salt water...from the ocean...to put up his nose to help his sinuses! Huh!?!??! He said that salt kills everything! Do you remember what I told you when I got into the water it was like walking on carpeting??? SMH! You gotta love him!)
I left the hotel on my own, trying to remember how to get to the Kingdom Hall LOL! and I ran into Tracey and Janis. Tracey had a Bible question that someone presented to her, so Janis and I were trying to help her find a way to give an explanation. Now it's past 9:00! Oh no, I'm late! So Janis jumps on her bike and says that she will go ahead to let them know that we're on our way. I found my way to the Kingdom Hall (I was very proud of myself, thank you!) and sat in for the meeting for service. The Kingdom Hall is very simple and humble. Remember there isn't any A/C so the doors are kept open as well as the windows and there are plenty of fans!
I had the opportunity to meet some of the friends in the congregation including "Buddy" who is the first local brother to be baptized since the English congregation has been reformed a year a half ago. I was placed to work with Janice and Juana who is a young Mayan sister that moved here from southern Belize a few years ago. Juana shared with me the experiences she experienced when the English congregation was dissolved and she had to attend the Spanish congregation...ummmm, she doesn't speak Spanish! LOL She said that she just pretended! LOL She's a sweetheart! She moved here for work, because the area that she is from doesn't have any jobs.
I even mentioned to one of the brothers about bringing our group from our "Preaching Cruise" to Caye Caulker for the ministry in November. He was excited about that idea!
Janis checked the territory map that hangs on the wall to see where we would be working...
...and off we went! We headed to the market area close to our hotel and had the opportunity to witness to some of the business owners. We had a great time preaching to all different kinds of people, even sitting in with Janis as she conducted a doorstep Bible study.
It was funny, there was this restaurant that Gordon has been DYING to get to! Yea, I had the opportunity to preach to the workers in the kitchen...ummm he may just have died if he ate there! Whew! I had to hold my breath! He will not be going there as long as I can help it! LOL
We were across from my hotel, and so I wanted to stop in and check on my man! He was looking and feeling much better! But we knew that it was best that he continued to get some rest so that he will feel better for the next of the trip!
I met the girls outside and we popped into a restaurant so that Janice could get a cup of tea. While we were there, we were able to talk to a woman that Juana studies with. She told her that she had a surprise for her at her next study. The surprise is, is that the faithful slave now has literature in her mother tongue...the language of her heart, and Juana was able to print it out and she is going to give it to her at the next study. They are both Mayan and so have the same native tongue, so Juana was really excited about that, and is sure that the study will truly take off!
As we walked further with our Bibles and magazines in hand, a man approached us on a bicycle and said "give me those magazines!" We knew immediately that he was one of our brothers. Their names were David and Lori from Springfield, Missouri (not where Bart Simpson is from...I asked LOL). They are on Caye Caulker for five days and then they are going to the mainland for an additional ten days. Interestingly enough David is originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania! Small world!
We said our good-byes and went on our way continuing to preach. Finally it was time for lunch...because here, the world stops at noon for lunch! LOL So we decided to go to a restaurant to chow down! Juana needed to go and take down her laundry because it was threatening rain. So after going back and forth, we decided to go with her to her home and then head to the restaurant.
Before we entered she explained that she has a room. It's a home that has outhouses, and she has a room. Very simple and humble. She has a bed, a sink and a stove. Across the hall lives her brother, Peter, sister-in-law Rosita (not the same Rosita that I mentioned on a previous post) and two children Richard (11 years old) and Phillip (8 years old).
Phillip ran and grabbed his turtle Junior that you see in his hand!
