It has been 10 months since our last trip, two more months to go and we will be back in Los Tambos, Belize. On our next trip we are spending 3 weeks to give us more time to help another area with sewing classes. Rev. Juan Peralta approached us the day before we left last year and asked if we could spend time with a group of ladies in Selena which is close to Los Tambos. Time runs out so quickly so we promised to make contact for 2014, we did and we have plans to spend 5 days in Selena. The ladies have machines but no one to teach them how to sew. They all want to learn how to make their children's school uniforms. It certainly is a start. I think I need to brush up on my pattern skills.

The sewing group in Los Tambos continues to meet twice a month with Ms Tomasita Gonzales coordinating the activities. The group has averaged 15 people per class. Luisa Escalente comes from San Ignacio and is instructing the ladies on the use of patterns and how to make clothes. Ms Tomasita was able to acquire an additional 4 sewing machines for the group, they now have a total of 6 machines which will help speed up completion time on their projects. The ladies are still meeting in the palapa hut at the school where they have access to solar power.
The group now has two separate skill sets. Sewing clothes and the other is hand and embroidery work. I think the two groups can compliment each other. They still enjoy coming together worshipping and helping out.
In June when the mission team went to Belize they were able to see the sewing ladies in action. The team also took several totes of supplies that the group needed.

Our plans for the trip in January:
BUILD WORK TABLES  -  build work tables for both groups, in Los Tambos and in Selena. The tables will be used for layout and cutting fabrics. There may even come a day when they can use the tables for ironing.
SIDE TRIP - We plan to make a trip to Chetumal, Mexico to purchase some fabrics for the ladies. They have a market place in Chetumal where we can purchase fabrics for $1.00 a yard, which is $.50 US, that is a significant  price difference then the markets in Belize or Guatemala.  Ms Gonzales and her husband will be making the trip with us.
LOS TAMBOS SEWING GROUP - We plan to work with the ladies in the group to help incorporate the hand embroidery and new fabrics purchased into tote bags.
ADDITIONAL SEWING CLASSES -  We plan to teach hand stitching, embroidery and beading in La Gracia at the school and in Unitedville at the Learning Center.
IN HIS WILL -  Joe will be working  with Carmen on work projects on the buildings and up keep
for the mission.

All of the things that WE have PLANNED only happen with God's blessings.

Please keep us in your prayers for God's guidance as we make plans for our 10th trip to Belize. We thank all of you for your support through the years. We pray that we will be able to continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus as we share with our friends in Belize.

 

 

The new cabana at InHisWill

3 BR - 1 Bath - Sleeps 6-10

 

All treated lumber and steel roof/siding - - low maint!

Hand crafted septic tank - READY TO GO!!!!





Another Day at Los Tambos - - -

Lunch at the Miranda's

Central American Soup - Lots of veggies I can't identify??

What the heck is CHO-CHO?????

 

 

 

 

                                                 How 'bout this guy - he will eat anything -

                                                               THIS IS REALLY GOOD!!!!



 I ate the cho-cho and still don't have a clue??

 

 

 

                                                   Felix' new baby - 4 months old today!!

 

 



The old suspension bridge needed a repair job

With some help from the boys at the school - - -

It's ready for a few more years of fun!!!!!!

A gift from someone special to someone special............

This is Mrs. Lima, we have known she and her family for several years.
She has two sons, one graduated a couple years ago, the other will
be graduating this year. Their daughter Adis attended the sewing classes and the
father pulled our van out of the mud a few years back. So you see we have a
little history.
Mrs. Lima loves to sew and has sewn for many years but a couple years ago
she had to have her leg removed because of diabetes.
In the past she used a treadle machine so for a couple of years she hasn't been able to sew.
An anonymous donor gave us money and asked us to use it as we saw fit.
We found a brand new portable Brother - straight stitch and zigzag machine for
her and now she is back in business.

As they say "a picture is worth a thousand words".





 

21 quilts all finished! Good Job ladies! This was a great thing to witness.
All the work and how all of the ladies helped each other. One of the
students had a child that was ill and missed a couple classes
so the other ladies worked on her quilt so she would get finished
with the others.
We had two students who started their quilts later and needed extra help
 so some of the other ladies jumped on it and helped
catch them up.
There was a lot of hooting, hollaring and enjoying the time
together.

    



Our 2013 graduating class! Along with a few extra children including
Joe.
Look at all those babies! I think we had seven total plus the toddlers.

 Here are two of our younger students checking out the fabric samples.

