better late than never i suppose

I will begin by apologizing for not posting for over a month. It’s really been quite action packed and I’ve not really thought about it. But now, with just under two weeks left of this trip, I will try to update you.

I finished up my two-week second placement, and we headed back to the base. We had two weeks of real rest; we didn’t work during those two weeks. We needed it. During that time, my parents came to visit and it was nice to have that reminder of home even though we are so far away. They were also able to take me away from the base and from the group for a few days of real break.

Then my third placement began. I am currently working at Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic School in Roaring Creek. I’m working with kids in Infant II, which is basically grades one and two. The kids are really adorable and a ton of fun. Actually, due to education week, we’ve mostly been boycotting education. On Monday we did class work because the real teacher was gone and we had a substitute. On Tuesday, we watched movies with the Infant I class until the teachers decided that the kids had too much energy and weren’t paying attention, whereupon they made them run laps of the field and then practice leap frog. We worked Wednesday morning, and then they had a puzzle contest in the afternoon. I spent the majority of that afternoon sitting on the floor with three or four kids positioned somewhere on my legs. Wednesday night, the school held a bonfire, so I got three more kids from the team to come with me and Nick to the school, and we all had a ton of fun. We roasted marshmallows whenever we could stand to be within a foot of the fire for too long. It also started raining during the bonfire, which was really awesome. It is the first time I have seen rain in two and a half weeks, and last time, it was just a little bit in the morning. Today (Thursday) was sports day, and so we spent the whole day running around the school field. Just like yesterday, I seemed to be covered with kids. They gravitate towards cameras, so I have learned to only pull it out at the opportune moment. Whenever I sat down, my legs suddenly found themselves occupied, and I usually had at least one kid sitting in my arms, on my back, or pulling on my hands and arms. After my team got second place in the day’s competition, I’m relaxing at the base, looking forward to no school tomorrow. Instead, I will be doing construction at Ian’s house like I did before.

After that, I will be looking forward to going on a weekend outing with the rest of the team and Ian and his family to Los Flores in Guatemala. I hope to do one more post before I can come home and tell you all about it anyway.
15 days!!!

i can barely even believe this...

