Scorpions!

Scorpions, scorpions... Thank God I did not know they actually exist on San Pedro, until recently... A cute little story to say the least...I think God has protected us once again. The little apartment we live in is owned by a woman named Mrs. Villanueva. She has many businesses all over San Pedro and Belize and also owns a distributing company. She comes to San Pedro only once a month and stays just one night to collect from those she's distributing goods to. We had the privilege of spending a night with her and her daughter last week. She's such a sweet woman. And is so generous to just give us her apartment to live in for free. She was very concerned for our protection the whole time she was here and just wanted to make sure we were safe. The last thing she told me as she was leaving was, "Courtney, whatever you do NEVER take the drain cover off the floor of the bathtub." I proceeded to ask why, and she explained that when the water goes on and down the drain, it attracts scorpions. She went on to tell me a story about her nephew taking a shower and up the drain comes scorpions and he jumped out screaming... I just about stopped breathing, since our whole first month here we did not have a drain cover and Ann went out and bought one just the day before Mrs. Villanueva arrived! When I told her this, she just started laughing and said "oh my goodness, God is protecting you, I can't believe no scorpions came up this whole time!" Mind you, Alison and I have both even stuck our hand down this drain to clean it!!! Needless to say I have dreams now of scorpions coming into the house through our shower. The drain cover has not been removed since! If you click on Ali's mission website under missionary links, she has a nice picture of what a scorpion looks like if anyone's interested!

As far as other things are concerned, this past week I have been spending a lot of time preparing for Confirmation. There are over a hundred standard 5 (12 year olds)students right now interested in getting confirmed. The kickoff meeting is this Tuesday night from 5:30 - 6:30 PM for everyone as well as their parents. Please keep this in your prayers as I prepare to explain to them the importance of confirmation and all that it entails. We are hoping to have an all-day kickoff retreat on Sunday November 13th and classes start that very week. Please pray that the Lord really prepares their hearts to receive His Truth. Not only that he prepares their hearts for a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but that they become witnesses for their entire family as well!