 This little one is enjoying her momma's quilt. It sure beats that hard
concrete floor.

I thought I would take a break with the kids. I thought if I joined the
baby corner no one would find me.

Here is yet another little one enjoying the comforts of a quilt made
by Gladys Tastad and her husband Larry.

 Now isn't this little guy just the cutest thing you've ever seen!? Love the hat!!!
He wore it all day. Whew........I was sweating and he had a hat
on suited for the North Pole.

 Sweet, sweet babies. The mothers took care of each others children as needed.

 Now here we are having a banana party! As you can see they are just
hanging out.....not bothering anyone.

This little one lived next door and kept popping in from time to time.
He probably wondered what all the noise was about or just came for the
bananas.

This little one had the biggest most beautiful eyes. Always dressed up
like she was going to a party. Her mother is in the background working
on her quilt.
 

                                         Gonzalez's house on Thursday evening after supper. Clear the table
                                         and set up the machine and we are ready to roll. This is the only
                                         machine we took with us. It was donated and in route it took a hit.
                                         Broke the pulley for the belt. Deitrich our sewing machine repair
                                         man fixed it.
                                         Ms Thomisita has two daughters that were also eager to learn to sew.
                                         Each of them made a smaller quilt of their own.

                                         Lunch on Saturday........Chicken, rice and beans a plate so full it could
                                         feed an army. Suyapa is a very good cook. Makes the best corn
                                         cake! And she does a good job of sewing too. Suyapa has a
                                         treadle machine unfortunately she was using a piece of elastic for the
                                         belt. Once again our man Deitrich came to the rescue.

                                         Yara, Alba and Blanco are helping Ms Rosa with
                                         her quilt. Who by the way did an outstanding job
                                         on her quilt. I think she's done quilting before.

                                         Ms. Maribel.........so happy to be in the final stages of finishing.
                                         We ended up borrowing machines to help expidite the process so
                                         we could finish. Most quilts are all hand work on the front. The border
                                         finish and the back were sewn together with the machine.

                                         The last step............making ties to hold the front of the quilt to
                                         the back of the quilt. AND fellowship

                                         Suyapa as she finished her quilt. Happy!!! then she
                                         went on to make pillow shams to match!

Lots of happy ladies........................more later

Back home safe - We arrived at McGee - Tyson at 7:30pm. this evening.  Back in town..............it could be a little warmer but it's home sweet home.
I am looking forward to posting pictures tomorrow. We were able to finish all 21 quilts. I have many pictures and a lot of awesome memories from teaching that class.

Sewing classes - When we were planning the sewing classes we said we would limit the class to 15.......well ......21 is close to 15.....right? We have 21 ladies with 19 quilts to finish before we come home on Wednesday. Most of them are in the finishing stages so most will finish tomorrow. It has been an awesome experience.  Suyapa Gonzales (Rosalinda's Mother) was one who joined the class on Friday.  I had picked up some additonal sewing supplies so everyone would have at least what they needed. When we handed her a pair of scissors and told her they were her's to keep the expression on her face was priceless. All of the ladies are so grateful for the opportunity to take the classes and we have had great attendance everyday. All of the ladies have stayed all day long.

The Gonzales ranch - Thursday night and Friday night - we are able to get additional sewing lessons for Ms Thomosita and her daughters in the evenings. All of this has been quiet an experience. Tomorrow evening we will work with Mrs. Miranda to help her with machine maintenance.

Thursday..............................Sunday.....so much has happened too little time to blog.

                                     The cabana that Joe has been working on

                                             Ladies hard at work - the first day

                                                One of the MANY babies that joined our class
                                                Sleeping on a quilt that Joe's aunt had made.

                                            Young and old turned out to have fun.

                                            These three were the trouble makers in the class
                                             they were always having way to much fun.

                                          I made the mistake of saying I liked coconut water so
                                          Joe brought 26 coconuts for refreshments

Another little one enjoying one of the quilts that

Joe's aunt made and sent.

 

So many things have happened in the last few days. Not enough time to share it all. I hope the pictures tell some of the story.

We don't know if we will get to blog again before we leave on Wednesday but we will be having

dinner at Hodie's on Tuesday night and then again to the Cayo Twist, Whoo hooo!

Joe's entry - - -
Linda has kept you informed of most of her activities and some of what I have been doing - but I thought I would add to it - - - -

Most of the first week was occupied doing work on the new cabana - steel siding, cutting in and framimg windows, building beds, rough-in plumbing and the most fun of all was building a septic tank (8x8x5) and drain field.  I don't think I want to do another one for a few days.

