16 th trip to Belize

The countdown begins!!

Packing begins. 

Leaving on Friday January 3rd. 

Please keep us in your prayers. 

October 14, 2019  

Sun comes up it's a new day.......and a new trip 

The plans and packing have started!

Threads of Hope Mission Trip

2020

Leaving January 3rd 

and returning on April 3rd.

 Back to see all our friends in Belize.

The bigs ones, the little ones, the young ones and the old. Excited to see them all. Lots of beautiful smiling faces.

Last year we had rainy days and rainbows!

AND we had HOT days.

We had fun and giggling days!

We had market days,worship days, laundry days, sewing days, cleaning days and embroidery days. And in all 91 days God was right in the middle! Always guiding our steps.

We are so blessed to be a part of this mission.

We hope you are able to follow along with the blog again this year.

Linda and Joe

 May we be singing when the evening comes.

April 7, 2019

We are back home!

Arrived home Friday evening at about 9:00PM.

The beginning of March through April 5th was a blurr!

We will post about what was going on during those weeks. Some of you that are on 

FaceBook have already seen a few pictures.

The entire trip was amazing and we are looking forward to sharing pictures soon.

Still singing when the evening comes.... 

Bless the Lord

 WEEK # 8! and we moved through that pretty quick and are working on WEEK #9 !

             Another new day! 

Thank you Jesus for such a beautiful gift! We pray that we will do a good job for you today. We are so blessed to be here.

Week #8 passed quickly with Los Tambos working on school uniforms and Buena Vista still finishing up some projects.

As you can see Joe always has a gathering of children around him when he works. So much so that you can barely see him in the upper left hand corner. 

I think in this picture they really look like they are learning something. 

Week #8 finished with another beautiful sun rise only this time in the fog. 

Same day, later in the afternoon. We had many discussions about what this cloud would be. Email me your thoughts. We are easily entertained. 

Something else we do is to teach sewing to anyone who sits down at the machine. This is Mark and he did a great job! Always fun to teach someone eager to learn!

The day is coming to a close .....shadows are getting longer and soon it will be dark about 6:00. Things cool down and become comfortable. Nice for sleeping. 

Week #9

Then we start again! Monday in Los Tambos!

 Joe is rallying the troops mid afternoon! Everyone gets a couple pieces of candy. The ladies are unbelievable! They started sewing uniforms on February 13th and in three weeks they sewed 106 shirts. Today they started the skirts. 

Arcelye has been entertaining herself by eating and playing with rice. I think she is storing a little on her head for later.

I believe she should get a special prize because today she made it all day without hitting the mud puddles once.  

Tuesday will be in Buena Vista. The sewing class is learning to make uniforms! Rose is going along to help instruct the class. 

We also have our embroidery class at lunch time and then again at 2:30! 

Now we are running against the clock to get all of our projects finished before we leave April 5th. 

Sorry but we flew right through WEEK #6

and are now completing WEEK #7.

Week #6 Buena Vista

Another project completed. A set of 2 pot holders and an oven mitt.

We are using a technique of machine quilting that the girls are just learning. 

Here they are able to track a stitch line to keep their rows of stitching straight. New technique and they are coming up with many ideas for it.  CREATIVE!!!

BEAUTIFUL scenery on the way back to the house. Hard to see in the picture but there were two rather large rain showers in the distance. 

Another project completed in Buena Vista. The ladies made a market bag that can be folded very small and carried in your purse. We are working on doing away with the use of plastic where we can. 

Here in Los Tambos we have kick off day for making the school uniforms! Everything is set up to begin but nothing starts until after we pray!

The serger machine has been included in the process this year for making the uniforms. This has improved the finished look and has also cut down on the time that it takes to complete them.  

                                   Rose enjoys using the new machine.                                   

                             

This little guy is just too cute! Always with the dungarees his plaid shirts and hat! Always with a smile on his face. He can't speak a word of English other than "Thank You".  He comes up to you and leans on your leg just like a little puppy. 

A quick rain after school left a beautiful rainbow for us to enjoy.

This what the "snow moon" looked like from our front porch rising over the trees.

This is what the "snow moon" looked like from our back porch the following morning!

