Hello all!
I figured it was time for an update. It has been quite a while.
We are doing well out here. Long days are still in order... but are doing well. I (Blaine) was sick on the weekend, but recovered quickly. Melissa is beginning to feel a tingly feeling in the back of her throat, so please pray that she doesn't get sick.
School is full of absolutely hilarious moments and times that we would rather forget. We both have large classes and they are quite a handful. We do feel God blessing us out here. He is giving us strength, He is helping us to help others. There is definately a mission field even in a EMMC school. Pretty cool stuff. We are however looking for a new place to live. It feels like we have been wandering nomads for the last 3 months. There is a couple that is moving in to our place on the 18th of October, so we need to be out by then. We were going to move into a couples place that are going to Canada shortly, but they are waiting for paperwork for their adopted son to be completed. Like anything in Belize, it is not going very quick. So we'll see what will happen! Please pray that we will find something soon.
We have had a few tough situations here. One of the craziest things that happened in the last 2 weeks was a couple was found dead in their cistern after dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. I guess they the man had been cleaning out the cistern using a gas water pump inside the tank. When he collapsed, I guess the wife came and tried to help him, where she suffocated and died as well. They were about 30 years old. It was such a shock to the community. Blue Creek is about the size of Rosenort. The funeral was held on what would have been their 8th anniversary. They were buried in the clothes they wore for their wedding. It was such a beautiful funeral. One of the cooler ones I've ever been to. It was weird how it impacted me. I kept on imagining that I was at Grandma Eidse's funeral. It ended up being a type of closure for me on a totally different level. I don't know how to explain it all.
We would love to hear from you all. E-mail's are like pretty much the coolest things we get down here. I love to hear from back home! Oh, and thanks to whoever updates that pvchurch.ca site! It was cool for Melissa and I to see pictures of back home! Keep it up!
We love you and miss you all!
God bless you,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
God protects Belize yet again...
We are praising the Lord for the sudden change in direction of Hurricane Felix. We are however still thinking and praying for those in Nicaragua and Honduras who got absolutely hammered by the HUGE storm. The eye was headed straight for central Belize and turned about 48 hours before hitting us. So all we got was a couple of feeder bands with decent wind and heavy rain. Nothing that we haven't seen before. So if you think of it, pray for those that are in the worst hit areas. It sounds pretty bad! Here is a story on the hurricane. GLOBAL ARTICLE
We continue to do well. School is becoming a real cool thing. God is showing us new things everyday. Our schedule is mostly getting up in the morning at about 6am, being at school by 7am and then starting school at 8am. We get home in the evening at 6pm or a little later usually. And then we shower, eat and go to sleep at around 9pm. During the week we don't have much of a life. haha! But somehow God gives us strength for it! He has been so good to us in the last 2 months as we undergo huge changes in plans! From a house being available to our decision to stay, God has been preparing the way ever since we started this transition. Praise God!
We would love to hear from you! Our e-mail address is bmdueck@hotmail.com... drop us a note! Also you can see pictures of our life at bmdueck.myphotoalbum.com.
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
We continue to do well. School is becoming a real cool thing. God is showing us new things everyday. Our schedule is mostly getting up in the morning at about 6am, being at school by 7am and then starting school at 8am. We get home in the evening at 6pm or a little later usually. And then we shower, eat and go to sleep at around 9pm. During the week we don't have much of a life. haha! But somehow God gives us strength for it! He has been so good to us in the last 2 months as we undergo huge changes in plans! From a house being available to our decision to stay, God has been preparing the way ever since we started this transition. Praise God!
We would love to hear from you! Our e-mail address is bmdueck@hotmail.com... drop us a note! Also you can see pictures of our life at bmdueck.myphotoalbum.com.
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Hurricane Felix sets its sights on Belize...
