Week 8 has officially come and gone, and we’re well into Week 9 now – the time is definitely flying. I’ll try to keep this post a little shorter just in an effort to be a little more present here with the time we have left!

Monday and Tuesday we were back at school. I ended up working with the same class both days, which I really like – it helps to create deeper relationships with the kids. Probably my favorite moment was sitting with two little boys during reading time, listening to them sound out the words to an Amelia Bedelia book and cackle at her misunderstandings and antics. It really made me miss reading and what an impact it had on my life as a kid. Books are the best!!

Monday we also got to go to an altar night on the town put on by the church we’ve been going to. They have one at different parks each week, and this week we lucked out, as it one was pretty close to where we live. The goal is to do outreach and “take back” that area for the Lord. There’s a lot of prayer and worship, which is pretty awesome!

Unfortunately, I started feeling sick again after school on Tuesday, so I stayed behind while J and H and Mama went to house church. I did go with the team Wednesday morning to help mix up more concrete for the church we’re working on, but I was definitely not feeling great and was told to sit down partway through. It was really satisfying, though, to see the project we were working on finished!

Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, and a good part of Friday I spent in bed, just trying to recover. The symptoms were extremely similar to the flu I had had back in the village, just (thankfully) without the fever. It was definitely disappointing to be sick yet again, and Thursday I hit kind of a low spot, just struggling with my purpose here and whether I was even supposed to go to South Africa next year for more missions. Thankfully, the Lord helped pull me out of that on Friday morning, and I feel confident that he wants me to go to South Africa in January and even hike the Appalachian Trail afterwards!

I also got to have coffee with Lauren Friday evening, which was really good – our “frate” back in the village was very short and interrupted several times by my little host brother, so it was good to dive a little deeper and not be so distracted!

The big highlight of the week was getting to see some Mayan ruins on Saturday! Our friend from the village who had given us the tour of the cave picked us up early that morning and drove us to the Xunantunich ruins.

We hit a small hitch upon arriving: the ferry that usually transports cars across the river was only ferrying people due to high water levels, and it was a mile walk up some serious hills to the ruins after you had crossed. Normally this would be no big deal for me, but since I still wasn’t feeling 100%, the two mile round trip walk plus probably another mile or two walking around the ruins really took it out of me. Nonetheless, it was so so worth it! The walk was pretty too, which helped, and it gave us more time to talk with our guide.

Even better, after touring we stumbled upon a monkey! It was the first monkey I’ve ever seen in the wild, and it was really cute!

We stopped in the visitor’s center but didn’t stay long, which I was kind of bummed about – normally I probably could have spent a good hour there! I think the group was pretty tired though, and honestly I was too. We did get to see some cool artifacts that they had on display.

After the walk back, we stopped at a little shop for some Cokes and some homemade Ideals that were so good before heading back home.

It definitely feels a little strange doing more touristy activities – we know we definitely look like tourists, but after 8 weeks here we don’t feel like one! It is really interesting to talk with true tourists and see where they’re from, but it’s funny how even the Americans feel so “other”.

The rest of the group went to a youth night at our church that night, but I was pretty worn out still, so I had an early night in. Sunday morning we had church, and then we went to sell tamales that night with Mama. We were pretty pooped after a busy weekend!

Here’s some other fun moments from the week that I didn’t already mention:

The kittens are getting so big and so fluffy!! We can cuddle them now, and it’s so good.

Mama made a pineapple upside down cake with a lemon base, and it tasted so good.

Here’s H sipping some coffee by our window…

…and J going a little nuts out of same said window!

And finally J with her adorable stingray sunburn.

Well, that makes another week! I know I sound like a broken record, but if you all could continue praying for health for the team through November 9, we would so appreciate it. We had someone else sick again this week, and honestly I’m pretty worried about traveling back home through several airports (read: germ hubs) and convening with the two other teams who have also been traveling through numerous airports for debrief, what with the blow my immune system has taken so far. I’ll be drinking my orange juice and praying!

