I used to think that I worked well under stress.  I don’t know how I thought that, maybe it is because I have always wanted to believe and hope and wish that this trait would be mine. Well, I’m writing here today to tell you what some people closest to me already know and I am just now realizing.  I am not good under stress.

Then why Lord do you feel that this particular missionary position is right for me? And why are all of my faults revealed to me when under stress?  Can you give me a break from revealing to me just how HUMAN I am? Can’t you let me think that I have at least some things under control?

“No.”

The Lord is asking me and sometimes forcing me me to grow.  As I grow I can feel him prune the bad spots.  Oh it’s painful at times.  Being snipped and snapped and pinched.  But He MUST do it.  God is like a parent who desires to see me thrive, He desires that I learn to adapt and rely on Him, and the only way that I will learn is if He teaches me.  I suppose He thought that a team of forty people is a great classroom.  God has been showing me so many things about my character and attitude that need to be changed so that I can be even more effective.  The only thing is, IT STINGS LIKE A SPANKING.

However, the most encouraging thing is that He still finds me worthy and faithful enough to spank and prune. He still looks at me as His precious child, and for that, I am thankful.

I pray that it only takes me one time to learn my lessons .

We had a wonderful time with Emmanuel Baptist church.  They finished the house they funded to build and had a great excursion to Caye Caulker.

There was only a two day break between Emmanuel and the next team from Springbrook Community Church in Huntley IL.  This is our largest team to date: Forty people.  Everything was going fairly smoothly and all at once things started to go wrong.  The truck broke down, the road is flooded, we are short one person (Basil) because of the truck.  So John and I are handling the team here while Basil is out of town.  Things are a little crazy and stressful right now.

Will you please pray for us right now at your computer. Pray that the truck will be fixed, the rain will be minimal, the team patient, That John and I will be patient with the team and with each other, that God will grant us grace and that we will see Him work in a mighty way today, and that Basil will be able to get back to the base tonight.  Thank you so much prayer warriors!

We are very happy to have the Emmanuel Baptist Church youth group here from Hartsville, SC.   They are a supporting church and it blesses our hearts to have them here.  They are rebuilding a home in the village and doing a great job!  The walls are up and tomorrow they will put the roof on. They also carried down a ton of items we needed and brought us snacks.  I’m enjoying many Oreo’s.

The burdens are coming in the form of the increasing amount of women coming to me with very personal and tragic circumstances that they are going through.  A sad part about it is that many of these problems are a direct result of the choices they have made in the past. Although it does not excuse the behavior of  the men in their lives, it does make things more complicated.  My heart is burdened with their burdens.  Many times I walk away with tears in my eyes because for me the burden is heavy.  I’m so glad that Christ’s yolk is easy and his burden is light.  I take these women to prayer.  Please pray for them too.  Pray for Kira* she is going through a very difficult time with her boyfriend and she has told me that she does not know the Lord and is hesitant to do so because she has seen others come to the Lord but continue in their sinful ways.  I asked her to pray about accepting Christ for a week and in a week I will talk to her again.  A week will be on Wednesday.

John continues with the Men’s basketball ministry and feels that each time he plays ball with them he gains their respect and is getting to know them a little more each time.  Please pray earnestly for the men in the village.

Evangeline is doing great. She loves having teams here.  We just had her 18 month appointment and she is in the 10th – 15th percentile for weight and about 95th for height.  She is such a blessing to us and keeps us on our toes.  We would not have it any other way.

Thank you all for praying!

*Name changed to protect identity

Praise the Lord we have obtained temporary workers permits! Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us.  After a long battle with the government they finally granted us a year long workers permit.  It did not end with out some drama though.  We got to Belmopan only to find that they had approved us and the permits were back in Belize City.  We spent an unexpected night in the city, got to the office and they said, “The photos you took, the passport copies you made were lost, you have to get them again.”  Grrrrr…. so a couple of hours and much waiting later, we had our permits in hand!  Thank you Lord!

We have two teams coming between the 14th and the 1st of August.  We are going to be sooooooo busy.  But it’s a good busy.  John and I are very excited because they are teams from supporting churches.  It will be great to have some “family” around.  Please pray for all of us here as we prepare to minister to them by speaking to them about mission mobilization. Pray for me that I will find that balance between being a missionary and being a mom.

That being said, I am very pleased that our niece, Cameryn is here to help us out with caring for Evangeline during this month.  She has already been a great help to John and I.  She raised all of her funding to be here and seems to be happy as a clam and enjoying every second.

