Mennonites in Belize

  The Kleine Gemeinde mission school ground in Duck Run 1, southwest of Spanish Lookout.  It’s that time of the year again, when we commence our search for a school in which to enroll our children. Homeschooling required many sacrifices and I thoroughly enjoyed those days when I would be home since teaching school has been one of my greatest joys; it’s the only way that I can pass on my love of mathematics, archaeology, geology and astronomy. Do not get me started in astronomy but thankfully now my two oldest are of an age when they can understand the basics, all with a God-centered view of course. I often hold long one-sided conversations with them about galaxies, comets, asteroids, super giant stars, etc., conversations which are impossible with my other half who usually falls asleep listening to my celestial observations.   Certainly it has been an enjoyable year but with a new family member about to arrive in a few weeks, we realized the strain would be too much, hence our search

      By far one of the best articles I have ever read on "how to save the earth" appeared in my feed recently, and I was duly impressed by the author's wise and biblical viewpoint of global warming and her common sense approach towards the climate change "crisis" that many conservative Christians find themselves facing nowadays. I had been working on a similar article on that subject myself, gathering opinions from various Mennonite individuals throughout Belize and might publish it sometime later this year. As our family continues to grow and we are bombarded with ridicule, disbelief, and pressure--mostly from the younger generation--from without at the size of our family (another little one will arrive in a few weeks) such an article is certainly very refreshing and inspiring. Click the link below to read the article: How to Save the Earth View Blog Mennonite News                                                                                                

     The morning was actually chilly, which was rather odd for a tropical Easter Sunday. Usually the Easter holidays are known as a hot, dry, dusty weekend but this year was an exception. Cloudy skies, a pleasant wind blowing for three days.   We hastily dressed our children appropriately then headed towards the Ford Ranger. The time was 5AM. Indeed. The Mendoza family was about to experience our first ever sunrise Easter Sunday service at a conservative Mennonite church. Our children were bewildered at the unusually early church service. Couldn’t blame them. I was too.   But it was an enjoyable and spiritually refreshing moment, to hear traditional hymns concerning the resurrection and to watch the sun breaking up the low morning clouds and casting its brilliant rays over the congregation after hiding behind a blanket of clouds for the last three days. A solemn hush settled over the seated crowd as the sun finally burst free and became a dazzling yellow globe.   One of the best East

     When I heard of Hannah Prosser’s book, Beat: My Journey Through Abuse and the Holdeman Mennonites , I initially doubted. Not because the Holdeman Mennonites are so righteous that they wouldn’t do something like that, not because it was simply an ex-Holdeman venting her anger, but at the amount of abuse hurled at her and her claim that the church ministers refused to take any decisive action. As time went by and I listened to her testimony online, I became more convinced of the veracity of her testimony, though I was fully aware that it was more of an isolated incident and not a normal occurrence in Holdeman Mennonite circles. Or so I thought. Yet when I heard that a similar situation had occurred in a Holdeman church in Belize, I was aghast and incredulous.   An adult person, well over 20 years old, was severely beaten by the father, and on top of that injustice was told to leave the home. Can you imagine? And all because the person was dating , a forbidden practice among Holde

    Before the crowd arrived After an exhausting day greeting several thousand people, what better way to relax than to lay on the white sandy beach, with coconut leaves whispering overhead, sipping a cool drink and listening to the soft hissing of waves on the sand and forget about Mennonites in general and customers in particular? At least, that was my goal. Reality hit hard although I should have known better.   The beach was not crowded at first, but it was certainly flowing with more than just salt water. Bottles of beer decorated the various wooden tables; blue tobacco smoke wafted here and there.    As the afternoon wore on the crowd became thicker and I restless. Our children enjoyed the water and sand thoroughly but we parents soon realized we had arrived at the wrong beach or simply the wrong time of day. More bucketfuls of beer materialized under the coconut trees; cursing and swearing was the norm. Some of the swimmers arriving reminded me of the native Amazon Indians in

     Early Saturday morning, under the new roof on the north The 2024 Spanish Lookout Business Expo (March 15 & 16) is finally history, all the more so due to the fact that more than 45,000 people were present, nearly double the amount from 2022 or in other words about 10% of the country’s population. The community of Spanish Lookout carried out several preparatory works; upgrading roads, building a new roof at Countryside Park, and in employing traffic control and clean-up personnel from the surrounding communities.   Although alcoholic drinks and tobacco were prohibited, I noticed more than one male visitor with Yeti and Contigo coffee cups in their hands. Who drinks coffee at 12pm in 95°+ weather? And they weren’t sipping it either. One customer with a suspicious odor emanating from him greeted me affectionately, cheerfully spoke about 7 different subjects in less than 2 minutes, and ambled along happily discussing politics with himself. Under the trees in a remote corner an O

                The Lopes family.                The Petkau family                          The above families are currently undergoing a time of deep grief due to the loss of loved ones, victims of an unimaginable shooting that occurred in Belmopan on Tuesday, March 12. A GoFundMe page has been opened to assist the families with ongoing medical and therapy costs. Click on the link below to donate: Fundraiser for Petkau and Lopes Families To read the story, click here: Shooting in Belmopan                                         A. Mendoza