Greetings friends, family, relatives, brothers and sisters in Christ!

After many computer problems, I am finally able to email my monthly E-newsletter. I have a lot to report, so sit back, relax, and read what has been happening in Belize since I last wrote.

God continues to work small miracles all around me each and every day. Just when I thought my students were not learning anything Jamie walks up to me with snack in hand, and says, "Open this for me please". We have been working on this phrase for some time now, and I was just about to give up until she said it all by herself with no prompting from me. Since then, several other students have learned that in order for me to open anything for them, they must come to me with this phrase rather than something in Spanish. They are also quickly learning "please" and "thank you." We have so far learned ten songs in English including "Jesus Loves Me." And believe me, my students make me sing each and every one of them every day. They also enjoy doing the hokey pokey -- a lot.

I want to take a few minutes and tell you about one little girl in my class named Damaris, [da-ma-`rees]. Even though she is quite young to be starting Pre-school, she is in my class every day with her uniform on ready to go. Damaris had been coming to school about five weeks with absolutely no progress whatsoever. She wasn't singing with the class, she couldn't sit still to listen to a story; she would never say anything to me when I asked her questions. I was going to have a conference with her parents and the principal about holding her out of the Beginner's class for one more year until one day on the playground, I was standing holding my umbrella to shade my fair skin from the sun when I heard "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

I looked around to see which of the children had finally learned all the words to this song, and I couldn't find the mouth uttering those sweet words until I looked up on the jungle gym and there was Damaris singing at the top of her lungs just as sweetly as can be. When my eyes met hers, she beamed. She smiled so big I thought her teeth would fall out of her little mouth. She looked at me for approval, and I nodded in her direction trying to hold back the tears that were fighting their way to the surface of my eyelids. I thought I could get away with looking away or going over to another child who needed a push on the swings, but no. She said, "Vamos a cantar toda la cancion, Teacher." (Let's sing the whole song, teacher.) She made her way down the steep ladder of the jungle gym to where I was standing, and together we sang "Jesus Loves Me" with all the motions. Damaris is just one child out of sixteen in my class, but God sent me for her.

A few weeks ago, I was having an especially hard day. I woke up late and almost missed the bus, my students were behaving very badly, Nicole was getting on my nerves, you name it. While I was at school that day, I was questioning if God really did send me here to Belize or was it just that I wanted to come so badly. And, if God did send me here, why? Self-doubt was beating my door down as well. Around 11 that day, a child came running in my direction and told me in very broken English that someone got hurt on the playground. When I looked outside, Kayla, a 7 year old, was walking with the help of three other students toward me with blood running down her face and out of her nose. Without thinking of who was with my students, I took Kayla to the library where we kept our first aid kit. While she tried to hold back the sob that wanted to escape from her mouth, I tried my best to fix her bloody nose and the gash on her forehead that caused all the bleeding. After I had stopped the bleeding, Ruben took Kayla to the Presbyterian Medical clinic in Patchacan village and I went on with the rest of my day.

Around 3:30 I realized no one had gone to Patchacan to pick Kayla up from the clinic, so I took our principal's car and went to get her. When I arrived at the clinic, Kayla was sitting behind one of the desks on a stool waiting for us to come get her. She had received two stitches and looked to be in good spirits. She had even been given a brave bag that is only given to the most brave children who come to the clinic. On our way out to the car, Kayla gave me a button from her brave bag that says, "Jesus loves me." I was touched that she shared with me something she had gotten for being good while at the doctor. Kayla, like most of the children at my school and in my village, doesn't have much and hardly ever receives a gift from anyone, much less a doctor she hardly knows. When we got back to school, my roommate, Nicole was there waiting to pick me up to go home. We took Kayla in the truck with us because she lives in our village and there was no other way for her to get home. On the way home, Kayla started playing with the button she was wearing from her brave bag. Then, she asked me to take it off. She turned to Nicole and gave her the other button from her bag. Kayla may not have much, but she gives what she can.

Recently I have been struggling with culture shock and its effect on my life, and because I knew nothing about it, the last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. Apparently, the honeymoon stage was over in mid-October and I fell deeply into the homesickness stage. When I first got to Belize and began teaching, everything was exciting and new. All around me, new things to learn, new people to form relationships with, new places to explore. It was around the fifteenth of October when I realized that the fun was over and it was really time to work.

It was also around this time that I realized I wasn't going home for Christmas, which made the entire situation much worse. At the time, I couldn't imagine spending the holidays without my family and friends, but God has been working in me, and He has done marvelous things. He brought me down to where the only thing I could do was to pray to Him for strength to get out of bed every day to go to work. He made me completely dependent on Him only to make me realize that it is throughout life that we are to be completely dependent on Him with everything we do and say. In Philippians 4:6 Paul tells us that everything we do should be done through prayer and thanksgiving to God. Through this devotion to the God who created us in His image, He renews us daily spiritually, mentally, and physically. As God worked in my life I pray that He also works in yours. My prayer for you is that you allow God to work in your heart for His glory, not yours.

Prayer Requests:

1. Pray for me as I come to terms with what culture shock is and why I am dealing with it and that my homesickness will not affect my work, and that it will be short-lived. It is very hard to be away from family and friends at a time when I need to be around people that love me.

2. Pray that our move to the new house in the next two weeks will go smoothly with no major problems. We will try to move some books and other things this weekend, but we will not be able to move in ourselves until the burglar bars are on the house.

3. Pray for the students and the families of students in my class. Pray that they are able to see Christ's love for them through me. Pray that even though there is a language barrier, we come to understand each other and together work for what is best for each child in my class.

4. Pray for the teachers at Concepcion School: Mr. Vallejos, Mr. Ruis, Mr. Che, Mr. Lizaraga, Mrs. Ku, Miss Castaneda, Mrs. Balan, Mrs. Torez, Mrs. Mendez, our principal. Pray that we keep our focus on God and not so much on the academics of teaching. Pray that we really have a heart for the children in our classes. Pray that our children will come to know Christ through our actions, words, smiles, and hugs.

Click here to check out new pictures added to my webpage this week!

Thank you so much to my pledge supporters. Please don't forget to send in your support for this month to the following address: MTW Donations, PO Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284. To send in a one-time gift, just put my name and account number, 018204, on a check and mail to the above address.

Ways to get in touch with me:

Email: mkwyatt@belizemail.net

Mail: Kate Wyatt
PO Box 232
Corozal Town, Corozal
Belize, Central America

Website: www.stmatts.thediocese.net

Phone: 011-501-423-3351
*if you dial 10-10-220 before my phone number it will only cost you $.39 per minnute. The best times to call are after church on Sundays and any weeknight between 8 and 11 your time. It is really expensive for me to call the states, about $1.40 per minute, so I won't be making too many phone calls home!

I love you all and wish you the best in whatever God throws your way!

Love, Kate ><>

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