Mennonites in Belize

Smoke and dust over Lagoon Valley, western Spanish Lookout. A friend of ours recently encountered a brief snowfall as she travelled across western Canada, and posted it on her story. Typical of us humans, we watched, wished and jokingly wondered among ourselves that perhaps snow could be packaged and shipped in containers overseas since it appears that somewhere along the line, the weather forgot that the Mennonite crop farmers in Spanish Lookout confidently expect rain by the 21st of May. We are now on the eve of the 26th and still no sign of the usual thunderstorms. Instead, a yellowish haze caused by the smoke from uncontrolled burnings coupled with a layer of Saharan dust (yes, dust all the way from Africa) hangs above our heads night and day. Daytime temperatures remain over 95° for most of the day, rising as high as 108° sometimes. Rolling Hills, Spanish Lookout Behind Duck Run 2   My nieces developed a respiratory infection due to the smoke and dust. I’m sure they’...

A church building in Upper Barton Creek     Smoke covered the hills and white dust floated around and over us as I assisted some church friends in Upper Barton Creek in  moving from a rented house to their very own home. I chatted with Mr. Harms, who hails from Canada and is one of several conservative families moving into the area, about the warm weather. His comments shook me.   He and his family wanted to live in a warm country. I repeated the statement, thinking to myself, And here I am, wishing I lived in the Yukon or in the Alps. It was a new thought, sort of, to realize that there are individuals to whom 42°C is a blessing. (For the record, I have experienced -30°C while working in Canada, and nearly lost my toes in the process but even then I would take snow over sweltering hot weather anytime.) An antiquated farm implement   I greeted Mr Harder, the elderly gentleman who runs the fruit nursery and who is one of the few remaining members of...

Mountain View Church on the eastern edge of Spanish Lookout, close to San Marcos village.      Never ask a Mennonite from any of the modern churches about the Kleine Gemeinde church. Suddenly their expressions change, or they shrug their shoulders, or appear uninterested, or will begin to deride them, seemingly ignoring the fact that it was the Kleine Gemeinde Mennonites who founded Spanish Lookout and lost lives and limbs as they transformed a trackless jungle into a peaceful, prosperous, disciplined community for their descendants. Those descendants, while appreciating their forefathers’ toil and tears, now regard the “old” religion in contempt, the same religion which laid the cornerstone for the orderly community they now enjoy.   Such was the case when I unthinkingly asked several individuals in Spanish Lookout regarding the new Kleine Gemeinde church building on Bee Avenue. I should have known better. Their replies were a mixture of scorn and derision. A...