Happy Halloween!

We had a Halloween party yesterday with a bake sale, costume contest and dance party! 

It was alot of fun and it was great to see the kids laughing, dancing - way out of school mode. Here is a picture of two girls I teach! We had a great time yesterday, they both ate at least 4 cupcakes and stole my witch hat from me! 

           

My new favorite hangout

Perkup!!

 That's my new favorite coffee shop, well the only coffee shop in town. Here are some reasons why I love it: 

1. The whole thing is painted in Teal!!

2. They have AC! ( a high commodity around here!!)

3. I can get a cappuccino. 

4. They have the Internet. 

5. AND they play awesome pop music like Katy Perry and the new Brittney Spears, seriously! 

No Greater Love

I am reading No Greater Love by Mother Teresa. She is an amazing woman, full of God's love and trust.  I wanted to share a few quotes from the chapter on Love:

" God put the commandment of loving our neighbor on the same footing as the first commandment."

"Intense love does not measure, it just gives"

" It does not matter how much we give, but how much love we put into our giving."

" We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world."

We all know this woman dedicated her life and went beyond what most of  us can do, but she simplifies and breaks down what it is we are suppose to do so beautifully. As I am here in the midst of this devastation, seeing homes swept away and peoples lives being forever changed by natural disaster, it is hard to grasp, hard to understand.  But my call to Love, to Help, to Give only intensifies. I hear God speaking to me, pressing on my heart.

I want to Trust like Mother Teresa, I want to Love like Mother Teresa.

" In order for us to be able to love, we need to have faith because faith is love in action; and love is action in service."

Entertainment

Belize has random signs everywhere, they are quite humorous sometimes but I found one that I would share with you all. 

This ones for you Christine:

Yes, that is on the box. That's one way to get the message across. 

More Rain, More Flood

This is my neighbor's house:

This is more of the flood damage among some of the towns near us:  

This is the bridge we cross to get to church, it was a bit scary yesterday:

The rain continues, school has been cancelled since Friday. Please pray for the villages, towns and families affected by the floods. 

Click here for more info, this is a Belize website. 

And then came the flood

So it has been pouring down rain  here due to a tropical rainstorm that has just hovered above Belize for many days. The school has started to flood as well as many homes. Creeks have turned into rivers, and the schoolyard has turned into a lake! Today school was cancelled, leaving Heidi and I inside watching movies all day (real rough). Please keep the villages and families in your prayers as their homes continue to be in danger.  

The wheels on the Bus go round and round

SO, you must be wondering how I get to work everyday? Well, I ride a school bus with the other teachers and students to St. Margarets, simple right? Umm, not so much. The regular school bus holds around 60 yet everyday we stuff yes stuff 115 people on for the 1 hr bus ride.

Here are some pics of my most enjoyable bus ride and no I am not complaining, I promise :)

The last picture is of my new roommate Heidi, she is from California and will be in Belize with Pathlight until January ( and yes I looked scared as we were soaking wet and crammed in like sardines)

Work Work Work

Eager to learn, here are some girls working on a math problem during recess! 

I am looking forward to this week, Heidi ( the other volunteer) is coming tomorrow. I am also going to get more into the reading program with the students this week. Today is a holiday so there is no school and this weekend has been quite uneventful ( except that I did watch Texas beat OU!!!) Feel free to email me with anything interesting going on in your life!! I miss you all!!

I'm back!

It was great to get back to St. Margaret's today. As the students began to see me, some came up to me and started yelling Miss Holly! Miss Holly! and then laughing and ran off real quick. I don't know if that was a good thing or not but it was real cute and I was eventually warmly welcomed back to the school by both the staff and students. I have moved to a new classroom where I will be working with older students who need help with reading. Most of the older students struggle in some form with reading and writing and since that is my speciality back home, I feel it is where I will be the best help. I am very tired tonight and turning in early. Please continue to pray for endurance and strength for all the teachers and I as our days are long! Also, please pray for my friend Connie who was hit with a tear gas bomb in Thailand, she is recovering now but is still in the hospital. Thank you so much for all your continued support, I can't do any of this without you all. 

PRAYER REQUEST

My friend working in Thailand has been hit by a tear gas bomb and went into surgery this morning. Please pray for her and others that were hurt, I do not know when I will get more updates so just waiting to hear is hard enough. Please keep praying

you can go to www.congraced.blogspot.com to see more