Wednesday February 19
Another beautiful day here in San Pedro. It has gotten a bit warmer,so it felt a bit more like the place we have visited in the past, whew! Today has been a bit different than our usual days here at Holy Cross. We were fewer in numbers at the school today because Peter, Stephanie, Joyce and John made a trip over to Belize city to meet with Bishop Wright. Things seemed very different with fewer volunteers floating around.
The four who went on the trip to Belize City took the water taxi. Because of the time of day that they went over, it was not crowded, so their ride was comfortable and not too wet. Coming back to San Pedro in the afternoon was a little different. The boat was crowded and they got less appealing seats, so they felt the bumpiness of the ride and got a bit wet! They had an appointment with Bishop Phillip Wright, the bishop of Belize. They discussed how he looked at the future of Holy Cross School and further development of the church's presence on San Pedro and in San Mateo. Bishop Wright felt that the pastoral mission would be the next item on the agenda for the area. He would like to build some sort of House of Worship and a small apartment for a priest to make regular visits to the island. The Bishop wanted the priest to have a developing role within the community by coming to the island on Saturday so he could spend some time with the people, worship with them on Sunday and then have a bit more time with the students before he would go back to Belize City on Monday. He felt that the process would develop slowly and hopefully reach a point where a full time priest would be needed in order to support the community. The group then went to see the Cathedral, St. John the Baptist. They attended a service in a small side chapel at the Cathedral with the Bishop presiding and Stephanie assisting him at Holy Communion. All said that it was a very special time to celebrate a spiritual side to this mission trip. The group had lunch and returned to San Pedro.
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| St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Belize City |
St. Lukers with the Bishop of Belize
Meanwhile, back at Holy Cross most everyone was busy and working hard. Poor Adam was back at Ruby's not feeling well today. Dr. Jim, Pam, Sandra and Timothy were our San Mateo visitors this morning. At one house where they stopped the mother thought her little boy had "snakes". Dr. Jim quickly realized that she meant worms which he did have. Glenda, the Community Heath Worker, will supply the medicine for treatment. They also returned to check on the twins again, there are also two older siblings in the family. Dr. Jim examined all of the children and weighed them. Next stop was a recheck of a little boy who was seen the day before. He had fallen and severely hurt his leg and had been treated at the hospital. Multiple incisions had been made to relieve pressure in his leg. The incisions had become infected and Dr. Jim had prescribed antibiotic cream for his wounds. Upon recheck, the antibiotic was already doing it's job and the incisions had begun improving. Visiting patients in San Mateo can be a very overwhelming experience. We see such sad conditions and it is heartbreaking. People are living with so few basic services ( like clean water and electricity) and we can only help so much. Some of these families are just so grateful to have a roof over their heads and you see the spirit of God everywhere. This trip and especially going out into San Mateo to really be with some of the families of Holy Cross kids certainly gives everyone pause, what are our priorities, where do we use our time and talents and how do we spend our money. " Matthew 25:40" is where we should look very intently.
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| Dr. Jim checking the twins |
The rest of us stayed back at Holy Cross and attended to different jobs. Kristen was again seeing young patients here at the school. Timothy was helping a teacher and helping the kitchen staff again. Boy, they really love her in that kitchen. Bob and Scott were again busy in bicycle land Ginny and Kathy were in the computer lab, harassing Mike.
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| Bike repair tools |
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| Mr. Freddie gets in on the bike action |
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| Adam's Finished project, cover for the slide |
Some of us are sponsoring a girl to attend high school next year. She is a very bright student and a hard worker according to her teacher and others who know her. Her name is Ashanti and she lives in San Mateo. Her mother was one the original ladies who worked to get the sewing room started and we've been told that her Mom will stay on Ashanti's tail to work hard. Ashanti thinks that she would like to be a marine biologist.
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Ashanti in her class
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Very small group for lunch today. We may have lingered just a little bit, but the room was needed for Jim to see patients and we had to leave. Pam worked with the sewing room ladies and Timothy washed dishes and then worked in a class room, in fact she got back to Ruby's very late because she was doing some after school tutoring with a few of the students. Ginny and Kathy were back to the computer lab. Ginny continued working on her revision of the school history, which has turned out to be a more complicated project than she anticipated. This blogger was most distressed this afternoon, as the almost complete blog for yesterday disappeared from her computer. Mike searched every possible place to see if it was hiding somewhere, but to no avail. The blog went MIA and I had to completely start over. I was not happy.
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| Afternoon office calls for Dr.Jim |
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| Sandra in the classroom |
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| Afternoon exercise |
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| After school cutie! |
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| They look so innocent!! |
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| But someday, Gambler's Anonymous |
Back to Ruby's for some of us! Others work awfully late. Peter said that we are not as punctual and disciplined about arriving on time for evening devotional as Group1 (we work and play on Belize time), but that we work much later in the day at the school than they do. So all of you stragglers, quit earlier, we are in Belize! Headed out to Caliente for dinner and DanDe's for dessert. Be back tomorrow!
