It's Cold!!!

Here is our last blog post....

We have arrived back home now... It's nice to be back to see our family and friends again... but at the same time we already miss our dear friends in Belize.... when we arrived in Houston and were waiting for our next flight to England we looked out at the developed world and instantly missed the simple life of Belize!

At the same time we had a lovely beef burger it was delicous and Sally had her first starbucks in months it was very much enjoyed!!! And even using the toilets and everything being automatic was very strange for us ;)

And on a depressing note when we arrived in England it was raining!!! and we were not dressed for the cold weather...so all day we were cold... our hands and feet just didn't warm up ;) but we are adjusting slowly ;) wearing 3-4 layers of clothes is helping ;)

The last few weeks in Belize were very enjoyable... We attended the Sign meeting in the small village of San Antonio again and even weeks after the class the students were still doing so well and continuing to progress in ASL it was a joy to see them all and their progress... and two deaf attended the meeting and one  of the ladies even commented!!! So we feel definate that Jehovah's Holy Spirit is upon them all there and they all will continue to progress! Our thoughts and prayers are with them all.

During Victoria's study (the deaf call in PG) we taught her Rev 21:4 and used pictures for every sign, we went over it bit by bit and by the end she was signing it all by using the pictures.  As you can see we are not very good drawers!!

We spent our last few days with the Sign Language Congregation in Orange Walk and enjoyed the meetings very much seeing the deaf attending & commenting.  It was very sad saying goodbye to them all.

Whilst we were in Orange Walk there was an assembly in PG (Punta Gorda) 535 attended and 5 were baptized, which is very encouraging and shows the potential of the local congregations in the south.

Thanks to all of you for keeping upto date with our blog and all your encouraging emails. We hope that you feel you've had a taste of Belizean life and why we love it so much there.

We look forward to seeing you in person shortly!!

May Jehovah Bless all of our dear friends worldwide we will continue to keep you all in our thoughts and prayers....

Warm Christian Love
Sally and Cj

Our one last swim in the river and with the dogs we grew to love :) 

After a long morning of rain we arrived at Victoria's house for our study
to be greeted by a small pond!!! thankfully there was another way in :) 

Teaching Victoria Rev 21:4 

Revelation 21:4 each sign was associated with a picture to help her remember the signs
and it worked!!! :) 

Our Last night in PG with our dear friends who we miss already very much!!!

More Pictures

Inside the hall - Class in session! 

Learning Rev 21:4

Bro & Sis  home in San Antonia, they provided lunch

for the class every day.

The sisters making yellow corn maize tortilla's

Brother Roberto He knew no Sign Lang on Monday
but on Saturday He gave the closing prayer in ASL for the
Meeting!!! It was a joy to see all the students progress so well! 

A fully packed ASL Meeting! 

The Graduating Class ;) May Jehovah Bless there continued efforts! 

Only 2 Weeks Left!!

The past few days have flown by with many special moments.  Our week in Orange Walk was very special, meeting up with old Bible Studies and attending the ASL class.

The class in OW was for 4 days with 8 regular students including CJ and then visitors on daily basis taking the class up to around 20.  The class was not focused on vocabulary but on facial expression and drawings, and miming bible thoughts on how to get points across as the deaf in Belize who are generally not fluent signers.  At one point we practised the ABC whilst bouncing a ballon on your other arm and playing 'Chinese Whispers', the game where one person starts off and then you copy the actions and then pass it onto the next person - one of these started out as Abraham sacrificing Isaac but it ended up as Stephen being stoned!!  It really demonstrated the point of watching carefully and coping signs accurately.

The last day of the class was a trip to Corozal to preach, we used to go here every week beforehand so we met up with old calls and again had lunch by the sea followed by a swim of course. There are many deaf in Corozal now that are progressing well in their studies so the goal of the ASL Orange Walk congregation is to get the meetings interpreted in the Corozal area on a regular basis so the students can make further progress.

