Jan 2017

Scholarship recipients

Jan 2017 San Lucas church floor

Farewell day

Jan. 13, 2017
Farewell Friday is always a day of mixed emotions:
A long week passed quickly
Many new friends to say "farewell until we meet again"
So much great community developed within our team
So glad to be out of scrubs
So proud of a beautiful tile floor in a village church.
So happy all are healthy and well
So ready to begin planning for the next visit.

Jan 14
A rainy morning in which the clouds broke open and sun began to shine as we traveled to Placencia on the Hokey Pokey water taxi. A beautiful rainbow across the clouds over the beach as we celebrate Mass.
Blessings for all you have done to make this possible.


Sent from my iPhone

Jan. 11, 2017 Belize Mission

Yesterday was a truly cool and breezy day in the villages.  Everyone accomplished much and many of our team became expert tortilla makers. Of course a few had their tortillas fed to the dogs because they were not round.   Emya's family treated us to a wonderful dinner, good company and delicious breadfruit in the village of San Marcos.

Wednesday was a  true Belizian Day!  Beautiful sunshine in the morning and lots of humidity that turns into a calming slow rain in the afternoon!

San Lucas--- so many great experiences to share.....the construction crew is almost finished with the cross tile floor in the church.  20 or so more tiles to complete it. They have been on there knees in church for three days :)

As part of their appreciation one of the village elders invited the construction crew to lunch for rice and chicken.  

The geography and math lessons were shared with the San Lucas students. As it turned out the principal there has an opportunity to attend two days of a workshop and with us covering classes he was able to attend.

Ann and Fr. Don had the privilege to travel to all the high schools where we have scholarship students. Each one is doing very well and were glad to have their photo take with Fr. Don.  Good grades and great students are words we like to hear.

Otoxha classes were very welcoming as we did not get to go there yesterday.  Pen pal letters and art lessons were fun, the sock puppet caterpillars  that turned into butterflies were a cute activity too.

Blue Creek is a school that has been inviting for many years and we were able to arrange the schedule to visit them four days this week!  Yeah.  Their teachers are friends we have met before and were so glad to have us come meet their new students.  Our Health and Hygiene team had a great time working with children of all the ages AND had a great time shopping with the lady crafters afterwards as they waited for our vans to arrive. 

Tonight we enjoyed a relaxing dinner at the retreat house with Fr. Vo and Andy, a young man spending time in Jesuit missions as part of his decision making process.  He has only been here one week, but will be spending 5 months traveling and learning about mission parishes. 

All is well as we continue our walk with the Mayans.

January 9, 2017 Belize Mission

Hello everyone in cold places!  

Our team of 20 people have arrived safely in sunny, cool Belize.  

We arrived on Sat. evening and were able to get up bright and early on Sunday to travel to the far reaches of Mayan Villages:  Otaxha.....9am Mass was extra special.  Our parishoners from Assumption Church in Ofallon MO graciously sent an older tabernacle with us.  All the parishoners of St. Mark Catholic Church in Otaxha processed singing and carrying the tabernacle that Fr. Don blessed and then used during it first mass in the parish.   In appreciation we were all invited to stay for lunch and enjoy the beautiful sight from the top of the hill. 

Monday classes were held in three villages:  

Blue Creek -where inflatable globes were a big hit as Phil and MaryAnn taught longitude and latitude.  Dawn and Fr. Don had a fun time discussing how to measure a circle and then went on to challenge the upper grade students to measure a bubble or two. Sir Cumference in the book read would be proud of them! 

Corazon - The name of the game was HEALTH and HYGIENE.  Sister Rose and Jill ha a great time disucssing  "Dem Bones" and singing along; as well as challengng the students to use their five senses to identify smells and items hidden inside balloons.  Tammy and Becky (two of our new nurse volunteers) enjoyed making friends with students as they discussed hand washing and teethbrushing.  They also had a great turnout of the women from the village as they did a presentation concerning Women's Health Issues and Diabetes.  

San Lucas, the smallest of all the villages had the most volunteers.  There were 6 construction workers who began preparing and laying tile in the church we helped build years ago.  The ceramic tile will be in the shape of a beautiful cross as you approach the altar.  Many of the men of the village wanted to help as well.   We will even post a few photos when back home of some of the students laying tile.   Of course that was lunch time because they were busy in class writing pen pal letters, and doing art projects....they younger students did a pig art project and the older students painted a mask and added feathers and designs.  

Our final note of excitement involves our afternoon visit to the HOPE CENTER.  This is the senior center in Punta Gorda where over 25 seniors come to spend some time while enjoying healthy snacks.  We added to the joy when we played numerous games of BINGO and gave prizes of small bags with hand soap and lotion.  Sr. Rose was a big hit as she called bingo and led everyone in the HOKEY POKEY.  Good thing Mark and Jill took blood pressures before the dance.  Lots of hugs and return invatations sold us on returning next visit.

A busy day and it is time for dinner..........maybe some chicken caldo........Can't wait to tell you more

Leaving the country

Made our connection in Dallas by 10 mins. Ready to head out to meet our new friends.

Fwd: January 2017

The 2017 Belize parish to parish mission team is squeezing everything they can into the large suitcases.  They are also packing swimsuits, capris and scrubs in their own carry-on case.  We are all excited and looking forward to a wonderful trip in the villages of Otaxha, Blue Creek, Corazon and San Lucas.  Some of us will be providing medical care, others will be building a playground or laying tile in a church we built years ago, and still others are ready with school lessons from sock puppets, to mathematical adventures, to praying with Pope Francis and learning about our healthy decisions.    We ask for your prayers and look forward to sharing some updates as we get to the internet.   God Bless and Thank you for all you have done to send us with such great supplies.

--

Mary E. DiMercurio

"Love with God's love and pray always"