June Update

Greetings from Belize,

We have had a wonderful start to a very busy summer schedule. So far this month we have hosted a youth team fro Rogers, AR who spent 10 days working in the village of More Tomorrow leading sports camps for the children. They also spent some time distributing food (team pictured at right bagging food) in More Tomorrow and Valley of Peace and even hosted a "night at the movies" showing The Passion of the Christ which made a huge impact on the villagers.

A second youth team from the same church in Rogers, AR is currently here in Belize working in the southern part of the country. They have many exciting things going on in Jalacte' for the next week and a half including sports camps for the children and building a water cistern at the church to collect rainwater since there is no running water in the village. More to come on that team in next month's newsletter as they have just begun their journey at the time this is being written.

In addition to hosting some great teams, we are very excited to report that there were sixteen students who graduated from the Children's Nest Preschool in Valley of Peace on June 12th and are now ready to start primary school in the fall. Eight additional children successfully completed their first year of preschool at the Children's Nest and all eight are planning to return in September to master their school readiness skills by the time they are old enough to move on to primary school. Congratulations students! We would also like to express our appreciation to Elba Galdamez and Mabel Franco, the two preschool teacher, who helped make this a great year and hosted a wonderful graduation ceremony. Thank you teachers for a job well done!

Regarding the Gaither family, we are doing great. Brandon's ankle is healing well. He is now off crutches and out of his walking boot...just supposed to take it easy for the next four weeks. Although he has tried to convince mom and dad that he has some sort of allergy to taking out the trash, it was determined that the walk to the trash disposal area would be great therapy for his ankle (I am sure that was written in the last progress note from the orthopedist). Now at sixteen months old, Micah has transformed into part baby and part monkey and literally climbs up anything he can reach with a knee or a toe. Look out local howler monkeys, here he comes! And by the way, if you happen to receive a strange phone call or email from our household just know it is a friendly "hello" from Micah. He is quite the wiz kid at dialing the phone and playing on the "puter" as he calls it. What will it be next week?? Sheila is busy running around after Micah trying to keep the phone hung up and the computers shut down as well as making sure Brandon does his "therapy" every other day (could washing dishes be good therapy too). Maybe those frequent power outages are a blessing when it comes to Micah's high tech tendencies. Randy is meeting himself coming and going taking care of teams along with eight churches, three graduations, and the day to day business activities. At least they were able to get the air conditioner in his truck fixed today which makes the running around a little more comfortable. All in all we are having a great time with many teams and projects lined up for the summer months.

Blessings,
Randy, Sheila, Brandon, and Micah