As of today - August 27th

Last week went pretty smoothly, despite the fact that (as I look back over my calendar), a lot ended up being squeezed into seven days. It was a week with important meetings for the start of school (with teachers and principals) or for the diocesan Commission on Ministry (where we ended up heading to Belize City), with time spent with the new students at the local Creation Care Study Program, and with some intensive pastoral care for a beloved couple in our congregation.

In addition, I was privileged to bring God's Word on Sunday to his people from John 6:60-71. My voice however was drowned out by the rain on the tin roof of St. Hilda's church, so I'm not entirely sure of how much actually came across. Not exactly a "First World Problem."

Please pray for me this week ... this whole month actually. Fr. Juan and María are headed to the States for around four weeks on vacation, and the Senior Warden and I will be heading up the church in their absence. This alone would be reason enough for intensive prayer. However, in their absence, I also have several important goals to accomplish this month: the launch of regular youth ministry at St. Andrew's, the commencement of preparation for Confirmation at St. Hilda's, and the work of a sub-committee that may change the way we take care of all the parish properties here in San Ignacio. Please keep me in your prayers.

Please also keep my further discernment in your prayers: questions, thoughts, and things for me to pray about are beginning to trickle in, and I need the Lord's wisdom during this critical phase of transition. Thanks!

As of today - August 20th

It's been a reasonably quiet couple of weeks here in San Ignacio. I think we are all enjoying the few remaining days left before summer ends, school begins, and the weeks fill up with chapel services and Bible studies. In the meantime, I've been able to chew through some reading (a little bit of D.B. Hart, J.L. Borges, and Marilynne Robinson). I've also been slowly working through and translating some treatises by John of Damascus On the Holy Trinity and On the Two Wills in Christ. It's nerdy and whatnot, but it helps keep me sane, especially as soon as things get crazy come September.

A few other things of note to report from last week. First, we were unexpectedly graced by a visit from the Bishop of Belize, Philip Wright. He preached and led services at St. Andrew's and St. Hilda's, and inaugurated our new Community Center, a building which will basically function like St. Andrew's church's parish hall. It was great to spend time with him and a few other visitors on Sunday.

Second, we are moving ahead to try and begin some real work with adolescents and young adults in the Cayo area. I've begun speaking with key people to get it going, and we're hoping to start meeting in a couple of weeks. Please pray that God puts hunger and desire in our youth for spiritual community, godly teaching, and holy living!

It looks like I will also be preaching this Sunday ... I anticipate the passage to be John 6:60-71. Please keep that in your prayers as well!

As of today - August 8th

Well, it's been a bit too long since I gave an update, but let me get in here and give you all a few details about what's been going on.

Last week ended up being a great cluster of days to rest and study without having to worry too much about groups coming down or people to visit. I was able to work somewhat on last Sunday's sermon from John 6:24-35, a passage which is legendary in its awesome complexity. So, that was tasty! Juan and María were off for a few days in San Pedro in ministry with a SAMS-USA Bridger Missionary couple.

As we've been waiting for Hurricane Ernesto to roll in, I've been spending some time with a group that suddenly came in from Church of the Good Shepherd (Norfolk, VA), who has been working with some of our kids from St. Hilda's in Georgeville. My hands are a little blistered from chopping lawns with a machete, but we've had a good time.

Please keep us in your prayers for these storms, and that I continue to recover a little bit from the stress of the month of July! Thank you all!

As of today - July 31st

Well, today the last of our short-term groups has left our churches here in Belize. We had a great time with the most recent group from New York and New Jersey led by Gus Calvo and Geoff Miller. I spent most of last week helping them out as the team cleaned and painted classroom walls, tiled classroom floors, poured concrete, and built lunch tables for the children of St. Andrew's Anglican School in San Ignacio. I spent most of my time helping build the tables, and I had a great (if sweaty) time on their construction with the other members of the team.

We topped off the excellent week with a visit to Guatemala, to see the Mayan ruins of Tikal. It was absolutely incredible, and I was grateful for another day with the last team to come and visit for a while.

I also had a very productive time with the Spanish-speaking missions on Sunday, preaching at San Andrés (San Ignacio) and Santa Cruz (Selena Valley). Unfortunately, we got rained out from going to Santa Trinidad (Frank's Eddy Village). We're hoping to get together on Friday to have a good-old-fashioned hymn and praise chorus sing-along in Spanish. It was a great time of building relationships!

