Tropical Storms and CAMP

You'll recall that in my last post I was looking forward to a week of camp. However, last Saturday, the 26th, the first tropical storm of the season, named Alex, was projected to hit the coast around about the Belize-Mexico border, near our destination for camp. Since it was quite conceivable that this would flood out our destination, which is at sea level across the road from the sea, we postponed for two days to give us just five nights at camp. As it happened, the storm, named Alex, hit just north of Belize City, and with less ferocity than predicted; we sheltered in our house, hosting a family from church who we know well. There wasn't too much flooding either, but we hope it is our only brush with tropical storms for the season, although it is predicted to be a busy one!

So, camp...
We travelled up on a bus (an old American school bus, bright yellow and very warm indeed) on Wednesday afternoon and settled into dorms, a.k.a classrooms. I was with the little girls (the 7-10 year olds), and had a good time in it, despite being on a floor, far too hot, and eaten by hungry mosquitoes. Oh, and waking up around 5:30 every morning with the light. Official get up time was 6:15, followed by a prayer, and then by exercises by the Caribbean sea, showers and duties.

We had just under 60 campers in all, split into 6 groups named after 'watery' Bible characters (Noah, Moses etc; I was with Peter, included because he was a fisherman). Each day each group had a duty, whether cleaning the yard, the bathrooms, or helping with a meal. Unsurprisingly this was many people's least favourite bit of camp!



We talked about Jonah ('obeying God'), and Jesus calming the storm (trusting God) and stuff we did included themed arts and crafts, themed games, themed new songs (courtesy of me), lots of praise choruses, bible 'study', and a quiz. Then there was a banquet (turkey dinner, standard celebration food, followed by corn flavoured icecream and served with fizzy drinks; a rare treat for many. We all dressed up, even the counsellors, although we had to serve the dinner so we had to be sensible!)

And, since water is not a problem in Belize, we did lots of watery stuff; we couldn't swim in the sea, even though it was right across the road, coz it was choppy, but we went to a small water park (with a slide), made our own water slide with plastic, water and fairy liquid (only it isn't fairy liquid), and played races where you had to transfer water between buckets.


On top of all that we had a movie night, did some skipping, played ball games, got to know each other, and found time to eat and sleep (although not very much). And of course, the Sunday morning service.

Now we're back, and I've just about recovered, our house is left full of camp stuff that needs sorting...woop di do.


In other news, I have fresh milk for the first time since February (Maggie wasn't feeling well and needed a pick me up) it is amazing the difference it makes to a cup of tea. Small blessings!

Prayer requests;
1) for flu, dengue fever and malaria to stay away!
2) for continuation of the friendships started and seeds planted at camp
3) for the teams coming in to do building work, medical and general missions over the summer
4) for safety for all in any future storms
5) for all the children who might come to vacation bible schools over the next month

love to all in the 'heatwave' back home

xx

June in brief...

June in brief...

What June in England signifies (or at least, has done in my privileged life up to now, especially the last three summers):-

Long days and short nights. The arrival of sunshine, if you are lucky. The chance to wear a dress without freezing. The chance to take a dip in the sea, also without freezing. The thwack of willow on leather, the sight of rain at Wimbledon, the news of an England tail order collapse. Occasional football hysteria. Strawberries and cream. Pimms. Garden parties, picnics, walks. Fruit picking. The end of exams, and consequently, laziness. Boats. Tourists. Sitting outside in a beer garden, drinking lemonade (definitely not cider :P). BBQs.

My June in Belize:-

Roughly the same amount of daylight as every other day. Rain (actually not that much, though). More heat and humidity than normal. The necessity of wearing a dress, otherwise I might boil over. Obsessive checking of the hurricane outlook (OK, maybe I'm more obsessive than most because I'm trying to be a budding meteorologist...). Watching my first ever basketball match (well I only watched the last quarter-and-a-half; technically three eighths, yes) on TV, so I now vaguely understand references to Cody Bryant. Mangoes, delicious, and yet so plentiful its hard to stop them rotting in the fruit bowl without making yourself sick. The departure of many people on holiday. The arrival of many more Americans etc than normal, mostly here on volunteering or mission trips. A church anniversary and associated activities. The end of term and the beginning of a month of busy-ness with vacation activities (summer camp and vacation bible schools.) Graduations to come out of your ears, for all primary and secondary schools (I've just been to two, I think...important people in churches/schools go to many more). Roughly the same amount of BBQs as normal.

Please pray for the Methodist Camp; we go next Monday and return the following Monday. Not actually under canvas- we sleep (on the floor, yes) in Methodist schools. I'm going to the one for juniors, age 7-13; I anticipate being exhausted. Lots still to do, which is a bit scary, and lots of resources still to chase. Pray that all will be organised and go smoothly and that children will have an AWESOME time and grow closer to God. Seniors (13+) are looking at different types of 'love' and how love is absent in society, so again, prayers they will really learn stuff and that we'll be able to have some positive and lasting influence in contrast to negative influences (same here as everywhere, but in many cases accentuated!!!)

