seashells and life

 I've decided this blog post will be about a seashell, Christmas, friendship, life... okay, I'll just start writing. My dear friend Angela asked me to bring a conch shell back from Belize for her. I'm not sure why she didn't get one herself when she came down to visit Belize, but my guess is her suitcase was too full with other souvenirs. Being the great friend that I am, I brought this one home for her.

As I was washing it off before wrapping it as her Christmas gift I got to thinking about it. About how beautiful this shell is. How I'd prefer this shell to one purchased at the store. Why is that? And here are my thoughts... One reason is that it's always great to find something. There's a joy in discovering things, in figuring things out, in finding something, and in understanding. It starts when we're born and it never gets old. I've never met someone who didn't have anything in their bucket list. There's always “I want to try this...” or “I wish I knew how to...” Another reason is that I find this shell, straight from the ocean, more beautiful than the ones from the store. The kind you can buy are smooth and polished; they are so... perfect. There's a real quality to this one that speaks to me about myself and about life. This shell isn't perfect, but it's real, it's true to life, nothing fake, not sanded down and polished.

Every seashell is unique and individual, just like every snowflake, and every one of us. I find it incredible to think about the love God put into creating each shell in the ocean... and then I can't even believe what that means about the love He has for each of us, from the moment He created us and for all eternity. The more you look at the seashell the more you see the small details, the beautiful in the design, the functionality, etc. Just as the more you get to know someone, understand them, the more you see the depth, the complexity of who they are, and you see the beauty of the Creator in that person.

Our lives are just as unique and individual as we are. No two people have the same life, no matter how similar it may seem from the outside. Here's how seashells differ from snowflakes; they have a life story. Each seashell has cracks, chips, and maybe even some algae growing on it. Life is bittersweet. The seashell shows it's endured life's bitter times along with the sweet times. This seashell isn't sanded down and polished; pretending life isn't tough sometimes. It's bumps and bruises along the way, the tough times, are exactly what makes it so beautiful.

Since I've been home for Christmas break I've had several times when the bittersweetness of life is obvious. One being my coming home early for Angela's dad's funeral. Obviously, the funeral was a sad and difficult time but I also couldn't help but feel so blessed to be able to come home from Belize to be there. In every “bitter” time there's an underlying current of the “sweet”. At the funeral, like any funeral, the gratitude for what we had, the wonderful person, the love we shared, and our great times with them, is what makes the loss so difficult. The hard times are what make us appreciate the good times. Remembering the good the times, and knowing that there are more good times to come, is what gets us through the hard times.

It's Christmas. Nobody knows the bittersweetness of life like the Holy Family. Mary's going to have Jesus, the Savior of the world... but not how you'd think, it'll be in a cold stable, they have to flee to Egypt because someone wants to kill the baby... and none of that will compare with watching her Son be crucified. But there were also the sweet times, holding her newborn son, rocking him to sleep, singing and laughing and playing with him, watching him grow into a boy, watching him grow into a man, those good times helped Mary in the hard times. God knows us better than we know ourselves and His plan is perfect. It is through the Incarnation, Jesus' bittersweet time on earth, that all people, from all time, will be saved from their sins. And it is only when we see the whole picture, the good times and the bad times together, that we can see how it makes sense. We attempt to see the whole picture now, but we won't see it in it's entirety, in it's perfection until Heaven.

Last topic. Friendship. Christmas is such a joyful “sweet” time each year. The Church celebrates Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter each year for a reason. It's not just to reflect on Christ's life, but on our lives, as well. We are naturally grateful for what we have this time of year, we're kinder to strangers, we're more generous, we're joyful, because after all “It's Christmas!” This is why Christmas is so many people's favorite time of year. This year at Christmas, those of us who are experiencing the “good” times in our lives, let's pray for those who are enduring the “hard” times. We all will have the hard times at some point, and here's where the friendship part comes in. It is in the hard times that we can most easily recognize the love of God through our friends and family. So, if it's more of a 'bitter' time for you this Christmas, know that it won't last forever, and you are loved by many. If it's a more of a 'sweet' time for you this Christmas, treasure it, make precious memories to cherish, and please pray for those you know who because of poverty, sickness, death, etc need your prayers right now.  

Thanks for reading the whole post! You deserve some sort of reward so go get another cookie, why not? IT'S CHRISTMAS! Much love to you all. Have a very merry Christmas! 

