Celebrating Nathanael

I have been getting behind in my posting. I think part of it is this idea I have that everything I write about has to be ministry related or have a lesson involved. Yesterday I had been looking for a post on the blog (which I didn't find) I skimmed some of my old posts. Some of them were simply about what was going on in our lives.

In the spirit of just communicating what is going on in our lives, we are celebrating Nathanael.  He turned 38 on March 5.

One of the things that Nathanael really misses here are hiking trails. He spent a while trying to find a trail we could hike but scrapped it. Last year we went to Crooked Tree. This is a lovely place, but the trails are often flooded. We need to schedule a hike during dry season. (we just always seem to forget).

We went out for bubble tea, a Davis family favorite. It still delights me that the Taiwanese woman behind the counter always knows my order. ( I do get the same tea every time: Green milk tea, no sugar, lychee bubbles) Abigail always dreamed of saying "get me my usual". I could say that but she doesn't know enough English for that to be effective. The bubble tea enjoyment was peppered with Quirkle games.

For lunch Ed and Dyna had us over. It was a time of me feeling grateful that we are devloping friendships here. We spent way too much time discussing the details of Abigail's quince, while the kids enjoyed games.

Final stop of the day? The Lagoon in Corazal. It opens to the ocean so the water is salt water. We had a great spot to refresh ourselves in the water. The kids even climbed the trees.

Pizza for dinner.

The girls got roller skates for Christmas. I had no idea they would be such a hit. They are probably some of the most used Christmas presents we have ever gotten. The park in Corazal was a great place to skate before heading home.

And finally Nathanael has finished his BA!  We are all so proud of the work he put into it!  (and at times the work I put into it.)

May you be blessed this week as you celebrate ordinary and extraordinary events

The post that I've been hesitant to write

Good News, Great Joy, to ALL people

If you read our newsletter this past Tuesday, I shared some of the spiritual things that we come against in this area.

The back area behind Koinonia

As I became more and more aware of the fact that a lot of the Jehovah's Witnesses live on our street, I was overwhelmed. They seem like there are so many of them. Their building is huge. They seem to have different concepts on if helping hurts.  (in other words, they seem to spend a lot of money on it and a lot of the people who go locally have a good amount of money)

hanging around before Bible study Friday night

As I stated in the newsletter, Nathanael reminded me that we have more on our side.  I would also like to mention that in the same area of street, we have 2 Christian churches. (one Spanish speaking and one Kreol). It is comforting to know that in the physical sense, there are more buildings devoted to Christianity than JW's.

an intense game of "kings" on a Fun Friday

All of this to say I was personally challenged. It is not my responsibility to convince or persuade. It is my job to do what I'm called to do.  I have felt that calling in the way of doing prayer walks on our street. This is where the title of the post comes in. I haven't done the prayer walking yet.  I am hesitant to post this because then I need to hold myself responsible.

Thanksgiving time at Koinonia, everyone brings things to share and we pay for the treats. The funds go to the church's mission trip to Central America

I will be starting to prayer walk on Jan 8. I am hoping to do it every Tuesday, 7am our time.  If you would like to pray with me, please sign up for the prayer emails. (which yes I also need to take more responsibility for!) I hope to share short snippets of the prayers and pictures of our street so you can picture it while you are praying.

we went to Corozal with Koinonia as they did baptisms. Nathanael helped as people were baptized

Thanks for joining with us on this journey. Thank you because without you we would be unable to do what we do.

Happy New Year!


Spring

PS please be praying for us as we prepare for the New Years party, our biggest event of the year.

Language(s)

The official language of Belize is English. It was a colonized British colony until 1981.  Most people who know a little bit of Belizean history know this.

Living in Belize presents a different picture. Yes English is the official language.  It does seem that it is the language in the street. That being said it's mostly the people's second language.  Nathanael likes to say that the US is the most diverse country he's ever been to, Belize is the second. 

the different countries represented at Koinonia

The most frequent languages spoken are Spanish and Kreol.  There are also many Chinese, Indian, and Nigerian immigrants, not to mention the Garifuna people.  

In our house, we speak English. Nathanael's second language is ASL (obviously) and mine is Spanish.  I never went to school for Spanish beyond level 2 in college. We are trying to navigate helping our kids become second and third language users while figuring that out ourselves.

A celebration of culture 

I (Spring) struggle with understanding the Kreol. Nathanael has a good grip on it. Our kids have some of the words down (like Ketch which is tag here).  There is also a mixing that happens (as I referred to in the last post) It is funny that I can go workout, and yet there are so many things I miss. I know English and Spanish, but I don't always understand what they are saying. The mixture of words is confusing for a second language user. (that and the accent)

Zion and Zephaniah often come with me to work out, other moms also bring their kids

Two weeks ago we had surprise visitors. We saw a family at the local hostel. The hostel was full, they were unsure of where to go. On a whim, Nathanael offered for them to stay in the apartment. It was a couple with a daughter the same age as Zion.  They are riding their bikes across Central America. What initially attracted them to me was the fact that they had a tandem, and the exact tandem I had wanted for Nathanael and I.

we ate a meal together with the French Family

We got to spend two days with them.  Communication consisted of halted Spanish and lots of use of Google Translate. Why you ask? They are from France. Their second language was Spanish.  Nathanael actually did a better job communicating. I guess I speak too fast?  Nathanael also has a degree in communication and I don't.

