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.

I woke early this morning with a pain in my right side.  A feeling of dread came over me.  I knew this pain.  It happened a couple of years ago when I ended up passing small, undetectable  stones.  I prayed that it would not be so, but as the morning progressed I felt that searing pain.  A pain you only know if you have experienced kidney stones before.  I prayed.  I told God that I would not fear, that I know He can take care of me.  In fact, He already was.

There is a small group visiting from Vera and Basil’s church.  In that group there “just so happened” to be an ER doctor.  He examined me and told me it was most likely stones and was able to give me some pain killers that are safe to take.  If you have been reading the blog, then you know that I have been dealing with an infection, I thought to spare you the details but now I will share.  It was a UTI.  I’ve had a history of these and was quite frustrated to have another one. Well, for the past few days I have also been struggling with a nasty cold virus as well, so I’ve been “down for the count” so to speak.

We decided to make the trip to the hospital.  Let me tell you, being sick and going down that coastal road is not fun.  We stopped once so I could throw up, I felt a little better. Finally we arrived at the hospital (which looks more like an industrial building but it’s the best hospital in Belize), the attendant was less than enthused to help us and even told me I would have to wait until Wednesday to see a kidney specialist from the states, and did not seem to want to help us that much.  We insisted on an ultrasound.  I found out later that that was the LAST ultrasound they were doing that day. God really took care of me.  While I was waiting and getting frustrated it was taking so long I was talking to the lady at the desk about my condition and explaining to her my frustration with the attendant in the other room.  She said, “Well, he probably did not know what to do because we did not have an Internist here at the time, but we have one right here in this room right now. Maybe he will see you.”  This doctor “just so happened” to be at the hospital to pick up his check.  He had walked into the room to check the soccer score on the tv in the room.  He showed much care and said he would be glad to see me after the ultrasound.

Ultrasound findings: I had indeed passed a stone and it was still in my bladder.  Also, my left kidney (where I felt no pain) has a stone that is 8.3 mm.  That is very large for a stone.  I am not feeling it because it has not decided to move.  Well, the doctor saw the results and suspects that I still need to pass a stone.  He also said that I need to see a Urologist.  But guess what? There are no longer any urologists in Belize.  I will have to go to Mexico.  The big stone , he said, is too big to move on it’s own, but it probably has been the cause for my UTI’s past and present because bacteria like to hide around stones.  I will have to remove the stone, and it can only be done in the States or in Mexico.  So, Mexico it is, but it will  have to wait until after the pregnancy.  We also found out that this doctor “just so happened” to be a Christian.  He spent 30 minutes talking to us and did not charge us a cent for his consult.  He also gave me his cell number and asked me to call him on Monday.

The Lord is with us.  He showed us that He is always there and constantly protecting us.  I am really glad that I decided to put my trust in Him instead of giving in to the fear and worry that was lurking closely.  I feel like there were God’s angels fighting for me today and Christ had the victory!  We are learning so much about Him here.  This is a good thing because we are two very imperfect people.  Please continue to pray for this situation.  Oh, and, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS “JUST SO HAPPENED”.  I only see God happening around here.

P.S.  The ultrasound tech did peak at the sex of the baby. Not for long though because she was really doing us a favor and I told her I would be back Tuesday for the official check.  However, we have a good idea what the baby is, but we will let you all wait until we know for sure .

I realized that some items I have written about have been left hanging so I felt I should write updates about these particular items.  Here they are:

Worker Permits: They found our Worker Permits!  We hand carried them to the capital city.  They are not ready yet.  Please pray that they will be ready before the tenth.  They government told me that I have received my last extension on my visitors visa so we are not sure what that means as far as staying in the country.

Shelly:  She is doing very well.  She has told me that her family can already see a difference in her attitude.  We visited her and her boyfriend or as they like to call it, “Common Law”.   We wanted to get to know her boyfriend and then hopefully John can share the gospel with him.  Please pray for him, his name is Anton.

Weather: It continues to be rainy.  The road can not hold all the water.  Today Basil told me there is water as far as the eye can see flooding the Coastal Highway.  Please pray that when it is necessary for us to get through, we will be able to get through.

Pregnancy: The pregnancy continues to progress.  I am almost 19 weeks.  On Tuesday or Wednesday, I get an ultrasound to make sure everything is “normal” and as a bonus we will find out the sex of the baby.  Yay!  I will announce it on the blog.  I can’t wait! My infection is under control, although I seem to have a virus of some sort, and am staying home tonight instead of going to youth night.

I better go and be “Mommy” now.  The best job.

