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4/21/2004 –

A little American boy named Jessie sat next to me on the Tropic Plane flight from Belize City to PG, and it did not take too long for him to become quite fidgety. So after asking his mother if it was ok, I pulled out my Sony Palm Pilot and put on a short movie for him. He shoved the headphones over his ears and I started the video of Rick-a-chee, a story about a little mischievous boy who lives in a Nigerian village. As he was watching the video, I told the mother a little of what the story was about. She became quite excited, saying that his first grade class had been studying about Africa this past month.

Well, like the Lord’s timing is so many times, just as we came to the end of little Jessie’s flight, the video too came to an end. He and his mother seemed to both be very happy as they stepped off the plane in Dangriga. And Jessie had just learned a life lesson from Rick-a-chee!

I still had another thirty minutes of flying ahead of me, and though I was quite tired by now, I was still very joyful over the events I had seen unfold from the morning’s departure in Birmingham till my arrival at the Belize City airport. The first blessing of the day was that the airline had allowed me to take two excess bags on the flight over their allotted number, and they did not even weigh any of them. I had weighed each of them the night before on my parents’ bathroom scales, but from all of my travels and practice of putting each bag right at or just under seventy pounds, I could tell that these were pushing the limits.

My first blessing had been so great that it helped me to overlook the next challenge that awaited me at the Houston airport. I had been told in Birmingham that I would have to recheck my bags in Houston since I was changing carriers. However, when standing in the Birmingham “international” airport, the depth of such an event can not properly sink in. As I waited for my bags to appear on the carousel in Houston, I picked up a cart for three dollars to help me make it with my five bags to the check-in counter. Little did I know that the train just one floor down would not take the cart, there was not even a cart return there… so much for my fifty cent return bonus. At least there was a free cart at the other end of the train ride for me, however, it was the in-between adventure which was the most eventful.

As the first train came and went with its door opening and closing so fast, I could not see how I would ever make it on with all of my bags. I staged them all at the spot where the next train would stop, and in the meantime one came and went. I prayed that the car would be empty, so that, for one, I would have room for my bags, and because of the fact that I was blocking its exit door. The door opened and I pushed three of my boxes which were stacked together halfway through the door. I thought that if the train managed to take off that at least I would still have half of my luggage. The computerized voice said nicely, “Something is blocking the door.”  I pulled my carry-on and fourth bag on and then I commenced to pull the three boxes that were seventy pounds each into the small train. Once again the computerized voice said, ”Something is blocking the DOOR!”  This time the voice was harsh and authoritative. With one last pull I cleared the two hundred and ten pound boxes from the door and it closed. I was on my way!

I cannot imagine what the other passengers were thinking. However, one thing was for sure in this post 9/11 world - no one was willing to help in this venture. The whole event repeated itself as the train came to my stop, and how thankful I was that I was able to make it off on the first go around. After getting off the train and putting the bags onto a cart… well it was smooth sailing from there (other than the clickity-clack of the carts heavily loaded wheels). With the bags checked on the next flight, I could head out to the terminal to wait (three hours) for my plane to board. I ate two hotdogs, called a friend, and had a nice rest.

My second blessing came at the end of my short flight to Belize. One never really has an idea if you will have to pay duty on goods you bring in or not. The officer opened three of my boxes and asked me what I was doing in Belize. I gave him a brief answer to which he smiled and waved me on. I now had fifteen minutes to make it to my Tropic Air flight to PG.

Tropic’s counter is just outside of the door to customs, so no time was lost in making it to them. I was greeted with some big smiles as a few of them know me personally and others were just waiting for their last passenger of the day. The heat of Belize began to sink in as I rolled up my sleeves making my way to the plane.

As the door to the plane opened up to PG, I could see taxi drivers all waiting to see if they would have a customer or not. Nick, one of the drivers, called out my name and I waved back to him. The rest of the evening was smooth sailing from there.

After getting to my hotel room, I went out for dinner and dropped a note in our PO Box to let Jeff know I had made it in and my room number. He would not arrive till around 6:00 AM the next morning, when the buses come in from the villages.