Playing Apples to Apples at Ladies night

All of this to say we're still learning. I have worked at engaging in ASL. Nathanael is learning some Spanish. Abigail and Selah are each taking classes in ASL and Spanish for school.

Abigail and Selah at youth group this past week

When the rubber meets the road though?  We are getting closer and closer (slowly) to be better communicators.

 for "fun" Selah stuck her finger through the hole in the ladder. She was smiling about it but it was stuck for about 15 min. We had to use oil and soap to get it out. 

Hope you have a lovely week!

Cultural mixing

Yesterday I spent an agonizing 15 minutes listening to a woman in the park complain about Belize. She doesn't like the culture, the people are rude, and it's dirty here.



At home, Nathanael and I decompressed from this event. We have met with others like her. Untrained expats who are in culture shock. It isn't a pretty sight. They become bitter and ineffective. The current person talking to me was also from a distinctly "filtered media" country. That fact became apparent in her complaints about Belize vs her beliefs about her own country. If anything it was clarifying moment for me.

Nathanael hangs the Belizean flag on the back of our van to celebrate Belizean Independence day

I am thankful not to be in that place with her.  I am thankful that EMM prepared us for crossing cultures. (We highly recommend the book Foreign to Familiar) I don't think we always get right. There are times we experience culture shock. There are times we are bitter, dislike culture, or feel the sting of relationships we navigated wrongly.

Zion at church with one of her friends

It is also a decision making journey for us. We are grateful to have our home as a neutral ground.  We can decide what the culture in our home looks like. What in the culture do we enjoy and put into practice? What things do we disagree with? What things are not bad or good, just different?

Selah poses at the photo booth of our local supermarket

In the same breath, I realize I can't take my culture out of me. When we were celebrating Belize Independence day at Koinonia, the Pastor's wife spoke. She reminded us that even though she has lived in Belize for 20 years, she can't take the Guatemalan blood out of her.

praying at Koinonia

All of the cultures represented at Koinonia 

I am becoming aware that this is the same in the Deaf culture we share with those around us. We work with them, we visit them, but you can't take the "hearing" out of us. It's a delicate balance.

Zephaniah, Zion and Misael play Master Mind

What am I trying to communicate? Two years into this and we are still learning. We are still growing. As a cold culture family in a warm culture climate, we still experience culture shock on occasion.

Abigail entertaining children

Mid-September we celebrated all countries that attend Koinonia. It was a nice thing to stand in front and recognize that through it all, we are still from our passport country. We are also distinctly experiencing and falling in love with Belizean culture. Selah won't eat Mexican tacos. She prefers Orange Walk ones.

Abigail and a friend at Koinonia

We are still in a process. A lovely, hard, fun, sad process. We are growing. We are thankful.

Family photo with Belizean (and American) colors represented. Lucky us they are the same! 

Thanks for being with us on this Belizean, United States, mixed culture journey.


Spring

Thank you for volunteering to stay

When Selah used this phrase last week, I told her she'd written a blog post for me. How blessed I am to have inspiration come from multiple venues!

Walking in Orange walk

Koinonia, the Spanish church we attend Sunday afternoons (after having Deaf church) has a missions team. The team was sent out this past Wednesday and Thursday. Koinonia was a church started from humble beginnings.  They began as a ministry exclusively for children. If we are honest they are pretty unique in that realm here in Orange Walk.  This was one of the huge draws for us.  As more children came, their parents wanted to come to church there.  The church began to meet.

The playground outside of the library

Pastor Ed's passion is to see children change the world.  They do children's ministry. Another part of their calling is to train others to reach children. They do several trainings a year at the church. 

Praying for the children happens every Sunday at Koinonia

The mission trip involves them going to countries in Central America and training the churches to do children's ministry.

I was asked to pray for the Pastoral family at Koinonia one Sunday

Selah's comment was about the people in Koinonia who stayed.  She thought they should be thanked. Staying is a difficult job.  There was a blog post I once read which talked about the friends and family left behind. They are the ones who must continue, who must love from afar, who get the "unexciting" parts of the ministry. 

A rousing game of bellz after stomachs full of fry jack

We want to thank you for being the ones who volunteer to stay. We could not do what we do without you. 

our welcome home in 2016 thanks to our MST

Staying is a difficult job!  Thank you for the support you give. Thank you for your prayers.

Zion's job was hanging out the wash yesterday

more visitors

We arrived to the airport early this time. Two times in a row, we arrived on time and the flights were early. Unfortunately for us, the plane was delayed, exiting delayed (a medical emergency) and there were issues with needing our exact address. Por fin, Joel and Annette entered Belize!