Fish Bite

Last weekend the volunteers took a trip out to San Pedro.  Thanks to Ramon's Village resort and their generous discount for missionaries we could afford to stay at a nice resort with hot water and air conditioning (yes, it's still hot here).  I've been to San Pedro several times but this trip I was able to see a few things I haven't seen before. One of my fellow volunteers took us to a local rum maker who gives free samples.  After trying coffee, coconut cream, blue hole, and chocolate rum, it's hard to resist making a purchase.  It's so delicious!  We also went to feed the tarpons off a pier on the laguna side of the island.  It seemed simple enough after we watched the local Belizean demonstrate.  You simply hold the little fish out about 2 feet over the water and the tarpons jump out of the water and snatch it from your hand.  The tarpons are about 4 feet long and their mouths are about 6" in diameter.  Each of us took a turn.  The hard part was waiting holding the bait over the water and watching about 10 tarpons swarming just below the surface, just waiting, waiting, waiting.  A few of us were successful.  A couple people dropped the bait because it was slippery.  One girl jumped and screamed when the fish jumped, dropping the bait.  When I stepped up the guy told me not to let the bait slip because it was the last fish we had.  After waiting a minute I could feel the bait fish slipping so adjusted the way I was holding it, using my thumb and two fingers.  I made a joke about how the fish was going to take my whole hand since I have such small hands.  When one of the tarpons finally jumped his mouth did go over part of my hand when he took the fish.  It's kind of startling just because the fish are pretty big and you're holding the bait in your hand.  I didn't think anything of the way he snatched the bait from me until I looked down and saw blood on my hand!  Being from the United States I assumed they would not let people participate if the fish have teeth!  Well, really the teeth are just like sandpaper (so the guy said) but it was enough to draw blood and give me a funny story.  By Tuesday I had a couple of students ask me about my shark bite and who got the shark off of my hand!  Oh boy.

A fish LITERALLY jumped out of the water and bit my hand!  :)

All Souls' Day

There are several things the United States can learn from Central America. How to celebrate religious feast days is one of them. For about a week each year the Belizeans honor and remember their dead. Beginning on November 2^nd people make frequent trips to the cemetery to visit their deceased loves ones. The normally ill-plotted and dilapidated cemetery is transformed into something profoundly beautiful and peaceful. Here they have both graves and above ground mausoleum type tombs which are decorated with flowers and candles. The candles lit on all the different sizes and shapes of graves makes for a breath-taking scene. After processing from the Church to the cemetery the priest and the people go to their family members' graves to bless it with holy water and pray for their soul.

I've never been someone who is creeped out by cemeteries and now I find I actually have a love for them. Both years I've been here on All Souls' Day I haven't wanted leave the cemetery after the prayers because it's just so peaceful. Cemeteries contain so much history and love, they show us where we've come from and where we will end up, they remind us to be grateful for all the blessings we have, and they help us keep everything in perspective. It's difficult to get upset about the 'small things' and frustrations at work and at home when you've been to the cemetery that day. You're reminded what's important, what really isn't important, and what matters this minute, this hour, this day, isn't necessarily what matters in the end.

Amazingly enough, we keep learning from our loved ones even after they've died. Our memory of them, their life, their example, and their love... never dies. And because of that we will always be connected with those we love. God has a bigger plan than we can know or understand right now, but what we do know is that we are to pray for them. If our loved ones are in purgatory waiting to join God in Heaven they need our prayers, if they are already with God our prayers will not be wasted, but offered for the poor soul in purgatory who is in most need of prayers. If, by the grace of God, our family members are already with God in Heaven, be assured they are praying for you constantly. It's beautiful to think of how, even after death, we are still united with those we love, praying for each other from here or in Heaven, all working toward the same goal, and knowing by faith that we will achieve that goal and meet again for a glorious reunion in Heaven!

If you're Catholic you can gain a plenary indulgence (under the usual conditions that you receive Communion at Mass and go to Confession with 8 days before or after) each day from November 2^nd through November 9^th if you visit a cemetery, pray for the souls of the deceased, and pray for the Pope. Traditionally 3 Our Fathers, 3 Hail Marys, and 3 Glory Bes are prayed for the Pope. You may offer the plenary indulgence for the soul of a deceased friend or family member. Please make the time to stop by the cemetery today and pray for your deceased loved ones, it only takes a few minutes and it's well worth it for them … and for you :) 

God bless, Betsy

June through October

Hi everybody!  I know it's been a looooooooong time since I've blogged. After many subtle hints from people (and not so subtle hints from Jenny) I've decided to make it up by blogging EVERY week.  To all you who are doubting that this will happen I say thanks a lot for the support!  I figure, if I have time to beat Matt Bower in NFL picks each week than surely I have time to write a little something on the old blog.  I'll try to post each weekend so you can get your dose of Betsy in Belize on Sunday or Monday to start your week off right!  :)
Thanks for all your love and support!  God bless you all.

Visiting the Villages

 The mission church in Calla Creek

 Some of my most moving experiences were visiting my students in their homes in the villages. One family I'll tell you about, they are very dear to me because I teach three of their children and because their dad and oldest brother were murdered 3 years ago. For a family that is supported solely from their small farm, to lose their father and eldest brother is not just devastating because it's sad, it's scary because they don't know how they'll be able to put food on the table.

