God Answered

Praise the Lord, we found someone coming down in a couple weeks thats very happy to bring the radio mixer board down.

The mixer board controls everything from the computerized system and without a mixerboard you can't broadcast. So very critical to running the radio.

God works out all things according to His good.

This radio station isn't just one in a town- it covers ALL of Belize and over the borders into Guatemala and Mexico.

Plus people can listen from anywhere in the world by going to the faithfm website.

God is Good!

Needed! Radio Mixer Board!

The radio mixer board failed yesterday and Faithfm needs a new one.

IS there anyone coming to Belize from the states or would someone be willing to donate the shipping funds to get it here from the US.

Junior said his sister in Texas has already got one for him but its a matter of getting it here. The sooner the better. Please go to www.faithfmbelize.com and you can contact Junior & Addy about this or make a donation designated for the mixer shipping.



To Mom & Dad

Happy 40th Anniversary!

We all hope that you have a special anniversary this year.......sorry to miss such a milestone!

Our prayer for you is that God will draw you nearer to each other and Him in the coming year.

Love and Miss You,

Chris, Abi, Mat, Hannah, & Bella



~Sabbath Reflection~

What Is It We're Looking For

 So often we try to fill the void
With what the world provides
In hope that we will find contentment
For our dreary, empty lives
But listen my friend it's only temporary
And is like chasing the wind
The things of the world simply won't fulfil
The unhappiness we have within

We mustn't look for our fulfilment
In pleasures that won't satisfy
For we can never fulfil what's lacking
Unless Christ comes inside
For God has created us to need Him
And fills us with His love
So we won't need more worldly things
Nor crave for ungodly stuff

We need to stop and ask ourselves
What is it we're looking for?
And can we truly be fulfilled
If we don't allow the Lord
To come inside and bring the change
That's needed in our lives
So we will find that true happiness
Is only found in Christ

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. John 15:4

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26   

Market Morning

I try to get to the market Friday morning by 6am.....because all the farmers are there at that time and everything is cheaper.

The photo below is of one of the little regular stands that sells all week long.



Rollin' Along!

I was walking back home from the radio station this afternoon when I happened upon these little creatures!

~DUNG BEETLES~

I was amazed at how coordinated they were and totally worked together. So funny to watch these little guys. If they came upon an obstacle one of them would leave the dung ball and go scout to find the best path. 



worship

We had a very nice worship together last night with Pastor Lewis leading out. He is leaving today to head back to California.



Beautiful Days and Normal Routine

The past few days have been beautiful!

Blue skies and sunshine all day with a nice breeze, well at least a breeze at my house.

Crystal clear skies at night with lots of stars shining. Last night I finally found the Big Dipper at 11pm right off my veranda, right in front of my face!

Yesterday, I had so many song requests on praise time that I could hardly squeeze them all in. Several phone calls came in, instead of the usual texts.

People praising God even though their circumstances aren't the best. Asking for prayer and letting us know that they pray for us daily! What a blessing to receive!

The past couple days have been filled with catching up on housekeeping duties and washing lots of laundry. Yesterday my loads were dry in 15 minutes.

Today we will visit with Pastor Lewis a little more, he is leaving tomorrow. I am also working on a new power point for the radio station that needs to be sent to a Doctor in the states. Please continue to pray for the radio, it is God's gift to the Belizean people and beyond to teach them and spread the word of God.

I took the dogs for a walk last night because I finally have a small route with hardly any stray dogs...but we always have to carry rocks just in case.

Mindy and Rio just strut along and love getting to go!

Yesterday the girls made banana bread with Gen & Jun Jun while I was at the radio. Turned out mighty good.

Poor JunJun cut down a poison tree at the mission building property last Friday......so I have been treating him for the last several days. His face is swollen bad especially around the eyes. He has rash on his arms and side and back.

I had pastor Bill go and collect the bark from the Gumbo Limbo tree because that is the antidote to the poison tree. You can rub the raw bark on your skin or boil it down for a while. So we did both, he was well enough to go to school today.

I researched and found that if you rub your skin down with the gumbolimbo tree first when you cut the poison tree you won't get the rash!

I'm finding that for most jungle problems there is an antidote close by.

Well God Bless and I will get some more photos posted this week.

More Radio Anniversary

Addy & Junior Borland

Picture from the top steps of mission bld. looking down on the tents.

