Good Morning, Sarah!

Maybe I've been rather lazy... or busy? when it comes to keeping the ole' blog updated. However, after seeing the Sheldon last week and hearing that she begins each morning reading about our lives in Belize, I figured I needed to mention her first when I finally posted again. Props to you, Sheldon!

So, what's been going on since Easter? Well, I had a wonderful break on San Pedro Island (yes, the same "isla bonita" that Madonna serenades in one of her dance tunes) and spent some great down time on the beach and in prayer. I realized I'd had a relatively busy couple of weeks between my crazy camping adventures, visitors from FUS and RCIA and took the week off as a sort of personal retreat time. I went out to the island with Ali Donald, (my camping friend) and spent some great time eating, sleeping and riding bikes around the town. That was an expecially interesting experience, actually. Ali Robezolli and I helped with a retreat on San Pedro a couple weeks earlier and we only spent a little time on the island, on the main strip. Since then, I'd been curious to see the "real" parts, where people actually live. It was pretty disturbing-- behind every beautiful resort are some pretty impovershed neighborhoods and San Pedro is no exception. It was amazing to me that I could ride past a bunch of boutiques, restaurants and internet cafes that were being frequented by English speaking Americans who looked and sounded (the sounds were wierd... it was so odd to hear English without accents) just like people you'd meet on the streets of ... Hilton Head, for example and then ride into a neighborhood that looked just like Benque -- full of children running around the streets carrying machetes to "chop the grass", signs proclaiming "se vende Coca-Cola y Choco Bananas", boys hissing on the corner with their gangs and houses with a variety of plumbing situations... indoors being a rarity.

It was sobering to realize the way the Belizeans on San Pedro must view Americans. I'm used to being known as a Mount Carmel teacher when I walk around Benque and for that reason, I'm treated differently by the people in Benque-- the respect and affection we receive from our students and others in the town is touching (although we still get the occasional hiss from the boys on the corner). It was so interesting to interact with the people on San Pedro and see the difference in the way people saw us after we told them we were from Benque-- our waitress was touched when we could pronouce her first name, guys who approached us saying "hey baby, where are you from" instantly changed their demeanor and had normal conversations with us when they found out that we weren't tourists. The man we rented bikes from charged us a fraction of the price, I asked the little boy selling earings what form he was in and he was delighted when I told him I taught boys his age in Benque... It was as if Benque was a secret password that got the locals to drop their "tourist masks". Overall, a very interesting experience. Pray for San Pedro... the harvest is rich out there, the kids that we met on the retreat we led were so hungry for the truth. They see evil every day and I really think that it makes them more sensitive to goodness when it comes their way too. When I think of the Island, I think that "where sin increases, grace abounds!"

After Spring Break we were blessed by a visit from the often imitated but much better in real-life Sarah Sheldon. Sara was a friend at FUS who I've mentioned before as being one of the reasons I'm here in Belize right now (between her and Father Dan's Christian Social Teaching Class, I didn't stand a chance!) and it was great to see her back in Belize. I know she'll agree that the highlight of our time together was tubing down the Mopan River on Friday afternoon. Uhm, yeah, if you don't believe me, go to Ali's blog, but I actully got intto an inner tube and floasted down a river in the middle of nowhere, Belize. We're not talking a river next to a road or in the middle of town or anything. Oh no... we got into the river, proceeded to float at about 1 mile per hour for about three and a half hours and didn't see a SOUL the whole time, unless you count the iguanas and cows. The man we rented the inner tubes from told us that we'd probably make it to the resort that was down the river in about two hours, he'd drive down and pick us up. About an hour and a half into the experience, I began to hear the sound that no one wants to hear when they're on a tube in the middle of a river in the middle of nowhere ... "sssssssss" Oh yes, a half an hour later my tube was half the size that it was when it all began. The sun was setting... the river wasn't moving... and the resort was no where to be seen. It would have been the makings of a great "and they were never heard from again" story, but it ends rather un-dramatically with us arriving at the resort and hour and a half later than we thought we would... The only other interesting footnote to the story is that by the end we were covered in little worms that are found in the Mopan River... Yup. Alison "scream if I see a bug in the room" Griswold has come a long way from getting hysterical at the sight of a gecko. I actually calmly watched as they crawled up my arm and didn't flinch a bit when I had to pick them off my clothes that night (for the record, my newfound mellow approach to nature did not prevent me from using several ounces of bleach on my clothes that night...). Unbelizeable, eh?

Classes are amusing as usual... teaching fourth form girls Religion has me marveling at the difference two years makes when it comes to maturity levels! I find myself amazed that when I aske them to please stop talking, they do and that when I explain something once, they understand it. The maturity does pose difficulties in other ways though, these girls have seen a lot more in life than my second formers have and have a lot more obstacles to their belief in God because of the evil they've seen in the world. I really enjoy the challenges that they pose though, nothing deepens your own faith like having to teach it to a bunch of teenage girls struggling with very real doubts and obstacles. One of my girls told me the other day, "Miss, you gotta teach me good because I got no faith. That's why I gotta ask you lotsa questions, I wanna know why I should believe". I replied, "good, make me a list". She was excited... I'm excited that I have this last term with them, I know that life-changing moments like graduation can really get you questioning the meaning of everything, it's prime evangelization time! Start praying for the fourth-formers, their retreats are in the next couple weeks and I think they're gonna be real opportunities for conversion!

Speaking of prayers, keep Ali and I in your prayers, we're heading to a Catholic Charismatic Conference in Belize City tomorrow and have been asked to give a talk on dating (since we're both experts on the Belizean dating scene? Don't worry Dad, that was sarcasm...) no seriuosly, I guess someone bailed out and they needed some last-minute help... So, anyways, pray for us tommorrow, just that we're able to present the way to real love that these youth in Belize are searching for!

Sheldon, hope you're satisfied (just kidding).