From the village we walked about 40 minutes in the sun in about 110 degrees to get to my students ranch. This is the walk my students walk every morning and afternoon from school plus an additional half an hour from the paved road to the village.

 When we arrived the family immediately greeted us with water and coke and gave us the best seats in the house, the hammock and wooden stools and chairs. At their ranch they have a sort of outdoor living room, which is like a shed, with a tin roof and 2 walls instead of four. Cement floors, a table, a few wooden chairs and 2 hammocks are all that's inside.

 30 feet away is the outdoor kitchen with a dirt floor, a wash basin, an open fire to cook on, a cooler, and animals mucking about. 

 As I sat in the hammock talking to the student his mother fixed us a large portion of rice, beans, and stewed chicken (the traditional Belizean meal and what is eaten everyday). My student filled my glass when it was empty. I graciously accepted the food, although I knew they were feeding me part of what little they had, they'd all eat less and probably be hungry that day because of what they gave me.

At first it was a bit surprising to see how they lived. I would've never known by the way they come to school. They are always very clean, uniforms ironed, school supplies in hand, and they are always joyful. They are some of the most joyful, happy kids you'd ever meet. I wondered how is it that I've never heard them complain? How is it that they can give freely to me when they don't have enough to eat themselves? How is it that they have so little and are so happy? They are grateful for what they have.

If we want to be happy in life we must be thankful. This is one of the greatest lessons I've learned this year. It's not an easy lesson, but gratitude is necessary for everyone, no matter who you and where you live.

"And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.  And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?"  

Luke 17:12-19 

Belize Navidad!

One of the things the Belizeans know how to do well is take a holiday.  The schools here have 3 weeks off for Christmas and 2 weeks off for Easter!  Unfortunately we have to make up a few days because of all the days we missed in the Fall due to hurricane nonsense.  So, I enjoyed my break thoroughly by staying away from school and all schoolwork.  This is why I also didn't post anything for that time.  Our internet is only available in the teachers' lounge at school and who wants to be the teachers' lounge over Christmas?!

I've been trying to think of what to say for my next post and haven't come up with anything too thought provoking so I've decided to just post some pictures and write captions for them.






Some of you may not already know that my Mom and Dad were able to come down and visit me for Christmas!  It was such a blessing to get to see them and to have them experience some of what I'm experiencing here.  Also I think it gave them peace seeing that I'm 'safe' here and I have a makeshift family with the other volunteers and the SOLT priests and sisters.  I know they really enjoyed their time here, especially in Benque, the town where I live.  It was good that Mom and Dad were here for my first Christmas away from home!

Guatemala City Bus Station

 The first days of their trip were spent in Antigua, Guatemala.  Antigua is a beautiful city with cobblestone streets, a European feel, and an awesome view of several volcanoes.  The trip there is just the usual sort of travel in Central America, but it was a shocking for Mom and Dad so I'll share some of the funny details with you.  We started off at the border where we payed an exit fee to leave Belize and an entrance fee to enter Guatemala.  Then we walked a bit (with one very inconvenient-to-carry-for-long type bag, you never realize how inconvenient a bag is until you have to carry it instead of roll it!) to the bus station.  The bus station is a one-room wooden building with at cement floor and a desk.  Cash is the only acceptable form of payment and you can buy your tickets in advance, meaning the morning of.  We found out that there would not be a bathroom on the bus and Mom started getting worried, as if she wasn't worried already.  The buses in Guatemala are like old Greyhound buses, with maybe a little less leg room.

 After 10 hours (and one stop when we got off to use the bathroom and the bus started to pull away without us) we arrived in Guatemala City.  The bus station is bigger there, with benches inside to sit on, too, but cash is still the only acceptable way to pay.

I just added this pic of us standing on the side of the street with our bags because I think it's a funny and interesting picture.  It was about 7:30am and it was COLD (well, cold for me, anyway ;o)


We got a ride to Antigua from the sister of one of Mom and Dad's friends in MS.  She's been living in Guatemala for almost 40 years so it was great to get a tour and information about the country from her.  And, after being on the bus overnight, I noted right away how incredibly comfortable the seats are in her car!


This is a tuk-tuk.  Although Mom called it a Tu-Tu for a bit.  It's a popular mode of transportation in Guatemala.  You can catch a tuk-tuk and pay less than a taxi ride in a regular car.  Yes, they're cute, but Dad will tell you they're VERY bumpy on the cobblestone roads.







While in Antigua we stayed in the beautiful home of that same friend who gave us the ride in her comfy car from Guatemala City.  It's hard to pick just one picture of the house where we stayed because it was so amazing.  Probably the nicest house I've even been in!  There are such beautiful gardens in Antigua.  In this house the rooms (as you can see the couches in this pic) are partially outside.  It's a wonderful design, I think we should adopt it in the US... if it weren't for snow.




