Pray with Us
To all of my amigos estadounidenses, Happy Fourth of July!
This week has been miserable for me: I came down with an intense flu-like fever on Monday, and though I tried to make it through the first day of VBS, I was coming up short. After going home that afternoon, I have been more-or-less housebound until this afternoon. I am still feeling very weak, but the fever has passed for the most part, and I think I'm on the mend.
Please pray for my continued recovery, and my preaching this weekend!
Hello everyone! The last couple of weeks have been good but busy! My parents returned home well, thanks be to God, and my second weekend of serving at All Saints' Church in Belize City also went well despite a couple of dicey moments on the streets. But I digress.
Over the last week we have been enjoying the visit of a team from Mosaic Anglican Fellowship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Tuesday they put on a graduation retreat for our exiting Standard 6 class at St. Andrew's school, and Thursday and Friday they did the same for the Standard 6 classes of St. Barnabas' and St. Hilda's schools. We were incredibly blessed to have them with us, not only for the benefit of our graduates, but for the strong relationships they built with our six older youth who helped lead the retreats with them. Please pray that God would use the many seeds planted this week to grow his Kingdom and increase his glory.
Please, please please keep in your prayers the start of our youth group Bible Study. We're planning on holding it every Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM at the home of one of the youth. I think that this will be a major step forward for discipleship with our youth, so please pray that God will empower us to lead and draw many to come and participate!
This is our last week of classes for our three schools here, and we hold graduation ceremonies on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We are so tremendously proud of our students and wish them all the best as they continue on to high school or other vocations. Saturday another team from Trinity Anglican Church in Thomasville, Georgia arrives to offer a Vacation Bible School to our children in Georgeville next week. Please pray for us as we prepare for their arrival and coordinate for the VBS and other activities with which they will be involved!
In other news, my computer has been diagnosed and has experienced a "catastrophic hard drive failure." As I type, it is on its way back to the United States for repair: hopefully the Macbook Pro is still under the extended 3 year warranty (worth every penny, if you ask me). Please pray for safe passage, inexpensive repair, and swift return to Belize!
Hello everyone! It's been so long since I've posted an update, and I really apologize! Things have been busy here in Belize, and I need to fill you in on much of what has been going on!
As I type, my parents are in town visiting me! We've spent most of the last week or so simply involved in the normal activities of life and ministry in Cayo, but on occasion we've been able to branch out and see a few "touristy" places like Caye Caulker. It's been a blessing to have them with me, and I will miss them a lot when they leave on Wednesday.
This past Sunday I was honored to visit All Saints' Church in Belize City, a church the Bishop describes as a progressive, urban parish. He was not wrong. It was a pleasure to see old friends and new faces, and I was well-received as I lead the service and preached. I cannot wait to be back again at All Saints' this coming Sunday as we celebrate Father's Day and worship the Lord again in song and word and sacrament.
There are a few immediate requests for prayer on my agenda for the coming week. First, please pray for my computer: it's been a week and a half now since it has booted up, and I am at a loss as to how to get it working safely in Belize. Second, please pray for us this week as we prepare for a short-term mission group coming from the United States next Monday. They will be leading retreats for our graduating Standard Six classes from the three Anglican schools in the area, and we are hoping to have a genuine spirit of teamwork and cooperation as we serve God and pray to be used by him in the lives of these students.
Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support: it means the world to me. May the Lord richly bless you all!
It has been an incredibly long and busy week, and I am simply exhausted! Last Monday, I had the pleasure of receiving Andrew Osmun, a member of the SAMS board who was sent to scope out locations for the SAMS board and new missionary retreats in January. We have had a blessed time of fellowship and work together, but visiting fifteen area resorts in just a few days and scoping out project opportunities for an accompanying short-term mission has left me tuckered out! Andrew headed back today to Connecticut, and we are gearing up for a new week of ministry here.
Please pray for the week as I re-integrate back into the rhythm of school and visitations and prepare to preach this weekend: Trinity Sunday! There is much to do before the arrival of my parents early next week, and I am excited for what lies in the week ahead. Your prayers have helped sustain me so much lately: I am so grateful for your partnership with me in this ministry. Until next week!
Good morning everyone! I am writing from the airport in Belize City, waiting to pick up a guest who will be staying with me this week. Andrew Osmun is representing the board of my missions society, SAMS-USA, and we will be trying to find retreat and conference centers for groups coming in January. I think that it will be a full (very full!) week as we work together, but I am looking forward to it.
We are so incredibly happy to have Juan and María Marentes back with us! They arrived Friday night with María's father and were greeted by a surprise party put on by our churches. It was a beautiful and tender moment, and I personally have been trying to soak up the time with them now that they have returned to be with us. Juan gave a sermon and testimony at church on Sunday, and I expect that he will be up-to-speed with an astounding acceleration. Thank you all so much for your prayers for him and us in his absence.
This week looks like it will be quite busy: Tuesday I will be giving a message at an ecumenical teacher's worship service for Education Week, and Friday we have our regularly scheduled church committee meeting, one which will be important as we prepare for short-term missions teams that are coming to visit very soon. Please keep these and other important meetings and conversations in your prayers this week. May God the Father according to his promise pour upon you the riches of his promised Holy Spirit through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord!
Just wanted to write a quick update for you all! This past week went fairly well. In addition to the regular battery of visitations, counseling sessions, and reading/writing projects, I was privileged to perform a funeral for Ronald Waight, an elderly man of our congregation, much of whose family lives in the United States and was able to come down for the service. I was thrilled to preach on Sunday for both of our congregations, and this week looks as though it's shaping up to be a good one as well.
