I just got back into Mango Creek late this afternoon from a trip up to Belize City for my day off. I spent my time with the Sampsons again. I had planned to take this trip about a week ago, that was before all of the flooding happened and the Kendal Bridge at Sittee River was destroyed. So I had planned to fly up to the city. As my day off crept closer I grew a bit weary of paying so much to spend one day in the city. So I phoned the James Bus Line to see what was up and if they were still running. They were. So on Monday late morning I jumped on the school bus and made my way north. We came to Sittee River where the Kendal Bridge used to be. We all got off the boat, walked down to the shore banks of the river that you could tell was hundereds of meters higher days ago. 25 of us were put in a dory boat and boated across the river. As I looked around I saw locals standing at the edge of the road where the bridge used to be, and all they could do was look across, they all looked absolutely stunned at the damage. The people in the boat with me were terrified to cross the river, they worried that something unexpected would happen on our 2 minute ride across the river. I don't blame them for being scared, the damage that the floods caused is definitely a scary matter. We made it safely across the river to the north side of Kendal and we waited about 20 minutes for the next bus to pick us up. As we drove along the highway I saw Orange Trees completely destroyed. It looked like someone had picked them up effortlessly and broke them as if they were twigs. I had no idea water could be so destructive. What I saw on the highway was only a small glimpse of what happened. I'm sure had I ventured off road I would have been witness to much more destruction and devastation. After arriving in Belize City, I found out from Lorna that she accomponied Bishop Writght on the weekend to Gales Point, Hope Creek and Sittee River to drop off care packages for the victims. The water level has receeded which is a blessing, and now residents are working at cleaning out their homes. The flood brought with it a lot of mud, 2 - 5 inches and victims have been spending most of their days washing out the remains of their homes and belongings of the mud. The month of June brings with it rain, usually at night, and then sun during the day. I'm praying that the rains do not cause more flooding damages just as the victims start to get their lives semi back on track.

After popping in to see the staff and Bishop at the Diocesan Office for a quick visit, I traveled to Belmopan the capital of Belize on Monday with the Sampsons. And I have to admit, my entire trip I was a big grouch. I was a bit tired, but usually being tired doesn't effect me the way it was on Monday. Everything the Sampsons would talk to me about, I would have some negative thought go through my head and it was driving me nuts. I was pulling off being polite, but really, I just wanted to be quiet for a while and be by myself. So after we got home I called it a night and was asleep by 9:00. I woke up this morning and decided last minute that I was going to stay in the city for a few extra hours so that I could take in a service at the Cathedral. Best decision I have made all summer. It was so wonderful to be able to sit in the pew, listen to the readings, listen to the sermon and participate in the service as everyone does without having to lead it. It was so nice to receive the sacrament and pray with the community not as the person in charge. After the service I told Lorna that I was feeling really Spiritually Satisfied - it was the only way I could explain the energy I had after the service. I've become aware of the fact that as a clergy person part of my vocation is to lead others in worship and spiritually feed them in the worship through the sacrament and preaching etc. But I also need to be aware of my spiritual needs and the fact that I need the opportunity to be spiritually fed as well. I don't know how often I will be able to make it to services that I'm not leading where I can just go to worship, but I'm sure that through prayer and patience I will find a parish near Mango Creek that I can visit one weekday afternoon. That being said, it may not happen, which means I need to be praying about ways that I "spiritually satisfy" myself. I'll keep you posted.

I joined the Bishop and 2 missionaries from Fort Worth, TX who were down to visit Belize and discuss a potential summer mission with the Bishop for lunch. It was a wonderful aftenoon full of lots of laughter and....well....we laughed a lot! From there Lorna Sampson had me drive while we ran errands. I can proudly say that I surivived driving in Belize City where the roads are super narrow and full of pot-holes, people don't stop at stop signs, people cut you off, bicycles dodge in front of you or hold on to the back of your vehicle so that they don't have to work so hard in the heat, police officers pull you over to check your insurance (yip it happended to me today), and it's just basically chaos....and it was so neat to. I must admit, I loved it!! It's definitely an interesting experience to be a driver in this country, VERY different from Canada. Toronto drivers are angels when compared to drivers in Belize!

I head out to Placencia tomorrow morning for a service and then will spend some more time at IPS, next week is the last week with exams happening. It will be weird not having the school to fill my days. I'm happy to report that St. Michael and All Angels will be holding a VBS this summer for 3 days from July 8 - 10. We're just waiting to hear about potential funding for supplies and hope to advertise and invite a number of Anglican children in the village to attend. We're also hoping to ask some of our youth to help out as counselors. I'm really excited about this and pray that God will be present in our planning and in our ministry. Please keep this important ministry in your prayers. Pray that we will be able to reach out to children and share the Gospel with them, pray that they will encounter the love of Jesus through this ministry and ultimately that seeds will be planted and that future ministry will nurture those seeds and allow them to grow.

