Read it all

The entries in this blog were not always made in the same sequence as the events they describe, partly because we were sharing computers and were not always able to connect to the blog, and partly because Chuck is slow.

To get the whole picture, read down the blog to find entries made since the last time you looked, or read up from the bottom to see how the trip developed.

Farewell and wrap-up

About 7 AM Sunday we walked down to the Lamanai restaurant, expecting to go to Holy Eucharist at the Anglican church after breakfast. The restaurant was on the river, which was beautiful in the early morning light. We saw gallinules, great blue herons, great egrets, a little green heron, and several cormorants along the river, as well as grackles, kiskadees with their bright yellow colors, and several other species of open-space birds. Pat, who both is a fisherman and was facing the right direction, saw a few "honkin' big" tarpon jumping a bit upstream of us.

I had considered leaving my cell-phone at the hotel because I didn't expect to need it, but I hadn't been able to find my watch, so I had the phone for a timepiece. You can see from Dave's post that it was very fortunate that I had it.

Concerns about travel and slowness of the breakfast service combined to change our minds about church. We went back to the hotel to inquire online about our fate. Dan and I had been rescheduled for Monday, but Dan was to arrive in Knoxville a couple of hours earlier than I was. Dave and Pat couldn't find even a notice that the flight had been canceled. Pat couldn't get through to Delta by phone, so we decided to go to the airport and see what we could do. Delta was trying very hard to avoid having to put on extra equipment for Monday, so they managed to book us out on US Airways to Charlotte. As it turned out, we might have enjoyed staying in Belize the extra day more than driving in the snow, but as on several other occasions, what was less than optimal turned out OK.

So we are back, tired but happy with our accomplishments. During the Rotary meeting on Thursday I had a vision of our progress. We have worked toward a Yalbac installation for almost two years, during which there has been a sunrise glow of hope on the horizon. The sun has now begun to rise, but most of it is still below the horizon. Soon the dawn will be complete, and as the sun of Yalbac's success continues to rise, I will look forward to a time of multiple clean water suns brightening the day with God's love.

There is still much to be done. Continue to pray for Yalbac and Orange Walk, and pray for discernment of God's will as we continue to learn of people in need of clean water. Pray for Sherree and Aki and for the San Ignacio and Swarthmore Rotary clubs, that their efforts will continue to help the people of Belize. Pray for First Presbyterian of Cody as they deliberate whether God is leading them to an installation at the Presbyterian school in Orange Walk. And pray that our congregation will continue to experience the joy of Christ's living water flowing through us to others.

Peace,
Chuck

Homecoming

The last few days of our journey didn't exactly work out as we expected. Friday was a somewhat discouraging day where I felt that we didn't accomplish very much. I was beginning to feel that maybe the trip was a day or two too long.

Saturday turned out much better than we anticipated. We had a very productive visit at the Orange Walk Presbyterian School and even met a group of students from Vanderbilt who were working there.

We spent Saturday afternoon visiting the spectacular Mayan ruins at Lamanai and even got a bit lost on the way back. Perhaps that was a foreshadowing of things to come. As we were relaxing over breakfast before church on Sunday, Chuck's phone rang and Dale informed him that our flights home had been canceled. Soon after Delta called to tell him the same thing. We scurried to the airport where Pat found an alternative set of connections back to Wyoming. We got a flight back to Charlotte where we planned to rent a car to drive home. You can see from the picture how that worked out. After a white-knuckle hour to drive twenty miles, we pulled off and spent another night on the road in a hotel north of Charlotte. The drive was a still a little slow going early Monday morning but roads eventually improved and we were rewarded with a gorgeous winter wonderland drive through the mountains on the way back to Knoxville.

As I said, things didn't always work out as we planned. At times when prospects looked the most pessimistic we achieved breakthroughs that gave us hope for the future. Then when we got feeling pretty good about ourselves, we made decisions that looked good at the time but may not have been any better than doing nothing at all.

The Lord surely does work in His own time and in mysterious ways.

Peace and farewell until we return to Belize in April,
Dave