If you could also be praying for a good last week here in Belize, we would really appreciate it. As much as I’m excited to get home and see friends and family, I’m trying hard to stay in the moment because I know I’ll really miss it here. And in case I don’t get another post done next week, prayers for safe travels on the 6th and 7th and prayers for adjusting to life back in the States would be much appreciated too!

Much love to you all – until next time!

Welcome back for Week 7! This was actually a really restful week for us, as a lot of our plans were cancelled. It was really nice to take it a bit easier after a busy first week in our new home!

Early Monday morning we had quite a bit of excitement, though I didn’t really realize what had happened until I woke up several hours later: one of our cats who had been pregnant had her kittens! J definitely came to her rescue and whipped up a much more suitable birthing box than the box full of wires she had chosen! We now have three little kittens; it’s crazy how much bigger they’ve gotten already, and I’m hoping they’ll be old enough to play with a little by the time we go!

Thankfully Monday was a holiday, so we didn’t have to go to school. We took the time to sleep in after a late night of selling tamales (and for J midwifing kittens!), then we got up and helped make the next batch of tamales!

I think it was Wednesday I graduated from banana leaf cleaning/wrapping to assembling some 92 tamales! I definitely don’t have it down yet, but it was neat to be involved in a different part of the process.

Monday we also went back to the boba tea spot to do a little processing of our church experiences over the weekend, which was good. It’s so wild how we all had such different experiences and perspectives, and it was really amazing hearing some of the stories of how God worked. I’m definitely not quite comfortable with this new, very charismatic style of church, and I’m still praying for discernment, but I do think some of my initial hesitation is decreasing some.

Tuesday we were back in the primary school again. Unlike the school in the village, we’re not really assigned to a classroom; we just kind of float around to wherever we’re needed. This day I was in a Standard 1 class, which was fun! I mostly graded papers and helped cut out some decorations for a bulletin board. (I was pretty amused at the irony of decorating with pictures of colorful maple leaves in a place that doesn’t really have fall, neither maple trees, and was experiencing record-high temps of over 100 degrees that week.)

After school, we walked towards town some and browsed a little; I found a cute linen dress that I’m hoping might work for when I go to South Africa next year!

J and H and I got home and decided to spend time on the roof together, which was so good! We spent hours up there, just talking and eating tamales and enjoying the sunset and stars.

Wednesday we were supposed to go to the preschool, but school was cancelled last-minute as the power was out. We took the time to rest and help make tamales, and then it was time for our big adventure of the day – finding a way back to our village! Normally we would just rely on Pastor N for a ride, since he lives in the city but preaches in the village; however, we were trying to surprise him for his birthday! After much planning and scheming (and thanks to the generosity of an extremely kind bus driver), we were able to hop on a bus taking kids from the city to the town.

And man, did it feel good to be back. None of us could believe it had only been ten days since we left – it felt so much longer! MK and I were so thrilled to get to see our family again and spend time with them before going to church. I spent most of the time playing with the boys and helping Mama pick some veggies. We got up to some good shenanigans and had some good laughs!

The congregation had decorated the altar for Pastor’s birthday and prepared a whole big meal of what else but tamales, along with rice and beans, salad, and cake! With all the festivities, it was about 10 pm before we got to enjoy the food, but I did a really good job of cleaning my plate that way!

We hung out at the church for quite a while after, just talking with our friends and catching up. Before long, it was time to get going, so we said a much less tearful goodbye and squeezed into the back of Pastor’s truck to ride back to town. The stars were beautiful that night, so I watched for constellations on the way back and praised God for the opportunity to see our families again and for such a good night. It felt especially redemptive since I had been sick that last week in the village and leaving on that note was so hard.

Thursday our plans were cancelled yet again, which meant we were able to sleep in after a late night out. J and H and I accompanied Mama to the store, where she spoiled us and bought a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch!! We were so excited.