It was interesting because once Peter left for work and before the kids came home for lunch, we were able to have a very nice long talk with Rosita, who recently became and unbaptized publisher. She was saying that they have been struggling. She said in fact just a few minutes ago when we were walking up to the building she heard us laughing. She said that her husband said, "see they're happy! We're not happy!" She explained that their oldest son Richard is having some difficulties in school, and that normally their first reaction is to give him a lashing and put him on punishment, but that they have been trying to talk to him more, but she still gets angry. We were able to give her encouragement from the scriptures and show her how she could use the Learn From the Great Teacher to help to reason with her son on different issues, and how important it is to talk to him. Juana then finished her laundry and came in and said that Richard comes to her room and told her that he doesn't want to lie or be bad, but it's so hard. She explained how he just pours out his heart to her and she shares scriptures with him and encourages him to pray to Jehovah. I think that Rosita was surprised to hear that, but it showed her that if she took the time to talk to and reason with him, trying to reach his heart, that it could make a huge difference. I mentioned to her that Jehovah has given parents the responsibility to raise their children, but that he hasn't left them on their own. We have the literature, and we have the prayers that we can offer up to Jehovah to ask for his help, and that he will help her! She agreed! Janice then said, that he has already helped her because we were just debating about whether or not to come home with Juana or not, but we came and were able to give her some encouragement. She agreed! It was awesome!
We said good-bye to the boys, I gave them some candy, and as we were leaving young Phillip yelled out to me, "What's your name?!?!?" "Erika!" He said, "Oh, you look like Arlene!" LOL I told him, no I'm Erika. "Okay!" he said and went back in the house! He was so cute!
The three of us then found a restaurant to have lunch call Sids. We shared stories about our lives. We shared encouraging experiences and illustrations throughout the morning. We even shed a few tears together. Juana then said, "this is our international brotherhood right here!" She was right, we had a Mayan Belizian, a Caucasian Canadian and an African American American!
Juana was funny because she was questioning my choice of shoes! LOL "Why do you wear those?" she said, "you are already tall!" Flip flops are the norm here!
When then parted from Janice and I walked a little further with Juana. I asked her what some of her goals were. She said that she just switched jobs so that she can auxiliary pioneer. She did say that she almost didn't come out in service this morning. Last week things kept coming up, and this morning she said that she had a lot of laundry to do! She said that she prayed to Jehovah last night, and although she isn't a morning person she popped up at 5am! So she said, "I'll do laundry!" She then looked outside and saw how windy and cloudy it was and thought, "It's going to rain, I can't go out!" She said that she then remembered a recent magazine that spoke about if we worried about whether or not it will rain, we would never get anything done! So she changed her clothes and came to meet the group! I told her that I was so happy she came, because I had the opportunity to meet her! She walked me to my hotel, we hugged and told each other that we loved them, and said, "see you tomorrow!"
Personally, can I see myself living here, sharing in the ministry? Well, it's only my first day here, and by next week I might be ready to run home! But I will say that I GREATLY enjoyed the ministry and talking to people and about the hope that Jehovah gives us thru his Word!
I came back to the room and my husband is looking close to himself again! He's not 100%, but he's much better, and wants to rest the rest of the day. He was busy finding a hotel for us to stay on San Pedro on Thursday night so that we can visit the congregation and share in a day in the ministry there. We have to stay overnight because we wouldn't have a water taxi to bring us back to Caye Caulker after the meeting.
So after resting a little while in the room, Gordon and I head out to grab some dinner. We weren't sure where we wanted to go, so we just started walking. After considering a few places, we came across this man sitting outside of a restaurant named Roger. He had a really good deal for $25 Belize Dollars roasted pork, rice (you have rice every day here...I'm beginning to like or tolerate rice LOL), cole slaw, three rum punches and dessert! Gordon was game so we decided to eat there after Roger had a couple who were eating to tell us how good the food was. Let me tell you something...this was some of the best roasted pork we have ever had in our entire lives! I was foolish and ordered the grilled shrimp (which was good), but that pork! Whoa child! If Marvia and Weshe were here they would have gotten slapped because you really wanted to slap yo momma! LOL (Just kidding moms!) Gordon gave me a piece of the pig skin....I put it in my mouth and just closed my eyes and stopped chewing. Gordon asked what was wrong, and I told him "nothing, I just want the flavors to dance around in my mouth!" It was amazing! Here is a picture of Roger and of Gordon enjoying his meal (everyone that passed by we encouraged to come and eat at Rogers!)