So about 2 weeks ago we had a threat from what was called Hurricane Dean. This week we find a new threat that is supposed to, on its current track crash into the Belizean coast on Wednesday overnight. This one is going quite a bit south of what the last one did, so we are very concerned about it. It has jumped from yesterday morning being a Tropical Storm with winds of 30 or 40 MPH, to today being a Category 5 storm with winds of 165 MPH. Gusts were up to 200 MPH at about 7 o'clock. So we prepare again this week for the worst. If that hits here, it could do serious damage to everything. Corn crops are about 2 weeks from harvest, it is not good for the farmers. If winds like that hit here, buildings wouldn't stand a chance. Please just pray that somehow the storm would break up. We'll keep you updated on this storm.
Other than that, we have updated some pictures on the photo album site... click here if you want to be taken there.
We miss you all and hope to hear from all of you soon!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Other than that, we have updated some pictures on the photo album site... click here if you want to be taken there.
We miss you all and hope to hear from all of you soon!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Pictures of our lives!
Hello everyone!
Here is a link to a site that has pictures of our time here in Belize. We will update every so often.
bmdueck.myphotoalbum.com
I will also try and keep you updated on our teaching experience as well.
So far we have a week under our belts. Our week was very tiring and is getting quite a bit better as we go along. Keep praying! We are having a blast in our new jobs even if it is tiring. Getting streched all over the place!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa
Here is a link to a site that has pictures of our time here in Belize. We will update every so often.
bmdueck.myphotoalbum.com
I will also try and keep you updated on our teaching experience as well.
So far we have a week under our belts. Our week was very tiring and is getting quite a bit better as we go along. Keep praying! We are having a blast in our new jobs even if it is tiring. Getting streched all over the place!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa
Friday, August 24, 2007
hurricane passes...
Hello all! An update on the hurricane that we expereienced on Tuesday morning. We barely got touched by the storm. All we had was wind. There was very little rain. A couple of trees on Melissa's parents yard blew down, but nothing that caused very much damage. We are very thankful it didn't do as much damage as they were predicting (although a very small part of me wanted to see a BIG storm). If only you could see that much power without damage to people and buildings. We travelled to Corozal which is on the border of Mexico and Belize. That town is in VERY bad shape. The further north we went the more damage there was. The jungle just looks like a tangled up mess, as well as many houses that look this way. Terrible damage.
We are on our last day here at the orphanage. Actually that isn't entirely true. We aren't at the orphanage today! We took the kids back to Blue Creek yesterday for a kind of "getaway"! So we have a bunch of kids staying at our house. (we just moved into this house on Wednesday night, FINALLY a place to call home) It has been so good for them to get out of there. They are totally different kids once they are out of the home. They have been nothing but a joy to have around and WAY easier to train, I believe. At the home everything has a 'negative' slant to it. If they are asked to do the dishes, they are FORCED to do the dishes. If they are told to go to bed, they are FORCED to go to bed. This is the way it has been for them. So it is good to see smiles on their faces as they help out. Today we'll go swimming with them, and go play at the park. Its really cool too, as they visit their friends that went out of the orphanage to a home in Blue Creek. They had a blast yesterday playing with those kids! Its been an exciting and tiring day and night so far.
Thank you so much for praying! Please pray for one thing in particular. Yesterday Melissa talked to Leslie (the person in charge of the home) and she said that the governement had come to tell her that she needed to shut down the home. It didn't have enough bathrooms for the number of kids, it didn't meet the many requirements they have for a home like this. Leslie was very discouraged. She wants to give these kids a better home but she just doesn't have the finances to build something new. She had asked the officials if they would give any government grant or anything, and they said no, its all on her own. WOW! So I think it is good that we are staying for a year. We want to help her out to find some sort of mission, that would be willing to consider taking over the home, helping us build a new home. So we'll see what happens! It would be terribly sad to see a place like this go down. We'll do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen!