That night we went to a prayer night at Mama E’s church, then Friday morning we were up early to head to Pastor N’s house, where we worked to fill some more holes in his yard.

We spotted the tiniest little toads I’ve ever seen there, which is wild because the biggest toads I’ve ever seen in my life have also been from Belize. They really range the whole gambit here. (Hard to tell, but the one below is easily 7-8 inches long and a pound and a half or more!)

After getting back from Pastor’s house, we went over to the other host family for a while to eat lunch and hang out. Probably the biggest entertainment was watching one of the boys suddenly cut down a big tree with just a machete, though cuddling the sweet little neighbor baby was pretty up there too.

That night, Mama’s niece’s husband Ed came to stay with us! He is extremely outgoing and quickly rounded up a group of people to play Uno. Unfortunately, I was pretty pooped from the digging, so I didn’t stay up for it, but we got plenty of time with him the next day.

Saturday we went into town with Mama to pick up some groceries at the market. We were there earlier than the week before, so there was a good bit more of a selection, such as this big pile of dragonfruit! (Yes, we did get some.)

After groceries were acquired, we went to the pupuseria at the market, where Ed joined us for some fresh hot pupusas. Afterwards we walked over to a local ice cream shop, where Ed treated us!

Saturday also happened to be the day of the solar eclipse, so once we got home, we headed up to the roof and took a look. Even though our coordinates weren’t the best place in the world to view it, we lucked out with a pretty sunny day, so we could still see it! It got noticeably cooler and darker – I think I cracked a joke about how it would be nice to have a solar eclipse every day! (Did I mention it had cracked 100 degrees multiple days that week? Thankfully it’s gotten cooler since then, but we could still really use prayers for rain!)

A couple hours later, Ed and a friend moto-ed us over to the river for a little escape from the returned heat. We had a good time just hanging out and even jumping off the bridge a time or two!

We came back home and hung out for a while before getting ready for church. Did I mention we have horses around us that randomly walk by and sometimes grab a snack from our front yard?

That night at Mama E’s church we had a vigil! It basically was like a very long church service. Some of the team stayed for the whole thing, while the rest of us left at the break at 11:45, since we had church early in the morning.

Sunday morning we walked to church – I caught some pictures of this beauty with some gorgeous flowers along the way!

We rested for a good while after getting back…

…then headed to a coffee shop we hadn’t tried yet to hang out as a team for a while. H found some of E’s favorite chips in the store and bought a bag for her – it was pretty funny to see E’s reaction!

I have been pretty surprised at the number of familiar snacks here, especially now that we’ve moved to the city and have access to bigger stores. We even found some Cheez-Its in the store the other day, so we might be splurging on a box of those before the trip is up! There’s also a really nice selection of snacks that I haven’t seen back in the States, so it’s been really fun trying those. The favorite right now among our house is Chocolate Ideals, which is basically frozen chocolate milk in a bag. We usually tear off a corner and sip it as it melts. They’re super cheap, and very nice for a hot day!

We hustled home afterwards so we could help Mama pack up tamales and go with her downtown to sell. It was definitely a quieter night, and a shorter night for us three since we took a taxi back early, but it was still a good time!

Well friends, that makes another week! If you would be praying for health for our team here, we would really appreciate it! Unfortunately I am under the weather again, though thankfully not as badly as last time. It’s kind of hard to get enough vitamins here, so I think that between that and me having the flu a couple of weeks ago, my immune system has really taken a hit. I’m praying for a speedy recovery so that I can get back on the ground! Much love!

Hola! Thanks for being here, and thanks for your prayers for our time here in Belize!

This post will cover Weeks 5 and 6 in Belize, as I got sick Week 5 and don’t have much to cover. I mentioned in the last post that I started feeling under the weather on Saturday into Sunday, but I was still really hoping that it would be just a little bug that would pass quickly. Unfortunately, that was just not the case.