The following week the class was in San Antonia, we visited twice.  The class had a lot of beginners, around 30 people attended, by the end of the week they were answering up at the meeting wonderfully and a young brother gave the concluding prayer, it was great to see the improvement and the zeal the group now have in going forward.  There are 

a lot of deaf in this area and they have just started a group every Saturday, which two sisters are taking, yesterday we went and there was 58 in attendance, 7 being deaf. 

CJ's call Miss Margaret from OW

Sally with Victor, who was so happy to see her that he kept blowing her kisses!!! :) 

Sally's old call, Isabella, when we arrived she had her Bible

Story book on her bed, she explained she looks at it every 

day and inside she had our picture we gave her from 

when weleft 2 years ago.  Our hearts where touched deeply!!! 

Complete class picture, even Sally got a certificate 

for attending one day!!

CJ receiving her certificate for completing the class in OW

Cutest wooden Kingdom Hall in San Antonia, a Mayan village

We're in Mexico!

Well after our bought of sickness we're back up on our feet busy working away both in service and on our new home.  We enjoyed our week in Hopkins (apart from being ill) we had relaxation time plus went on the ministry for the day with Sue Rose a sister from the Banstead congregation. It turned out that Sally knew Paul (the husband) from working on the same RBC team! Truly a small world in Jehovah's Organisation. 

As you know we moved out from looking after Chubbs & Asia, a brother and sister from England have been building a house in PG by the sea front they kindly offered for us to stay with them, the only problem was the apartment was not completed so we spent several days with them helping to get it ready.  

This week we are in Chetumal seeing the sights here in Mexico, its the most southern part of Mexico and is a lot safer than other parts. Two other sisters from PG have joined us so it's been lovely to have their company and travel with them!! 

Next week we will be in Orange Walk for the Sign Language class for me (CJ) which will be great and give us an opportunity to spend time with the friends there and catch up on old calls.  Which we are really looking forward to.

We are also looking forward to the increased activity of preach getting ready for the memorial! There seems to be a real buzz worldwide about the option of doing 30 hours in April. It's movtivated many 

Here are some of the highlights of the past month or so.... 

On a Bible Study at a Mayan Village, the girls here are aged 13 & 15.  

During this study we played to them some of the Kingdom songs which they loved.  

Hopkins Congregation 18 publishers, 4 elders, 3 locals baptised 

2 unbaptised publishers and a new one making 3! was announced 

the night we were there! at some meetings they have 55 attending.  

This is the Kingdom Hall which is the local

centre for the aged, it's right on the beach front so you get the

sea breeze coming through and waves crashing in the background.

 

Sally building a kitchen cabinet which now looks great.

John & Susan's house, our apartment on the

first floor to the right hand side at the rear.

 Sally drilling to put up a false ceiling

 

CJ grouting with a credit card!!! It was like building the 

Ark with no tools  ;) ;) ;) 

The four amigos at the top of a Mayan ruin in Mexico.

 

A lake in Mexico - yes its fresh water not salt water.

Victoria one of the deaf ladies in PG coping the DVD's 

Our little group in PG - consists of one deaf sister and three local's soon to be two local sisters
doing what they can to help! Their efforts are greatly appreciated by all most of by Jehovah!! 

Myself and Rose a sister who came to help from Ohio doingour best to interpret
to the left is Rowena our deaf sister

The Baptisim at last weeks SAD - here we can see the YES!!! 

Here is the assembly - 156 of us enjoy the day's program ;) 

This is Anna, Cameron used to study with her when we were here two years ago!
It was so lovely to see her still studing and continuing to do her best in her service to Jehovah! 

Here are all the friends involved in ASL in the southern part of the country! So much potential
growth can be see here! The large army of women is clearly seen here ;) Brothers are needed :) 

Lots of Changes!!!