It seems like every week a woman is seeking counsel on a domestic abuse problem she is having in the village.  I am doing my best to provide Godly counsel.  Their problems are overwhelming and what they have to deal with on a day to day basis is very difficult.  Pray with us that God will grant me wisdom beyond my years.  He is already speaking to my heart and I am listening, pray for discernment.  Pray that John will be able to effectively develop relationships with the men, because the heart of many of the issues begin with the men.  Some issues are sin problems that are ingrained in their culture so they just feel it’s a part of the culture to be the way they are.  We have said time and again that we are not out to change the culture, but when the culture is a sin, then what?  Oh, these are things that are very very difficult.  PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!

It rained all night last night and might rain again.  Please pray that the road will open (both directions are flooded), so we can get out and pick up the first team.

We are praising God for his protection from Tropical Storm Alex. The Tropical storm was RIGHT on us. Yet, for the most part, our property did not get strong winds just a lot of rain. It was amazing to see God protect us in that way.

During the heavy rains, John had to take Evangeline from the Main lodge to the house where she takes her naps. He slipped on the top steps and fell all the way down with Evangeline. I heard the fall and Evangeline’s screams. I thought to myself, “Ok Mel, be prepared for blood and broken bones.” Then I ran out to see them. Evangeline had ridden on John the whole way down except for the last few steps. She was wet and dirty but after quick inspection, no scratches.

John badly bruised his leg/foot and could not walk for a day and a half, but now he is at 100%. This fall could have been so much worse, but we are praising God that he had His angels guard over them. We know it is because you all are praying so much for us. Thank you!

Well the path of the storm changed and it is headed right to us. The good news is that the storm seems to be coming from the back, so there is no storm surge. Right now it is just off the coast and it is raining pretty hard, but that is it. No winds yet.

So please be in prayer for us as we bunk down for the night and through the next day.

The first tropical storm is heading our way. Sometime between this afternoon and evening we should get hit. The good thing is that it is headed toward northern Belize, so it won’t be a direct hit on our beach, but it is still fairly close so we will feel the storm. The winds are projected to be 40 mph. We are not too concerned at this point. Just hunkering down for the day.

This could cause a lot of flooding on the Coastal Road which will make it difficult to get in and out. We are very thankful we have a boat just in case we need to get to the city. We will keep you posted. As for now you can go to http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml? to check the storm path yourself.

Persecution comes in many forms.  For villagers who are Christians, it comes in the form of relentlessly being teased by other villagers as to what they perceive the Christians spiritual life is like.  Even if they have no idea.  Many villagers here see Christians going to church that they feel are not truly Christians.  They judge very harshly.  They concentrate on all the mistakes and sin problems they see in others lives but are blinded by their own depravity.  One way they tease is that they call the Christian a “One Day Christian”.  Meaning they go to church one day but return to their old ways the next.  The women have been explaining this saying to me but it was Tuesday that I finally got to witness it first hand.

I was picking up a friend of mine, Tiffara, for Tuesday Bible study.  I called out from the jeep for her and a man standing on the porch called out “One day Christian!, Oh, one day Christian!  Your white person is here to pick you up. “  So I said, “She is not a one day Christian.” He laughed of course. Tiffara was clearly embarrassed at his teasing.  I said to him as I drove away, “Better to be a one day Christian than a no day Christian.”  Now, I’m not sure if that was the most appropriate response, but he was clearly taken aback.  I just wanted they guy to think about what he was saying.  I don’t know if I accomplished my goal, probably not, but I felt for my friend and wanted to come to her defense.  I finally understood what they had been telling me these past few months, and I’m sure it gets worse than that.

Thursday was the beginning of the the resurrected sports ministry for men.  They play basketball, a short testimony is given and then we feed them hot dogs or a light snack.  John’s goal in all of this is to build relationships with the men and gain their respect, then hopefully he can share with them Christs love on a one-on-one basis.  It went very well, everyone had fun, John met a lot of men, and they were very thankful for the food and fun.

Right now, we are working hard preparing for the two July teams that are coming back to back.  Please be in prayer for us.  Much of our ministry is about challenging Americans to look at missions in a whole new way.  We also pray that God would reveal to us those who are struggling or have not experienced God’s saving grace.  John and I are compiling some mission’s talks that challenge those who come here to step outside of themselves.  Thank you for praying for us.

Hi all, it’s another update post.  There are some great things happening and some items we need you to pray for.

Woman’s Bible study: We are currently doing the Beth Moore series called The Psalms of Ascent. We just did the introductory session and on Thursday we will get into the real meat of the study.  Please pray for the ladies as we walk through Psalms 120-134.  I also would like to invite you to read these Psalms with us over the next 6 weeks.

Men’s ministry: After much prayer and consideration, the men have decided to revive a sports ministry that once existed on a consistent basis.  The men involved in ministry in Gales point will announce that basketball will be played during a certain time on Tuesday.  They will have hot dogs and drinks for them at the end of the playing time and share from the Word.  the focus of this ministry for John will be to build relationships and trust with the non-believing men in the village. Please pray that John will form lasting relationships.