In Communion,
Chelsy

Mango Creek fundraises for the Victims of the recent floods

I've really been struggling the last couple of days. It's been really hard for me to be so close (35 miles) to the devastation of the flooding, and to have no way of helping. I've really been struggling with how helpless I have been feeling. It's been a hard couple of days. So I ventured over to the Primary School, and stuck around for about an hour after school let out, and it was wonderful. All of the children at the primary school and teachers were asked to bring either food or clothing donations for the victims of the flooding. The village of Mango Creek was also asked to bring any donations to the primary school to be sorted out. So I helped sort the items and was truly blessed as I worked with 20 of the teachers and a number of students sorting out clothes, and putting together food hampers. It was so wonderful to be working together as One Body and acting out our calling to mission together.

Pictures from the Tropical Storms Alma and Arthur

Here are a few pictures I found of the aftermath of Alma and Arthur


The Village of Gales Point




Sittee River is home to one of them men who drowned in the flood.


Thi is the remains of the Kendal Bridge. It's the major bridge that runs along the major highway that allows traffic to get into the southern part of the country where Mango Creek is located.

Please be praying for the people in these villages and the people throughout the country that were not affected as brutally by the storm. May the love of Christ be reflected in our repsponses, and may the victims of the flood know the love, comfort and peace of God at this devastating time.

Tropical Storm Arthur

Over the last 5 days, the country of Belize has been rained upon. The Tropcial Storm Arthur (not a hurricane) has situated itself just outside of Placencia and has brought a lot of water with it. It's result, the northern parts of Belize from north Stann Creek up to Corozal (just south of Mexico) has been affected with flash flooding. I believe to date, 8 people have died, and many many families have lost everything. The Kendal Bridge, which is one of the main bridges on the main highway in Belize has been swept away, making transporation from the flooded areas impossible to get out of. A large number of people have been airlifted out of their communities and are safe, thanks be to God. But the damage fromthese floods is tremendous. Thankfully Mango Creek is above sea level and has not experienced any flooding and will not as the rains have stopped. I ask that you please hold the country of Belize in your prayers this week as those who have not been affected by the floods, step up and provide aide to those families who have lost everything. Pray for those families who have lost loved ones in the flood, and pray for the families who have lost all of their belongings. Pray for comfort, and peace as we work together to support one another.

The village of Mango Creek, started collecting food and clothing to be sent to those affected byt he flood. It's amazing to see God at work through the people here and the speed at which they have responded.

I will keep you posted as to the progress of the clean up of the communities affected and the bridge that needs to be rebuilt in order for food from the city to be tranported to villages throughout the country, such as Mango Creek. Please keep us in your prayers!

In Communion,

Chelsy

Money Changers in the Temple

It has officially been one month in Belize, and what a wonderful month it has turned out to be!!

So I had a little bit of an embarrassing moment yesterday morning. It's been raining like crazy here all week and pouring throughout the night. My bedroom is right above the roof of the church, and the roof is tin, so the last few nights have been sleepless at times when the rain starts to pour. Yesterday (Saturday) I slept in a little. I took my time getting ready for the day....which basically translates to mean I lazed around in pajamas for longer than I normally would. Had some breakfast and spent a significant amount of time on my morning devotions. All was going well, and then I heard someone calling for me and walking up the stairs to the rectory. Definitely wasn't expecting anyone, didn't want them to have to wait, but was definitely still in my dark blue penguin print pajama pants. What to do, what to do? I walked outside, in my pajamas and met the woman on the stairs. Everyone who rode or walked past the rectory couldn 't help but stare at me and my funky pants. The woman was a Mayan woman in Independence from Punta Gorda going to Placencia to sell some of her jewlery and homemade baskets. She asked if she could visit me. I said sure, but told her I needed to change my pants first, I asked her to wait for me by the church and we would sit in there and chat, I've been warned not to allow people up on the veranda or in the rectory. So I quickly changed, popped a piece of gum in my mouth (I hadn't brushed my teeth) and headed for the the church. Turns out the woman didn't really want to talk to me, but she wanted to show me all of the stuff that she had made with the hopes of me buying something from her. As she pulled out all of her goodies and tried to get me to buy from her, the story of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple in Matthew started flashing in my head. What was I supposed to do with this? I let her show me her stuff, asked her questions about how long it took her to make the baskets and the necklaces and then took the opportunity to affirm her and reassure her of the gift that she has and not suggesting that I would buy anything from her at that moment. When she noticed I wouldn't budge, she told me that she sold this stuff in order to support her family and put her children through school, in trying to avoid buying anything I started asking her about her family. "How many children do you have? How old are they? What are their names?" After about a half an hour, I convinced her I wasn't going to budge. I thanked her for showing me her things, and assured her that I would find her in Placencia and buy something from her before I left for the summer. And then told her if she is ever in town again to stop by, and that I would love to visit with her again. I couldn't help but chuckle afterwards!!