Love to all in England (and anywhere else you may be).

PS- non-Belizean news- I'm going to be in Reading from the beginning of October, i.e. about three weeks after I return, studying Meteorology. hence comments above.

Hot , sticky, buggy and beautiful

...Just about sums this country up at the moment. Well, the beautiful only describes bits of it perhaps, but anyway.

Last weekend we enjoyed a long weekend in the hills of Cayo district. The weather obviously recognising us as Brits on holiday (or more likely as a consequence of its being rainy season) it rained, quite a lot. So one day of the 'holiday' was spent climbing Mayan ruins with nervous eyes on the skies. A second was spent by Maggie, relaxing, and by me, walking through tropical forests and three rivers in the POURING rain and then into caves which, although obviously protected from precipitation, are generally about waistdeep in water anyway. Needless to say I had a wonderful time! On my return I watched the rain and swam in a pool, again in the pouring rain. On the third day we intended to go up into the mountains but were put off by the weather...so made the decision not to go, at which point the weather cleared up. But we made the best of it and went to the zoo!

I did then get back to work. Teaching English, and my time in Wesley College, are both pretty much done so the focus is shifting to summer activities, when teams come in from the states to help run vacation bible schools and do various work, while the Methodist Church here runs two camps; one for 7-12s and one for 13+. I'm spending lots of my time making schedules, manuals and other necessary plans for the younger age group. It runs for a week and starts at the end of June, so it is close now!

This week we are having a fundraiser to raise money for two chaperones going, along with around 20 young people, to Youth Encuentro, a conference held for all the Methodist Churches in The Caribbean and Central America every four years. This year it is in Trinidad at the end of July. The fundraiser is selling party bags again...1500 this time, with sweets and cupcakes and chips (crisps) and things. So yesterday, once again, we made 100 cupcakes in our little flat. I note that the ability to bake mass quantities of cupcakes was NOT one of the main things I expected to learn in Belize. But it's not altogether a bad skill to learn.

Talking of the unexpected, I had an interesting Friday night. I had received a text message midweek asking if I could sing (as part of my choir, obviously!) the national anthem at an event at the Biltmore plaza (a posh hotel, basically!)

I always feel a bit awkward singing the Belizean national anthem (which I now know as well as if not better than the British one) since I can't help thinking that the lines about driving back tyrants, invaders and despots could be interpreted as referring to the English, although actually I don't think this is the case (unless applied to Lord Ashcroft!!!) Anyway, the event was the inauguration of a Belizean woman into the International Softball Hall of Fame, which was still more awkward because I knew nothing about softball and even comparing it to baseball didn't enlighten me much. Anyway, we got free two course dinner, and a glass of something sparkly, and listened to lots of speeches by important softball people and government ministers. And there were pretty flowers. And, I was COLD because of the air conditioning. I felt very, very jammy.

Aldersgate

"What?" I hear you ask.
And unless you are a Methodist, this is quite a reasonable response. Even if you are a Methodist, in fact, it is a reasonable response, but probably shouldn't be!

So; Aldersgate celebrates the occasion, on 24th May 1738, when John Wesley felt his heart 'strangely warmed' (this should explain the Cambridge Methsoc hoodies bearing the legend, 'John Wesley, strangely warmed. Cambridge Methsoc, warmly strange'.) He was, prior to this time, lacking full conviction in his faith, and so it celebrated at his conversion.

In England you're lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at things) if this gets mentioned at all, but in the MCCA (Methodist Church of the Caribbean and Americas) it is a BIG DEAL. But next week the district president is away at a connexional conference celebrating 250 years of Methodism in the Caribbean, and plus, there is a national holiday. So we celebrated a week early. Which means that I was in church for five hours this morning, with singspiration, followed by a drama (in which I took a small role as John Wesley) and quiz on Methodism in the Caribbean, and then a communion service. And then lunch, but I didn't factor that into my five hours! It was a combined service for two circuits- eight congregations- so there were lots there.

My latest estimate is that I sang 19 Charles Wesley hymns (3 as choir items, 5 as hymns during worship, 8 during communion I think but not totally sure they were all Wesley, and at least 3 in 'singspiration' at the beginning of proceedings).
One of the more obscure ones had the first line 'None is like Jeshurun's God', and anyone who can tell me who Jeshurun is (and convince me they didn't just look it up in a concordance) can have their choice of Marie Sharpe's hot pepper sauce, OneBarrel rum, or Mango Jam, on my return. But since no-one will successfully convince me that they didn't look it up in a concordance, this is an empty promise!