Yoelvis Lunar singing special music.

He is from Cuba and is the music teacher at Eden SDA school.

Jose & Linda from Chetumal prepared 700 balloons with a special text and note inside each one, that everyone let go at the same time.

Kind of neat watching them all climb into the sky and float away. We hope that they will fall into someones hands that needs spiritual uplifting. It has the radio contact info so will be neat to see who finds them.

Sister Marta, my neighbor singing special music

Our accompaniament department. Piano, guitar, & bass guitar. Here they sit at the back not up front.

Special visitors yesterday for the meeting, unfortunately, with the meeting and all my previous commitments to help I didn't hardly get to see them! Wish they'd come when nothing was going on.

~I Surrender All~

The beautiful theme of the Faith FM Radio 13th anniversary program.

Wow! The Holy Spirit is being poured out to God's people here. Such a deep spiritual meeting with much prayer and bible study into deception.

How God's people are being deceived so easily these days and we don't realize it because we aren't truly surrendering our hearts to Him so that we can discern between truth and deception.

 Stay tuned for more info on the anniversary!

Pastor Bill, Mathew, and Henry unloading a truck full of church pews to put under the tent. The roof of our house is off to the left of the truck.

The Faith FM anniversary theme banner.

Our family at the meeting tonight.

Jose (left) & Linda (siblings) sing the Faith FM theme song and for this anniversary they had it translated into English for the first time. The song is beautiful in Spanish and it was nice to know what it all means. Lucas in the center helps to translate into English.

Pastor Lewis on the right and the interpreter on the left. I know that my heart has been convicted tonight of issues that I didn't even think I had. Praise the Lord that he is patient, loving, & forgiving with us.

Happy Sabbath to all!









13th Anniversary!!!

I have been without internet for a while. So could not update about this week.

I have been busy busy busy!

Everyone has been going non stop all week.

Pastor Lewis, from Present Truth ministry in CA arrived here Wednesday and let me tell you the Holy Spirit is at work!

We have had some very powerful radio programs with Addy, Jr., Pastor Lewis, Chris, & I. He had us share what we spiritually hope to gain from these meetings and group prayer over the radio that was not planned at all. But God works wonders and we all talked and prayed like it was practiced. God is great!

Our first meeting is getting ready to begin and I need to go....but will keep adding as the weekend progresses.

~half full or half empty~

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

Romans 8:28 

Consider King David. When he faced Goliath, do you think he was an optimist--a glass-half-full sort of person? Or was he a glass-half-empty pessimistic sort?

It seems to me he was neither. In David’s familiar Psalm we read, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over” (23:5).

When David faced the giant, he undoubtedly took inventory of his resources. With David’s size and what he had in hand, most of us may have quickly assessed the glass half-full--or less.

But David did not consider only what was in his hand, but also Who he knew in his heart. As David factored God into the equation, the glass was not half-empty or half-full, but overflowing.
We so very often approach decisions and situations with our measuring cup in hand; limiting ourselves to what we have and what we can do.

But with God, all things are possible indeed. There is no measuring cup that can contain His resources. And there is no limit to the mountains He can move through those, who when trusting Him, clearly see the glass as overflowing.



Baby Shower

Last evening we had a little baby shower for Stephanie and baby Alyssa Grace.

Yes, they finally gave her a middle name 2 days ago. Isabel is thrilled because thats her middle name too.

We had cake, finger sandwiches, fruit salad, cookies, & juice.

We played a few games and Stephanie opened her gifts.

I was so glad that I took the time right before we came here to stop and get a baby gift in Seattle. The choices down here are very limited and expensive.

Addy, Grandma & I all worked together to put it on and we had it at Stephanie's house since she already had the baby.

I made a cake that looked like a baby carriage, and wouldn't you know the day that I'm icing it turns out to be the hottest day we've had in months!!

So needless to say after several trips to the freezer and refrigerator the cake was done and the icing was already starting to slide off. I did manage to get a picture of it before it all sort of melted. Today is nice and cool so far but I bet we are in for a warm day again.

We all had a nice time at the shower and little Jakob sure enjoyed entertaining us all. Stephanie's mom is here for the next couple months to help her out with the kids.

Baby Alyssa slept through the entire event with us ladies making noise and Jakob playing with his toys.