On Monday, we went to Belmopan to renew our visa, and I was still feeling pretty crummy. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait terribly long and we got everyone squeezed in before they closed for lunch! We also got to grab some classic Belizean fast food for lunch afterwards, which was good.

I had been taking my temperature over the last few days, since my host brother E had had a fever when he was sick, but everything was showing normal – until I got home from Belmopan and clocked 101 degrees. Thus kicked off five more days of flu.

Reader, it was not fun. I had every symptom in the book – fever, cough, runny nose, chills, aches. I spent 95% of my time in the hammock or the bed. I struggled to sleep at night, whether due to temperature swings or feverish dreams. But by the grace of God, things finally started to turn around on Friday, and by Sunday I was starting to feel close to normal again – just in time to leave our town on Monday. I’m honestly still kind of grieving the loss of that week – there were so many things I wanted to do with my family and so many things I missed out on: the last week of helping at the school, getting to read to J, going to Rio on Pools with the team, going to Spanish Lookout with our family, and so on. But I know God can bring good things out of hard experiences, and I’m counting on him to redeem that week. It was definitely a good reminder not to save things for the last minute, and it truly could have been so much worse. I’m grateful I don’t really have any lasting side effects save for a cough.

I did catch a few fun moments, like the horn on this guy’s bike:

Sunday night was the first night I finally felt well enough to go to church; it also happened to be our last night of church. Mama, Papa, and J all sang, which was a real treat! Papa especially is such a good singer.

It was a night of goodbyes – hard to believe it was almost time to leave this place we had come to love!

I had decided last minute before church to mix up some cake batter, which we baked after church. I had told our family friends about it, and so even though it was late, they came over to help us eat it. Unfortunately, I got the oven too hot, so it stuck to the pan, and I don’t have any pretty pictures to show. But everyone still said they enjoyed it – Papa enough that he was eating the scraps out of the pan!

It was so nice to have everyone over again – one last hurrah.

The next morning, I woke up earlier than normal and helped Mama with the entire process of making tortillas one last time.

Mama left for work, then MK and I said our goodbyes to the boys before they went to school. We did end up walking over to the school so I could say a quick goodbye to my class, since I was sick the whole week before. We stopped at Mama’s work on the way back to say goodbye, then headed back home to pack the very last of our things. Pastor N soon arrived to pick us up, and we said goodbye to Papa and drove to the other house to get the rest of the girls. Before long, we were on the road to our next home.

It was definitely a tear-filled morning. We had fallen in love with our little town and our families over the past five weeks, and goodbyes were really hard.

The drive to our next home really wasn’t that long and didn’t provide a lot of time to process and transition, so we dropped our bags off at new places, said a quick hello to our new families, then went to a local coffee shop to debrief a little. Honestly even that experience was a little overwhelming for me personally – the shop was so modern and different from what we had experienced the past five weeks that I felt a bit of reverse culture shock. But I got to try boba tea for the first time, which was a cool experience! I think I’m a new fan.

When we returned to our house, we got a tour of the place! Definitely a lot bigger than my previous house, but to be fair nobody is living in the second story because it’s still being worked on.

We did get a tour of the upper story, which has some really pretty views!

My housemates this time around are J and H. They are so sweet, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them more! We live with our host mom, Mama E, and her adult son, though he’s not home very often because he works. Mama E at times runs a vegetable stand out of her house, but right now she primarily sells tamales downtown. That first night we ended up going with her to help, which was a fun experience!

While we were there we heard worship music and realized it was live! Lauren had told us earlier that day that a local church she was really interested in was having a worship night on the town that evening, but she couldn’t figure out where it was. And lo and behold, it ended up being just up the street from us! We walked over and worshipped with them for a couple songs, then walked back. I think the Lord knew I needed that experience after a hard day.

