Finally I'm Posting! Warning-not for weak stomachs! by Denise

Well, here I am again. This time I hope to finish my post. This has been such an amazing experience with my girls, much more than I imagined it'd be. That first week, I was so thankful to have Erin Dietz here with us during all of our adjustments to a new culture and surroundings, and new school schedule right away. It felt strange, but wonderful, sitting in church where we didn't understand anything the pastor was saying.
So much has changed now! Utila is like a small town. Soon you get to know just about everyone! Pretty fun! It reminds me the small town life in Nebraska as a child, and in Justin, TX too, when Stephanie and Amanda were babies. The main street has shops and homes and booths with people selling food right on the edge of the street. Most shops and booths have doors open and are so tiny that you can say 'adios' every time you pass by. (they say 'adios' in passing here, not 'hi' like we do in the US) We feel 'at home' here with our new friends and routines. The good thing here is that you get to see your friends frequently since everyone is outside in the open. We'll REALLY miss that when we leave. The lady from the Post Office knows us too and told us on the street that our letters from Pompa (my dad) and Kristina had come, and the boxes from the Zachrys! Thanks for the mail and packages!! It was like Christmas!
The girls told you all about diving. I was hoping that if I had Stephanie sit in on all the classes that she'd want to try it. Yea! I am not fond of deep water, although I've enjoyed water skiing in the past. I was so excited to try my first dive! I made sure all of us took motion sickness pills. I have to take them on flights too. We had to wait on the boat while the captain tried to get the 2nd engine started. Up and down we rocked with the exhaust of an engine in the air....oh....'please get us in the water!,' I was thinking. We finally got in the water and had to be on our knees in about 5 feet of water to do practice drills. The currents were so strong that I rocked back and forth for 40 minutes. Needless to say, once we finally dove 40 feet I was so dizzy that I hardly noticed the beauty of the reef. It made me dizzy even to look to try to find my instructor who I was supposed to be following. Once we ascended and I reached the waving surface of the Caribbean, I could hear everyone talking about the wonderful things they saw, while I was throwing up. I felt wiped out for the whole next 24 hours. I DID like the ability to breathe underwater and what I did see of the reef was so colorful that it looked like Disney's Submarine ride.......manmade.........amazing that it's real and alive!
By our 2nd dive, I took medicine again, and hoped it'd be better. This dive was again to 40 feet. I had Tatiana as my partner this time. She's wonderful! A tiny(size 1),lively , pretty, not bilingual, but quin lingual(5 languages) , energetic, fun,kind, intelligent, lady who is owner of the dive shop and our personal instructor. Even though I was already dizzy, she led me by the hand, so I was able to look around at my surroundings while we swam, and I saw fish, sea fans(my favorite huge, lavender colored leaf-looking plants), and what amazed me most was looking forward into the ocean and seeing the water go on forever. I have to admit that I did picture what it'd look like for a shark to swim toward us through the dark waters ahead, then I just focused on where we were and on the fact that Tatiana has done this for 14 years and over 3,000 dives and is just fine! When we reached the bottom, and she had me stand there, the movement of the water made me feel so sick again. I found out that at 40 feet under the ocean, you can throw up with a regulator in your mouth! Actually, I did that 2 times under water that day, and once in the boat. Whew! Amanda heard me say that I will NEVER be doing this again! The dizziness stayed with me again for a day-kinda like feeling like you're still roller skating after taking off your skates(I'm dating myself). It was hard for me to decide if I should finish my certification with my last day of diving.Why? I'd never do that again on purpose! But it was under the water that was fun and fine, so I waited until the boat was ready to leave before I got on ( no exhaust and rocking) . When a boat is speeding through the water, I'm fine; it's the rocking that gets me! I stared at the beach (stationary landmarks) as we rode in the boat.Tatiana made sure we got me quickly into the water. That dive was my favorite!! I'm SO happy I didn't quit! When you're not sick and dizzy, underwater is so much fun! I was able to look all around at 60 feet under at a boat 'wreck',the corals, sea worms, cool fish of all colors and shapes- God is SO creative! My favorite part was when we dove to 40 feet under to a sandy patch and got to stick our fins into the sand and we all did forward and backward flips. It felt so free and looked so neat underwater to watch Stephanie and Amanda do their tricks too. There was a bicycle down there. Next time we go down, I'm going to ride it- or try to! The girls rejoiced with me that I finally had a dive that I didn't get sick on! Woo-hoo! Andi and Bonnie were waiting for us on the dock when we returned. I hurried out of the boat - but once I hit the dock.......you guessed it.........I didn't want to get sick in front of everyone, so I ran to find a restroom and threw up again! Oh well! We have 2 more "fun dives" that we can use later. I'll probably save my "fun dives" for when the Weber family comes here in September. I told the girls, " I've had enough 'fun dives' for now" Ha. Honestly, it really was worth it all!
On a ministry note, Tatiana said that she'd been talking about us to the lady at the Methodist church and she wants to introduce us because the lady might want us to do a Bible Club for kids or youth. No details yet. Sunjam is going on here, and Tatiana is in charge of that too. She'll introduce us when Sunjam is over - about Aug 12 or so. The girls told you about our other instructor, Leon. It's so exciting that he seems interested in knowing the gospel -seems like for the first time! He, Tatiana, and a few others want us to offer a class on sign language. I've asked them to introduce us to deaf people here. There's only a few- the main one lives in the Cays(keys), little islands nearby. I hope we get to do that. We do have a VBS scheduled for the last week of August at the Baptist Church. I'd asked the Pastor's wife if she could pray about being available to teach a new believers class to disciple the women who will want to learn more, and Jose to pray about the same, but for men. Pastor Julio said last night that all that is in place and ready now for new converts, so now we just wait for the harvest. Pray for God to draw in the ones he's calling and for God to use us in it where He want us.
Our landlord has lowered the rent for August and September so it fits into the budget! We'll know the balance of our budget better once we get home and see what other monies I've saved on other bills. Thank you to you who have donated to this ministry and trip!! We notice every bit and really appreciate it! We're amazed that we're here!
It is SO encouraging when we get on the blog and see comments from you! It really makes us feel we're not at all alone in this, and that you're a part, sharing this experience with us. We feel closer to each of you, too. It's cute how all of you are getting to know my Aunt Becky and Uncle Ed very well! You're amazing Aunt Becky and Uncle Ed! Thanks for all your daily loving encouragement on the blog! :-)
We've learned how to make some good food here. We look forward to trying the new recipes out on all of you when we get home!
With love,
Denise