And hopefully as well, today or tomorrow I will be getting out another installment of "The Occasional Newsletter". I make no promises, but the publishing process seems most imminent! Thank you for all your prayers and support!

As of today - July 23rd

Last week was kind of a blur: we got a lot done, but it was a whirlwind. The team from Grace and Holy Trinity Church (Richmond, VA) did a great job working with the kids in the Arts and Music Camp, and we were very blessed to have them with us. I was set to work helping out with music, and was impressed at what together we were able to transmit to the little noisemakers who came every day. The church is looking forward to seeing them again very soon.

For those of you who were wondering, I enjoyed the trip to Belize City over the weekend. I was very honored and pleased to be at a Gala Event on Saturday night celebrating the bicentennial anniversary of the foundation of the Anglican Cathedral, and the following morning I attended worship (as a "visiting foreign clergyman") at a massive eucharistic celebration for the whole diocese in the cathedral. Great times.

As for this coming week, we are enjoying a visit from an interdenominational short-term mission group from New Jersey and upstate New York, led by the Rev. Gus Calvo. The group is fun and low-key: in addition to some building projects, they are meeting with the families, youth, and others of the church to encourage and build up our congregations. I look forward to accompanying them in their work this week.

One other tidbit. This coming Sunday I will be the guest preacher at all three Spanish-language congregations in the diocese: San Andrés (San Ignacio), Santa Cruz (Selena Valley), and Santa Trinidad (Frank's Eddy Village). We're going to do the wide-sweeping tour that day, starting at 7 am, and going until about 6 pm. I'm looking forward to it.

Have a great week!

As of today - July 16th

Things have gone well over the past week. We had a wonderful visit from Shaw and Julie Mudge all last week as they worked on setting up the creation of an online seminary for candidates for lay and ordained ministry here in Belize. Not only do the Mudges and I continue to bump into each other around the world, but they have been a source of encouragement to me every time we do, and we have been thrilled to have their visit. They went back to their home in upstate New York today.

At the same time that they were departing, another team from Grace & Holy Trinity (Richmond, VA) has come down to put on their annual art camp for the children of St. Andrew's Church and School here in San Ignacio and Santa Elena. We are delighted to have them back, and they've definitely begun putting me to work as we minister together to work on arts, music, and crafts with these kids and to teach them the Word of God in the process.

In addition to the other out-of-the-ordinary events of the last few weeks, we clergy and the whole of our two congregations here in Cayo have been summoned to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Belize City) for the bicentennial of its founding (and consequently, in a way, the founding of the Anglican Church here in Belize). Some of us will be attending a spectacular gala event on Saturday night, and then everyone will be coming together for a massive diocesan worship service on Sunday morning. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and worship together with our brothers and sisters from around the diocese.

As of today - July 9th

Whew! We're surviving. I'm surviving.

Things have been super-hectic around here, and I do apologize for not posting much in the last few weeks. The big item on the agenda has been the arrival of a fantastic mission team from Trinity Anglican Church (Thomasville, GA). After a couple of the team members came early to scout things out and counsel troubled children at St. Hilda's Anglican School in Georgeville, the rest of the group came down and spent last week in a whirlwind of activity which kind of swept me up into it as well.

In the morning, we ran a Vacation Bible School for the children in Georgeville, keyed in on the lives of John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary, the Apostle Peter, and the Apostle Paul. We had a great time, and the kids got a lot out of it. Then in the afternoons, we spent our time constructing a house and setting up property for a recently widowed teacher in Georgevile. It was hard work, and I finished the week exhausted and under the weather, but we got a lot done, and I felt like we all did a lot of bonding through the whole thing. In short: good times.

This coming week will prove to be interesting as well. We are enjoying a visit from Shaw and Julie Mudge, who are working with the Diocese of Belize to set up an online seminary for candidates for ordained and lay ministry. It's been exciting to have them with us: I met the Mudges back in Perú, and our families have a fascinating array of encounters and interactions in the last few years.

So, all that is to say, please keep me and all of us in your prayers as we recover the last group, enjoy those are visiting now, anticipate the next group to come this coming week, and serve God in daily ministry in the midst of it all!

As of today - June 18th

Well, life never stops here, but it's important that it least I stop to give something of an update here on the website!