Have a great day. Thank you for your e-mails! We love getting e-mails! We hope that God is blessing you daily!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
We are on our last day here at the orphanage. Actually that isn't entirely true. We aren't at the orphanage today! We took the kids back to Blue Creek yesterday for a kind of "getaway"! So we have a bunch of kids staying at our house. (we just moved into this house on Wednesday night, FINALLY a place to call home) It has been so good for them to get out of there. They are totally different kids once they are out of the home. They have been nothing but a joy to have around and WAY easier to train, I believe. At the home everything has a 'negative' slant to it. If they are asked to do the dishes, they are FORCED to do the dishes. If they are told to go to bed, they are FORCED to go to bed. This is the way it has been for them. So it is good to see smiles on their faces as they help out. Today we'll go swimming with them, and go play at the park. Its really cool too, as they visit their friends that went out of the orphanage to a home in Blue Creek. They had a blast yesterday playing with those kids! Its been an exciting and tiring day and night so far.
Thank you so much for praying! Please pray for one thing in particular. Yesterday Melissa talked to Leslie (the person in charge of the home) and she said that the governement had come to tell her that she needed to shut down the home. It didn't have enough bathrooms for the number of kids, it didn't meet the many requirements they have for a home like this. Leslie was very discouraged. She wants to give these kids a better home but she just doesn't have the finances to build something new. She had asked the officials if they would give any government grant or anything, and they said no, its all on her own. WOW! So I think it is good that we are staying for a year. We want to help her out to find some sort of mission, that would be willing to consider taking over the home, helping us build a new home. So we'll see what happens! It would be terribly sad to see a place like this go down. We'll do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen!
Have a great day. Thank you for your e-mails! We love getting e-mails! We hope that God is blessing you daily!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Monday, August 20, 2007
Hurricane Dean looms...
I want to ask you all to pray as Hurricane Dean approaches us. It should make landfall close to the Belize-Mexico border later today or early tomorrow morning (Tuesday morning). Right now it is a Category 4 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150MPH.
Please pray.
We are going in to the orphanage this morning to pick up our stuff as well as to see if they need any help there. Then we will come back to Blue Creek to help Mom and Dad prepare. It could be a doozy!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa
Please pray.
We are going in to the orphanage this morning to pick up our stuff as well as to see if they need any help there. Then we will come back to Blue Creek to help Mom and Dad prepare. It could be a doozy!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa
Saturday, August 18, 2007
pictures...
Well, we figured you might like to see some pictures. Here are a few of them. We will post more later.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
It has been a while...
Sorry for no update in the last 2 weeks.
It has been very busy for us since we decided to stay. Most of our free time has been spent getting ready for the school year.
Things at the orphanage are going well. By the time I get back to the home there should be a couple more young boys arriving. I am looking forward to this as there has been mostly just girls. Finally, someone I can relate to! haha! And then, probably later this week or early next week there will be another 2 boys coming.
Our time here is almost over. Its hard to believe that the summer is over already. It has been probably the toughest 2 months of our lives. I will say that totally honestly. We have wanted to give up so many times. But God called us here for a reason, and we know that he has a plan for each of these kids. It is great that we can be here in Belize for a year yet. This way we can help the home along to continue to do the stuff we introduced, as well as help them with some fundraising efforts and getting some organization established. I believe that God has a great plan for that place...
So we are here for another week and a half. Our last day will be two Fridays from now. I believe it is the 24th of August. Please pray for the children that are new to the home as they will have some BIG adjustments! We would love to hear from all of you. Please drop us an e-mail... it is always much appreciated. We will try to respond to each individual e-mail. Let us know what you are up to!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
It has been very busy for us since we decided to stay. Most of our free time has been spent getting ready for the school year.
Things at the orphanage are going well. By the time I get back to the home there should be a couple more young boys arriving. I am looking forward to this as there has been mostly just girls. Finally, someone I can relate to! haha! And then, probably later this week or early next week there will be another 2 boys coming.
Our time here is almost over. Its hard to believe that the summer is over already. It has been probably the toughest 2 months of our lives. I will say that totally honestly. We have wanted to give up so many times. But God called us here for a reason, and we know that he has a plan for each of these kids. It is great that we can be here in Belize for a year yet. This way we can help the home along to continue to do the stuff we introduced, as well as help them with some fundraising efforts and getting some organization established. I believe that God has a great plan for that place...