We had finished selling tamales by ten, so we caught a taxi and headed back home and crashed for the night. Tuesday we got up at a decent time to head to a local private school, where we’ll be helping out on Mondays and Tuesdays the rest of our time here. Some of the group was assigned to different classrooms, and the rest of us helped the principal with some organization and creating behavior tracking devices.

We walked back with the rest of the group to their house and hung out for a while. Their house is definitely quite a bit busier! But it was a lot of fun getting to hang out and get to know the other family a little more.

We walked home, and since Mama E had already left to make tamales, we got to stay back for the night and enjoy the sunset from the roof, along with some time to ourselves! Sunsets here are just gorgeous – definitely something I will miss when we leave.

Wednesday morning we headed to a local private preschool to help for the day. It was quite a bit different from the primary school the day before, as the preschool was much smaller. Half the group was in one class and the other half in the second, so there was a lot of time with individual kids.

School in general is a bit different from our experience with school in the village. There’s definitely a lot more access to resources here – the primary school has a printer, a laminator, laptops for the teachers, and projectors for nearly all the classrooms. Most classroom decorations are purchased or printed rather than handmade. There’s also a lot more diversity in students here – almost everyone in the village was mestizo (Latino), but here there’s a good mix of mestizos, garifunas (black people), and even a handful of white people and the occasional Chinese person. Spanish also isn’t as widespread here, though it’s still pretty commonly spoken! Our host mom speaks almost exclusively Spanish, so we’re still getting lots of practice in!

Wednesday we were also introduced to the process of making tamales – we cleaned banana leaves over lunch for Mama E and her helpers.

After school, we went with her into town and sold again! This time we tried tostadas from our friend M – que rico!

Thursday we got up bright and early and went to Pastor N’s new house to help him with some work there. We were tasked with spreading some dirt (read: clay) to help even out the yard, which was some trying work. We did as best as we could and called it quits around lunchtime. Before we left we did get to try some coconut water and starfruit! There might have also been just a little bit of horsing (or shall I say “turkeying”) around with the farm animals!

That evening was a birthday party for one of the guys in the other host home, and our house was invited too, so the three of us went. There was a lot of really good food – barbecued chicken, fresh tortillas, chips with queso, and even ice cream cake!

Friday was a long, hard, but satisfying day of work! We went with Pastor N to the other church he preaches at, where they’re building a new church building around the old one, and mixed up concrete all morning into the afternoon. It was a really hot day too, into the 90s, but Pastor graciously supplied us with breaks and treats throughout the day, such as chocobananas, Cokes, apples, and cold waters. I was pretty proud of our group and the progress we were able to make – praise God for healthy, strong bodies!

We took a good solid nap afterwards, then went to church with Mama E that night. This church is the same denomination as the one we went to in the village, but definitely a bit more charismatic. It’s not uncommon for some of the women to start jumping up and down, shaking their arms, moaning or yelling, and sometimes talking in words we don’t understand. When asked afterwards, these women would tell you that they were experiencing the Holy Spirit, which is amazing! I guess I’m still struggling to process it because it’s so different from anything I’ve seen and also very different from what I expected a Holy Spirit encounter to look like. It was really kind of the pastor to have someone translate the service for us, and it seems like it will be a regular thing whenever we’re there!

Saturday we slept in a good bit – we were still recovering from all that concrete mixing – but eventually got up and headed to the downtown market with Mama E. We walked around and got some groceries, then she took us to go get pupusas since we’d never had them! They were really good – almost like a corn tortilla quesadilla/pancake with cheese, beans, and meat. It sounds like it might become a tradition for us!

Afterwards, we had our Ephesians bible study at a local ice cream spot. I got rum and raisin – so good!!

Saturday evening the team went to a more contemporary church that had a service in English. They had a prophecy team from New York visiting that weekend, so things probably looked a little different than normal – I’m looking forward to experiencing a typical service. I honestly struggled with many of the same things that I had struggled with the night before – several people fell to the ground and were moaning and shaking. A lot of the team had some really amazing encounters during that service and Sunday morning – praise God! I just have the feeling that it might take me a while to open myself up and trust that the Lord is in what I’m seeing.

