Afterwards and Update

Time to tie up some loose ends. First, to let you know we made it home safely. It was sad to say farewell to so many good friends, but life does go on. However, we probably won't ever be the same. There is something life-changing about a trip like this. Perhaps it is the intensity of the friendships, or maybe the drastic cultural and economic differences, but whatever it is God seems to be at work within us. That's pretty cool and pretty scary.

We also wanted to give a final update on Michael. He was admitted into the hospital in Mexico and he is receiving excellent care. He does have cancer in his blood. The current plan for treatment will have him in Mexico for 6 weeks of therapy. Following this treatment he can return home but will continue to receive treatment once a week for two and a half years. The doctors are hopeful that each weekly treatment can be done at home, but once a month Michael will have to be taken back to Mexico to monitor his condition.

Some good news in all of this is that Michael's condition is highly treatable. Also good news is that so far most of the expense of his treatment will be covered by various agencies. Still there will be a substantial cost to Mateo and Rebecca as they travel to Mexico so much. If you would like to make a donation, PathLight has set up an account to assist the family. The simplest thing would be to go to www.PathLight.org There you can click on "Make a Gift" and under "designation" simply type in "medical treatment." Or you can mail them a check with "medical treatment" in the memo.

Once again, thank you all for your prayers for Michael and his family, as well as your prayers for us. We are already thinking of our next trip to Belize, and who knows, maybe YOU'LL be with us!

Xunantunich Ruins--from the ground

Xunantunich Ruins--from the top

The Last Day

Today we concluded our week in Belize with a trip to Xunantunich (pronounced: "shoe-non-two-nitch"). Xunantunich is an ancient Mayan ruin of a city in existence from 650 to 1000 A.D. We learned about the Mayan culture from our wonderful guide--Dino. Most notably they had highly developed astronomy, mathematics, and calendars--just imagine these people with computers!

Another Mayan custom was to play a sport, very similar to basketball. One difference: the winning team was sacrificed to the gods. We suspect this reduced the amount of "doping" that took place.

After our tour we had lunch at a place called "Hode's" (pronounced Cody's). It was an outdoor restaurant with wonderful food.

We came back to Jaguar Creek and took a short hike, and now we are getting ready for dinner. Tonight we will pack and clean up the camp before we leave. If all goes well we might say farewell to our friend, Belikin.

Once again, thanks all for your comments, prayers, and support. We have all felt encouraged by your support.

Our Workshop Crew