So we are here for another week and a half. Our last day will be two Fridays from now. I believe it is the 24th of August. Please pray for the children that are new to the home as they will have some BIG adjustments! We would love to hear from all of you. Please drop us an e-mail... it is always much appreciated. We will try to respond to each individual e-mail. Let us know what you are up to!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Monday, July 30, 2007
Hello all...
Hello everybody!
We have been having a really good time here in Belize! It has been a rollercoaster, but I like rollercoasters so for the most part it has been really good.
Its hot today, but God is somehow giving us energy for these crazy kids!I think we are beginning to realize the differences in the cultures! We are starting to accept some of the things they do as just something that we need to get used to. So that has been a good relief for us. We haven't been nearly as uptight during the day with the kids because of this realization.
This place still needs a lot of organization, but it seems like we are getting somewhere with the help of God.
Another thing that was weighing heavily on our minds was the decisions that needed to be made about next year. After careful consideration in prayer and discussion with others, we have decided that the best place for us right now is in Blue Creek, teaching. The school board asked us to fill a couple of positions after having 2 teachers drop out just 3 and a half weeks before school was to begin.
We felt that there was a real need and that we were the ones that needed to meet that need. God has given us peace about the decision and this is where we feel God wants us.
So for the coming school year Melissa will be teaching grade 3 and I will be either teaching grade 7 or a few subjects in High School. We will be starting our positions a week late because of our commitment to the orphanage, but after that, we will be there for the year. Please pray that we will be able to bump our flights up to June... that would be great!
Please also pray for 3 little girls in the home. They are in the process of being adopted by a family from Blue Creek. They have gone back and forth from Blue Creek to the orphanage a couple of times already. It is not easy for them to always say goodbye to their potential mother. And they tend to act out a lot more because of this. A lot of confusion in their minds it seems!
Enough rambling. Thank you for praying and thank you for reading this! We appreciate all the support we are getting from home! We look forward to hearing from you!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa
We have been having a really good time here in Belize! It has been a rollercoaster, but I like rollercoasters so for the most part it has been really good.
Its hot today, but God is somehow giving us energy for these crazy kids!I think we are beginning to realize the differences in the cultures! We are starting to accept some of the things they do as just something that we need to get used to. So that has been a good relief for us. We haven't been nearly as uptight during the day with the kids because of this realization.
This place still needs a lot of organization, but it seems like we are getting somewhere with the help of God.
Another thing that was weighing heavily on our minds was the decisions that needed to be made about next year. After careful consideration in prayer and discussion with others, we have decided that the best place for us right now is in Blue Creek, teaching. The school board asked us to fill a couple of positions after having 2 teachers drop out just 3 and a half weeks before school was to begin.
We felt that there was a real need and that we were the ones that needed to meet that need. God has given us peace about the decision and this is where we feel God wants us.
So for the coming school year Melissa will be teaching grade 3 and I will be either teaching grade 7 or a few subjects in High School. We will be starting our positions a week late because of our commitment to the orphanage, but after that, we will be there for the year. Please pray that we will be able to bump our flights up to June... that would be great!
Please also pray for 3 little girls in the home. They are in the process of being adopted by a family from Blue Creek. They have gone back and forth from Blue Creek to the orphanage a couple of times already. It is not easy for them to always say goodbye to their potential mother. And they tend to act out a lot more because of this. A lot of confusion in their minds it seems!
Enough rambling. Thank you for praying and thank you for reading this! We appreciate all the support we are getting from home! We look forward to hearing from you!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Ending the third week...
Hello all!
It has been a very interesting week. One day this week we had at one time 16 kids clammoring for attention. It was quite a shocker for us who usually have 7 or 8 kids. But there are neighbor kids who are getting excited to come and do the activities with the children too... praise God for that!
More organization has been a real helper for us this week. Dr. Leslie has had a few talks with the 20 year old girl staying with the kids. Finally we have more communication and it seems like we are more on the same page.
