The past few months have been a whirlwind for us. On Feb 5, Ron and Cindy Johnson arrived to help us once again. They were here for two weeks and many projects big and small were tackled.  We have been wanting to raise laying hens and Ron was able to build us a mobile chicken coop. It is very sturdy, and we can pull it around with our pickup truck.  This way we can easily move the chickens to new grazing areas. We have 16 hens now and plenty of eggs! He also fixed the overhang on the shop and reinstalled the gutters so that we can collect rainwater in the tanker truck.

On Feb 17th, the driving team arrived at the northern Belize border. The trucks had to spend the weekend in customs, but the drivers came here.  They had traveled from CMTS, PA with a tractor trailer and a flatbed dump truck pulling a trailer. On Monday, the trucks were released from customs and came here.  We spent the week unloading the tractor-trailer and truck.  A lot of stuff came into the house and onto the porch to keep it dry until we could sort it out.

Then we needed to get sleeping quarters ready for the team that was flying down March 2nd.  It was during this week that Andy accidentally exploded the gas oven in our stove.  Praise the Lord, he was not hurt but it did damage two cabinet doors and burn the hair off his arms. The team of six that came from Pennsylvania did a great job.  They fixed the cabinet doors, re-leveled my stove 🙂 and helped organized things in the shop and put away the new items. The only woman, Janey Darrow, helped Nancy in the house with the cooking and dishwashing, plus she gardened and helped sort things from the shipment.  Andy’s brother, Chris, came with the team and it was so good to have him here!  He fixed the backhoe and did a very challenging repair on our Ford minibus.

We are learning about chickens and growing organic vegetables here in the tropics. We hope to be able to share what we learn with others.  It also helps with the food bill.  We are learning about the old-order Mennonites and the bondage that they live under.

A Mennonite man, named Corny Guenther has come to stay with us.  He struggles with alcohol addiction and wants to stay here and be strengthened in his walk with Christ and hopes to be reconciled with his family who have been shunning him.

The Tuesday morning prayer breakfast, has moved to a new location.  The men like the space much better. It has been very encouraging to see the men growing in their prayer time. There are many hurting people in the community that they pray for.

The end of march, Nancy made a 4 week trip up to the states.  There was a memorial service for her uncle, she wanted to attend.  She also needed to file our taxes and to see her doctors.  The dermatologist removed some spots and biopsied two places, which have turned out to be benign.  Praise the Lord!  New eyeglasses were needed too!  The most important part of her trip was spending time with family, which brings her great joy!

In January, we filled out our application and gathered the necessary documents needed for a Permanent Residency Card here in Belize.   Twice we went to the Department of Immigration to apply and both times they would not take it for various frivolous reasons. It seemed like they did not want to help us. I then realized that they were changing the system to computer-generated appointments. The earliest appointment we could get was May 10th.  So, our application is now in the system.  We must return to the Capitol on the 18th for individual interviews with an immigration agent.  Following that step, we will be called into the Police Department for interviews there also.  Then we must wait for them to process it all. (Anywhere from 6 to 33 months according to Google) This card will eliminate the need for us to renew our tourist visas @ $100 every month.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Corny Guenther, gaining a strong walk with the Lord.
• Many families hurting because of a suicide in a nearby community
• Wisdom dealing with people in Spiritual bondage
• More help developing the ministry in Belize
• Praise for the acceptance of our Residency application at immigration.  Pray that our interviews will go well and that the paperwork process goes quickly & smoothly!

May the Lord bless as you walk with Him,

Andy & Nancy Merrick