Dear Friends, 

We have lots to share, but will try to keep it as brief as possible ;) We’ve had to say good-bye to our dog/house sitting duties... the Couple from Vancouver have arrived so we are moving on it was hard to say good-bye to the dogs we’ve become very fond of them and will miss them lots :) 

Our plans to head up north back to Orange Walk to the ASL congregation have changed....last week we gave a report to the elders about what we had done here and how much help is needed... and we’ve been asked to stay for the whole of our trip to continue to help out down in PG which is lovely but at the same time we will miss not being back with our friends in Orange Walk. It’s very exciting to see the progress in the Southern part of the country. We just had our Special Day Assembly for the ASL (the whole country) there was 156 in attendance 37 deaf and 3 baptized! and.... the bunch from the south amounted to around 15! So there is great potential!! 

Four sisters have been assigned down here to some nearby villages to contact the deaf and search out interest among the bro/sis. Also a brother from america is coming to teach 6 one week class for ASL so i’m sure Jehovah’s is blessing the work here in Belize within the ASL field and with these class being held hopefully more locals will be getting involved!! Cj will be attending the class so that will be great!! ;) 

We’ve found a place in the town of PG to stay for the remainder 2 months the suite is owned by a english couple in the hall and in exchange for staying there we’re helping them finish it off doing some tiling, plumping, concrete work, car maintenance. 

We’ve made contact with a deaf lady in town (Victoria) she is a wonderful call! Her face lights up with me arrive ;) She can read a little and write!!! so teaching her is a pleasure ;) she doesn’t really know any signs but she loves to copy the DVD’s we didn’t even need to tell her too!! once we played it she was drawn to the signs. 

We hope you are keeping well... We think of you all often and miss you dearly! 

Warm Christian Love, 

Sally , Cj 

Preaching and Cooking Pictures

A work day at our KH We sanded and painted all the chairs and repainted all the Blue trim work and Roof of the KH. It was a lovely day and wonderful to see so many young ones out to help!

 Preaching in some of the Myan Villages! 

 The Hilly Terrian makes for a great workout! ;) And some beautiful scenery.

Here we are getting some cooking lessons First Cj grates the coconut then I squeeze all the milk out of the coconut then the milk is added to the pot to create a lovely sauce based for our Iguana meal :)

New Expreiences

Hello To All Our Dear Friends,

We are continuing to have a wonderful time here in the South of Belize. In February We will be returning to the North in Orange Walk. The ministry here has been very fruitful!!! Miss Patrona the lady i mention once before is now having a regular study despite her full time school schedule and work and caring for her family... she is a lovely women and it's a real blessing to be able to have the privledge of studying with her. She even prestudy for her first study!!! After we had finished Chapter one she said "I really enjoyed that I learnt so much!" I then told her you have 18 more chapters to learn from think of how much you will learn then!!! ;) She agreed with a smile!

On Sunday's after the Meetings we go out to one of the very far Villages Crique Sarco one brother has a short yello bus that we all pile into and make the 2.5hour journey out there... it's always makes for a lovely time... last week before we left a bunch of boys were playing football so Cj joined right in ;) and then all of us sisters were playing against all the little boys of the village :)

The interest and thrist for bible knowledge there is so immense it makes for a lovely end to a long week! It's so encouraging for us to be here and see people appreciate and want to learn bible truths.

For those of you that are concerned about the bugs... they are still here ;) we had the biggest fattest scorpion yet this past week... but we are coping well ;)

And a  lovely JW family in the village we are staying in cooked a meal for us on Friday night and I(sally) helped slaughter and skin and clean and cut up our meal... I won't post the pictures but we ate Iguana and it was delicous!!!! I even have some video footage of the event ;) for those who are not squeamish i'll show you when I return home... I enjoyed it so much that i will getting another one and practising the techniques again. Down here in the south there is much more culture so we've really enjoyed learning new cooking techniques and trying new foods.

I hope you Enjoy the following Pictures.  We miss you all.
Jehovah's Blessings

Sally and Cj