October 21, 2011 - This Month Seems to Be Rushing By

  Transfer day is always a busy one. It is sad to see the missionaries go, but always nice to meet the new ones. 

 Three new elders just transfered in from El Salvador--Elders Arana, Finlinsen, and Dussett.

 Sister Clark is our mission nurse. Missionaries often get ingrown toenails here. (In the tropics nails grow espcially fast.)  Good thing for Elder Munoz she was able to perform a successful surgery right after the transfer meeting. Sister Rodas was a willing nurse's aide, and Elder Garcia provided a comforting drink. 

The missionaries always have to lock up their bikes inside the church, or they might be stolen.

We visited with Adilee (at right) and her mother Francine. Mother looks almost as young as daughter. Elder Pattee baptized Adilee and two of her cousins back in December.

We also visited with Rose this week. She is looking forward to soon moving into a house that will be more user friendly for her.  She has rhuemetoid arthritis.  She is a faithful Church member of many years.

We went to Orange Walk on Saturday and Sunday (1 1/2 hours north of Belize City). Elder Mendehall and Elder Fernandis are the fine elders that serve there. After doing an apartment check, we took them to dinner Saturday evening...

And since it was Elder Fernandis's birthday, we stopped for ice cream after.

While in Orange Walk, the elders took us to Samantha's house. We had a wonderful visit with her and little daughter, Evalee. Her fiance was working, but they are all being taught about the Gospel.  Evan was able to attend church with them the next morning. 

Elder Pattee spoke in sacrament meeting and did some temple recommend interviews. Later we did some training with our seminary and institute teachers. 

Orange Walk Branch President Novelo has a lovely family.

The zone leaders brought Bennie to our home for a missionary discussion one evening.

 They had already taught him all the discussions, so they talked about service and the welfare program of the Church. We explained to him how important it is to be willing to serve in the Church. Bennie has been attending church for the past month or so.  He was baptized a few days later, while we were in Orange Walk. We think he will be a wonderful addition to our Belize City Branch. 

 

Recently our landlady got us a new refrigerator, so we thought some new refrigerator-art was in order. We received some from our grandchildren. Thank you Ella, Jane, and Scott.

October 1-2, 2011 - General Conference Time

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we all look forward to getting our spiritual batteries recharged at General Conference. This was the 181st one held, and it seems like the conferences just keep getting better and better. 

Brother Belgrave and

Brother Arana can be depended upon to never miss a session.   

 Who wouldn't want to listen to a real live prophet? President Thomas S. Monson seems to know just what we need to hear. 
"My beloved brothers and sisters, communication with our Father in Heaven--including our prayers to Him and his inspiration to us--is necessary in order for us to weather the storms and trials of life.  The Lord invites us, 'Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall fine me'  As we do so, we will feel His Spirit in our lives, providing us the desire and the courage to stand strong and firm in righteousnesss--to 'stand in holy places, and be not moved.'"

A baby is always fun to hug.

This was this little guy's very first conference.

  Attending conference can bring solace to the soul. Sister Jones's husband passed away recently.

Friends enjoy visiting, and

  children enjoy playing between sessions.

Jennifer is beginning to come to church once again,

and her son is planning to be baptized very soon.

Kiera was baptized a few days ago. She has had a special glow about her ever since, and she said she loved conference. She is grateful for the knowledge that Jesus Christ is her redeemer and that He is at the head of this Church. 

This week we went to the airport to pick up Elder Gillett, who just completed and returned from his mission in the Dominican Republic.

 His family has long looked forward to this day.

Elder Gillett gets reacquainted with his nephew, who was only a baby when he left. 

After taking his family home, we brought Elder Gillett to our house, so that he could be released by President Pattee. Now we can call him by his first name, Isaiah. His testimony and missionary skills will surely help him be a great strength  in his home branch.

The temperatures are finally cooling down just a bit, and the flowers are coming out again. 

Our landlady recently provided us with a new clothesline area. It is nice to have a place just outside our house to hang the clothes. Notice the big black container at the right.   It is for catching rainwater as it comes off the roof.  Most every home here has at least one. Our landlady has several around her property. They make for good water storage. Rainy season is June through October. We've had lots of rain lately.

We attended another Strength of Youth meeting (SOY) in Belmopan this week. Also, leadership training is ongoing here. Elder Pattee often meets with branch presidents individually, and Sister Pattee attended a Relief Society presidency meeting. 



September 30, 2011 - President Cordon, Temple President Mask and Wife Come to Visit Belize

We always look forward to our mission president, President Cordon coming to to town.  We picked him up at the airport last Friday about 45 minutes after we put David and Kris on their flight to the U.S. (See last week's post.)

He needed to give some things to the zone leaders before heading up to Cayo for district conference, so we met up with them in a parking lot not far from their apartment.

The very next day, Saturday, we borrowed a car (President Cordon had the van) and went to the airport to pick up President and Sister Mask. They are from Arizona, and they are currently serving as temple president and matron of the Gautemala Temple. 

They came to give special  meetings about temples in both Belize and Cayo Districts. The meetings were well attended, with many people having to travel some distance. They both gave wonderful talks that will no doubt inspire many to ready themselves to go to the temple. We enjoyed our time with them very much.

This is the Casteneta family from Corozol, two hours north of Belize City. During a special sacrament meeting for our entire district, held just before the temple meeting, Brother Casteneta was sustained as the second counselor in the Belize City District.  

Brother and Sister Lammy traveled in from San Pedro to attend, which is an hour and 15 minute water taxi ride away. An interesting thing about this couple is that he speaks English, but not Spanish, and she speaks Spanish, but not English.  There are probably times when a few things have to be left unsaid. Maybe that's good for a marriage.

