Central America Team Conference

 We've just had our Central America team conference here in Guatemala. It was great to see other team members from Costa Rica and Nicaragua again, as well as new Striders, and a few from Guatemala and El Salvador who are preparing to serve elsewhere with Latin Link. Lots of talking, eating, talking, eating!

Over Christmas, I was reading a book about Mother Teresa, ´Come be my light´ - a collection of her private letters which have come to light since her death. It tells a very intersting story - sometimes quite different to what was known of her previously.

As was already well-known, she had a dramatic encounter with Jesus (and subsequently with Mary), which led to her founding the Missionary Sisters of Charity, and began her work with the poor and desperate in Calcutta. Although this venture involved leaving her previoous community, starting from scratch in a completely unchartered path (previous to this, all religious orders in India were focussed on the middle and upper classes), which gained her substantial opposition, yet she was obedient to Jesus´ call because some years earlier, she´d made a solemn vow never to refuse God anything. (Interestingly she never felt any doubt or confusion as to what God was actually asking of her.)

But after that encounter - and for the rest of her life, she felt a 'chasm of spiritual emptiness within her', never feeling God´s presence or comfort during times of prayer or adoration as she had done previously. Other writers have called this sort of thing as 'the dark night of the soul´ or a ´wilderness experience´ but what´s curious is Mother Teresa´s reaction to it. Initially (ie for a decade!), she felt that it was some sort of punishment from God and tried hard to identify her sin in order to confess it. Later she began to understand this distance from God as His answer to her own prayer - to share in Jesus´ sufferings. She recognised that Jesus had experienced abandonment and loneliness on the cross and felt that she was now ministering to him by sharing in that experience. That realisation enabled her to embrace it - inspite of it continuing to cause her great anguish.

The only time that she felt a respite from the 'darkness' inside her was when she ministered directly with the poor and desperate on the streets of Calcutta. There she felt the presence of Jesus -"whatever you did for of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matt 25:40. I guess it´s not surprising that that became the theme and catchphrase of the Missionary Sisters.

And throughout all of this time of darkness and distance, she continued in her obedience to God, because she was completely certain of His calling on her life, and she could not refuse him. 

You know you´re in Belize (and not Guatemala) when

You know you´re in Belize (and not Guatemala) when .....

1.The sound track on the buses is definitely Reggae not classic 80's pop! (The favourite song seemed to be called 'Oh Lord, don´t let me cheat on my girlfriend')
2. You can buy Heinz Baked Beans in the supermarket.
3. Every meal comes with Coconut rice.
4. The night security guard at the hotel (in fact the only security guard I saw in 2 weeks) is armed with a torch and a stick, rather than a shot gun.
5. Wherever you go, you can hear Garifuna drumming
6. The bus driver asks you where you´re staying - and then drops you off at the door
7. The picture of the Queen on the Belize Dollar notes - is looking very young!
8. You wake up to the sound of the waves on the beach, rather than the buses sounding their horns.
9. Fish keep bumping into you in the sea
10. You´re confused about which language you´re supposed to be speaking (English, Spanish, Garifuna, a few Mayan languages...) and it appears that everyone is too.
11. Everything is 'all right'

And now for some photos 

 The view from my balcony in Dangriga

 The posh end of Hopkins

 My neighbours

 Sunrise at Hopkins

 Placencia

Christmas Coasters

OK . so they're particularly Christmasy - I was just making them as Christmas presents for friends. All are made out of magazines and kept me busy for quite a few evenings!