Exciting

It has been 95 degrees and higher inside my house for the last couple of weeks.  It is still 90 when we go to bed, but it feels cool after the heat of the day.  I have been taking a lot of cool showers and drinking a lot of water.  But this heat is exhausting.  The temps drop throughout the night.  We have a thermometer on the air conditioner in our room that we never use...and I get happy as I see the temps go down.  This morning I did not get up early.  I just laid in bed since it is cooler and enjoyed...because I knew the heat of the day would soon set in.

Yesterday, we celebrated 1 year of Hope for Life.  It is a Pregnancy Help Center that my friend, a fellow missionary, began.  We have had several ladies from LifeNet volunteer and our church family supports the center in any way we can.

This picture is when my mom came in November and visited the center.

The board members and volunteers had a lunch to celebrate yesterday.  As we were on the front porch, enjoying our nachos, the fellow volunteers and board members shared what they have learned over the past year.  I felt bad when they came to me, because my volunteer position is to lead the Bible Study each week.  A year ago, I went for several weeks in a row and noone ever came.  I would stand at the front door and pray.   I would walk around the little house and pray.  But noone ever came.  So, we decided for me to just hold on to the Bible Study until we had more clients.  About a month ago, I was going through some things in my room and found the Study...and decided to give it back to Jadine.  My room is so full of homeschool, children's church and personal books, I was afraid I would lose it.  It wasn't a week later and Jadine messaged me with excitement and asked if I was ready to begin the study.  She felt we had some clients who would be willing to come.  Just as a side note, they earn "bucks" for attending and can shop for baby clothes and diapers.  But that is good because I think rewarding them for making an effort to come is worth it.

A couple weeks ago, we began.  I think we had four students, some with babies or family members.  Last week, I was sick.  Just too sick to be able to teach.  So yesterday, I was excited to see who would come.  In all, we ended up have five clients.  Three were pregnant, two had newborns.  Plus a couple of family members.  Tori went with me as well and snapped a picture for the Hope for Life newsletter. She goes, so that if there are older children who need to be watched, she is available to play with them.  I appreciate her being there so much. I greatly distorted the picture for the women's privacy.  But I wanted to share a pic, just because pictures are powerful.

All of the women who are attending are more fluent in Spanish.  I have lived in Belize a long time and get by fine with my English, but never have wished so much that I was fluent in Spanish as well.  Just as you share the things of the Lord, it would be so much easier to speak in their native tongue.  Even with Kailey, so often I wish I could converse in Spanish with her.

One other funny story that happened earlier at the lunch that I wanted to share.  One of the Board Members is teaching Lamaze to the pregnant women.  She said it is ironic because she actually had 3 C-sections.  But Jadine's daughter was there and shared how what she taught her was so beneficial as she recently gave birth.  Then the board members began sharing how all these videos of birth, and diagrams, etc, were so graphic.  That they had never experienced things like that before.  I laughed and said, well, I grew up in a home with a mother who taught Lamaze, so remember seeing them and wouldn't think a thing of it.  It is just natural when your parents are nurses.  Well, the other Board Member began laughing and said, "Robyn, it is YOUR MOM who gave us all this stuff!!!"   It was funny, but also blessed me that even though my mother is far away, she had a definite impact on this little center when she came in November.

So, please pray for me if you think of it as I prepare.  I am trying to get some of the scriptures translated into Spanish.  I have such an opportunity to pour Jesus into these women.  I am so thankful and so honored.