I told Gordon that Roger kind of reminded me of Shawn Mack!!! LOL Really nice guy! Roger, not Shawn Mack! (someone PLEASE tell Shawn that I said that! LOL!!!!)
After dinner we took a walk down to the basketball court. The guy told Gordon that they play at 5pm, and that he should bring his A-Game! Yes, they have b-ball trash talk no matter what country you're in! LOL
We then stopped for some of my favorite homemade ice cream...Strawberry Cheesecake! Yummy!
We then continued to walk and Gordon stumbled upon a guy and two girls who were doing some Cirque de Soleil stuff on the beach yesterday, and he convinced them to eat at Rogers. (Let me tell you, that Roger told Gordon that he should hire him as a salesman because he is very good at it! LOL) So as we were walking I asked where they were from...England! Awesome! From near Yorkshire. She told us that she loved our accent! ROFL! We told her that we never thought about the fact that we had an accent! LOL! I then told her that I loved Downton Abbey! She said that she does too, that it was her guilty pleasure! (By the way, I sat down to watch it online last night, and they block it here, so I wasn't able to watch...shhhhh no one tell me what happened!) Gordon just shook his head that there was someone else that loves Downton Abbey! I felt redeemed because she was from England and watches it! LOL
So we were heading back to hotel, and I think I mentioned on a previous blog about the man who was selling cakes from a cart, that I talked Gordon out of buying. So check this out...we saw him again tonight...so I said to Gordon, "don't make any eye contact!" LOL Well, let me tell you, he saw us and yelled out "Hey! I've been waiting for you! Where are you going?!?!?" We just busted out laughing. So I asked him what kind of cakes he had and I told him that I would buy one. He said, "no, you make me wait for you, you buy two!" We were all cracking up laughing. Guess what happened...I bought two! LOL I think Gordon was secretly happy, but I am not planning on eating it. If it was up to me, they would go into the trash! I don't know where that man's been! LOL I was like, "Cakeman! You making me buy two!" He said, "Yea!" It was hilarious!
Gordon and I were speaking about things that we would miss from home if we moved to Caye Caulker. I thought of being able to go to a movie theater, but they have a theater under the stars. Gordon thought about being confined to just a small island, but we then reasoned that we can visit San Pedro which is bigger or go to the mainland. We have a lot to pray about, but we both agree that we really like it here...so far. LOL
It was cute, we saw Dayani again this evening. We were laughing and she pretended to hide from us (I don't know, maybe she wasn't pretending! LOL) But she said that she was on holiday today, and so she did "Facebook! Facebook! Facebook!" She asked if we had Facebook! We told her yes, so we are going to meet tomorrow to exchange FB names. We plan to give Dayani a witness. She asked where we were from and we told her Pittsburgh. She said, "that's so far." Gordon said it is, but we are thinking of moving to Caye Caulker. It was so cute, because she got a big smile on her face and said, "really?!" It was really a cute moment.
It is such a small island that in no time, you get to know the people and their names. Everyone is very nice and warm.
We returned to our room. On our way, Gordon cannot help himself but to harass our poor hotel worker name Fatima that he wants to take her "whip" out for a spin...he's such a mess. This is her whip!
I went out and laid in the hammock and did a little studying for the meeting tomorrow.
If I don't look like my sister Mikalyn!!!! Whew!
It was a great day! Looking forward to spending the day in the ministry tomorrow with Gordon (who is feeling so much better! Yeah!!!!) and also to attending our first meeting tomorrow. (Did you know that each branch has their own Kingdom Ministry - so we have our KM for the Mexican Branch...pretty cool!)
Thanks for being interested in my rambling friends and family! I'll ramble more tomorrow! Love you all! Have a good night!
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