I led two services this morning. This weekend is one of the weekends that I spent inPlacencia. Once again my evening was super relaxing, I lazed around in an incredibly comfy chair and read an incredibly good book for the evening while I listened to the rain fall on the tin roof of the house beside me. It was basically amazing.

I then led the service in Placencia, and boogied back across the lagoon to St. Michael's. The one thing I'm getting used to here is the lack of people that come to the church on Sundays. Today Miss Lorna and I were the only two at church (for a while) so we decided that instead of having communion we would do morning prayer together. It was simple, and so spirit filled. Half way through the service another parishioner came in. He sat near the back and just listened, he can't read so rather than following along in the prayer book he just sits and listens. But when it's time to sing, he knows the words to hymns because he's memorized them. It was so wonderful to be able to hear his voice as we worshiped together. I was filled with joy as I heard him sing his heart out the words of the scripture that the hymns we sang were saying. And it was at this moment that I truly knew what it felt like to the be the body of Christ. As I sat in the pew with Miss Lorna and the other parishioner I couldn't help but realize that we were all from different walks of life. Literate and illiterate, Caribbean, Canadian and Belizean, young and old, but that didn't stop us from worshiping together, worshiping the God of love as the one body of Christ. It was a pretty amazing moment for me...God is good and blessed us abunantly in our worship this morning!!

Tomorrow is my day off. I promised Shanton a trip to Placencia to swim in the ocean, but from the looks of it I don't know if the weather is going to cooperate. Hurricane season officially began today and will be upon us until November 1st. Haven't heard what the forecast is for the summer in terms of tropical storms, but I'm not worried!! All I know is that if I had to choose between being too hot, or wet......I choose being too hot!!!

Chelsy

Belizean Food

Hey Folks,

I received an e-mail from a friend in Ponoka and she was interested in knowing what I was eating. So I thought it would be great thing to post on the blog, to give everyone an idea of what the food down here is like. The one thing I am learning to do here in Belize is eat with my fingers and not worry about getting my face dirty or my fingers dirty from the food. I've been really lucky as Miss Lorna has been cooking for me. I have to admit, before coming to Belize I considered myself a pretty decent cook - that is if there's a recipe for me to follow. I was a bit shocked to find no directions on how to cook things and quickly came to realize how much I relied on the box directions in Canada for things like rice.....cause I got here and found out I actually don't know how to prepare it without the directions. Thanks be to God for Miss Lorna, who has been so hospitable and has been cooking meals and inviting me to dine at her place with her family. One thing to note is that Belizeans eat their big meal at mid day (noon) and then have something light in the evening.

Here is a list of some of the dishes that I've eaten with the Longsworths!
Breakfast:
Johnny Cakes (thin little biscuits that you put butter and jam, or peanut butter or ham or cheese on and eat)
Fresh fruit (Mangoes, Papaya, Oranges etc)
Eggs and Bacon/Sausage and homemade Flour Tortillas
Flour Tortilla with Jam, Peanut Butter etc
Lunch:
Rice and Beans, Chicken and Potato Salad is a very VERY popular meal here in Belize. The rice and kidney beans are often cooked in cococut milk, chicken is barbecued or fried, and the potato salad isn't much different from what we have in Canada, they add carrots and peas and corn and different tasting dressing which I love! Throw a little bit of Marie Sharps hot sauce on the rice and beans and it's great!!
Chicken Stew on Rice is great as well. From what I could tell, they put whatever they can find in the stew and mix it together and then serve it on a bed of rice.
Pasta and meat sauce - with lots of Cilanto....they love cilantro here.
Creole Shrimp on Rice (basically shrimp made in cocount milk and cilantro with some carrots and any other vegetable)
I had fried Snapper fish for the first time yesterday. 3 hours before I ate it, it was swimming in the ocean. It was AMAZING. I've never been a big fish eater, probably because I'm from Alberta and we're not known for the fish, but I think I could be! Half way through our meal I looked out side, and there were about 6 stray cats crying outside - they could smell the fish and were climbing up the screen trying to get into the house.
Supper:
Is usually pretty small and consists of flour tortilla and some sort of meat (usually chicken or fish)
Panades are also a great thing to eat in the evening. It's fish rapped in a corn pattie and then fried to perfection. It comes with a really great tasting cabbage and onion sauce that you put on top. When I went up to the city, the bus would fill up with people selling fresh panades for a shilling, they are great snack foods or meals for the evening.
Meat pies. Biscuit like pies with that are hollow and have some gravy and little bit of meat in it. Delicious.
Chips and Dip (homeade corn chips with a dip that consists of peppers, onions, velveeta cheese, mayo, hot sauce, cilantro and anything else you wanna put in it.
That's all I can think of right now.
Snacks:
Plantain Chips. Plantain is a vegetable that looks like a banana and tastes like a potato. It's great with rice and beans and great as chip snacks.
Panades
Johnny Cakes
Fruit (lots of mangoes, oranges, bananas and grapes)
Custard
Chips and Dip