Last week was full of the little pastoral details that had gotten swept under the rug the week before due to our trip to Mexico. We spent a lot of time leading services and teaching at the three schools under our purview, and I put my head and heart to preparing my sermon for Sunday (Mark 4.26-34). Much to think about, much to digest, and much to serve up and prepare to two packed services (Father's Day!).

The visa renewal experience in Belmopan (Belize's capital) went well, although I've been informed that I need to add pages to my passport (apparently, I'm running out).

There is not much to report for the docket of the coming week, except for a few small details. First, as of today, I celebrate one month in Belize. I am healthy (if not wealthy), and God has blessed my comings and goings at every time. I am so thankful.

Second, we are entering the epoch of short-term missions teams. This is great, but it adds stress to our team on the ground. The first wave arrives on Sunday: please keep us in your prayers!

As of today - June 11th

Happy Feast of St. Barnabas!

As many of you may have read in previous posts this week, we had a lot of excitement: the trip to Mexico for Christina's surgery was by God's grace a huge success, and we can thank him for his continued healing. I'd like to include here an excerpt from a letter that she sent her own prayer warriors:

Dear Friends: 

I am so pleased to report that I am home.  I am not experiencing any pain.  The procedure went remarkably well.  There were many strange experiences that occurred during this trip that can only be attributed to prayers offered on my behalf.

I want to share with you how God answered prayers.  It is truly remarkable when I think about it.  I am so thankful for His mercies and for your willingness to pray for me.

We began our journey on Friday morning.  Jon, David and I left mid-morning.  I was so tired the previous night I forgot to take pain medication.  I had to have two and sometimes four different kinds of pain pills to cope the days prior.  My kidney was swelling and there was a blockage.  It is the worst kind of pain.  Friday morning I woke up with no pain.  NONE.  We continued to travel and I never again felt pain.  There was no explanation for it except the power of prayer.

I do not cope with going into surgery very well.  As they wheel me away, I am usually overwhelmed with fear and just the oppressiveness of medical procedures.  This time they wheeled me away, I never once felt anxiety or any kind of negative emotion.

I came out of the procedure with minimal pain.  I did not experience a repeat of complications I had in February.  That is, the sand created a blockage in my ureter causing me to be extremely ill and rehospitalized.  It took six days of enduring unbearable pain before the debris passed.  This time, I felt great, minimal pain and began passing the debris right away.

Every aspect of our trip worked well.  It was clear there were people praying for us.  Even as we arrived to the Mexican border this afternoon, I could see how God worked.  We got out of the taxi and a man approached me saying, "If you want to go to Belize, here is the bus." It had just pulled up and he was there encouraging us to get on the bus.   He just happened to see us and gave us the information.  We didn't have to stand in the sun and try to flag down a taxi.  That man road the bus with us and just kept smiling at me.  He was one of those helpers sent by God to make our trip go a little smoother.  How did he know we needed to go to Corazal?  Why did he bother telling us there was a bus right there?  Why did he bother telling us riding the bus was less expensive then the taxi?  I don't know.  I thought he was the conductor just trying to improve his business.  He was just another passenger, a helper and it was fantastic timing.  The buses only come to the Mexican border every hour or two. The timing was impeccable.

I love to see God work this way.  I am so in awe of the power of prayer.   Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers.  We continue to praise God for how He reveals Himself in our lives through our travels and during our afflictions.

In Christ,
Christina

This week looks like it's going to be very busy. Please pray in particular that I am able to renew my visa easily in Belmopan (a procedure that has to be done every month!).

A Quick Update from Home

Thank you so much for your prayers. After a terrific time of recovery yesterday, Christina has hardly felt any significant pain after her lithotripsy procedure. In fact, she has not been taking any pain medication, as feeling great and in good spirits. This is a huge answer to prayer, as is the fact that her body has been smoothly and steadily passing the pieces of the kidney stone without any drama or pain whatsoever. Given how her last lithotripsy went (back in February), this is a huge, huge blessing.

She was feeling well enough that we decided to come back to Belize this afternoon. The Lord took good care of us at the border with Belize, and gave us a safe journey all the way home. As I write this, I am safe and sound in my apartment.

Thank you all so much for holding us up in your prayers, and for emails and messages of encouragement over these intense days. I'll be in touch again soon!