I was not much help when it came to the sewing classes so I found other things to do in Los Tambos. The Ganzales family had some runaway sheep so we spent one day moving a fence.  The 100 yards of fence would not have been bad but this was the only day that got into the 90's.  Another day we spent helping one of the village guys add steel siding ot his new house. Another new experience - none of the siding was new or straight!!!!

As always there were things to do around the school too! The chain bridge in the playground needed a major overhaul.  Windows and doors needed the usual repairs as well.  And just so Tom McD doesn't feel left out - I did repairs to about a dozen desks  - - - - but there will be more when you get here.

More later  and we will post some photos of some of the work we did.  OH YES - - - - almost forgot about the the mountain lion that took one of the Ganzalez sheep during one of the nights we spent at their house.  Good thing Linda did not hear about that until a couple days later - - -

Dinner at Miranda's tomorrow evening and while the ladies are doing their lunch at sewing class I hope to go to the Montano's and meet the Mr. for lunch.

As usual, the time is going fast and our stay is almost over!

Wednesday - Started sewing classes in Los Tambos today. WOW what a response. We had 16 of the mothers that came and stayed all day. There were only three that spoke English so it was a very interesting day. I had everyone trying to help me speak Spanish so if things got too quiet they asked me to say a few words. If nothing else I was entertaining. I found out that instead of saying needle, I was saying ruckus.  
We started with embroidery stitches and they all did a wonderful job. I will have pictures.
After lunch we started cutting out their quilt squares and tomorrow we will begin to sew them together. Everything is just so exciting for them.

We are getting ready to spend two nights in the village with one of the families. So we are packing a few extra things. We will come back to the mission house on Saturday morning. They do have electricity but not to the house. So we will be setting up a machine in the wash area down the hill from the house and giving some extra lessons in the evenings.  The Howler Monkeys have been really loud this trip!  I imagine we will be serenaded tomorrow evening.

Time to go.....post some more pictures when we get back from Los Tambos on Saturday.

Here is the view from our front porch.
 

                                              Here is a rainy view of the market place in SanIgnacio

                                              Downtown SanIgnacio

                                           Elise and Mark helping out with the sewing bags

I know we've had a time gap from the last time I blogged. Busy, busy, busy all good things.
I will start where I left off and give a little information for each day. We are living in the mission house in Unitedville, which is very comfortable. Hot and cold running water and flush toilets! And
a full kitchen. It has been a blessing in many ways. Meeting new people and seeing some old friends.
It's nice because we can invite them to come sit on the porch and visit.

I had better start on the day to day of what we have been doing.

Friday - Joe spent all day working on the cabana. I went to Spanish Lookout to get some supplies for the mission house. I spent time visiting with neighbors and getting our sewing supplies in order.
We had dinner at In His Will, mostly a quiet day because everyone was tired out.

Saturday - Market day - I will post pictures at another time. It was rainey but you have to go and shop if you want to eat. I bought every type of fruit I could identify and some I couldn't.It was unbelievable to pay 50 cents for 6 big oranges and a dollar for a fresh pineapple.
Once you get home everything has to be cleaned in bleach water before you cut it to use. I spent the rest of the day working on the sewing supplies and doing some sewing for Faye.
The sewing machine we brought with us was dropped in transit so it has a broken pulley. Now to find the repair person.
Joe was still busy working on the cabana. Pictures to come later.

Sunday - Church in Spanish Lookout - Mennonite church - Pastor Dave Moore.very dynamic speaker
great sermon.  We stayed at the mission house and talked with the neighbors and people passing by. We also spent time scavaging for a pulley that would fit the broken sewing machine. Dinner was at the Hotel SanIgnacio  for  Barbara's birthday dinner. Very quiet restful day. Oh yes, we went to the Cayo Twist.....for those of you who have been there you know that is my favorite place. They specialize in soy icecream........they do not have anything dairy. So I had a double scoop of chocolate chip icecream and left with two quarts.  I do have to share with Joe.

Monday - Joe is working on the cabana.............then the guys went out for ice cream. Does anyone see a trend here??
We found a repair man for the sewing machine. His name is Dietrich he is an older gentleman and he is deaf. He lost his hearing completely about 8 years ago. No self pity, he just thanks God for his health. He speaks perfect but you have to write him notes in order to hold up your end of the conversation. Needless to say it's hard for me to write as fast as I talk so I had to slow down. We will return to pick up the machines at the end of the week.
I taught Mark (Ms Juana's son) how to make cobbler..........so he and his family had mango cobbler for dessert last night.