We were in Antigua to go to a friend's wedding.  Some of you know Matt and Michelle so I'll include a pic of the wedding party at the reception.  The reception was right outside Antigua with the volcano as the backdrop and beautiful gardens the wedding pictures are going to be amazing!

After the wedding we spent our last day there journeying (some hiking some riding) up a volcano.  Since Mom conveniently twisted her ankle within the first 10 feet of the hike she had to ride a horse, she was nice enough to carry the backpack with the water for us though.  The volcano had just erupted in May 2010 so it the last half of the 6 kilometer hike was covered in volcanic rock pebbles and sand.  The trees and plants were already growing back.  We were about 10,500' elevation.  

There are hot spots near the top where people were roasting marshmallows they brought up and throwing in sticks and watching them burst into flames in about 10 seconds.  It was a really neat experience!

Back in Benque... 

Here's a picture of our back porch.  You can see the railing doubles as a clothesline when our clothesline in the yard is full (quite frequently since there are 8 girls in the house).  Looking at this picture makes me wonder how it was ever cold enough to wear fleece pajama pants!  It was only a few weeks ago but it's already warm enough to sleep with the fan on at night now.  Notice the horse, "Mosey" grazing in the drainage ditch.  His owner brings him there a few days a week for a good healthy meal.  Horses are pretty commonly seen around town.

As you can see, Dad took full advantage of the Belizean version of a recliner!  The hammocks are used a lot here and are the coolest seat in the house when the weather heats up.  I had my students draw the 7 days of creation as a homework assignment in the beginning of the year and was surprised that about half of them drew God in a hammock between two palm trees on the 7th day!  I thought it was so great, and my students didn't get why I thought it was cute and was so pleased, to them it's the norm.  

Mom and Dad kind of adopted the 3 other volunteers that stayed here for the break.  There are 12 volunteers here for the year and 4 of us stayed here for the Christmas holiday.  Christmas Eve after Mass we had our traditional Hess late night feast of delicious snack foods.  The most popular was CHEESE this year!  We don't have access to a lot of dairy here, there's not much of it or selection, and it's super expensive.  So, we were all very happy to see the delicious cheese Mom brought for us!

Thanks to Mom and Dad, I had a ton of fun presents to open!  They were nice enough to pack extra luggage full of necessary (and unnecessary but really fun) things for me and the mission!  We had a great time opening them, laughing, and enjoying thinking of friends and family through the presents they sent.  And, don't you like our paper Christmas tree?  

Christmas day turned out to be quite warm, in the 80s and sunny.  Everyone from the mission gets together for a big meal out at the Robinson's ranch.  The Robinson's are a family that have been living here about 15 years and been doing mission work throughout Central America for years before that.  They have a beautiful thatched roof house they built a couple of miles outside of town.  

The Robinsons' Ranch

In this picture you can see the other members of SOLT (the religious community I'm working with here).  There are two sisters, two priests, several seminarians, and one family.  It really is like having my extended family here (and the priests tease me just as much as my family does!)

Chicken Bus

The day after Christmas we set off for San Pedro.  We took the public bus (referred to by us as the 'chicken bus' because they pack in so many people!).  The public transportation is fairly reliable and inexpensive in Belize, which is something to be thankful for.  Old school buses from the states don't seem so bad in developing countries.  At first you start to complain about your bum getting sore and then you realize you should just be happy you're not standing (like those 20 people in the aisle).

Once we got to Ramon's we checked in at Ramon's and headed out to explore the island a bit.  We went shopping, saw the airport (small airstrip), and went to Mass before heading back to Ramon's for a late dinner.  Here's a picture of Mom and Dad at Ramon's, the trees and plants around our thatched roof cabana are what really make Ramon's neat!  Dad was inspecting the roof like he was planning on making one himself when he gets home.  The next day it was hot, sunny, and beautiful!  We got up early, had breakfast, and spent a lot of time laying in the chairs on the beach.  It was so nice!  I got some cerviche (like a seafood salsa) for Mom and Dad to try because it's sooo delicious.  Local food was a big part of their trip.  Once they got over their fear of amoebas they were happy to try anything, including all street food we came across!

It was a wonderful visit with Mom and Dad.  They enjoyed it so much they're already planning their next trip down here!  After they flew home I spent the remainder of the break graded final exams and doing a lot of nothing.  I also spent 3 days on Caye Caulker, another island near San Pedro.  I laid on the beach or in a hammock with a book or asleep for 3 days straight.  It was the perfect ending to a Christmas holiday in Belize!  

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are beginning a great New Year!  It would be nice if all of you had a blog so I could keep up with what's going on in your life!  You're in my thoughts and prayers, God bless,  Betsy