The past two weeks...

It has been 2 weeks since my last blog and I will do my best to summarize the events of the last two weeks. The very day my dad left, Mac and Kimberly arrived and the next 6 days were very different than what I had been experiencing; I felt, in essence, like a chicken with my head cut off; a pace I was accustomed to in Nashville, but far from what I had been experiencing in Belize. Mac is the founder and leader of the Belize Project(the organization with which I am affiliated here) and Kimberly owns a tutoring and training center in Nashville, and has recently made a 3 year commitment to help train and assist the schools in Belize, under the umbrella of the Belize Project. So, Kimberly and Mac arrived , ready to hit the ground running and we spent the entire week at two schools, one in Orange Walk(the name of a city here) and the other in Belize City, although I spent more of my time in Orange Walk. Kimberly and I both quickly realized that no matter how much(or little) you plan, God may have other plans entirely. We arrived at Orange Walk thinking that she was going to spend the majority of her time training the teachers and helping them prepare for the first week of school, but we quickly learned, upon arrival, that what was needed more than anything was serving the teachers and principal in ways that unfolded before our eyes. Each of the teachers had to create a plan for the year, documenting all they hoped to achieve in their classrooms which sounds great, in theory, but what we learned was that not only are they not fast or proficient typers, very few of them have their own computers so they would have had to spend their time and money in internet cafes in town. Typing is something with which we could easily assist so we set up a little workshop, if you will, with Kimberly’s computer and printer and we had a steady stream of teachers coming in, giving us documents upon documents to type up and print. A simple task on our part produced smiles that warmed our hearts; they were appreciative of something we could never have planned but what they needed more than they could even say. Likewise, with the principal, Ruth Ku. First of all, she is truly one of the most amazing women of faith I have ever met; she exudes trust, hope and a confidence in the Lord that I only hope to have. When she realized that she had run out of staples, she began to pray; everything Ruth does involves praying and going to the Lord; it made me think of all the hundreds of times throughout my day that I try to solve something or fix something, failing to go first to God. Ruth is the type woman with whom I could sit for hours, just watching, listening and learning. So, it was my utmost pleasure when she asked if I could do a variety of odds and ends jobs for her, from cleaning out the new teacher’s lounge, to checking each classroom making sure everything was in its place to giving her a backrub when she looked frazzled(ok she didn’t actually ask me to give her a backrub, but she was rubbing it and I could tell she needed some TLC, so I went behind her desk and started massaging). The hours went quickly and I found myself truly loving not only being around the energy this school carries, but honored to be a part of a school that a year ago, the community didn’t think would make it(there is more to this story that is confidential but suffice it to say that Ruth and her teachers have overcome what some may have called impossible and ALL with a smile on their faces and a trust in the Lord that was impacting to see).

On our last day at Orange Walk, Kimberly and I found ourselves opening up a closet, filled with OLD computers, OLD papers and just plain OLD(think your grandparents basement: the smell, the dust, the unknowns hidden beneath bins). Had it not been for Ruth’s husband who offered to help us clean it out, I’ll admit (ashamedly so) that we would have closed the door and moved on to another task. But once Mario said he would climb up the shelves to get the computers down, we grabbed our brooms and started at it. Have you ever cleaned something that was SO incredibly dirty that you felt the dirt and dust in your fingernails and in your scalp? I felt like I was bathing in bubbles of dust, but it was so rewarding knowing that this room, that hadn’t been touched in 10 plus years was now going to be able to be used for storage for the school , something they desperately needed. This school does not have a plush, clean room, like our schools do in the states, where you can find ANY supply you need(staples, tape, paper, construction paper, pencils, glue); many of the supplies they are lacking still but at least now they have a cleaner room in which to store it. Ok so half way through our cleaning binge, I pushed the broom far under one of the shelves(keep in mind, the lighting was not great in there) and I looked down and there was a TAIL! As you might expect, I screamed, dropped the broom and ran! Kimberly quickly followed as Mario said “It’s just a rat” and I kept running and said “I’ve just got to catch my breath!” The rat was dead; appeared to have been dead for years because according to Mario(I trusted him and didn’t want to look at the rodent another time:) all it was was a skeleton of a rat and its tail. ALL it was, humph!! Needless to say, Kimberly and I were more cautious during the rest of our cleaning spree.

Kimberly left on Saturday and as she got on her plane, Libby Sanders(one of my best friends in Nashville) got off. Seeing my dad get off the airplane was emotional since it was my first visitor but seeing Libby get off that plane and walk out of customs made me jump up and down. I was so excited not only to share Belize with her, but also to have one of my nearest and dearest down here to bring to life the experiences and people I could only try to describe. Upon arrival, Mac took us to Corozal, via Jacob’s Farm, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation place, that Mac and the Belize Project helped to start. We met Morrow, one of the leaders and recovering addicts, who shared his story with us and with joy in his eyes, told us that he has been sober for exactly a year and he has God to thank. We drove away, with a rainbow in the sky, a warm hug from God, telling both me and Libby that this week was going to be good—filled with new experiences, fun times and moments, like she had already seen on the farm, where God shows up. The next day was Sunday(don’t worry, I won’t chronicle every minute of our week) and we went to a church in Chan Chen with Mrs.Lacey to film the last of the 10 churches that the Laceys started. After church, we went to Dorothy’s (Mrs. Lacey’s next door neighbor and friend) house for lunch. I have grown accustomed to the food and while I am somewhat cautious with what I eat(since the water cannot be consumed, you have to be careful with how things are cleaned), Libby was hyper sensitive to what she should and should not consume. (Hyper sensitive in a VERY good way; she was taking malaria pills and while she had had the Hep A vaccine, she hadn’t had it in the recommend amount of time before coming down here, thus making her more aware of what she was consuming). With her round, greenish/bluish eyes, she looked at me and her eyes asked it all—what exactly was safe to eat on the table. I quickly assessed the choices and felt confident that the rice, chicken, cooked broccoli, and tortilla chips were all safe to eat. I felt good that her first meal in a home was going to be safe…until we saw the water jug come out. We had, mind you, already each consumed about 2 glasses of Kool-Aid and it wasn’t until we saw the water jug that we both grew very weary; picture a jug that you might find in a basement(lots of basement mentioning in this blog) and that might be filled with gasoline or oil; not something where you find water, much less water to be consumed. After the meal, we walked in the kitchen to start cleaning the dishes and my curiosity got the best of me and I said as calmly as I could “Dorothy, just for our peace of mind, especially Libby’s since she is here for only a week, is this water purified” to which she responded “well, I get the rain water from the roof and put a drop of Clorox in it.” Oh great, call poison control because Libby and I drank several glasses of Clorox water; call us crazy, but her response(followed by the chronicle of diseases she has had in the years she has been in Belize—she is from Michigan originally) far from squelched our weariness and in fact, heightened our worry. Needless to say, I felt bad that Libby’s first official day in the country resulted in a meal where Clorox water was consumed.