Today will be my turn.....I have tortilla making lessons this afternoon. I am excited! We've already prepared Belizian chicken and rice and beans for supper tonight. Oh yes...apple pie too.

Mark and Elise (both Ms. Juana's children) have spent a lot of time with us. Helping us prepare for our work in LosTambos. But most of all we are learning about their way of live. They are very happy to share. There are lots of stories to tell at another time.

We are headed out today to spend time with Ms Juana and Mr. Lloyd, today will be all about sightseeing, eating and fellowship.
More about the wedding later.

Hope you all have a blessed day.

Yesterday's - devotion - Consider it pure joy, brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. - James  1:2  - Peaceful morning, coffee on the porch, got ready to go and our rental car wouldn't start. In Knoxville that wouldn't be a big deal.................but in Belize it is.....they had to bring  another car from Belize City an hour and a half away.  We started our trip to LosTambos at about noon. At that time we were being thankful for a lot of things, the big thing was that we weren't in LosTambos when the car decided to stop running. So we considered the "pure joy" of that and enjoyed our day.

LosTambos
The kids and the pot holes keep getting bigger! We hugged our way into and out of the village. New baby born - Felix Miranda has a new baby boy and Alisa is expecting again and due in a month. We had a meeting with Ms. Lily regarding the school and her plans and we also met with
Ms Thomisita setting up our schedule for sewing classes. We have 12 women right now and possibly more when we start on Wednesday.  It was so good to see everyone and we are looking forward to next week.

Sewing machine - Maria Miranda
Last year we left a sewing machine, a deep cell battery and an inverter and basic instructions. This past year Maria has spent a lot of time on sewing projects and has been making her own patterns and is making clothes for her daughters. AND THE MACHINE IS STILL RUNNING!! WHOO HOO!
THANK YOU JESUS!

Today - Unitedville
Joe worked with Carmen on the new cabana. It's really moving along. They are in the process of finishing the inside now and putting in windows.

I spent time putting things together for the classes and making a run to Spanish Look out I took Alise and Mark(Ms Juana's two children) so of course then we  had to be a stop for ice cream.

It's rained some each day, but the weather is nice and comfortably.............certainly not used to that.

This morning before leaving the mission house a big truck pulled up out front. It was the banana man. He drives through the village and sells bananas. 12 banana for 50 cents US.  Of course I couldn't pass up a deal like that so now our kitchen table is full of bananas. You can guess what we will be having for breakfast every morning.

Pictures Joe and Alise, Ms Thomisita and Esther at the dairy.

 Esther and Hannah with their new cousin

 Ada and Maria with there new skirts

 Felix a new father.............

Hi there..............we arrived safely without incident! It's all good. It was raining when we got here but it's 74 degrees so it certainly makes it bearable.
Cheers still has the best chicken, rice and beans! AND the plantain chips are awesome.

We are visiting with Carmen and Faye catching up on all the new things since last year. They have
three boys living here at the mission so they can finish their education. They are building a new cabana so the boys have a place of their own when the teams come.

Tomorrow we will be going to Los Tambos to meet with the superintendent of schools, Mr Carbello.  We will also spend time with Ms. Thomosita to get our sewing classes scheduled.
Not to mention we will get to see all the children!! Hopefully there will be pictures tomorrow.

We are staying in the mission house in Unitedville and our neighbor is Ms Juanita. The mission house is very nice...............I could see us spending 6 months a year there..........isn't that right Joe???

We are on the way..........................

The picture here is of  Maria Miranda  who lives in the village of LosTambos, Belize.  Two years ago we sat on her front porch and had a sewing lesson with 4 other women. Before we left LosTambos that week she showed me a quilt she had sewn that was 60"x90", ALL by hand.
When we returned this past year she had made a skirt for her daughter and curtains for their house, ALL by hand. We were able to set her up with a used sewing machine, a deep cell battery and an inverter that provided her with power to run the sewing machine. We are anxious to return to see how
she has progressed.

We have discovered there are a lot of women in LosTambos and the surrounding areas who are very interested in learning to sew too. We are going to use this opportunity to teach classes in hand sewing and embroidery. All of our classes will begin with a devotion and prayer. We are hoping this will give them all an opportunity to learn to sew, make new friends, fellowship and praise God.

Each person who attends class will receive all of the supplies you see in the picture. They will also be able to choose from many beautiful fabrics that were donated for their projects.

Please keep us in your prayers as we begin this new ministry.
Joe and Linda