McKenzie Belize Adventure

We are living on the Placencia peninsula in the Southern region of Belize.  There is an enormous amount of construction taking place. It appears to be developing into another Naples, Florida. At the southern end of the Peninsula is the Village of Placencia.  Took some photos from inside the village.  We have been in many of the establishments shown in the pics.

Pics from inside the upper level living area in 'Our Victoria Peak Lookout'.

Pics from the lower level living area in 'Our Victoria Peak Lookout'.

The two children, Stephanie and her brother Joseph attend the church in Bella Vista.  Stephanie has been fascinated by Carolyn's light color skin.  Carolyn and Stephanie are getting well acquainted.

Photos of a recently expanded church in the village of Bella Vista.  It is an established work with good leadership.

We had the opportunity to minister to members of many churches in the Stann Creek District today.  The seminars were held at the Bella Vista Church.  Carolyn and Linda conducted a seminar with the ladies about Ladies and Childrens Ministry.  Misssionary Dwayne Abernathy had a seminar for both the Pastors and the young men interested in the ministry.

Sunday, March 26th at 6:00am.......as the sunrises over the Caribbean Sea.

The Mango Creek Church is in the Stann Creek District and is one of the locations Craig teaches a Bible school class for pastors and new ministers.

In the San Felipe village about 45 of the 65 families attended the UPCI church.  The photo is of the neighboring house structure and out buildings.  The water pipe in the front of the photo is used by the village families.

The San Felipe church is about an hour and half drive from where we are staying in southern Belize.  The last few miles were a real challenge to drive. We found ourselves scrapping the bottom of our car on a couple of occasions. The church has an existing church tabernacle, a large outside pavilion, a Sunday school building and has a large tabernacle under construction.

Saturday, March 25th we were privileged to minister at the Introduction to Ministry Seminar conducted at the San Felipe Church.  The San Felipe Church is the largest church in the Toledo district and is in the process of completing a new tabernacle.  Carolyn and Linda ministered to the ladies about developing a ladies and children ministry in their churches.

The Lord has amazed us again by opening a door to a new residence, just 5 minutes from the missionaries.  We are calling it 'Our Victoria Peak Lookout', because of the view overlooking the lagoon to Mount Victoria, the highest mountain peak in Belize. It is a two story structure with the lower level being screened in and set up for entertaining and extra sleeping quarters. There is both an outside and inside shower. The upper level is the main living quarters with two sleeping areas and an open porch. The style of the home is certainly Belizean summer casual built by the owners with the help of the local Mayan people. It even has its own residence crocodile resciding in the nearby canal.  The missionaries made it known that there 11 lbs Jack Russell terrier will not be visiting with us. 

Our Cabana or little house consists of about 300 sq ft.  Right on the beach front and next to the missionaries residence. The tanks next to the house collect the rain water which we use in the house. During the dry season, water may need to be trucked in to fill the tanks. Being close to the rainforest, it we rarely need to call for a truck load of water.

We are presently living in an area known as Riversdale, which is at the northern end of the Placencia peninsula.  The green house in the picture below is the missionaries residence and is directly next to the cabana we are staying at.  The 2nd photo is another house across the street.  Toward the end of the dirt road is a public beach area.

One of the Cowpen church families we have meet.

Our missiaonary, Dwayne Aberthany frequently uses this Honda motorcycle to get to the many churches throughout Southern Belize. We are in the process of rebuilding another Honda motorcycle for one of the local Belizean ministers.  Four (4) motorcycles have been provided to date and there is a project to get five (5) more of them.

One of the first opportunities we have is to teach at a Mayan church in the village of Cowpen.  Carolyn and Linda are teaching Sunday school for the first time there under a tent.  The kids are very excited.

Arrived in Belize on Tuesday, March 7th and stayed at the Global Village Hotel near the Belize City Airport. First order of business was to get transportation.  We had two options of which neither were available to us by the time we arrived. (I.E. Both vehicles were sold).  We were able to find a very nice 2002 Toyota Camry which we purchased.  Getting both the insurance and title transfer proved to be another adventure. After getting a vehicle and a local cell phone, then came the 3 hour trip into southern Belize, which we did solely from memory. Arrived into the Stann Creek District and was greeted by the missionaries, Dwayne and Linda Abernathy.  We told them it was not necessary for them to come to Belize City to meet us but we would see them in Stann Creek. As we continue this blog, there are many more stories and photos to share already.