Okay, so we have been out on the streets visiting and giving lessons in discipleship for about 2 ½ weeks now. So yesterday, Empe and I made our schedule as follows:
10:00 AM – discipleship lesson at Ruth’s
11:00 AM – search out more houses
12:30 – return to the church for lunch
3:00 PM – visit Erika
4:00 PM – discipleship lesson with Rosalina and Maria
5:00 PM – visit Laura
6:00 PM – return to the house.
Here is how our schedule went:
9:30 AM – left house for Yarinacocha
10:00 AM - arrived at Ruth’s house, but she wasn’t there, so we went to search for more of the houses in our contacts. We asked several places where a certain number was, with no success, so we just kept walking up the “street”. We discovered one of the numbers we were looking for on the electric meter, so we knocked on the door. A little boy came out, who we later discovered was Pedro, and we asked him if this was where the people we were looking for lived. He said no, so when we asked him where they lived, he said, “tell me why you want to know first.” Empe said, “no, tell us where they live first.” So this went back and forth a couple times, and finally he told us they lived next door. So then he wanted to know why we wanted to find them. We told him to invite them to Sunday School on Sunday, and he was invited too. So we knocked on the fence of the house, but the lady had already gone to work, and her sister-in-law said she would be home at 2:00 PM every day. So we said we would stop by another day. Well, we thought Pedro had been so helpful, that we asked him if he knew who some of these other people were. We asked him about an older gentleman, and he said he knew where that man lived, but it was further up the street. We asked him if he would show us where, and so we followed him through all the mud to the house. When we got there, we had about a ½ inch of mud on the bottom of our shoes. We found out that the man was Pedro’s grandpa. At that point, we still didn’t know Pedro’s name. So we were talking to the man, and he said that he had gone to the clinic with his daughters and their kids. So we had all the papers and started asking him the names. As we went down the list, Pedro began to answer, “that is my brother, that is my sister, that is my aunt, that is my mom, that is my cousin,” and so on. We got a kick out of him. He is only 6 years old, but he sure wasn’t shy. So we talked with his grandpa and prayed with him, and then went back to Pedro’s house. There we discovered that it was actually his aunt’s house and that he lived there because it was closer to his school than his house. So the whole family had used the address for the clinic. We invited all the kids to Sunday School, and then thought we would return to Ruth’s, to see if she was home yet.
11:15 AM – We returned from the muddy street to the concrete, and as we were scraping the mud from our shoes, both of us broke one of our shoes. So then we looked like a couple of cripples walking down the street because our shoes were broke. (photo #2)
11:20 AM – Enter the house of Ruth for a discipleship class. (photo # 1)
12:15 – Return to the house for lunch. However, since we both had broken shoes, Ruth went to the end of the street to get us a motocar to return to the house so we wouldn’t have to walk with the broken shoes.
12:30 – Return to the house, to discover that lunch wasn’t quite ready, so we went down to the center to get credit on our cell phones. Samuel had to go to the bank, so since you can get your cell “recharged” there, he stood in line with my cell and Empe and I sat and talked while we waited. Okay, we may think the lines are long at the bank in the states, but it is nothing like here. There is always a line of at least 50 people at the bank. I don’t know why exactly, but it was that way in Belize too. It is not a problem because all the banks are air conditioned, so no one minds waiting. However, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get to the front of the line. So Empe and I had plenty of time to talk.
1:00 PM – return to the house (with loaded phones, and for Samuel, some money) to eat lunch.
2:00 – 2:30 PM – took a quick nap.
2:45 PM – went to the house of Erika’s sister, where she told us to visit her, to discover that she has gone on a trip and won’t be back until Saturday or Sunday. So we went back to Ruth’s house to give her a Bible to read, but she wasn’t home either. So we went to Maria and Oscar’s house to visit and see if they wanted us to come and do the discipleship classes at their house, because they had the first lesson at the church with Pastor Dario last Sunday. They have decided to take the classes at the church, but Oscar is part of the local Fisherman’s Association, and he gave us some tips on how to get in touch with the President because they have the only large building in the area and we wanted to see if they would let us borrow it for Sunday School and services on one evening a week. We have already been to his house several times to no avail, so now we have some new ideas for that. So we talked with Oscar and Maria for a little while about the lesson they had studied with Pastor. Oscar is excited about the church.
4:00 PM – Went to the house of Rosalina and Maria lives next door. We started the discipleship classes, and then the sister and niece came too. (photo #3) That was great, and we will be going back on Friday. They are all very interested. There are lots of scriptures to look up, and so they are enjoying trying to find the scripture before the other one…it is quite comical at times. We enjoyed a time of study there, and then they gave us some popcorn and a fermented corn drink. Empe was good and drank the whole glass, but I could only get about half of mine down.
5:15 PM – Walked to the house of Laura…she is a teacher at one of the schools, so she gets home around 2:00 PM and then grades papers. 5:00 is a good time for her, but she had her grandson at her house this time, and they were playing and visiting out front. We visited for a few minutes, and told her we would come back another day.
5:35 PM – Returned to the house.
I know flexibility is the name of the game! It is fun to see how God works everything out, and our day is still filled, even though our plans change so much from hour to hour, or sometimes minute to minute. Thanks for all your prayers as we continue our work in Yarinacocha, and please pray for those we are discipling. Check out Empe and my “work” blog at empeykatie.blogspot.com.