Gray Hairs & Pinched Nerves

Sounds like a book title, huh?

Well, its just my aches and aging!

My daughter has found several gray hairs on my head which has sparked a bit of worry in me!

 Am I aging too fast?

Will I look old sooner than I should?

Then I consoled myself with the fact that its probably the bad Belize water causing it, right?

Well, we shall see.

Once again I am battling a horrible pinched nerve in my back and can't seem to think of how I may have caused it?

 I've come to the conclusion that I really don't have to do anything. The pain is terrible and it keeps me from doing common tasks of the day.

History has taught me though that usually a few days of trying to take care of it should subside some of the pain.

This seems like a video clip that just keeps repeating and I can never seem to get past it.

There is one chiropractor out in Spanish Lookout, I'm seriously starting to contemplate going there. But a deep seeded fear of 3rd world chiropractors has kept me away.

I will keep praying that my back will feel better and about those gray hairs, I'm sure what to say about those!

Youth for Jesus

A few weeks ago I made a post about going out to a ranch along the river to see a women. I believe that I shared how her husband won't let her come to church but he consented that we could come have vespers with her. We never knew that while we were there another set of eyes were upon us. Their youngest son watched us from a distance but we had no idea. Well, the husband still hasn't let the wife come to church but he allows her to listen to faithfm.

Last Friday afternoon Addy received a phone call from their son, Henry. He asked if someone could come and pick him up for church. So last Sabbath Henry and his friend Juvoni came to church with us.

He shared how his father gave him great trouble over this and made threats but Henry remained strong and determined to go to church, not knowing what he would come home to. He had Sabbath meal with us and Addy prayed a nice prayer for him.

So this Friday, another phone call to come and pick him up, Praise the Lord! We have been praying for his family, especially his father.

Henry is in the center, turned 20 today. His friend Juvoni is on the right and he speaks spanish. Bobbi is on the left and he turned 16 yesterday. Lucky for them we had a nice cake with Sabbath meal today.

Just another instance where the radio station is reaching souls that would otherwise be left untouched because of his father and living far out in the country.



Faithfm

I just wanted to give an update of the Faithfm Radio ministry here is Belize.

This January 2012 marks the 13th anniversary for Faithfm radio station. The radio has continued to grow each year and its reach not only covers most of Belize but also parts of Mexico and Guatemala.

I am volunteering at the radio a few days a week and I can't tell you how much I'm blessed to be doing so.

I have learned to run the radio and to air programs but also I do praises live on the radio where I share bible texts and devotions along with callers requesting their favorite songs. I had heard what an impact the radio had been but just since we arrived here in September many people have called the radio and said they gave their heart to Jesus because of finding the faithfm station. Most of these people have been baptized into the Adventist church in their area. I have had some of the nicest text messages come through during praise time too. People encouraging me, or saying I played just the song that touched them, or saying thank you for the devotions it was just what they needed to hear.

Friends my eyes have been opened to how huge this ministry is.......I have been so touched in the last few months I can only imagine all the souls won for Christ's kingdom through Addy & Junior's faithful stewardship of this ministry. Every day they are ministering to souls that listen, stop by, write them, email them, or call them......their work is never done. Jesus shines through them in their gentle, kind, happy manner. They are always happy to be doing what they are and consider it a great blessing and privilege. Oh, the stars that will be in their crowns when we get to heaven.

Friends, I would like to share with you some of the goals and needs for faithfm this coming year of 2012. A couple months ago a gentleman from the U.S. donated 6 solar panels to the radio. Junior immediately got them assembled and everything hooked up to get it all going. What a blessing it has been!

Junior used to have to take a drum of diesel up every week, a cost of $500 Belize or $250 US to keep the generator running to keep the Pine Ridge Repeater station going. Now with just the 6 panels he only has to take up a drum of diesel every 2 weeks. So this has been a huge blessing cost wise.

The last Repeater that needs to get up and running is the one down in Punta Gorda. Junior has taken many many trips south to work on this and finally they have electricity there. But there are some problems getting the signal and such so they are not able to get it running yet. Please pray that this will be solved so that the many villages in that area can be reached.

