Mennonites in Belize

    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 ...

     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...

                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

A smooth, hardpacked caliche road after it has been sprayed with oil.   Most of the dirt roads in Spanish Lookout are wider and in better condition than some of the main "highways" in Belize.    You have heard of soybean oil being used for various purposes, but did you know that in Spanish Lookout it can also be used to facilitate the flow of traffic? By simply spraying it on the surface of a properly prepared dirt road. The cost-effective and health-safe oil soaks into the dirt for an inch or two, forming a binder that keeps the dust down, creates a much smoother drive, protects the roadside plants from pollution and most importantly protects riders from the fine, choking, blinding, penetrating limestone dust so common to the rural roads of Belize. While the method is certainly not new nor is it by any means a long-term solution, it simply points out the fact that Mennonites are more than a step ahead of the government in their united approach to ensuring that thei...

     Is it really? Perhaps if we lived in a country where the population is mostly indigenous, we could say that of the Mennonites. But we don’t; we dwell in Belize, where many Belizeans share either the same or similar surname as some of the Mennonites.   A recent walk through the Spanish Lookout cemetery aroused an interest in Mennonite surnames and the fact that a few “Russian” Mennonite names sound similar to local Belizean names. For example the surname Peters. Yes, there are Creole families with that title who are completely unrelated to any Mennonite whatsoever. Another one is Schmidt or Schmitt; the Belizean version of Smith can be found among many residents of eastern Belize. Then there is Janzen (pronounced YAN’sen) and Braun with the Belizean version being Johnson and Brown. Not to mention Wall and Martens (Amish variation is Martin which is also a Belizean name). So the next time you read the news and see that a Jacob Peters was arrested in Orang...

     We received an invitation to attend the Central America pastor’s conference which was being hosted by the Schoenthal church in Spanish Lookout. The assembly consisted of conservative Mennonites from the Kleine Gemeinde and various Amish Mennonite groups from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.   We enjoyed the services; the speakers brought forth their topics in a very expressive manner, captivating the audience. Their preaching reminded me of the Holdeman ministers during revival meetings. Besides the minister’s voice, the most noticeable sound was coughing due to a flu virus circling the country. Dry coughs, wheezing coughs, raspy coughs, wet coughs.   Daytime gatherings were reserved for the ministers and deacons but the evening preaching services were open to the public.   Snacks were available before the service began. View Blog A. Mendoza

     The cemetery is by the old church, across the road from Farmer's Trading Center I wandered among the graves which had received an upgraded marker not too long ago, courtesy of the Spanish Lookout community. I was searching for a specific name at first but instead became absorbed in studying the names and the dates inscribed on the stone markers and was reminded anew at the futility of our ambitions and the longevity of our legacy.   I meditated on a grave dated 1910 to 1994. Was the person born in Canada or Mexico? Did she die peacefully knowing her lifelong goal was accomplished? Or did she on her deathbed utter a dying desire for one thing to be completed?   Certain graves surprised me. The names were “spanish”, most definitely not Mennonite while yet another grave bore an “English” name. But… but… I thought only Mennonites were buried in a Mennonite graveyard. Based on the dates which hailed from the 70’s and 80’s, these were most likely dur...