Rainy season has begun. For the past two days, it has been storming almost non-stop. It is a well kept secret of mine (not anymore) that I am fearful of storms. It’s true. I do not like them, they make me feel very vulnerable. My family likes to tease me about a time when I was about seven and it was storming outside. I was in a car and I had to go from the car to an office building and I was terrified and crying. Although now the fear is not that extreme, I still have a healthy respect for storms.

The storming is not the only problem. When it rains like it has been, the roads get washed out and we can not pass. We tried to go to Belmopan (capital of Belize) today to get our worker’s permits and some medication I need. Normally, we would not try this because we knew the road would likely be flooded, but I need the medication to take care of an infection so we decided to try. The roads were awful and flooded and we could not pass.

John and I got to talking about how, out here, we are completely vulnerable. Our dependency has to totally rest on the Lord. We have to put our full trust in Him that he will care for us and watch over us no matter how serious the circumstance. We met a guy on the road who is building on some property that he calls “The Last Frontier”, so that should give you a good idea of where we are. We are in a place where if we let it, fear could consume us. So far, I’m doing well to bring my fears to Jesus. We also have great evidence in Vera and Basil that God will take care of us since He has taken such great care of them. I guess when we are faced with the reality of our living conditions, we realize how much we need to rest in the palm of God’s hand.

PS From John:  I KNEW I should have got that snorkel kit for the Jeep…we could have made it if we  had deep-water crossing capabilities…

As I write this I am beaming. I have been waiting since yesterday to write this post, I am so excited and have been tremendously blessed this weekend. Read on to find out why:

Her name is Shelly. The first time John and I met her two and a half years ago she was a shy and unsure woman . She has five children and is my age. Her house is much like every other house in the village, a wooden shack, but it’s HER house and she is proud of it. I never forgot Shelly. The way her eyes held emptiness, the fact that she seemed hopeless. I knew I would see her again and I desired for her to come to bible study.

When I arrived here in February, the first thing I did was invite her to bible study. She said, “Mel, I already planned to come.” I could tell then that God was working in her. She has been the most faithful and open member of the bible study since I started leading it. Even open to the point where she shared that she was not a Christian. She was being held back by the persecution that Christians face in the village. My heart was burdened for her but I knew the Lord was working so I watched the Lord work and waited for the moment.

That moment came this weekend at the retreat. She was one of the most excited ladies to come to this retreat and I was excited with her. I knew that no matter what happened the Lord was prompting me to speak to her about becoming a Christian. On Saturday morning, during devotions, she said, “I love the Lord, I read the bible, I pray, but I am not a Christian.” She had not yet given herself to Christ out of fear of what other villagers might say. Oh she was so close! I knew at that moment that I had to speak to her. We did talk during breakfast and she told me some secrets about her past and present. She said to me “I can not lie to you…”. I will not reveal these things, just know, her hardships and burdens are great. I prayed to God, “Lord please, I am weak, I am fearful to speak to Shelly, I can not do this without you. Please help me to be bold and create a time where Shelly can be by herself so I can have a chance to talk to her. I got the chance.

I went to her with the boldness that only God can give. She explained to me how she felt she needed to be good before coming to Christ, and I told her that no one is righteous. I asked her if she was ready to face the persecution in the village, is she ready to attend church again, and she said a firm “yes”. She explained to me that she is waiting to be baptized, and I explained to her that baptism does not make you a believer. I said all you have to do is accept God’s free gift to her, to confess her sins to believe that Christ died on the cross for her sins and rose again the third day, to ask him to come in to her heart an cleanse her from her sins. She said,”Is that all? But it’s so easy!” I said, “I know, would you like to do it now?” “Yes!” she said in this earnest desperation, “Can I repeat after you?” And she did. OH IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! She opened her eyes and I saw a new person. She was crying, I was crying, she had chill bumps and I did too. The change in her was indescribable. I hugged her and said “You are my sister, my real sister in Christ, we are related.” She told everyone in our group right away and that night she gave a testimony in front of all the the ladies at the retreat. Pray for Shelly. She needs prayer for the persecution that she is going to face, for facing her boyfriend and encouraging him and her grandparents to come to faith, pray against discouragement and for her to lean on Christ.

I was simply God’s tool. Really and truly, the seeds were planted, she was ready, and God chose me to help lead her to HIM. This is why we came to Belize folks, and this is why we will stay until God tells us our work here in this village is done. Praise the Lord with me for everything He has done this weekend. Pray for John as he visits Shelly’s boyfriend this week and attempts to reach out to him. Thank you Lord!