Tomorrow Melissa's dad and mom are coming and we will be having a little bit different day. We will be fixing the home so that it doesn't get infested with rats, and so that it will be easier to maintain. So a little bit of everything! Should be good!
Please pray for:
-strength and patience with the children.
-a general sense of loving community between everyone in the home!
Praise for:
-God's unbelievable guidance!
-The beautiful weather that has kept us sane!
Feel free to e-mail us anytime... we love hearing from all our loved ones!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa
It has been a very interesting week. One day this week we had at one time 16 kids clammoring for attention. It was quite a shocker for us who usually have 7 or 8 kids. But there are neighbor kids who are getting excited to come and do the activities with the children too... praise God for that!
More organization has been a real helper for us this week. Dr. Leslie has had a few talks with the 20 year old girl staying with the kids. Finally we have more communication and it seems like we are more on the same page.
Tomorrow Melissa's dad and mom are coming and we will be having a little bit different day. We will be fixing the home so that it doesn't get infested with rats, and so that it will be easier to maintain. So a little bit of everything! Should be good!
Please pray for:
-strength and patience with the children.
-a general sense of loving community between everyone in the home!
Praise for:
-God's unbelievable guidance!
-The beautiful weather that has kept us sane!
Feel free to e-mail us anytime... we love hearing from all our loved ones!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa
Monday, July 23, 2007
Third week...
Hello Everyone!
Praise items:
-3 children went home with a couple from Blue Creek that are looking to adopt. They had a great weekend. They didn't want to go back and stay at the orphanage. It was a cool experience to be with them as they started to adjust to the thought of living elsewhere. The excitement was all over their faces! Praise the Lord!
-We finally got a nice cool day today!
-The kids are warming up to us more every day.
-Our lines of communication with Dr. Leslie Mendez (the lady who runs the home) are finally more open! This is good for more defined roles (still a little bit hazy, but altogether good).
Prayer items:
-We got two new children (10 yrs and 12 yrs), from a very rough home. I along with Dr. Leslie, took a ride to see where they lived. Terrible terrible conditions. 10 kids in a place, not bigger than my parents living room.
-Melissa and I are in the midst of making some decisions about next year. Some stuff has come up and we are really searching God's will for what we should be doing. This isn't eexactly a small decision. Please pray. You should know what the decision is within a week or so.
-The children are amazing us every day! Today, they broke out into all kinds of childrens songs. "Jesus Loves the Little Children", Some sort of "Temple" song that Melissa knew. It was really cool. So we have added a "singing time" to our day. Continue to pray that the kids would make God's love their own!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Praise items:
-3 children went home with a couple from Blue Creek that are looking to adopt. They had a great weekend. They didn't want to go back and stay at the orphanage. It was a cool experience to be with them as they started to adjust to the thought of living elsewhere. The excitement was all over their faces! Praise the Lord!
-We finally got a nice cool day today!
-The kids are warming up to us more every day.
-Our lines of communication with Dr. Leslie Mendez (the lady who runs the home) are finally more open! This is good for more defined roles (still a little bit hazy, but altogether good).
Prayer items:
-We got two new children (10 yrs and 12 yrs), from a very rough home. I along with Dr. Leslie, took a ride to see where they lived. Terrible terrible conditions. 10 kids in a place, not bigger than my parents living room.
-Melissa and I are in the midst of making some decisions about next year. Some stuff has come up and we are really searching God's will for what we should be doing. This isn't eexactly a small decision. Please pray. You should know what the decision is within a week or so.
-The children are amazing us every day! Today, they broke out into all kinds of childrens songs. "Jesus Loves the Little Children", Some sort of "Temple" song that Melissa knew. It was really cool. So we have added a "singing time" to our day. Continue to pray that the kids would make God's love their own!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The second week has been...
Good.
There are a few main concerns we have this week. There are many people that drop by for a minute here, a minute there. Some of them just make the kids act out, others we are unsure who they even are. Its been a pretty tough thing for us to get used to as we are trying to insert structure for these kids, and everything becomes very wishy washy when kids just drop in and out. Which ones belong at the home and which ones don’t.
