What a great day. We left early for the Mayan ruins called Xunantunich. The guide says it rhymes with tuna sandwich. He was a funny man with a lot of information in his head. He told us all about the Mayan civilization, its rise and downfall, as well as about some of the religious rituals they performed. Needless to say, I don’t think many in our group will complain about tithing ever again. The ruins are spectacular. They believe they were inhabited from 600 to 1000 A.D. We climbed to the top of the ruins – a harrowing experience. As the guide said, no one from OSHA had inspected their work. There were stairs that were 100’ from the ground without guard rails. It was amazing in that once you were in the top, you could talk in your normal voice and the people below could hear you clearly and vice-versa. The Mayans engineered it that way so that the priest and the king could talk to the people and keep them intimidated. He knew exactly what people were saying about him. You can see for miles, so from his vantage point, the priest or king could predict changes in the weather. No wonder they believed he had supernatural powers. Terry and I hugged a lot of walls going up and down the stairs. Once we came down an even scarier set of stairs, we gathered at a picnic table in the shade, mostly to recover from the exertion. What we found was Sammy and some of the others who didn’t want to climb to the top witnessing to two Belizean soldiers. They told us they had to guard the border with Guatemala that was just a short distance away. Apparently the Guatemalans like to cross the border, mingle with the tourists, and then kidnap, rob, and do other bad things to them. We were glad they were there. 
We ate lunch at Clarissa Falls, a beautiful little hotel/restaurant/bar on the water. It is an open air dining area with a few parrots, dogs, hummingbirds, and a toucan that stayed away. The food was delicious. There was chicken and rice and beans, which, by the way, has been our basic diet for a week. We did have pancakes and dak this morning. Dak is the first thing they have served that I didn’t think was good. It was a cross between fried bologna and fried spam.
On the way there and back, we were treated to some beautiful scenery. The houses are very colorful, much like you would see in Gulf Shores – the colors, not the size or quality. People line the roads walking or waiting on buses or riding their bikes. We passed horses staked out along the road eating grass, conservative Mennonites in their horse and buggies carrying produce to market. But as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, the gang problem is bad and getting worse. They have all the American gangs which are ran by their American cohorts. They also have some local gangs from the Central American region that are increasingly violent. You can understand the attraction for the young men who have a choice between a life of extremely hard work just to survive or to become a part of a group of men whose only work is to take what they want from those who work hard. It is a problem that only God can solve, but He will choose to do it through His people who come and help to educate the young and let them know there is hope in Jesus Christ.
Tonight, we had our closing service with the boys. Nikki and Amy gave out awards for class performance, and Berry gave awards to the rest of the boys. It was only $1, but they were ecstatic. Berry talked to the boys about heaven and hell. I gave a brief devotion, and we had an invitation. Five of them made professions of faith. I talked with them afterwards, and they all seemed to be sincere. Mr. Ralston, the principle of the school, will play a major role in discipling these young men. He is a fine man who loves the Lord and cares for these boys. I know he will do great things at this school. Tomorrow we leave for Belize City. My heart is torn because of the needs here, but at the same time I want to be with my church family. My heart goes out to Gail Holbert in the loss of her mother and to Pat Baggett who fell last night and to Maxine Gay. I am so sorry that I could not be there for them in their need, but please let them know I am praying for them.
We ate lunch at Clarissa Falls, a beautiful little hotel/restaurant/bar on the water. It is an open air dining area with a few parrots, dogs, hummingbirds, and a toucan that stayed away. The food was delicious. There was chicken and rice and beans, which, by the way, has been our basic diet for a week. We did have pancakes and dak this morning. Dak is the first thing they have served that I didn’t think was good. It was a cross between fried bologna and fried spam.
On the way there and back, we were treated to some beautiful scenery. The houses are very colorful, much like you would see in Gulf Shores – the colors, not the size or quality. People line the roads walking or waiting on buses or riding their bikes. We passed horses staked out along the road eating grass, conservative Mennonites in their horse and buggies carrying produce to market. But as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, the gang problem is bad and getting worse. They have all the American gangs which are ran by their American cohorts. They also have some local gangs from the Central American region that are increasingly violent. You can understand the attraction for the young men who have a choice between a life of extremely hard work just to survive or to become a part of a group of men whose only work is to take what they want from those who work hard. It is a problem that only God can solve, but He will choose to do it through His people who come and help to educate the young and let them know there is hope in Jesus Christ.
Tonight, we had our closing service with the boys. Nikki and Amy gave out awards for class performance, and Berry gave awards to the rest of the boys. It was only $1, but they were ecstatic. Berry talked to the boys about heaven and hell. I gave a brief devotion, and we had an invitation. Five of them made professions of faith. I talked with them afterwards, and they all seemed to be sincere. Mr. Ralston, the principle of the school, will play a major role in discipling these young men. He is a fine man who loves the Lord and cares for these boys. I know he will do great things at this school. Tomorrow we leave for Belize City. My heart is torn because of the needs here, but at the same time I want to be with my church family. My heart goes out to Gail Holbert in the loss of her mother and to Pat Baggett who fell last night and to Maxine Gay. I am so sorry that I could not be there for them in their need, but please let them know I am praying for them.
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