Workers permits: We continue to hit a brick wall with our permits.  The major thing that they are trying to validate is that we have proper training to be missionaries.  We included our certificates from the missionary training we received in Colorado for three weeks back in September in the application, but they saw that it was only a 3 week course and said it wasn’t sufficient.  John is in the process of getting a transcript from Bob Jones University which will show the Bible training that he has received.  We have also contacted Converge (our mission board) to get a letter and certificate of all the training we received through them. Because missionary work permits cost less than one tenth of what a regular work permit costs, there’s a lot of abuse.  The government has responded by making it more difficult for missionaries to get visas.  We had to go through a vetting appointment with Basil and now we need proof that we’ve got proper training for our position.  You know and we know that we are qualified.  Please pray that God will grant us favor in the sight of the Belizean government so we can complete this process.

Pregnancy: The pregnancy continues to progress well.  I get bigger by the week!  I have gained 1 lb. and am hoping to have gained about five by the time I am 26 weeks so my doctor will not have to put me on supplements.  We are still moving forward with having a c-section here in Belize the second week of October.

Kidney Stones: Thank you all so much for praying for my stone situation.  I have passed everything (It took about five days) and I now feel great.  However, after the baby is born we have to get the 8.3mm stone out of my right kidney.  We are praying and researching the best options for going about the lithotripsy.  Right now, the best option is going across the boarder to a Urologist in Mexico.  We will schedule an appointment with him/her in August and go from there.

Evangeline:  She is doing so well.  If only you all could see how much she is growing!  She has quite a vocabulary now and a very feisty yet sweet nature about her.  Some things she says that are cute are: “Up, peeze”, “peerple” (for purple), “Do-Do” (for Dora), “Nack” (for snack), and “Horsey” every time she sees a fence.

Care package:  This is a little late but, I want to take the time to thank our small group back home in AZ for sending us a WONDERFUL care package.  They really hooked us us with diapers and food and toys and clothing.  I even got a Slap Chop, and it works just like the commercial says it does.  We are very grateful to them and feel very special.  A big thank you to Leah Miller who made the care package happen.

I’m hoping to get a picture link here on the website so you all can scroll through recent pics.  I will let you know when that happens.  It really is needed.  We are also working on a little “face lift” for the blog, one day, all will be revealed.  In the meantime I just thought you could use something to look forward too .

Thank you for praying!

For the past 24 hours this has been on my heart and I thought to share it with you:

This weekend was the high school graduation party of my beautiful sister Jessica.  On my mom’s side I have three sisters whom I am very close to.  ALL of the sisters were together this weekend to celebrate this special occasion,  except for one, me. I had my day of feeling sorry for myself and “Boo-hoo, poor little me, who has to miss out.” Yes, I threw myself a small pity-party and then I got over it.  I called them yesterday to let them know the sex of the baby and they were all together with my mom going to dinner, “Boo-hoo, poor me”.

I have a devotional for missionary women called “Screams in the Desert” and these are two of the verses I read last night: ” Going on from there He [Jesus] saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebdee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He [Jesus] called them.  IMMEDIATELY THEY LEFT THE BOAT AND THEIR FATHER, AND FOLLOWED HIM” -Matthew 4:21-22.

I was in awe after I had read that.  It slapped me in the face.  How many times have I read this in the Bible and heard about in Sunday school and yet NEVER really understood the sacrifice and gravity of the situation.  Imagine John and James chatting and laughing together with their dad, maybe they were talking about how many fish they would catch that day, dreaming that it would bring in good money for their families.  Imagine Zebedee looking at his sons with pride.  Two sons to carry on the family name and the family business.  Then, in one instant, it all changed. The young men looked up, it was Jesus, He called to them, and they could not resist, THEY HAD TO FOLLOW CHRIST NO MATTER THE COST.

Now, consider what they left.  They left their father in the boat alone, they left their careers behind; all to follow a man they saw on the shore afar off.  He said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”, and to them that was better than their jobs, and, more important than family.

I knew when I read this that God was speaking to John and I.  That passage was for me that night.  Reminding me that He called and we had no choice but to follow, to give up everything we held dear so that Christ could make us “fishers of men”.  I’m not writing all of this to lift us up, oh no, for we are nothing without Him.  I write this because I want to proclaim how gracious God is to us.  When we throw ourselves a “pity-party” or start feeling bad, or have an inkling of doubt, God turns to us and says, “Don’t you remember that I asked you to follow me and you did?  I WILL be faithful to you”. He gently and lovingly puts us back in our place. I have so much admiration for the disciples now and I can empathize with their situation.

I also want to encourage any one out there who might be thinking that what God is asking you to do seems impossible or that He is asking you to give up too much.  Yes, you are right, He is asking you to give up everything, but look at what you will gain!  The disciples gained so much and even more when they joined Christ in heaven.