Other than that, we are having a much better time. Every afternoon we have about an hour to an hour and a half of “School Time” where we teach the kids their ABC’s, numbers and other educational stuff. We also are sure to have about 15 minutes of Bible stories. This will probably increase as the kids get better with their basic educational skills, and we will do more activities to do with the stories when that happens.
Praise items:
-God is giving us strength and patience (most of the time)
-The kids are really latching on to the Bible stories. Today most of them were very into it, answering the questions and really listening.
-God has sent us a nice breeze in the last few days… very nice!!
Please pray for:
-We are moving out of the place we have been staying at and probably will have to drive back and forth from Blue Creek everyday. If at all possible, we would like to find something in Orange Walk so that we don’t have to drive the gross road everyday.
-Continued strength, love, and patience from God.
Thank you for praying for us. We love you and look forward to hearing from you all!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
There are a few main concerns we have this week. There are many people that drop by for a minute here, a minute there. Some of them just make the kids act out, others we are unsure who they even are. Its been a pretty tough thing for us to get used to as we are trying to insert structure for these kids, and everything becomes very wishy washy when kids just drop in and out. Which ones belong at the home and which ones don’t.
Other than that, we are having a much better time. Every afternoon we have about an hour to an hour and a half of “School Time” where we teach the kids their ABC’s, numbers and other educational stuff. We also are sure to have about 15 minutes of Bible stories. This will probably increase as the kids get better with their basic educational skills, and we will do more activities to do with the stories when that happens.
Praise items:
-God is giving us strength and patience (most of the time)
-The kids are really latching on to the Bible stories. Today most of them were very into it, answering the questions and really listening.
-God has sent us a nice breeze in the last few days… very nice!!
Please pray for:
-We are moving out of the place we have been staying at and probably will have to drive back and forth from Blue Creek everyday. If at all possible, we would like to find something in Orange Walk so that we don’t have to drive the gross road everyday.
-Continued strength, love, and patience from God.
Thank you for praying for us. We love you and look forward to hearing from you all!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Saturday, July 14, 2007
First week is...
A lot better than the first day!
I want to thank everyone who has thought of us and prayed in the last week as we have adjusted to this ministry. It has been a tiring but good week. On Tuesday we moved to RB's Multi-Service for nights so that we could get a better nights rest and so that we could better prepare for the next day. So for the next 2 weeks, that is where we will be staying. It is a huge blessing to have found a place like that! We are even being guarded by a man with a shotgun, no safer feeling than that.
As for the orphanage, we are adjusting to the kids and they are adjusting to us! It has been really good and tough all at the same time. We didn't think discipline would be our job there, but it seems like the trend here has pointed to us parenting and thus disciplining the children as well. It seems like they have never really had discipline and manners. So a good chunk of the week was spent teaching them how to behave, how to love eachother, and how to respect others. We have hardly gotten to teaching them the gospel yet. A typical day would look something like this:
9am: We arrive on our sweet Hurricane bikes (pictures to follow)
9:30 am: We usually have told Joshua to put on his pants about 10 times already.
10 am: We sit down, usually by the swingset, and read from the Bible. This is always a favorite time for the older ones. The younger ones, when they quiet down, are very enthralled as well.
10:30 am: This week we did puzzles with them. They enjoyed the finished product but had no clue how to put it together. We learned one thing 100 pc puzzles don't work. 20 pc puzzles almost work. This is something that can teach them some good organizational lessons. We are working on it. With those that don't like puzzles, we have tried to get the others to color. The key we feel is to get them to sit mostly still from 10-11:30. It has worked some days, and other days it has been a nightmare.
12 am: Lunch time. Its kind of funny, on Friday we tried a new approach to get them to eat lunch. There are 2 kids who just don't eat their lunch. They don't want to eat, they are not hungry. So we took away their food. They cried and cried. Its kind of like reverse psychology. I found that funny.
1-3 pm: Nap time. For the kids, for Blaine and Melissa. By this time we are "hunt-mide" (dogtired).