Who says it's too hot to play soccer!! It's only 92 degrees!

This was on Wednesday this week. Earlier in the week we had 

100 degrees. The children really mix it up when they play.

Buena Vista - Embroidery Class 

Grade School Standard 5 and 6

16 girls

This is something we started two weeks ago and we are teaching basics and soon will be off and running on  several fun projects. We do this over lunch break and also after sewing class two days a week. The young ladies are also getting the chance to see what the sewing group is doing. They certainly are a fun group of girls. Hopefully we are setting the stage for the next sewing generation. 

This has been an amazing two weeks. Just when you think God has filled your heart up with so many wonderful things............He keeps sending more!!

We are so BLESSED!! 

And we are still singing your song !

SEWING IN BELIZE WEEK # 5 AND READY TO START #6!

A very busy week!

Los Tambos sewing group working on quilted Pot holders.

We have another new member in the group her name is Kayle.

Never used a sewing machine and doesn't speak a word of English.

The online translator has helped a bunch!

We also started working on the serger. A new experience for everyone. We are looking forward to using this machine to help our projects look more professional. Rose is explaining how this all works.

In Buena Vista the ladies finished a bag for their Bibles, song books, a bottle of water and maybe a spare diaper. They designed the bag to fit their needs. They are becoming more and more creative with each new project. 

Wednesday in Los Tambos Arcelye arrived with this cute little dress on. She is just learning to walk. What you can't see in the picture is the mud puddle in which she spent most of the day.

This is dress number 2 ! Every time she hit the mud puddle mom changed her dress. What a good mom, I probably would have waited until the end of the day. Flory must do a ton of laundry.

This is dress #3! It is VERY white! Not sure how Flory makes that happen. 

It's a good thing it's time to go home! 

Friday we made a trip to Belize City to buy fabrics for the uniforms. The day started out rainy and turned out to be pretty nice.

Two hour trip each way and uneventful.........Thank you Jesus! It is always interesting watching all the different people coming and going. Most of the people ride this same bus everyday. 

And we're still singing when the evening comes.
Bless the Lord

Good Morning Tuesday! And what a sky! Clear and cool! No clouds, no dust all just limitless sky.

Until you look to the right, the sun is now sharing the sky with Venus, the moon and a star name Spica. A beautiful show, thank you God for all the wonders you have created.  And of course for another day.

What a way to start the day!

Buena Vista is where I spent Tuesday. We were working to complete some small projects and getting ready for the new ones.
They did a nice job! All items that they can sell.

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We have a young lady in LosTambos who does some very pretty embroidery. Her younger brother draws the pictures and she does the embroidery. They are a good team.   I think I will be bringing some of them back to sell for her. 

The sun coming up over the Iguana River. On our way to immigration in Belmopan this morning.

We have been here long enough that we had to have our passports stamped for another 30 days. Time is going fast.

We would like to say for all of our friends who are enduring this Polar Vortex........please be save and stay warm.

Our day started with measuring the children for uniforms.

We had 113 children, 3 babies, 7 women sewing and 1 teacher. It was a wild morning!

We took a quick trip down the road to get some water from 

Mr. Pedro. He is really a great guy! He not only carries the basics......... and any kind of candy or chip you could want but he also has school supplies for the children. They have hot lunches and an area where kids can sit and have their breakfast. He and his wife do a very good job of looking after all the children of the village.  Joe helped Mr. Pedro build the main building last year. 

Mr. Pedro has already added on several times.  

When the ladder started to move Rose thought it might be a good time to hold it steady. I think Joe forgets how far we are from medical help. 

Tree trimming services are do it yourself in Los Tambos.  

 The blocks were the sewing project for the day.  Always practicing the cutting and sewing. Each lady made 3. Needless to say we had a lot of fun both during and after they were made. They are nice to use to play catch and bounce off of someone's head. The kids love them even though they were meant for the babies.

 This little guy is worn out from a busy day but he made sure he had the blocks with him before he checked out.

Tomorrow will be in Buena Vista making more blocks. 

Last week I asked for prayers for Christopher one of the children in Buena Vista. I am happy to report he is doing well and is back at sewing classes making as much noise as ever.