Bush Trips

Definitely one of the highlights of our stay was going to the congregations in San Antonio and San Jose last Sunday. They are in a Mopan Maya area, but people speak enough English to allow visiting speakers to come. There are only 3 Mopan congregations in the whole world so it'll be a while before they get the Watchtower in their language. They read the paragraphs in English and answer in Mopan. 

San Antonio Kingdom Hall

Rice, beans and stew chicken for a small army

We were made to feel very welcome and had lunch with the Cho family, whose story appears in the 2010 yearbook, page 235/6, along with a group of brothers and studies that had travelled from the other Mopan cong. further north for a visit. 

Since the Chos have a lot of family in San Jose, they wanted to come to their meeting 

as did the visitors so we ended up with 23 people in two pickups driving the 45 mins

on jungle roads to the afternoon meeting. 

Talk about bringing your own audience! San Jose has no electricity and is one of the 

most unspoiled villages in Belize. After a 

while here you get used to being in a part of the world that's quite different from our own, but that trip really emphasised to us what a privilege it is to be able to experience both being here and having a brotherhood that is so welcoming to strangers from such different cultures. One moment you are in a hammock relaxing after lunch then you have to use the hole-in-the-ground toilet and you remember that this is the Jungle! 

San Jose Kingdom Hall

Standing room only

The friendly Mayans

Out of the truck and onwards on foot

 We also had a preaching trip to the village of Crique Sarco yesterday. It's a Kekchi village in a neighbouring congregation's territory so they asked for some of our local brothers to help, and our truck was required for the hour and a half of driving on very poor roads. It was uncomfortable for me driving but I can't imagine what it must have been like for those in the back. The road stops at an unfinished bridge which you walk over and then into the village itself. We had a good time in the ministry and had enough time for a quick swim in the river before the long drive home. 

Definitely wouldn't get a car across here