The misfit life of a missionary

"She will be introduced to the misfit life of a missionary." -Fr. M

Fr. M stated this after N, a girl visiting for the week, set out on her first day of volunteer work this morning. I thought it was the perfect definition for life as a volunteer in Benque.

It has been insanely busy for the past week and a half. I think I have turned into a cartoon character whose hair sticks on end and looks slightly twitchy. Although, I must say yesterday's day of rest was truly Heaven sent and has brought me back down to a cartoon character with normal hair and only a slightly crazed look.

Franciscan University came last week during their Spring break for a mission trip. They were wonderful and I spent a lot of time with them making sure that their stay was smooth and walked them through their schedule and a big youth night they had at the end of the week.

Most importantly, there is a fourth form retreat coming up that has been wild to plan. There have been cheers, frowns, gasps, support, opposition, excitement, smiles, and anything you could imagine. Basically, I need your prayers. The retreat is April 8th and 9th out here in Belize. I am basically in charge of it with a crew of other people---we are planning something very special but there has been a lot of resistance and headache in the process. Please pray hard for these amazing teenagers about to graduate. They may never go on another retreat in their lives and we want to leave them with something powerful. In order for a retreat to be truly amazing it always needs to rest on many prayers---that is why I'm asking you to please pray that this retreat reaches each heart that is there. Ask that it run smoothly, safely, and beautifully.

Thank you so much!

Takes the Silver

Second place! It was a fantastic tournament. We won our first game with a small struggle and went on to play in the finals against the national champions from last year. These guys were huge...there was one player that had to have been close to seven feet. They were great players and we struggled against their pitcher (who threw a mean fastball---especially for softball) but we were able to get a few hits by the end.

Some highlights from the last game:

One player, D, was on second and went to run to third then turned back to second, seeing that third base had the ball. Well he's heading back to second but the guy had left second base and now two of our players were side-by-side on the third base line and we were yelling, "RUN! RUN! Run! Go back! No not you! AhhhHhh!" But then we couldn't stop laughing because it was so ridiculous. Our players are not used to the rules of baseball/softball and it obviously proved to be a weak spot but it was so incredibly funny. D finally runs to third base, his helmet flopping around on his head. He slides into third and stands up, dusting dirt off of himself and looking up (the helmet was hanging over his eyes) with his goofy smile saying, "Am I safe?" (He was out).

G went up after sitting on the bench for many a game. He's taller and a little bigger than the other guys (most Belizian men/young men are rather small) and his shorts were a bit short. He laughs and says, "My boxers, Miss!" He went up to the plate and just laughed to himself and had a great grin on his face. I was so proud of him for hitting a foul off of the crazy, fast-pitcher!

A fabulous pop fly was hit into the outfield and our left fielder and center fielder ran backwards towards it. There was a strange field in the back part of the outfield and if the ball went in there, it was a fair ball and the players had to find the ball. A player could get a homerun because the outfielders might not be able to find the ball in the tall grass (!). Needless to say, we encouraged our guys to go after the ball as hard and fast as possible so we wouldn't lose the ball. So R and D are running out after it and BANG(!!), they collided with legs and arms in the air and at angles. It was a movie-collision.

JC went up to bat (he has been frustrated that he hasn't played much) and has a great hit off of the pitcher all our best players had great trouble with. He was so proud. He said to me on the bus, "Miss, you need to write about that on the internet." I told him I would write it on my blog.

We came in second place and I've never been so happy to come in second place before. It was as if we won a national tournament. We were running and yelling and showing off our medals. It was a moment I will never forget. Coach Brynne and I ran around the bases laughing and skipping because our kids got a trophy and medals (we even got some!). What a day to remember! :)