Joel and Annette on the plane here

Of course they (accidentally) taunted us with stories of eating Chick A Fila in the airport in Miami. Our only fast(ish) food around here would be Orange Walk Tacos.

we stopped to eat before seeing the waterfalls

It was a nice break to have both Joel and Annette here.  Nathanael and I were able to have some time with Joel as well as a date far away from the kids.

Joel preaches at Koinonia, Pastor Ed interprets

We really enjoyed visiting old places, showing them new ones, and exploring a waterfall we hadn't ever been to before.

Joel at Laminai

We are so thankful for the adventure we had with them

The very full van after church on Sunday 

It is always nice to experience our world through someone else's eyes.

Church on Sunday

The Harvest is pleantiful

When we went to CTEN for training, I was told not to applogize for waiting so long for another blog post/ newsletter. My life has felt like I've been running since my trip to Dangriga. I am hoping to get into a regular "groove" again soon, but it won't happen this week.  Why you ask? Truth is I'm saving that for a different blog post (perhaps the level of suspense creates a readership?) This has been on my heart for a while so here we go:

I have mentioned the Spanish Church we attend: Koinonia a few times on the blog. I just "happened" upon the church as I was looking at Google Maps one night. Nathanael established a contact through Facebook. Pastor Ed returned the message promptly and they met.

The kids graduation after finishing the curriculum from samaritan's purse

The rest is "history". Koinonia is a church that has a passion for Children's ministry. They actually started as a children's ministry and the parents were coming so they could go to church.  We are thankful for the community we are finding through them.  I really can't praise them enough.

Spring was asked to pray over the children on a Sunday afternoon

One humbling thing they do that I probably mentioned is prayer. They pray every week for the pastors, children, and us. They bring us up every single week and pray over us. I can't tell you how uplifting that is.

Abigail went with the youth group to visit some Maya Ruins

They also have stepped into helping us.  They committed to coming once a month to work with the children in Sunday school.

Pastor Ed and his wife Dyna at the Sweetheart banquet in Feb

During April, they came while I was in Dangriga. They came in May while I was there. It was wonderful. I had an opportunity to observe Nathanael. It is also a great time for me to work on learning ASL, something I haven't been able to focus on this term.

Abigail participated in a drama at a local high school with Koinonia

The kids weren't just taken care of, or entertained. The teachers from Koinonia had a whole lesson planned out. The kids learned a dance, a verse and Biblical truths.

Why am I mentioning this in our blog?  A seemingly little thing, has made a huge difference.
We haven't found a homeschool helper yet.  I blame myself for not being clear that the person will have to raise their own funds.

Carla prays over our family on a Sunday afternoon

I am asking you to see the fields ripe for harvest and pray for workers, specifically for us. Nathanael and I can do this work alone. Nancy did it.  I don't believe that is how God would have us do it though.  We really feel that another individual or family would really benefit the community. We wouldn't be stretched so thin.  We are thankful for the support (unexpected) of Koinonia, but realize they are also entrenched in their own ministry.

Nathanael Preaching while I was in Church

So please pray with us. For someone. The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few


Spring

A call to prayer

I first learned about prayer when I was a part of YES (Youth Evangelism Service) in 1998. Intercessory prayer was a part of our discipleship training.

(the children getting prayed for at Koinonia)

Since then I feel like I've been on a learning curve. Prayer is such an important thing. It involves both speaking and listening. It involves coming face to face with our Savior, trusting that I can leave things in his hands. It changes me as I grow into deeper trusting my maker, learning more about him.

I have felt that my time in Belize is marked with a call to prayer. I don't have a lot of opportunities for ministry, I am still language learning. (along with maintaining our house and homeschooling).

We had been looking for a church. We don't have an opportunity to go every week, but it is good to fellowship beyond the church that we lead. I was looking on the map when I saw a church pretty near us. Nathanael contacted the pastor of the church, and Pastor Ed suggested meeting.

The first week we attended church I was humbled. Every week, they call the pastor and his family forward. They spend time in their service praying for their pastor, the children and when we are there us as well. They pray for us in their weekly fasting service on Thursdays.

(Dayna and Ed Perez pastors of Koinonia, at the sweetheart banquet) 

I have been able to go to the Tuesday evening prayer service. It as an honor to pray for others in the church. It is also a lesson. When I go to prayer meetings in the US, usually one person prays at a time. Here the prayer request is stated, and everyone prays at once, out loud.

(Some of our friends at Koinonia)

We know you pray for us. We love the opportunity to pray for you. Please let us know if you have a request we would love to pray for it.

(this is Pastor Ed and his family getting prayed for at Koinonia)

The last blog post I asked if anyone would like to be a part of a prayer group that would receive separate emails. We would like to give a more in-depth look at our ministry. We are hoping to send requests weekly or bi-weekly. We want to focus on the Deaf in the area, giving you a peak into their lives.  It won't be a long email, I promise :)


If you would like to receive these e-mails, please let us know. We will add you to our list.

Have a great week!!!

Spring