3-5 pm: We either swing with the kids, go to the park, we try and do something active. I tried to play dodgeball with them yesterday. Ummm... They all wanted to get the ball. Didn't work well at all. We'll work on that.
5 pm: We go home to RB's on our sweet Hurricane bikes.
As you can see, we are trying to put some structure into the day. It doesn't always work, but God is good and I know he will work through the things we do throughout the day. This is getting very long, I hope I didn't lose you. The biggest most largest prayer request we have is for patience and love for the kids. Patience seems to be all spent by the end of the day. We love you all and hope you too are doing well and good.
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
I want to thank everyone who has thought of us and prayed in the last week as we have adjusted to this ministry. It has been a tiring but good week. On Tuesday we moved to RB's Multi-Service for nights so that we could get a better nights rest and so that we could better prepare for the next day. So for the next 2 weeks, that is where we will be staying. It is a huge blessing to have found a place like that! We are even being guarded by a man with a shotgun, no safer feeling than that.
As for the orphanage, we are adjusting to the kids and they are adjusting to us! It has been really good and tough all at the same time. We didn't think discipline would be our job there, but it seems like the trend here has pointed to us parenting and thus disciplining the children as well. It seems like they have never really had discipline and manners. So a good chunk of the week was spent teaching them how to behave, how to love eachother, and how to respect others. We have hardly gotten to teaching them the gospel yet. A typical day would look something like this:
9am: We arrive on our sweet Hurricane bikes (pictures to follow)
9:30 am: We usually have told Joshua to put on his pants about 10 times already.
10 am: We sit down, usually by the swingset, and read from the Bible. This is always a favorite time for the older ones. The younger ones, when they quiet down, are very enthralled as well.
10:30 am: This week we did puzzles with them. They enjoyed the finished product but had no clue how to put it together. We learned one thing 100 pc puzzles don't work. 20 pc puzzles almost work. This is something that can teach them some good organizational lessons. We are working on it. With those that don't like puzzles, we have tried to get the others to color. The key we feel is to get them to sit mostly still from 10-11:30. It has worked some days, and other days it has been a nightmare.
12 am: Lunch time. Its kind of funny, on Friday we tried a new approach to get them to eat lunch. There are 2 kids who just don't eat their lunch. They don't want to eat, they are not hungry. So we took away their food. They cried and cried. Its kind of like reverse psychology. I found that funny.
1-3 pm: Nap time. For the kids, for Blaine and Melissa. By this time we are "hunt-mide" (dogtired).
3-5 pm: We either swing with the kids, go to the park, we try and do something active. I tried to play dodgeball with them yesterday. Ummm... They all wanted to get the ball. Didn't work well at all. We'll work on that.
5 pm: We go home to RB's on our sweet Hurricane bikes.
As you can see, we are trying to put some structure into the day. It doesn't always work, but God is good and I know he will work through the things we do throughout the day. This is getting very long, I hope I didn't lose you. The biggest most largest prayer request we have is for patience and love for the kids. Patience seems to be all spent by the end of the day. We love you all and hope you too are doing well and good.
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Monday, July 9, 2007
First day is...
Crazy.
We are hot and we are absolutely pooped. I don't think anything could've prepared us for this. It is overwhelming. But we're doing fine. As much as we are extremely tired, and not sure how we'll get through 2 months, we know that God has placed us here for a reason. The kids are really great, although we need to break through some of those attitudes and teach them to respect others. I don't think they have ever really been respected as well, I don't think respect has really ever been reinforced.
When we arrived I don't think there was a lot of time where Meliss and I had less than 2 kids hanging onto us. It is been a really really tiring day. There were 6 kids when we first got there, but more are expected to come soon. To make matters more complicated, Leslie Mendez is on holidays in Guatemala with a couple of kids as well. So it feels more like we are on our own than we had originally thought. Another lady has helped us get used to the home as well which is good. Overall I think we are doing okay. Its just getting past these few days at the beginning when the kids are getting used to us and we are getting used to the kids.
Praise items...
-We arrived safely!
-We're still alive!