My new placement ROCKS! It’s so awesome here!
To make it easier though, I’ll break it down in days since my last post, since it wasn’t too long ago.
Sunday
Easter! And so much for a day of rest. Here in Belize, we like to pack everything we can into one day. In the morning we gave the house a good clean up and then we packed into the bus again and went to go see the Xunantunich Mayan Ruins. They’re awesome. We were thirteen stories in the air, looking down across the jungle canopy, the Guatemalan border, the town of Benque Viejo and a neighboring Guatemalan city… it was so scary but so cool at the same time. If I thought climbing up the Mayan ruins with a fever was difficult, it was even worse going down with a fever and a fear of heights. Afterward, we were all going to go swimming in the Belize River in Spanish Lookout, but all of us were pretty exhausted, so we just voted to go home. I went up onto my top bunk and fell asleep for a couple of hours. That was something I really needed so I could be awake for church that evening. And I needed it. Church was absolutely amazing. We went to the same church that we usually go to, but this time, the real pastor was preaching, and it was really amazing how the whole sermon really applied to what our group is going through. At the end, there was an alter call, and so many of us went up to the front either to pray and accept the Lord into our hearts or to be prayed for/over. At the end of the service, while everyone else was getting juice and cookies, our team (minus two people) was crouched on the floor of the church and we were all praying for and over each other, laying hands on one another. What a way to draw the group closer together.
Monday
I did my laundry in the morning so I could pack and then ship off to my new placement with Laura Mickelsons and Emily teBrake. We’re staying at In His Will Ministries in Unitedville, which is a really poor area about twenty minutes away from Roaring Creek (which is also a really poor area). In the mornings we do a lot of cleaning and such, since there’s a high school group here from Calgary, Alberta. We help to make lunch, and then in the afternoon we go to the library/learning centre where we tutor and play with kids. We return to IHW to help make dinner, and then we get the evening off. It’s a lovely schedule. However, it will change entirely next week when Emily returns to the base and when the group from Alberta has left. But that’s not the exciting part.
We went to an awesome praise service with the team from Alberta. It looked like an American guy that ran it, and we sang songs to a CD instead of a band. We packed into rows of plastic chairs, while a crazy amount of very young children packed onto the stage that was situated at the “side” of the church. The American pastor grabbed a microphone and began to lead us all in rousing praise songs. The kids at the side were a ton more into it than most of the adults were. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but the group from Alberta is Catholic, so they didn’t really know the songs or anything. They don’t know how to praise like the rest of us, so a lot of the kids – who are mostly in grades 9 and 10 – ended up sitting down through the service. That was a little disappointing, but the kids who must have been 6 to 10 years old who would clap along, close their eyes, raise their hands, shout along to the songs and sometimes jump to the beat made up for. They were so cute and it was so inspiring to see kids like that.
The best part of Monday was finding a scorpion in our cabana. It was climbing on the wall right near the ceiling. We screamed and shouted for a while until the son of the people who run the ministry came over to check it out, and then two guys from the Alberta team came over to help kill it. We chased it around with an aerosol can of sunscreen for a while, then Matt, a tall guy from Alberta grabbed a broomstick and smushed it in half. It was awesome. I had to spray down the baseboards with Raid, because we were told and believed at the time that Raid killed them. Somehow, I slept just fine on the futon beneath the two halves of a scorpion. Laura was afraid, though, and she had a lot of trouble sleeping.
Tuesday
It was a rough day, because the raging fever I had had on Sunday was back with a vengeance. So, I tried to rest for most of the day because Mr K was supposed to come pick Emily and I up to go to the clinic at 5 to 1-ish in the afternoon. Since he forgot, I just rested in the dining hall. There was a time, however, where my services were desperately needed. And mom, you might want to skip over this part, because it’s AWESOME. So I was just falling asleep on a table in the dining hall when we see people running around, and a lady from Team Alberta comes running into the dining hall and says, “Girls, there’s a fire, I think they need all the help they can get!” And I stood up heroically and said “I’m there!” Because I am there when it comes to being a hero, because I am a hero. So I walked casually over to the burning jungle (since I knew that as soon as I got there, everything would be fine) and when I arrived there, I took the machete from a kid with heat stroke. This is a scary (and true) part. This kid was kind of delusional, because we were shouting at him to go back to his hammock, but he kept swinging the machete around saying that he couldn’t leave and he had to stay. Finally, his chaperone grabbed him, pulled the machete out of his hand, handed it to me and pushed him out of the jungle. So my job with the machete was to hack down trees to make a fire break about 5 feet wide. Then other people who arrived as I was still hacking trees had to pick up all the dry leaves and the trees and throw them out of the path. The neighbors who don’t like Mike and Vicki (who are the couple who run In His Will Ministries) had to start a grass fire as they do here at this time of year, and since they don’t like them, they enjoy not telling them this stuff. Awfully polite of them. So, being the hero I am, I brushed off a raging fever to put a stop to a raging fire. I’m awesome like that sometimes.
Finally, three and a half hours late, Mr K comes to pick me up. We trucked off to St. Luke’s Medical Centre, which was a tiny little clinic in some side neighborhood of Belmopan. The wait was about a half-hour in freezing cold air conditioning in a wet tank top (I got sprayed with the hose after the fire) and then when I got to see the doctor, I was told I had strep throat (tonsillitis) and infected bug bites. Gee whiz, who would’ve guessed? Then I got a prescription, and it really cost a lot. Try over $100 Bz. Good thing that I had $27. But this is where God intervened. The lady behind the counter asked who we were here with, and we said YWAM. She asked who was in charge at YWAM, and I said Santie Valencia. She said that as long as we arranged for someone to get the money to them, I didn’t have to pay right away. As it turns out, she was one of the first students at YWAM when it opened. Amazing how that works.
We spent the evening at the base. I watched Phil, Santie’s son, training a horse to barrel race on the football field. I had some delicious Chinese “Mr. Noodles” for dinner (just kidding, it was really wretched food, as can only be expected in the big house) and then it was back off to our cabana at In His Will.
But our cabana was under attack again. This time, I was set to sleep on the top bunk when another very large scorpion showed up on the wall near the foot of the bed. This time, being in pajamas, I was frightened. I know that makes no sense, but being in pjs makes me feel vulnerable. So, we picked up our mattresses and went to sleep in the girls’ cabana, where the group from Alberta is actually housed. They didn’t mind sharing a bit of floor with us. We found that we just really couldn’t sleep in that house when there were two big scorpions.
Wednesday
Today is my day of rest, as recommended by the doctor. No fires, no scorpions, just sitting around. Even Team Alberta is out today at the children’s home in Belmopan. Soon, they’ll be asking us to help out with dinner, whereupon we will gladly oblige.

I also want to apologize to anyone whose emails I have not replied to. I’m a real jerk that way. Please email me again soon, and, if you sound angry enough, I may reply to it. Be sure to ask specific questions and tell funny stories, or your email will not hold my attention. For instance, the question “what’s up?” will get the response “what?”
Anyway, I hope to talk to everyone soon, and, just in case Grandma and Grandpa read this, happy very belated 55th anniversary, happy belated birthday Grandpa, and I will call to wish those to you personally as soon as I can.
Love you all, don’t really miss you, and I hope you are having fun in the snow.

