While on vacation in Mexico, it was like a whole new world. We never thought we would get excited about the smallest things. But we did. Here are pictures of items we will not take for granted EVER AGAIN:

Play places / playgrounds:  Playgrounds and play places are scarce here or broken down.  How I miss the McDonald’s Play place and the HUGE playground we use to have in AZ that was only five minutes away. Next time we are in the states we will enjoy play grounds whenever we get the chance.

Hand dryers: A luxury to us.  Sometimes we don’t have anything to dry our hands or water to wash them with! When I see a hand dryer in Belize, I know I’m in a fancy place.  This fancy place in Mexico was MCDONALDS!  LOL!

Baby Changing Stations: In the states, EVERYWHERE you go you can find on of these.  How I’ve wished for a baby changing station in Belize at times!  I have yet to find one.

Strawberries: Nope they don’t grow these in Belize and if you find some “fresh” ones they are no good.  It was so nice to bite into a fresh strawberry.

Steak Sandwich: While on vacation we took every opportunity to eat steak.  This was a special treat for John and he REALLY enjoyed it.

Steak: As I mentioned above, we LOVE steak, but the steak here in Belize is not good.  Belizeans do not even like steak.  We tell them it’s because they never had a steak from the USA.  See the cows here are bred to withstand the heat and it makes for very tough meat.  The flavor is not so great either.

Lettuce / Salad:  We CAN get lettuce here, but transporting it out to the base and making it last is a different story.  It spoils very easily.  We don’t get it often.  Also if you order a salad at a restaurant here you are going to pay $$$.

So there you have it!  You will notice that most of these are food related.  Yes, we miss some of our favorite fresh foods.  Things that we used to have on an almost daily or weekly basis.  I will be making these things when we return to the United States in three years.  I’m sure the list will get longer.

One thing I did not get a picture of is the McDonalds we went to in Mexico.  What a great treat for us.  Seriously. Needless to say, we ate and ate and ate on our vacation and it was GOOD!

Our silence has been due to the rush, grief,  recovery and finally peace that comes with a believers funeral.

Last Saturday John and I met Janito (Davine’s husband) in Belize city.  He asked if we could transport Davine’s body in our truck.  Hmmm… this is new.  Hiring a hearse to transport the body is out of the question because of the cost and the fact that they probably would not go down the coastal highway.  So Saturday afternoon we picked up Janito’s family and went to pick the body up at the hospital.  I watched the men carry the casket to the bed of the truck and then tie it firm with rope and cover it with a tarp.  The next couple of hours I spent following the truck and then we slowly came to the village.  I went first.  “Are you carrying the body?” was all anyone asked me.  I explained that John was right behind me.  He came in and the first stop was Davine’s parents house.  Let the Wake begin.  At the wake they put the body in the yard and put a fan to blow on the body.  Then everyone comes and looks at the body, cries, drinks, eats and smokes weed.  It’s like a party.

After a couple of hours the body was transferred to Janito’s house where the big wake was to be.  The villagers stay up late drinking and smoking and talking.  Sometimes arguing and blaming, other times crying and murmuring.  We stayed for three minutes.  Trouble happens at times late at night in the village, we know better than to stay around a smoking and drinking crowd.

The next morning was the funeral.  We picked up the body outside of Janito’s house.  The casket still open and the fan still blowing on the body. They transferred Davine’s body to the church, set the casket on two chairs and I was left with her in the church by myself for a time.  I looked at her.  How different she was!  She looked different and she was not full of life.  People started to trickle in and peer again into the casket.  The funeral was beautiful. The eulogy was given by a friend and was heartfelt and full of sorrow for a dear friend that she will not see again this side of heaven.  Pastor Kenny gave a wonderful salvation message.  After the service the casket was loaded back into the truck and taken to the grave site just a 1/4 mile away.  The villagers followed the casket.  As they were lowering the body into the ground and covering it with earth, the villagers sang hymns.  I was with Evangeline and did not get to see that, John told me, but I think it a fitting way to be buried for a Christian.