I have now been back for a full week, which it has gone by quite fast. But it is so great to be getting back into the swing of things. We had our first movie night for this year, thanks to help from our new generator. The house was packed out with a large number left to stand in the doorway. And since the new generator is so quiet, they could actually hear the film this time!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for my safe trip back and that all of my bags would make it. And thanks also to each of you who have helped us by the giving of supplies and finances to this work.  Know that it has all helped us a great deal along the way as we have made the Word known in this part of the world.

6/22/2004 –

As many of you know, for the last year we have been hoping to be able to purchase a new horse to use in our village-to-village outreach. With the adding of a buggy to our outreach work in November, the need became even greater as one of our older horses took to protesting her new job. Well, thanks to the gifts that were made by many of you while I was in the States two months ago, we have now been able to add two new horses to the stock. These are much larger than our little Spanish ponies, and tamer. One is from a horse and buggy community and is nine years old. The other is half quarter horse and half thorough-bred who has been trained as a roping horse. He is about five years old. We have named them Wycliffe and Tyndale after the first two men to translate the Bible into English.

My horse-shopping trip proved to be quite an adventure in and of itself. It took me to four different Mennonite communities (three of which were horse and buggy communities). I traveled by way of bus, horse & buggy, horse back, car, truck, ferry boat, and hiking boots. I helped a family move into a Mennonite community, which is quite a cultural event. I was also an eyewitness of families fleeing from religious persecution in Europe. The journey lasted for a week and filled many pages of my journal.

For six-weeks Tyndale (the quarter horse) was in training for buggy pulling in a nearby Mennonite community.  However, last week I made the six hour/30 mile trip, one way, to their community to pick him up. He truly is a prize horse and a great addition to our ministry. He still needs some breaking in on his new job of buggy pulling, but he is friendly.

We have now added a new weekly Bible study with a family, meeting in their house. And with school letting out here this week we will be adding a Bible school for the children on Tuesdays. Do please join us in prayer for these two new meetings.

Just a swingiiiiiiing! When I picked up Tyndale from the Mennonites, I also picked up a swing which I had asked them to make for our little porch. But what I never foresaw was how powerful of a ministry tool it would become. This is a new sight in this Mayan village.  It is not just drawing the children but adults alike.  On Monday we returned from a trip to town to find a grown man sitting in our swing just swinging away. Well, who knows just how the Lord might use this?

I pray this update finds you well and full of the Father’s joy!

8/23/2004 –

We want to inform everyone about a new ministry opportunity for us that will be starting on September 1. After months of prayer and weighing the possibilities, Patrick and I will be taking seven boys from the village and offering them a high school level education. Children are only required to attend primary school in Belize, which finishes when they are 14 yrs. The local high schools are quite expensive to attend, especially for villagers that earn their living off of the land. But even more than this, it has concerned us over the past three years to see many promising young men go off to school and as a result, be exposed to a world they have never before experienced in the village and in many ways aren’t mature enough to handle, particularly when it comes to making wise decisions based on Biblical principles. We have witnessed boys who once eagerly attended Bible study change so completely during their first year of high school that they no longer even come to visit.

Six of the seven boys who are attending Dayspring Mission Academy have consistently been attending both youth Bible studies and Children’s Bible School over the past year. They range in age from 14 to 18 yrs. The younger ones just completed primary school and some of the older ones had desired to attend high school, but did not have the finances to do so. We will not be charging a tuition fee and will be providing all of the textbooks for the students. 

We have two primary goals in undertaking the school: 1) We hope to give the students a well rounded Biblically-based education that will prepare them for whatever the future might hold.  By keeping the number of students small, it will be feasible for us to give a healthy amount of individual attention.  2) Most importantly, we will be able to facilitate an atmosphere in which we can concentrate on making committed disciples of Jesus the Messiah.

We do need much prayer in this endeavor. We are compiling various curricula to develop our own teaching material that will be suitable for this culture and setting. We also are planning to keep our other ministries going (children’s school, youth Bible study, and outreach to other villages via the horse buggy). Our school will meet Monday through Thursday, from 8 AM to 3:45 PM, September through the end of June. The next week and a half will be quite busy for us as we clean, study, and prepare our hearts and minds for a new realm of outreach.

There are a variety of ways that you can be involved with the high school ministry. If you would like to know specifically some of these, please don’t hesitate to email us back.

Click here to read the 2005 entries.