PS. My last post got 0 comments. What’s with that?

two week break, woo hoo! ... or not

Alright, so here's the deal so far: I finished up my first 3-week placement at the Mennonite school and left there feeling sort of bittersweet. I loved the family that I was living with and the kids at the school, but I was totally ready to move on and experience something different, including not having to wear a skirt every day. I promised the kids that I would come back to the school and visit before I left for Canada, though.
For our two week break, we spent the Monday and Tuesday working at the YWAM base and preparing for running a VBS the next week. Wednesday morning, we all packed onto the bus and left for Corozal, a town just south of the Mexican border. There, our team worked at a Christian high school just getting some general labour done. We ended up painting three houses, demolishing/taking down the back of one house and digging/cleaning up a trench that ran all across the school grounds. For the first two nights, we slept in classrooms in the school on foam mattresses, and I for one got eaten alive by mosquitoes. The last night, we slept at the home of the Zantingh's house. Mr. Zantingh is the principal of the Christian school and his lovely family accommodated us on several occasions for dinner, breakfast, and a roof to sleep on. They also delighted us with their presence the day after we slept on their roof when we went to visit the Mayan ruins. We returned to the base on Saturday night, but not before stopping at the one fast food restaurant in all of Belize: Subway, my favorite. It was heavenly.
On Sunday, we relaxed before starting another week of work on Monday. We prepped for VBS on Monday, and then began bright and early Tuesday morning. I was assigned to the group aged 8 to 10. The kids were a ton of fun and I was starting to establish relationships with them. But on Wednesday morning, the two girls who were running the ages 11 and up group were both sick, so I was transferred to that group with Nathaniel. This group was slightly less fun and upbeat, and it was difficult to get them interested in stuff, but I was full of energy and it was probably good that I was moved to that team, because the two girls who had been there before were less excitable. I stayed in that group on Wednesday and Thursday, and we finished it up then. I had made a good connection with a girl from the oldest group named Apreal, and I even shared email addresses with her. I think that like many families from the Roaring Creek area, she comes from a troubled home and was looking for a positive influence to connect with, so I’m excited to keep up correspondence with her. In the afternoons, after VBS, I joined a work crew that shipped off to the home of our neighbor, Ian. Ian, his wife and his three children are living on the base temporarily as he builds a home just a few streets over. We worked on filling the concrete foundation in with sand as well as smashing large rocks and bricks with a hammer. I got a few blisters, but only the infected ones are painful. I took a break on Thursday afternoon against my will for two reasons: I had what I think was a sprained ankle that I hadn’t been taking care of and it was pretty painful, and the second reason being that there was cow foot soup for lunch and I felt obliged to try a chunk of cow foot. Unfortunately, I almost hurled a couple of times that afternoon.
On Friday, we trucked off to the Belize zoo, which was pretty small, but really awesome. We saw howler monkeys and spider monkeys, toucans and even white-tailed deer. The highlight was definitely seeing the JAGUARS. There were two. One was spotted and one was black; the spotted one was sleeping in a tree and the black one was lying on the ground just a few feet away from the fence. It was AWESOME. We also swung by Princess Hotel & Casino in Belize City. Don’t worry, we didn’t go into the Casino, but it was pretty awesome anyway. There were two movie theatres and a bowling alley, and all of the girls from the team plan to go back there in a few weeks for a night. We’ll get a room, watch a movie, go swimming, get a massage, drink some virgin strawberry daiquiris, just the normal tourist thing.
Today (Saturday) we’re just taking a break. I suppose at some point today, I’ll meander out to the road to watch the national Belize bike race, which is a local attraction, but other than that, it’s just a day of rest. Finally.
On Monday, I’ll be heading out to my second placement, which is actually only two weeks long. I’ll have wireless internet there, so I’ll have plenty of time to update everyone on what I’m up to there. Look forward to some pictures!
P.S. Comment lots and feel free to email me.

Check these videos out:
Week 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTgYFv_X-eA
Week 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCTvDK_CIQ
Week 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ja0mrQh5mM
Week 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTDoMnlSxY4
Belize Faith Missions Promotional Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGw3CPyavXo

better late than never, i guess...