So here we are.  The ones who are left because God still has things for us to accomplish here on earth, remembering Davine and her sweetness.  She will not be forgotten. In the past few days God has provided a new reading teacher and Sunday School teacher.  I am so thankful for that because it has been weighing on me since Davine’s death.    Thank you so much for your prayers during this time.  I would also like to say thank you to Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, our home church, for donating funds for the funeral.  Janito was so grateful and we are too.  We love you Cornerstone family.

It is with heavy hearts that we tell you a dear friend of ours and villager passed away this morning.  Her name is Davine.  You might recall me writing a blog about her needing medication.  She did receive the medication and seemed to be feeling better.  We do not yet know the cause of death.

Davine was a young 23 year old.  She leaves behind a daughter Jasmine and her husband Janito.  She was a member of our church and the Sunday School teacher.  She was always joyful.  Even if she was in pain she had a joy about her.  She always had a smile to great you and a sweet spirit.  She was gearing up to teach reading in the school.  A position which the Lord will have to fill now. Davine was loved by all in the village.  Her death weighs heavy on us all. She will be missed.  I was told that everyone in the village cried.

I went to go visit Davine’s mother today and they are mourning of course.  We will be there to help them and Davine’s little girl the best we can.  Please pray for John and I as Basil is back in the states to be with Vera for her next surgery.  Comforting those is mourning and being “Pastor and counselor” of sorts is a new thing for us.  Pray that God will give us wisdom beyond our years.

Davine’s little girl Jasmine said her Mom was in a coma.  Please pray for Jasmine.  School is starting soon and I am going to make sure she has all she needs, but she will need so much more suring this confusing time.

Pray for the village.  I can’t explain everything now, but the Lord is really shaking it up.  Our hearts are heavy for this place and so is Kenny’s (the village pastor).

Thank you for your prayers during this difficult time.

It is time for us to take a real break.  After three years of preparing to be missionaries and moving to Belize and starting our ministry, we have not been able to have a vacation with just our little family.  We are tired.  Tomorrow we begin a five day vacation and we plan on RELAXING.  The location is secret.  Some of you may know but other than that we are going to enjoy being somewhere in private.  We have given our contact information to someone so at least someone knows the details just in case .

Please pray that this will not only be a time of rejuvenation for us but for Evangeline as well.  Pray that John and I will be able to find those moments to listen to the Lord. We are so excited.  We will post pictures and such when we return!

About a week and a half ago I wrote a post in desperation for prayer.  The first two days of our team of forty was very stressful for John and I. We tried our best to make the transition easy for the team but we were feeling the pressure behind the scenes.  As the days went on, and God started putting all the pieces to the puzzle in place we were able to go with the flow.  We really enjoyed being with this team.  They worked very hard and encouraged us greatly.

Last Thursday evening they held a church service in the village.  Many villagers came and I actually got to participate in a skit!  It was fun.  The temperature in the church was hot and I had Evangeline so I decided to take her and the stroller outside.  While outside I saw two girls, Kayla and Crystal.  I had talked to Kayla last week about where she was at with her relationship with Christ.  She told me she had not accepted the Lord yet.  I told her to pray about it for a week and I would follow up with her. This was the night, here was the open door.   I asked her if she prayed and if God had spoken to her, she said,”Well Miss Mel, I’m ready to accept Christ.”  Sweet words. I prayed with her and she went back to her friend Crystal and told her and Crystal said, “Wow, that is the best decision you will ever make.”  I then asked her,”What about you?”  She said, “I have not as of yet.” So I walked with her and tried to answer her questions as best I could.  She had so many and seemed confused at first but as the conversation went on, I saw her understanding increase.  By the end of the evening, she had become a Christian as well.

Christ knows. He knew the team would be big, knew that the week would be a little overwhelming, knew the church would be hot, knew that both those girls would be outside.  He took all of those circumstances and shaped them into this perfect moment that only He could have orchestrated.  So omniscient is He! So we say, “Come teams of forty! Come bless us, come and bring blessings, bring the stress, and the learning moments, God is waiting to do something AMAZING through you.”

The basketball men’s ministry is going very well.  John has some guys showing up to the youth night bible study because he has been able to invite them at basketball. We are praying that God will do a mighty work through the men in the village.  Please pray with us about this.  We desire that their hearts will be captured for Christ. It will  be a long road, but one worth traveling.

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!