Faithfm has a goal of obtaining 10 more solar panels and a new transmitter. The gentleman that already donated the first 6 panels has agreed to sell Junior what he needs for $257 US for each one. Originally, they each cost over $500US, so the man is once again being very generous. Junior would like to be able to switch to all solar up at Pine Ridge and just have the generator for emergent back up. That would really reduce costs of running the radio station.

A new transmitter has to come from the US as well and that is very expensive, around $3500US. A transmitter is essential to getting the signal out and the radio desperately needs to have a back up one in case a transmitter in use ever fails.

This last goal is especially on my heart for the radio station-people always want the radio to have copies of the programs they have aired to listen to because they want to share or they missed the original program. Faithfm does their best to accomodate this but can only burn 1 dvd or audio cd at a time on their computer. I would really like to see them able to get a multi disc burner so they can burn off 10-11 discs or more at one time. Many listeners make these requests but they aren't able to fulfill like they would like to. A multi disc burner cost would start at $700-800US for a 10 disc burner.

Please pray for Faithfm and if God impresses your hearts to give please go to www.faithfmbelize.com and there you can make contact with Addy & Junior or donate right over the internet through paypal. You of course are always welcome to email me any questions you might have.

Please pray for the 13th annivesary program that will be January 20th & 21st here in Santa Elena, Belize featuring Pastor Stephen D. Lewis from California.

God Bless you,

Your family in Christ

Baby Name

Well, they have decided on a first name-

~Alyssa~

No middle name yet, though. I will post as soon as they officially give her one.

We just went up and saw her again....she is so tiny and cute.....lots of dark hair.



Baby Borland

Dennis & Stephanie's new baby girl arrived this morning at 3:45am weighing in at 7lbs 10oz.

Dennis called us a 1am and said her water broke and he needed to go get his monitor equipment and would Chris come sit with Stephanie until he got back?

So Chris went up and stayed until Dennis got back but Stephanie was having every 2 minute contractions. Well, Chris got back home at 2:20am and Dennis took Stephanie to the clinic. She had that baby fast!!

I don't know how long she is or what they will name her, because I don't think they had really decided on a name yet.

Her original due date was Jan. 20 but it was moved to Jan. 12. Either way she still came early. I'm sure mommy is relieved to be done.

I will post more info as I know.......now we have Jakob to look after until they all come home from the clinic around noon.

King's New Years Party!

We had a very nice new year's!

Garth came out and picked us up and took our family out to the new orphanage site. Beryl had prepared some salads and the orphanage was bringing the rest of the food. Rich & Kris came too, so there were lots of people (kids).

They served rice & beans, turkey, stuffing, gravy, potato salad, & green salad. Followed by black cake (no chocolate here), white cake, cookies & ice cream. We didn't even get to the Belizean tamales or chips and cheese dip because we were so full. Some of the kids snacked on the chips and dip.

The women served all the kids and men and then we all jumped in and served ourselves. Of course we don't eat the turkey but the other food was good too. Our dogs and John's dog got in on the turkey and rice & beans that were left. They sure like that stuff.

A gentlemen (Toby) comes every year for christmas and new years and buys lots of big fireworks. He had come for the last 12 years. This year he spent a lot of these huge fireworks and some big dynamite blocks (those were just loud). The ones they shot off in the air were nice, of course not like the big ones back home but still it was nice.

Next, they had 2 huge pinata's filled with candy, cookies, chips, etc. I have never seen such a brawl when they knocked it down. Kids were lying on each other and wrestling to get the most candy. Lots of fun there!

Last to close out the evening Leonie called each child in by themselves and gave them each a gift. These are donated shoe box gifts that have toys, flip flops, toothpaste, toothbrush, wash cloth, soap & shampoo, candy, gum, t-shirts, etc..  So the kids all had a really good time.

We had a good time too just really busy with all the orphanage kids there. Oh, it was raining off and on the whole time so we had to crowd in the volunteer house breezeway or out under tarps where we ate. The rain didn't damper the fun any.

I personally had my knee and ankle twisted really bad by John's exuberant 8 month old dog thats half rotti & half doberman. Not mean at all just a BIG pup. That hurt and still does, next I stepped on a nail and my foot was bleeding and hurt the rest of the night. The same foot the dog hurt. But my other foot was attacked by a horde of fire ants in the dark that I didn't see. So even though I had a few mishaps I did have fun.

The kids loaded on the bus and left around midnight so we didn't crash until late too. We enjoyed our time there.