Hope all is well with all in England

Caroline

long time no blog

HI

actually the title is a lie, I've been doing lots of frivolous blogging next door in my squawking land, but I did promise I'd keep this one going too.

So, from Easter through to last weekend (so that's about a month) things settled into a bit of a routine. I've properly taken over the English teaching, so am trying to think what I'm actually trying to achieve rather than doing it on a lesson by lesson basis! The range of abilities continues to be the greatest challenge.

When I've finished teaching there I generally go into Wesley College, either observing maths lessons or helping with assessments. The class sizes are really big and the classrooms are pretty bare and small- it must be quite a challenge teaching. I've seen quite a lot of the Methodist primary schools, too, and the difference between those in the city and those in the country is marked; to make a sweeping generalisation, the city ones have resources but no space at all, and the country ones have space but no resources. Lots of mission teams come down from the States, so I guess it's just ongoing prayers that are needed that resources and skills get to the right places (although it does tend to happen quite well, since there are people on the ground- notably, Maggie- making sure it does!)

We've had a few particular activities; youth week, with a sports day, bible quiz, youth forum and talent night, kept us very busy back in mid April, as did a service for the young people up in Corozal.

I've now been to sessions planning children and youth work in two of the five circuits, which has given me a chance to see the country a bit; and then I've been writing up what was said!

And, I got a small holiday; a few days on Caye Caulker, a BEAUTIFUL island, and a night down in Hopkins, a small village in Stann Creek district.

Other blog

For those who don't know, I have another blog at caroline-squawks.blogspot.com. The first post on there explains why it exists, but basically, when I started this blog I realised I wanted one that could a) outlive my being in Belize and b) be a bit more random, whereas this was supposed to be summarised updates. However, the distinction is rather blurred, and it contains posts with such thrilling titles as 'my nice house and creepy crawly things' and 'storms'.

Easter with the Methodist Church in Belize

An unimaginative but accurate title...

I guess preparations really started last Saturday afternoon, which I spent making palm crosses for the Ebenezer circuit service. I realised fairly early on that I knew very little about the anatomy of palm tree, and I still know quite little, but happily spent a good while stripping layers and layers off a 3m long 'bit' of palm and folding them into crosses, to the dulcit tones of two younger members of the congregation 'do do do'ing Easter (and occasionally Christmas) hymns at a high pitch. I saw my first cockroach in Belize, which in a weird way is worthy of note. [On the topic of wildlife, we have a resident iguana who basks by our front door, runs away from people but not cars, and who I hope no-one decides and manages to cook! We have some trees and plants graced by hummingbirds, too]. Following this, and after brushing significant amounts of dirt off my skirt, I went to Wesley for a choir rehearsal.

On Palm Sunday we arrived at church a bit early to make ready for a procession around the streets, joined by the police and their band, who were to worship with us. About a minute into the procession I had to backtrack a few rows in the procession to retrive a flipflop, and hope no-one important had noticed...
At about 8:15 we started singing 'Children of Jerusalem', and what could easily have been fifteen minutes later we stopped repeating it and entered the church! I was quite warm in my robes when the service finished around 10AM. We then had choir rehearsals, and a impromptu choir photoshoot!

In holy week there is a service every day at 7pm, and I made every one except the Monday one, playing the organ on Wednesday (making my way through the five hymns and three out of the 'Gloria', 'Alleluia', 'Hear Our Prayer', threefold Amen, and Doxology, since I'm still not quite sure where in the service to play them all and where I thought I should, somebody got on and did someone else!). On Thursday I took some time to bake some hot cross buns, English style (I was given a Belizean 'hot cross bun' but it didn't have a cross, so I'm a little confused). I also read at the 7pm service!

On Friday I went to the 8am and an ecumenical service at 7pm. Again, the Methodist church is very traditional (or rather, 'high', tending towards Anglo-Catholic in this case); at the 8am we concluded with the 'Stripping of the Altar', when all regalia, flags, flowers, cushions etc are removed from the sanctuary area. Also, everyone it seemed except me was wearing purple and/or black. Ooh, and Maggie cooked some DELICIOUS fish for a late lunch. Saturday was service-less, so I had a good clean, baked a cake that wasn't quite disastrous, caught up with some stuff and listened excitedly to the boat race.

Today I went to the sunrise service at 5:30AM, and only just stayed awake, before having some quick breakfast at the house of a church member (whose father my parents knew as a Methodist minister in Jamaica...small world) before the 8am at Wesley, which was a fantastic service, and just over two hours long.


Ebenezer Methodist Church.


Making palm crosses.


Hot Cross Buns!


The choir at Wesley.


The choir ar Wesley on Easter Sunday.