10:00 AM – discipleship lesson at Ruth’s
11:00 AM – search out more houses
12:30 – return to the church for lunch
3:00 PM – visit Erika
4:00 PM – discipleship lesson with Rosalina and Maria
5:00 PM – visit Laura
6:00 PM – return to the house.
Here is how our schedule went:
9:30 AM – left house for Yarinacocha
10:00 AM - arrived at Ruth’s house, but she wasn’t there, so we went to search for more of the houses in our contacts. We asked several places where a certain number was, with no success, so we just kept walking up the “street”. We discovered one of the numbers we were looking for on the electric meter, so we knocked on the door. A little boy came out, who we later discovered was Pedro, and we asked him if this was where the people we were looking for lived. He said no, so when we asked him where they lived, he said, “tell me why you want to know first.” Empe said, “no, tell us where they live first.” So this went back and forth a couple times, and finally he told us they lived next door. So then he wanted to know why we wanted to find them. We told him to invite them to Sunday School on Sunday, and he was invited too. So we knocked on the fence of the house, but the lady had already gone to work, and her sister-in-law said she would be home at 2:00 PM every day. So we said we would stop by another day. Well, we thought Pedro had been so helpful, that we asked him if he knew who some of these other people were. We asked him about an older gentleman, and he said he knew where that man lived, but it was further up the street. We asked him if he would show us where, and so we followed him through all the mud to the house. When we got there, we had about a ½ inch of mud on the bottom of our shoes. We found out that the man was Pedro’s grandpa. At that point, we still didn’t know Pedro’s name. So we were talking to the man, and he said that he had gone to the clinic with his daughters and their kids. So we had all the papers and started asking him the names. As we went down the list, Pedro began to answer, “that is my brother, that is my sister, that is my aunt, that is my mom, that is my cousin,” and so on. We got a kick out of him. He is only 6 years old, but he sure wasn’t shy. So we talked with his grandpa and prayed with him, and then went back to Pedro’s house. There we discovered that it was actually his aunt’s house and that he lived there because it was closer to his school than his house. So the whole family had used the address for the clinic. We invited all the kids to Sunday School, and then thought we would return to Ruth’s, to see if she was home yet.
11:15 AM – We returned from the muddy street to the concrete, and as we were scraping the mud from our shoes, both of us broke one of our shoes. So then we looked like a couple of cripples walking down the street because our shoes were broke. (photo #2)
11:20 AM – Enter the house of Ruth for a discipleship class. (photo # 1)
12:15 – Return to the house for lunch. However, since we both had broken shoes, Ruth went to the end of the street to get us a motocar to return to the house so we wouldn’t have to walk with the broken shoes.
12:30 – Return to the house, to discover that lunch wasn’t quite ready, so we went down to the center to get credit on our cell phones. Samuel had to go to the bank, so since you can get your cell “recharged” there, he stood in line with my cell and Empe and I sat and talked while we waited. Okay, we may think the lines are long at the bank in the states, but it is nothing like here. There is always a line of at least 50 people at the bank. I don’t know why exactly, but it was that way in Belize too. It is not a problem because all the banks are air conditioned, so no one minds waiting. However, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get to the front of the line. So Empe and I had plenty of time to talk.
1:00 PM – return to the house (with loaded phones, and for Samuel, some money) to eat lunch.
2:00 – 2:30 PM – took a quick nap.
2:45 PM – went to the house of Erika’s sister, where she told us to visit her, to discover that she has gone on a trip and won’t be back until Saturday or Sunday. So we went back to Ruth’s house to give her a Bible to read, but she wasn’t home either. So we went to Maria and Oscar’s house to visit and see if they wanted us to come and do the discipleship classes at their house, because they had the first lesson at the church with Pastor Dario last Sunday. They have decided to take the classes at the church, but Oscar is part of the local Fisherman’s Association, and he gave us some tips on how to get in touch with the President because they have the only large building in the area and we wanted to see if they would let us borrow it for Sunday School and services on one evening a week. We have already been to his house several times to no avail, so now we have some new ideas for that. So we talked with Oscar and Maria for a little while about the lesson they had studied with Pastor. Oscar is excited about the church.
4:00 PM – Went to the house of Rosalina and Maria lives next door. We started the discipleship classes, and then the sister and niece came too. (photo #3) That was great, and we will be going back on Friday. They are all very interested. There are lots of scriptures to look up, and so they are enjoying trying to find the scripture before the other one…it is quite comical at times. We enjoyed a time of study there, and then they gave us some popcorn and a fermented corn drink. Empe was good and drank the whole glass, but I could only get about half of mine down.
5:15 PM – Walked to the house of Laura…she is a teacher at one of the schools, so she gets home around 2:00 PM and then grades papers. 5:00 is a good time for her, but she had her grandson at her house this time, and they were playing and visiting out front. We visited for a few minutes, and told her we would come back another day.
5:35 PM – Returned to the house.
I know flexibility is the name of the game! It is fun to see how God works everything out, and our day is still filled, even though our plans change so much from hour to hour, or sometimes minute to minute. Thanks for all your prayers as we continue our work in Yarinacocha, and please pray for those we are discipling. Check out Empe and my “work” blog at empeykatie.blogspot.com.
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