Please keep a few things in your prayers this week. First, please pray for Juan and María Marentes as they get ready to come back to Belize on Friday (we're ecstatic, as you can imagine!). Second, please pray as I consider whether to get a dog for the yard or not. Third, please pray for our youth group meeting on Saturday: I think it's going to be an important one. And of course, as always, please pray that Christ's love, grace, peace, and patience would reign in our hearts and between one another as we serve him together side by side.
And, in case I don't get a chance to say it to you on Thursday, Happy Feast of our Lord's Ascension! Have a wonderful week!
Good morning, everyone! It has been a very long and intensive week, and I am so grateful to all of you for your many prayers. We could not have gotten through it all without them, and you.
The big events of this past week surrounded the burial of George, the young sixteen-year-old who was thrown out of the bed of a pickup truck and killed instantly. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances the police were unwilling to release the body until an official autopsy had been performed, yet there were enormous delays at the coroner's office in Belize City, and the post-mortem evaluation could not completed. It was agonizing to watch the family mourn as George's body stayed at the morge from Saturday until Thursday, when there was finally an opening in the coroner's schedule to view the body. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights vast crowds of people from the town who knew the boy or his family came out to hold a wake by their home, and the public mourning continued until George was put to rest in the cemetary on Friday. Nonetheless, the whole town is still reeling from the shock and pain of what has happened. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
We have had another death in the congregation this week as well, an elderly man named Ronnie who was dear to many long-time members of St. Andrew's parish. We will be holding his funeral later this week. In addition, this week I will be doing a lot of reading and writing for various "bookish" projects that I have been putting off due to the crises we have been experiencing. Wednesday here in Belize is Labour Day, and there will be May Day celebrations complete with May Poles! I am looking forward to it!
For those of you who are also interested, I have started giving Twitter a try. If any of you are interested in following me, my handle is @DavidAlenskis. That's about it for now. Have a wonderful week!
I praise God to be back in Belize, but it has been a very hard week. Please keep us all in your prayers here.
There has been a lot to do in this first week back in Belize. I've been moving in, reconnecting with friends and co-laborers and other acquaintances around town. Additionally, my focus during the week has been to reintegrate into some of the ministries that I was a part of before leaving to raise support in the States. This has been fruitful, with some occasional tensions and growing pains, but nothing could have prepared us for what happened late in the week.
We had two sudden deaths close to our community. The first death was of Ken (age 31), the husband of one of the teachers at St. Andrew's school. He had been sick for a long time, and was thought to be getting better, but then he was diagnosed with terminal cancer the week before. Despite a round of chemotherapy, his conditioned declined rapidly. I was honored to be able to pray with Ken and his wife on Thursday and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, but by Friday morning I heard the news that he had passed. I am so grateful for the steady pastoral care that our team at St. Andrew's has given this family over the last few months, and during this last brutal week.
The second death was of George (age 16), the son of one of the lay ministers at St. Andrew's church. He was killed suddenly in a single-vehicle accident early on Saturday morning. George and his mother are very dear to us, and our whole community is stricken with grief. I spent time with George's mother on Saturday, and hope to see her again soon this week. Because I am recently returned to Belize and Fr. Juan is still in the United States recuperating, the lay pastor for the congregation has decided to coordinate the funeral and other details; however, I am hoping to serve when and where I can as we mourn this loss with his mother.
Please keep us in your prayers. May Christ pour upon us his peace, his grace, his comfort, and his love.
Hey everyone! I hope my American friends got their federal and state taxes in by today!
I'm back in Belize! I arrived all in one peace on Thursday evening, and did not have a chance to melt as I spent time talking with the Bishop about future possibilties for ministry and calling it an early night. In the morning I spent some time with the diocesan staff in worship, and then headed to Santa Elena where, early that night, I was given keys to my new house by the cemetery. It is a bit far from where I used to live, but it is a little garden respite where I can go to be refreshed and, through hospitality, refresh. I am very excited about it!
Sunday I jumped into ministry full throttle, leading St. Andrew's and St. Hilda's in the celebration of Holy Communion, and beginning the process of reestablishing relationships. Please pray that these relationships continue to grow and form the basis for a network of support here in Belize.
This week looks as though it will be full of ministry in the schools, home visitations, children's programs, sermon preparation, and even a Church Committee meeting. Please pray that i will be faithful and diligent in all of these things, and that I withstand the formidable heat going on here in Belize! Have a wonderful week!
Hello everyone! I have good news to share on a number of levels today regarding my mission and ministry in Belize.
First, Happy Easter to you all! The greatest news that I could share is that our Lord Jesus Christ is the true Passover Lamb who was offered for us and has taken away the sin of the world. By his death he has destroyed death, and by his rising to life again he has restored to us everlasting life. I invite you to join with me in continued celebration of the mystery of his victory!
Second, by God's grace my time of raising support in North America has gone well enough that I am returning to Belize this week. I arrive this Thursday, April 11th. I will stay the night in Belize City where I have a meeting with Bishop Wright, and Friday I will travel to San Ignacio and Santa Elena. Please keep me in your prayers, for safe travel and smooth transition back into life and ministry in Cayo!
Third, this past week I was able to see Juan and María Marentes, and I can report that through God's healing work Juan's health is doing extraordinarily well. Please continue to keep him and his wife María in your prayers as he remains in Florida recuperating. He hopes to be back in Belize with us in early May.
Thank you for your prayers ... may the Lord richly bless you!