-God is giving us strength, we can feel that we aren't doing this on our own strength.
Prayer for...
-Continued peace that we are in the right place, strength for the long hot days, courage to teach these kids the gospel, wisdom that we would be structured as well as fun for the kids.
-Pray that the children would respect us.
Thank you for praying already. We really appreciate it and need it! We love you and look forward to hearing from you!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
We are hot and we are absolutely pooped. I don't think anything could've prepared us for this. It is overwhelming. But we're doing fine. As much as we are extremely tired, and not sure how we'll get through 2 months, we know that God has placed us here for a reason. The kids are really great, although we need to break through some of those attitudes and teach them to respect others. I don't think they have ever really been respected as well, I don't think respect has really ever been reinforced.
When we arrived I don't think there was a lot of time where Meliss and I had less than 2 kids hanging onto us. It is been a really really tiring day. There were 6 kids when we first got there, but more are expected to come soon. To make matters more complicated, Leslie Mendez is on holidays in Guatemala with a couple of kids as well. So it feels more like we are on our own than we had originally thought. Another lady has helped us get used to the home as well which is good. Overall I think we are doing okay. Its just getting past these few days at the beginning when the kids are getting used to us and we are getting used to the kids.
Praise items...
-We arrived safely!
-We're still alive!
-God is giving us strength, we can feel that we aren't doing this on our own strength.
Prayer for...
-Continued peace that we are in the right place, strength for the long hot days, courage to teach these kids the gospel, wisdom that we would be structured as well as fun for the kids.
-Pray that the children would respect us.
Thank you for praying already. We really appreciate it and need it! We love you and look forward to hearing from you!
God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck
Monday, July 2, 2007
Mixed emotions!
Hello all.
Well we are two days from leaving for Belize and we don't feel quite like going. As most of you know, my grandmother passed away on Sunday afternoon. It is not easy for us to leave before the funeral, but because the flights were booked, we had no choice. So we're going. We are so excited for the trip, but at the same time have really struggled with the fact that closure will probably not come very easy, not being there for the funeral and all. Here is a list of prayer requests as well as praise items!
Praise items!!!
-Grandma went to be with her Lord and Saviour! We are so happy for her! Praise God!
-We enjoyed God's beautiful nature at Falcon Lake this past weekend!
-We are excited and have peace about the trip, even with the circumstances the way they are! That is a HUGE praise item!
Prayer requests!!!
-Pray for continued peace for the Eidse family.
-Pray that we would be able to focus on the mission God has for us in Belize!
-Pray that the childrens hearts would be open, soft, and ready to hear the message of Jesus!
-Pray that we would have firm direction in God's mission!
Please feel free to e-mail us or put your comments down on this page. We appreciate all the prayers, and we hope to hear from you soon!
God bless you all!
Well we are two days from leaving for Belize and we don't feel quite like going. As most of you know, my grandmother passed away on Sunday afternoon. It is not easy for us to leave before the funeral, but because the flights were booked, we had no choice. So we're going. We are so excited for the trip, but at the same time have really struggled with the fact that closure will probably not come very easy, not being there for the funeral and all. Here is a list of prayer requests as well as praise items!
Praise items!!!
-Grandma went to be with her Lord and Saviour! We are so happy for her! Praise God!
-We enjoyed God's beautiful nature at Falcon Lake this past weekend!
-We are excited and have peace about the trip, even with the circumstances the way they are! That is a HUGE praise item!
Prayer requests!!!
-Pray for continued peace for the Eidse family.
-Pray that we would be able to focus on the mission God has for us in Belize!
-Pray that the childrens hearts would be open, soft, and ready to hear the message of Jesus!
-Pray that we would have firm direction in God's mission!
Please feel free to e-mail us or put your comments down on this page. We appreciate all the prayers, and we hope to hear from you soon!
God bless you all!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Welcome to our blog....
I'd like to welcome one and all to our blog. This is where we will post updates on our trip to Belize and other things going on in our lives. So thanks for checking it out. And we hope to hear from you all soon!
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