Sunday morning we returned for service, then returned home and helped Mama make tamales. I’m pretty sure this was the first day I started helping with wrapping the tamales in banana leaves! It’s just one small part of the process, but it was nice to be able to contribute. We made 100 that day since it was a holiday on Monday, and we took them into town to sell. It was a long night – I think we finally returned home around 11:30 – but it went quicker than I expected! One of the best parts of selling tamales with Mama is the conversations we get to have with people and the outreach opportunities it provides. We definitely got to have a lot of convos that night! I’m praying that God works through us in these interactions and that people would see Him in us, whether or not they want to or are looking for Him. We did get to have a lot of laughs, and I particularly enjoyed jamming with one of our friends to 80s romantic classics for a good solid hour!

Well friends, that covers two full weeks – as always, thanks for the prayers, and I’ll try to have the next post up soon! Much love!

¡Bienvenidos! This is the fourth installment of Belize posts and covers our third full week here.

Monday was such a good day! Sunday was a holiday, so the kids got off school on Monday, and Mama L didn’t have to work. Because of this, Mama L ended up taking MK and me to visit her Mennonite friend a little ways outside of town. The drive there was just beautiful!

When we first arrived in Belize, I was pretty surprised to hear that there was a rather large population of Mennonites. Since I’ve been here, I’ve learned that there’s several more religious groups here, including Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses. It seems several of them have migrated from the United States or Canada, perhaps because of the higher percentage of English speakers here than other Central American countries. A lot of these groups do tend to keep to themselves; we’ll occasionally run across a Mennonite coming into town, but it’s not an everyday occurrence for us.

It was a pleasure to meet and talk with D, Mama L’s friend, and hear a bit of her testimony. Unfortunately it was a pretty quick visit, but I did get to see her dragonfruit patch, which was really cool!

I’m really hoping we get the opportunity to go back and spend a little more time getting to know D – I’ve also been told she makes a really great pizza, and I can’t tell you how good that sounds!!

Afterwards, we returned home and started making food. My birthday had been the day before, but with the wedding we hadn’t had any time to celebrate. After a while, I got kind of tired and decided to go lay down for a couple minutes. Mama L told me that she would come and wake me some three hours later! I think I only slept about twenty minutes, but it was nice to have more time to rest, and I put some headphones in so I wouldn’t spoil any of the preparations going on outside my room.

I was “awakened” a few hours later to a firecracker going off and my team singing Happy Birthday! We had not one, not two, but three cakes, and a delicious dinner afterwards. They had also decorated the dining room with so many balloons!

The team even brought presents! First was a travel Chutes and Ladders game for A, since his birthday was on Friday. He absolutely loved it, and several days later we are still playing it regularly! As for me, I got a bag of goodies, because I love trying sweets from other countries, and a cover for my Bible! MK had noticed I was carrying around my Bible in a Ziploc to help protect it from the elements, so the team decided to get me a more aesthetic protector. It was so thoughtful!!

Tuesday was back to normal. I started off the day bright and early helping Mama L make flour tortillas, which are sold at the local shop as an extra source of income. They are so good!! Definitely one of the small things I’ll miss most about living here. We made a HUGE stack this morning – right about 90!

We make tortillas most mornings, depending on demand, though sometimes we make them in the evenings instead. It’s usually about 7:30 by the time we’ve finished, at which point the boys are usually up and getting ready for school. I usually help get them out the door, then we finish getting ready ourselves. This was our first normal week of helping in the school, so we volunteered on Tuesday and Thursday.

Wednesday MK and I were able to take a bit of a slower day, as we weren’t helping at school and Mama and Papa were out running errands. We helped fix lunch for the boys and did some chores around the house, but otherwise enjoyed the day to ourselves.