When Libby emailed me to let me know her plane ticket had been purchased, I was ecstatic and began thinking of what the week would look like. What would she think of where I lived, what would she think of the bugs, the heat, the fact that you have to put on OFF several times throughout the day, the buses, the cold showers, and other things to which I had grown accustomed. I found myself praying a good bit for the week, that it would not be at all what we would want it to be but what God would want it to be—where we were to spend our time(which school) and energy. The weeks and days preceding Libby’s arrival, although I still had not received confirmation from the principal at Cornerstone that we would be of help there, I felt an overriding peace that the week would play out as God intended, and that it did.

Monday was my birthday and I awoke to sweet Libby singing happy birthday to me, holding two pieces of chocolate cake over me in bed(how she smuggled two pieces of Kroger cake through security and customs is beyond me); tears filled my eyes not only because of how I was greeted that morning, but because I immediately thought of how different the day would have been had Libby not been there; no one in Belize knew it was my birthday and there is something seemingly really lonely sounding about no one knowing it is your birthday (except for friends/family back home). So, God already was hugging me by having Libby be here on my birthday. Monday was also the first day of school and we arrived mid-morning after going to journal at Tony’s. Upon arriving at Cornerstone, we sat down with Albert, the principal, and he showed us our schedule for the week, to teach an IT class, starting at 7:30am. Something I felt very strongly about this week was that Libby had come off of a crazy schedule, much like I had left in Nashville and the last thing I wanted was for her schedule here to mirror any part of her schedule at home, so with all the strength and confidence I had, I told Albert that we would not be arriving each morning until 10:00/10:30 because the only way we would be able to truly love the kids well would be if we had some time each morning to be still with God. I explained to him that Libby’s one week down here did not at all need to resemble what it does at home and I have to protect her and make this week a week of solitude and rest as well as serving and giving. He understood. Ok so that night, Libby and I were on my porch about to eat some dinner, when we heard voices singing “Happy Birthday” and I looked up and Romalda(Albert’s wife and my friend who has had me over for dinner several times) and her daughter were carrying a beautiful coffee cake(picture included). I was so surprised not only that they had remembered, but that they went to the effort of making me a cake that could have been in a museum of cakes, it was so beautiful. As they drove away, tears welled up; I felt very loved by Libby being there, by the flood of emails from friends/family back home and then by Romaldo, probably my closest friend here, taking the time to make me a cake and bring it to me. A surprise I shall never forget.

So, the rest of the school week, Libby and I arrived at the school in time to teach several IT classes throughout the day. You might be asking yourselves, I didn’t know Presh and Libby were IT savvy; well, the funny thing is we aren’t but we knew enough to lead a class of ALL GUYS(juniors and seniors) and help them make brochures on publisher and word. On Monday, we were admittedly nervous, awkward freshmen(or so we felt), giggling while we taught and trying to find a place at a picnic table during lunch. Flashbacks of being nervous and awkward in 9th grade came back to me. By Tuesday though, we felt more comfortable in our own skin and the kids started to warm up to us; we even had a lunch date with two freshmen by Wednesday.
By the end of the week, we had had conversations with one student who opened up about his rough past(was in a gang) and his parents’ relationship and then on Friday, my face lit up when one girl we had both taken to looked at me and said “Presh, can I walk with you because none of my friends are around.” I remember that feeling, so vividly, of not wanting to walk solo because it appeared as if you didn’t have any friends; I was honored she wanted to walk with me. Libby and I were making friends! Since Libby and I are both blondes and since neither one of us speak a lick of Spanish, we stuck out like sore thumbs but what started as looks of wondering what the heck we were doing there, turned into(by week’s end) smiles and hugs from the kids. I never thought I was one to be particularly drawn to teenagers(if asked, I would have said I love the little ones more) but I loved the week and have now decided I want to spend more time there(along with the school in Orange Walk) during my last month in Belize. It’s amazing how you can think and plan one thing and God has entirely different plans in store.

Libby left yesterday and although I was so sad to see her go, it was a week I shall never forget, not only because of the laughs we shared, and the memories of being a co-teacher for IT class , but more than anything just seeing God meet us both where we were, in such beautiful ways. He allowed her to embrace the parts of Belize I have grown to absolutely love; the people, the manner of being still and the necessity of relaxing in a hammock. Friday, before she left, Libby and I added some things to the “hugs from God” poster and today, in thinking of the week, I have added some more.