I must admit I chickened out the other day in Monkey River, they were selling Crab soup, I was tempted to try it but didn't have the guts to...maybe another time. Next month, Placencia celebrates it's annual Lobster Fest weekend to celebrate the opening of Lobster season. I've never had it, so will be going over with Shawn and Lorna Longsworth for my first taste, I'm pretty excited!!
That's all I can think of right now. I need to start writing down what I'm eating. Miss Lorna told me that she's going to teach me to make Johnny Cakes and Tortillas, I'll be a pro by the time I get home!!!

We got our first rain fall today and it has cooled down a little bit. The wind is blowing making the temperature and tad bit more bareable. I continue to look forward to working with the children and have had some wonderful conversations with a number of locals outside the grocery store, the bar, and the water taxi port. I'm finding the culture down here to have a lot of respect for clergy...it doesn't matter to them how old you are. This is something I'm trying to get used to. I'm used to people being a bit hesitant to come and talk to me because of my age. This is not an issue for the culture down here. It's been a really good learning experience. Having people come to me with their problems or for advice is something that scares me a bit because I've never had to do it before....because of the age factor. However wisdom and discernment and compassion are things I pray for daily, and so far, God has provided. The experience will continue to be challenging and I'm finding that ministering down here is helping me to discern areas in my ministry that need work.

Hope you are well. Take care for now and talk to you soon!!

peace,
Chelsy

Hope you are well. Looking forward to hearing from folks soon!!

peace,
Chelsy

Just when I thought it couldn't get any hotter......

This past week has been incredibly hot!! 98 degrees and higher......bah!! I seriously thought last week I had adapted.....FAT CHANCE!!!

The week was busy with lots of time to lay back and try to keep cool!! I continue to spend time at the Primary School in Independence. I love it there. Mainly because I'm always so encouraged by the kids, even if they are little chaotic and wild. Being able to teach them not only their maths and social studies, but to be able to live out the Gospel with them is so exciting. I've taught a couple of scripture lessons and the children get really excited when they get to answer questions about the stories! It's really encouraging to see them so interested and to know that God is at work in them, even if you can't always see it through their crazyness!!! It's been a blessing!!

Yesterday Miss Lorna found a couple of little keyboards that she's been looking for that Shanton was learning to play a couple of years ago, but doesn't know any other song other then Mary Had a Little Lamb. So when she found out that I played she asked if I would teach him some other stuff. I agreed, and had a beautiful evening sitting out on the veranda in a hammock with Shanton and a couple of his friends teaching them how to play the piano. It was a wonderful evening!!

I took the 20 minute drive to Monkey River in the Toledo District today. This is a small village that I may have to lead a couple of services at during the summer. The village was having a festival and the woman who phoned me to invite me to come and chat with her about the services was quite involved in the running of the festival, so I didn't get a chance to talk to her which was a dissapoinment, mainly because I had to arrange for someone to drive me out. I was able to see the school, and check out the church which was good. Stuck my feet in the ocean and enjoyed the events of the festival. I'm not sure what's going to happen with Monkey River, but will keep you posted.

I'm hoping to go out and hang out at the park for an hour or so this evening, while riding my bike around, I bumped into a local who introduced himself and family to me. They often sit out at the park and hang out with friends, and watch the kids play Basketball etc. I've rode past often, but have been too chicken to stop and talk to people, mainly because it's usually been after 8:30. So I think I might go and sit with these people for a while and chat with them learn more about the community and about them. We'll see!!

Monday is my day off. And I'm planning on heading to Placencia with Miss Lorna's grandson Shanton. I promised him....actually pinky swore him that I would swim in the ocean in Placencia. I didn't get to swim at Monkey River, so I promised him I would take him over for the day and swim. I've never swam in the ocean - so that should be exciting!!!

Thank you for your continued prayers. It's incredibley comforting to know that you are supporting me through thought and prayer!!

love,
Chelsy