This happy couple is engaged and plan to marry next spring. Joseph is a new convert and attends Belize City Branch. Mary is from Cinderella Branch. 

The Crawfords have been married a long time. They came down from Orange Walk.

Handsome brothers

Sister Celia is primary president in San Pedro. Recently her house burned down. She and her two children were able to get out safely, but everything else was lost in the fire. 

As we mentioned in our last post, George Price, first prime minister of Belize, and known as the Father of Belize independence, passed away. He had a State funeral including military guard and marching band. The procession went in front of our house, and he was buried in a cemetery not far from where we live. 

Citizens lined up along the road 2-3 hours early to pay their respects.  He was much loved, respected, and admired. 

One last photo of Elder and Sister Pattee at the Mayan ruin Cahal Pech, which we visited with David and Kris. 

 They said enjoyed their Caribbean vacation very much.

September 21 - Independence Day for Belize - And Our Children Visit

30 years ago on September 21, 1981 Belize obtained its independence from Great Britain. 

There has been lots of flags flying and much celebrating!

And parades

 And fireworks!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, BELIZE!!

The Belize City Branch traditionally puts on a special flag raising program the evening before Independence Day.  Brother Joel Munoz speared headed  the event and put in much time and effort.  It turned out well with about 70 people attending.  The national prayer was given, and the national song was sung.  Explanations about the history of the different people that make up Belize were given.  It was very informative, and we enjoyed it very much.  Afterwards refreshments were served. 

George Cadle Price was the very first Prime Minister of Belize.  He spent his whole life trying to improve life in Belize.  He died a few days before the Independence Day celebration this year at the age of 92.  He was much admired and well loved by all.  Flags were flown at half mast. 



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Also, last week we had three funerals in Belize City Branch. I mentioned about Sister Gillett in our last blog post.  Then a grandmother of Desiree passed away, and finally the husband of Sister Jones. Elder Pattee was asked to preside and speak at all three funerals, but was able to only attend two of them--Sister Gillett's and Sister William's. 

We have enjoyed the past few days very much. On Friday (a week ago) our second son, David, and his wife, Kris, came for a visit. It was so good to see them.  They were standing out on the sidewalk at the airport when we drove up. Their flight came in a few minutes early, and they got through customs quickly.  Hope they didn't think we had forgotten them.   

David, Kris, and Elder Pattee (Dad)

We also stopped at the produce market on the way back from the airport and bought several fruits we had not eaten before. We got some plums that looked like little green apples, a big red fruit that looked like an artichoke and a star fruit. We also got papaya, and watermelon. We are glad our children got to experience some of the delicious fruits that grow in Belize. 

 On Saturday we wanted to see some Mayan ruins, so we drove about 2 hours to Cayo. We had hoped to see Xuanantunich, but because of all the rain earlier in the week, the river was high and muddy.  The ferry was closed, so we could not cross the Mopan River. We ended up going to Cahal Pech, instead, which was near by and on the same side of the river as we were. 

We enjoyed walking through old archways and exploring the courtyards and passageways. 

"Do you think we can climb to the top?"

"We made it!"

 The largest pyramid is better seen in this shot.

Of course by this time we were hungry, so stopped at the San Igancio Inn for a nice lunch. 

On Sunday we attended chuch at Belize City Branch. The young adults presented the sacrament meeting talks and music. They did very well. I think the branch members were very proud of them. 

We enjoyed their talks about service and the music they sang. This is not the actual photo of that day, because, of course, I wouldn't take a photo during sacrament meeting.  But this one is similar, taken on a different day (after a meeting). The young adult sisters also participated in the meeting.

We took several people home after church. Baby Malik fell asleep in Kris's arms. She had just the right touch.

Brother Smith and also Adalee joined us for dinner on Sunday. We hadn't seen either of them much lately, as Brother Smith has been in the United States, and Adalee moved. We just found out where she lives.  Elder Pattee baptized her this past December.  It was good to visit with them.

We visited the home of the Paul Woods Family Sunday evening. What a nice family!

We also visited the home and family of our branch president, President Gordon. Sister Gordon (furtherest left on the sofa) is a very good cook and told us about different kinds of Belizian food, including "fish tea", which is made with fish heads and cocoa.

President Gordon showed us a breadfruit. His wife will make something delicious with it.  

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Then David and Kris left to spend a few days in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye.  

They traveled out to San Pedro on a water taxi.

  The weather was sunny and fine.  Just right for relaxing and working on a suntan. They enjoyed going out snorkeling and swimming with the sharks. They flew back on Maya Island Air. We picked them up at the little municipal airport when they flew in on Thursday. 

We had a nice lunch at the Riverside Tavern (missionary approved) and went back to our house to visit awhile. Then, sadly, we had to take them to the airport so they could catch their flight homeward. We enjoyed their visit very much.

This week we concentrated on getting SOY applications finalized and turned in. We are also trying to encourage several PEF students to get current in their loan payments. 

A week ago on Wednesday, during the night, Elder Pattee had a scary bout of illness.  He had a sharp pain in his lower abdomen that wouldn't go away. In the morning we called for the elders to come and give him a blessing, which Elders Holbrook and Robenalas did.  Soon the pain disappeared. We went to the Belize Medical Associates, just to be sure it wasn't appendicitis. After a few tests and no further pain, Elder Pattee was able to drive to the airport to pick up David and Kris. As regarding heath issues, we feel we have been greatly blessed while serving as missionaries.