Day 2 - Sunday

I am behind in my postings, mostly because we have been so busy, we haven't had time to "hook up" to the satellite. I still crack up that you can get a wireless internet connection in the middle of the jungle!

Sunday is church day! We went to service at the church that we are remodeling/repairing. We arrived not so promptly at 9:30ish, and we outnumbered the group that had assembled for Sunday service. Five great ladies were there to worship God, and we were invited to share with them.

We sang. And sang. And sang! The fun thing about singing in belize that you will NEVER, EVER, be the worst singer there, so there is never any embarassment about singing loud and proud. If any of you have been to a Faught Birthday celebration, you will have a small idea of what it's like when the Belizians celebrate on Sunday morning.

There are no clocks or timers on the Sunday services in Belize. I know in America, we have this expectation about what time service will let out. Not here. It's done when we're done. So we sing. And celebrate. We sang a "camp" song that Rob says he learned in 1975! Anyone else out there remember "It only takes a spark to get a fire going...."??

Then came the service. If you've read any of my other postings, you may be familiar with the Bible Storying method. A passage is told, and then the faciliator asks questions. It is highly interactive, and always very interesting as we look at a passage, dive deep into it, and gain insight from others in attendance. Ray, the missionary here in Belize, told the story about how men are like grass, and their glory like flowers. Grass withers, flowers fade, but he word of the Lord stands forever.

The part after that is what is really sticking with me - - THEREFORE, get rid of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and every kind of slander. Hmmm...every kind of slander...whether thoughts, spoken, or written, the things we say about other people that is negative. Get rid of it, because you are only here a short while.

We talked about the longevity of God's Word. If it were junk, would it have lasted as long as it has? And because we are short-timers, we need to listen to the wisdom of something that has standed the test of time, and indeed, will always stand.

It's a good service when you still remember what it was about 3 days later. Sometimes I can't remember by the time we've decided what restaurant we decided to hit.

Speaking of Sunday dinner...we went to a plantation where a man from Louisiana invited us to lunch. He owns the place, its a shrimp farm, and his cook decided she needed a garden. Now, its about 400 acres of every kind of fruit tree imaginable, and includes some you've probably never heard of. Soursap, mollyapples, breadfruit, mangoes, carambola, and even a few pomegranate bushes! I love those things.

He doesn't sell the produce, he just invites friends over to share the harvest! And when the shrimp are ready to be harvested, he invites everyone over, and tells them to bring their coolers and ice. It's one big party, and I asked for an invitation for next time. I want to go!

We had an odd assortment for lunch, roasted chicken, lasagna, zucchini cakes, spring rolls, and okra (Louisiana, remember??) It was so GOOD!! And Miss Emma kept our glasses full of mango punch, and kept asking "you don't like it?" Miss Emma is from the Phillipines, and had a career in the Chinese Embassy here as a cook. She is very proud of her cooking, and rightfully so!

I had to explain that I couldn't eat any more, because I was STUFFED already, and if she was going to bring out anything else, I wanted to have room for that, instead of eating 2 more spring rolls - and they were some of the best I've ever had!! She understood, and said she wasn't bringing anything else out, besides MANGO CHEESECAKE!! Ray, bless his heart, said if I couldn't eat it, he would take mine. Uh, no.

After dinner, we played puzzle games, like those horseshoe things at cracker barrel, or the nails that have curly q's in them that you have to take apart. After laughing at my inability to engineer a solution to one puzzle, the "boys" showed us "girls" how it was done. Grrrrrr..But once you know the answer, OF COURSE it's easy!!

Then came the wonderful tour of the plantation, the trees, the fruits, the flowers (real gardenias) and the shrimp ponds. It was so cool, and we got to pick as much as we wanted. I have never seen this much star fruit in a trip to Meijer at home. We probably have 50 of them.

That night, we went to church in Pomona. I sat down, and the lady behind me asks, "are you Tabor's mom?" WHAT???

More on that next time!
Hugs,
Leah