January 10, 2011 - A New Year Begins

Monday, January 10, 2011

Here in Belize the New Year came in with lots of celebrating until the wee hours of the morning.  Loud music and firecrackers were the main events.  But, being missionaries, we were in our apartments long before midnight.

Recently we and the Sandbergs received seminary and institute training by Joaquin Flores, who flew in from San Salvadore.  He especially wanted to make sure we knew how to do all the reports required.  He spoke Spanish with some English.  It was good to have Sandbergs with us to help clear up miscommunications.  They speak both Spanish and English.   

Elder Flores is on the far right.

I have a couple of new photos of Justin and Joslyn's wedding I want to put on our blog.  I still cannot edit, so I will add them here with the hope that when I can edit, I'll be able to move them into a previous post. 

Our family at the wedding in Mesa Temple, which can be seen behind us.

Happy occasion!

Missionary work goes on in Belize.  We work with 5 different branches here.  There are great people in each one of them.  We attend the various Sunday meetings as often as we can, as well as presidencies meetings.

Some of the Belize City Branch relief society sisters.


Our newest baptized member, Adalee, got bitten by a dog on her leg.  After a new-member missionary lesson, we brought her to our house for a visit and some TLC.

We took a trip up to Orange Walk and Corozal this past weekend.  We stayed overnight in Corozal.  Both of the branches up that way are struggling.  Church attendance is not what it should be.  They have wonderful young sister missionaries that help and support them in every way.   We did leadership training with some of the leaders, including institute and seminary teachers. 

We treated Sisters Maroquinn and McDougal to a delicious lunch at a really good Mayan restaurant.  That evening we took Sisters Stout and Argueta to dinner at a place called Patty's Bistro.  We had a couple of really good visits in homes of members that evening.  One was in the home of a less-active man that would like to be sealed to his desceased wife.

Then the sister missionaries gave a lesson to Sister Orlinda's nephew, who will be baptized this coming week.  It has been about 2 months since Sister Orlinda's 17-year-old son died in a tragic hit-and-run accident.  The sisters in Corozal Branch have really rallied around her. 

The sign on this church in Corozal says "Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"  People think they are part of our church.  Sometimes it is difficult to persuade them otherwise.

Between November and July is sugarcane harvest in Belize.  The sugar factory is in Orange Walk, so the highways were busy with big trucks piled high with it. 



Lots of sugarcane falls off the trucks as they travel down the road.  It kind of unsightly, but none of the loads are covered, so some of the sugarcane is bound to fall out. 


 We are not sure exactly how this little bus stop shelter could possibly be a post office, but that is what the sign on it says.  It is near a little town called Sand Hill. 

This blog may seem kind of disjointed, but then that is how our week here has been, too. 

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