Hi friends and family! I’m now back to the real world after a week on a tiny island way off the coast of Belize. There the students studied the ecology of coral reefs, sea grass and mangrove communities which together support all of the life of the oceans! I was supposed to be a supporting TA, which meant that I helped out with packing all of our supplies for the class/lab and breakfast, and keeping stuff organized. I also drove the three hours it takes to get to Sittee River in the vehicle with all our stuff. From there we took a boat out to Glover's Atoll.
I’ve been growing so much this semester that it is hard to write about it and tell you what has been going through my mind. One recent area of growth is that I've became comfortable with my role as an encourager. I’ve been realizing that I should be encouraging the students more this semester, but am not naturally an encourager. I have been of the opinion that I would just try to model my excitement and positive outlook on life, so that the students would follow. And modeling is certainly necessary in this role, but during Marine, I realized that words are necessary too.
A couple of the students were anxious about snorkeling and being in the ocean and I felt comfortable enough in our relationship to encourage them and pray with them during some tough times. It was a week of growth for me in those experiences, and also a relaxing week for me to be de-stress after being “on” all of the week before. And the uniqueness of marine life always causes me to be in awe of God- another reason why last week was a great week.
We traveled back from Glover’s all day Saturday. Three hour boat ride including snorkeling the mangroves, late lunch, three hour drive back to the Nab. So we all were pretty tired. But Sunday was Easter! We had planned to do an Easter Sunrise service on Sunday morning, so Ashley and I put a service together after supper, and then I spent the rest of the night practicing Easter songs.
Easter Sunday was another long day for me, but one that I received a lot of joy from. The Sunrise service at 6 went well, and then there was time for breakfast before church. I arrived at St Andrews and was asked to read in church, as I went to a special Friday night service during lent and met a good number of the women in the church who organize everything. Typical two hour service, then we headed back to the Nab where Ashley and I started cooking up the Easter feast!
The Easter feast was a big deal, as Ashley and I had been dreaming up the menu for quite sometime! We don’t have the traditional ‘Sunday dinner’ here in Belize and we were both craving the food and traditions of home. Cooking up a storm all afternoon, with some students’ help, we made supper for 16! It was a fun day and we were all stuffed and satisfied with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted root vegetables, sautéed broccoli and beans in balsamic vinegar, homemade baked beans, fresh whole wheat rolls, salad with toasted/caramelized almonds, pineapple cobbler, banana and coconut cream pies, and homemade ice cream! It was quite the experience, especially the work that went into getting some of the ingredients!
Hope that all your Easter celebrations were joyful.
Love,
Joelle
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