Being Blessed in Succotz

The R. family had brought a lot of children's clothing from the U.S for distribution in this small village bordering Guatemala. We asked our friend Anna to determine the most needy families in her village and help us distribute the clothes along with some bags of rice and beans. While Mrs. R. and Anna sorted clothing for distribution, our friends Nellie and Aboluse fixed us an amazing and yummy lunch from the groceries we had brought along with us. In their culture, preparing a nice meal for the guests is a great honor. It feels strange to us and Mrs. R kept asking 'Shouldn't we help them?" It is hard to get used to (them serving us) but then I remember that when they come over to our place we like to do the same. :-) After lunch we all headed out to the village where we were able to hand out the clothing, rice and beans. A few of the Succotz family members came along to help. We all had a nice time of visiting at their home and then going out and serving others together. It is always very humbling to hand out provisions to those in need. We feel it an absolute command of Jesus as well as a great honor to do so, from our heart and in His name. Lord, give us all more of a heart for the poor of this world.

 

¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

¹⁷ And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

¹⁹ To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

²⁰ And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

²¹ And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.  Luke 4:16-21

 

 

 

 

 

Our friend L. and her son came along with us on this day too. She is also friends with the Succotz family. She also was able to visit a few people who she and her husband had gotten to know in 2011 while holding a tent meetings there.

 

 

 

Sorting through the childrens clothing

Sweet friends! So nice to see them once again!

 

The guys talk with the grandfather.. he was telling us of their desire to build an additional cement house on their property to house their huge family. He and his wife Roberta currently house at least 8 of their grandchildren, 5 of whom are orphans.

 

Grandpa gets us some refreshing coconuts!

And shows everyone how to chop them with the machete

Yummy coconut water! Want some? :-)

So refreshing on this hot day!

 

 

 

Ashley in her element

Baby hands... So cute!

Grant and Rudy hanging out

.. a serious conversation with a chick on Grant's head and one on Rudy's hand.. so cute!

Thank you ladies for the wonderful lunch!

 

 

 

 

 

Tick Attack!

We visited a family out in the country.. when we returned I was giving Laura a bath and noticed she had tons of red marks on her back and tummy which at first I thought was a heat rash. But then I noticed that many of the bumps had a black spot in the middle.. I asked Ashley to come into our room to check it out and sure enough Laura had 46 ticks burrowed into her skin, poor little Lolly... Ashley proceeded to pick all 46 of them out of her skin with her fingernails.. Laura was such a trooper! We urged the R. family to check all of their children too but thankfully none of them had any. The next morning I found 6 on myself. :-o

 

 

Poor little baby! She was so brave and didn't cry at all while Ash pulled them all out.. :-(

 

Rio On Pools~ More Mt. Pine Ridge!

After the neat cave, we headed down the road to the amazing Rio On Pools where we were able to play for hours in the smooth granite pools and falls. The R. family enjoyed playing under the fun waterfall and got a family pic there (we didn't even attempt a family pic there as we *knew* a little miss in our family would never go for it! LOL) It was so beautiful there, we could have stayed all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. and Mrs. R enjoyed taking their kids down the natural waterslide!

 

 

 

 

Ryan tries out the waterslide too!

 

 

Under the waterfall

 

Family pic! :-)

 

Gracie and E. had such a fun time playing

 

 

 

Time to head back to the car! Being in such a remote location, it is not advisable to be on the road to Mt Pine Ridge after dark..

 

Our wonderful river rats :-)

                                             Some beautiful rocks we found at the pools

 

Coming home after a very full and fun day!

 

 

 

Rio Frio Cave

We were able to visit Mountain Pine Ridge for the day.. the thermo reached 102 that day.. without air conditioning! Whew! Our first stop was the Rio Frio Cave which was breathtaking AND (as the name insinuates) was COOL. The dome of the cave is the largest of all the caves in Belize, estimated at about 60'. Since we are in the dry season, the river which runs through it was pretty low which left a nice sandy beach inside the cave where the children could play and build sand castles.. it was so refreshing after being in the hot car for 2 hours..

 

 

Stalactites and stalagmites are what are known as speleothems, deposits of minerals that form into cave structures and line the insides of a cave. The Rio Frio Cave contained many of both.

 

 

 

                            

In this pic you can see the sandy beach

 

                              

 

                                                  

The mouth of the Rio Frio Cave is most impressive. We liked seeing the vines hanging down

The adorable R. family

 

 

This was the other mouth, on the opposite side of the cave, thus making it almost a tunnel cave, with two openings.. apparently further into the dry season one can hike all the way through to this exit mouth and continue along the river which leads to other caves. Maybe we will go back for a visit next month and give it a try! 

 

 

It was fun to hang out on a beach that was shaded. No need for sunscreen here!

 

                                               

 

 

 

                          

 

These sandstone formations were like giant steps.. I wish the photo showed the magnitude of the formation.. this area was probably 75 feet long and 40 feet high. Ashley, Ryan and Grant forged the river, scaled the sheer rocks in order to go up and see these dry tide pool type formations.. here we are on the other side of the cave, looking down on the sandstone.

 

 

Of course our naturalist Grant finds life in the cave. We also saw a little swallow dive-bombing us and then disappear into a small hole in the rock where apparently her nest was hidden.