Thursday I finally finished my number chart at school! After cutting out 100 circles, gluing them down, cutting out borders, and covering the whole thing in plastic – all the while fighting the wind that kept trying to blow everything away – I was pretty thrilled to be done!

Friday MK and I started the day by helping Mama L “clean” chocho plants. Chocho is a type of squash commonly used in soups here. Our farm has a couple of fields full of them, and they’re just about ready to be harvested! Mama L says that they typically clean, or remove the old dead growth, three times a year! It’s a very impressive setup.

Afterwards, we got the opportunity to meet Miss S, an American ex-pat living in Belize for the last couple of decades. She graciously invited the team over for lunch and prepared a pretty big spread: vegan lasagna, walnut rice balls, and fresh salad. I think my favorite, though, was the dessert – chocolate pudding made from avocadoes!

We also got to meet her many dogs, and we even took them on a walk with us as we explored her property.

Friday night I had a pretty humbling learning moment. Because we don’t have church on Friday nights, we’ve been having worship nights with more contemporary music at the church. This was the first Friday we decided to open it up to youth in the community as an outreach event I was pretty excited to share a different way of worship: more contemporary music, dimmed lights, and I had even had the idea of lighting candles! I got the candles all prepped and ready, but I forgot the most important part – permission. We ultimately decided not to use them since the church hadn’t approved them, but we still turned off the lights during worship and just turned on our phone flashlights. Near the end of the night, the lights suddenly came back on. A church member we are close to had informed us that it’s not looked upon very favorably to worship in the dark here. The kicker for me, though, was what he added: “At least you didn’t light candles!” Ouch. I was pretty frustrated walking home; it honestly felt like a bit of a slap in the face to have our culture of worship rejected like that. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that I was focusing a little too much on sharing culture rather than sharing Jesus. And yes, our goal was to present a slightly different culture of worship to help attract a different group of people than those that usually attend. But as team leader L reminded me, like Paul says in 1 Corinthians, we shouldn’t do anything that will cause another Christian to stumble – even if it’s with the best of intentions!

Saturday was an unexpectedly eventful day. At lunch the day before, MK and I had volunteered to stay and sit Miss S’s very pregnant dog while Miss S was out of town. We arrived early that morning to find Miss S still at home and one puppy already delivered! Over the next several hours, we got to act as puppy “midwives” four more times, and thankfully, they were all healthy! It was a pretty awesome experience getting to see new life being brought into the world, and I’m really glad we got to be there for Miss S, who was pretty nervous about the whole ordeal.

We went home a little after the last puppy was born at 4:00 and found Mama L doing some landscaping projects! We helped a little bit with transplanting some bushes to the backyard so the boys would have more space to run around.

I had been itching to do some baking and finally got some time on Saturday to make it happen. Tasting the plantains we cut down the week before made me miss banana cake, so I found a recipe that didn’t use butter and took a stab. It tasted good but was really, really sweet, especially with the icing. Definitely fun to get to bake though – my first time in several months! We had some company over too to help us eat it.

Mama and I talked for a bit after our company left, and somehow we got on the topic of body weight. Before I knew it, she had whipped out a scale, and we were weighing ourselves by hanging from the ceiling! I love her so much – never know what might happen when I’m spending time with her!

Sunday we didn’t go to church because all the leaders were out of town at a conference. We helped out around the house some, then walked over to the community center for a girl’s group with Miss S. Our main goal was to just support Miss S and try to make some connections with the girls, and it was a good time! We did a speed dating style icebreaker, then E from our team led a tutorial on how to make friendship bracelets.

That wraps up another week in Belize! It’s crazy to think we only have one more week left in this town before we move to our next spot. We would really appreciate your prayers for a smooth transition – we love it here, and it will be hard to leave, but we’re also excited for the next chapter. God bless – I’ll leave you with a sunset photo from the top of our hill!