Well, I finally got my blog up and running. It’s about time too. We’ll see how long it lasts, though. I tend to get bored with things like this. You guy won’t, I promise. I’ll always have something exciting going on. More exciting than you, anyway.
I’m not going to retell everything from the very beginning of the trip, but I’ll give you a little bit of background information. My name is Meghan van Hoeve; I am 16 years old and in grade 11 at Hamilton District Christian High. I’m now an international co-op student spending 3 months in Belmopan, Belize, Central America. I left for Belize very early in the morning on Thursday, March 1st, and will be staying here until June 1st. So that’s my general life story, although most of you already knew that.
Highlights of the trip so far include finally arriving at YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Belize at 3 am on March 2nd, checking out my first placement, going snorkeling at Southwater Caye on the second Saturday of the trip, getting a tan, and watching La Ruta Maya River Challenge (a giant long-weekend canoe race).
My day-to-day includes living during the week in the home of a Mennonite family – the Hein’s – at the Spanish Lookout Mennonite Community and working at Jireh Fundamental Education, which is a Mennonite school for low-income families. On weekends, I go back to the base to refresh, reconnect, and learn to appreciate the good things about my host family – the good food, the bedroom with only two people in it, the big house that doesn’t have 20+ people living there… it’s a good life. But now I will skip ahead to what happened this past weekend.
Friday afternoon, the five people stationed for their placements at Spanish Lookout gathered at Western Dairies, which is the place where all the milk from all the cows comes together to be processed, and often made into ice cream. They have the best ice cream around, it’s delicious. We hung around and talked for a while when finally the bus pulled up, we hopped on and trucked back to the base. (When I say "the base" it means the YWAM base which is our mission base while we’re here.) We didn’t really do anything on Friday night as everyone was just relieved to be back.
Saturday was an early morning for no particular reason. It’s like that at the base. We left at 10ish to go to the Blue Hole National Park. The Blue Hole is a natural spring and all the water comes out of it looking all bright blue and stuff. It’s really something to see. First we went caving, and Israel, our guide, let us go swimming in the cave. Since I’ve been caving lots of times before, I felt somehow very fearless, and I was the first one in the water. I kept up with all the guys at the front of the pack, exploring deeper into the cave. I got made fun of a lot because of my height (or lack thereof – but what’s unusual about that?) but I still kept up. After swimming there, we hopped on the bus and went to the actual spring, which was really cool. Maybe not as cool as swimming through cold spring water in a pitch black cave, but it was still decent.
Saturday night was an eventful evening. I was outside attempting to play some football with a couple of guys when I got my tailbone all bruised. I saw the ball sitting alone in the middle of the field and ran for it. Nathaniel and Stan also ran for it. I was cutting up grass, so Stan pulled out because he knew he couldn’t beat me. Nathaniel didn’t, though, and as both of us were reaching for the ball, we collided. I went flying and landed flat on my arse, bruising my tailbone, pulling a muscle in my neck, smashing my head on the ground and getting a fat lip in the meantime. Don’t ever play chicken with me, because you’ll have to deal with the guilt of hurting me.
Sunday was easily the most amazing day of my life. It was so incredibly powerful. I feel like a completely different person than I was when I left Canada. Actually, it builds from the previous Sunday, so I’ll tell you a little bit about that. There was a small youth conference going on at the base called Legacy, and the worship services were really awesome. It was real worship – of the Pentecostal type, actually. Never, until that night, did I ever feel so close to the Lord. I could close my eyes and feel the room and the people around me melt away until it was just me, standing before God, giving Him my everything. It was as if I was evaporating directly into His Will and His purpose for me. This Sunday night, though, was just as powerful. We went to the church of Kathy Macdonald, who works at the base and has been working tirelessly for our program, even though she wasn’t there. The service was in the kitchen at the home of the pastor, but people spilled over into the hallway, the living room, and the front porch. We started with music, and it was amazing. I was clapping, dancing and praising right from the very beginning. After the message (which was given not by the pastor, but by his wife) we had a few more songs, which gave way to moving up to the front of the room where the pastor prayed for many of us. I was reluctant to go up at first, but I felt drawn to the front when he prayed for my friend. When he put his hand on my forehead and began to pray for me, I was already sobbing, and it was only the hands of all my friends on my arms and shoulders that kept my knees from buckling and me from hitting the floor. It was the most powerful and moving experience of my life, and very few people from our team left the service without being moved in some way.
That’s really all that happened, but it sure was a lot. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I hope for Ben Verkerk’s sake that he’s not the only one commenting on it. Now really, what’s up with that? It’s a sorry effort from all of you (except you, Ben). But seriously, it would really rock if I got some feedback from some people; I get rather bored with the very exclusive youth group here in Mennonite land. I’m very much on the outside, so there aren’t many people to talk to on weeknights. Anyway, peace out, homeslices.
P.S. Here’s my email so you guys can email me and tell me how much you miss me/wish you were here with me instead of missing out on this awesome experience.
puppyduck2@hotmail.com