Belize Friends Centre after Hurricane Lisa.
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Merry Christmas, Friends!
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Christmas is especially exciting for me this year, because it is bringing me Brian! And for a little more than a month, we will have our whole family together and I am happy! We are getting done with the school year at Belize Friends and in my home, preparing Christmas banquets and singing Christmas carols!
Hurricane
One of the most significant events to occur since my last letter was Hurricane Lisa. Lisa was a Category 1 hurricane that made landfall just south of Belize City. We had amazing wind and rain and also a storm surge of about four feet. My house was in the ocean for a while. It was alarming watching the sea creep into my home, watching my vehicle bobbing up and down in the waves that were crashing against my front door,  feeling the wind shake our sturdy concrete house. But, thank God, there was not a single casualty of this storm in the entire country. So in the ensuing days, while we were trapped in our house with no water, electricity, or cell phone service, I took comfort in the news that I heard on the radio—news of property damage and no casualties. I knew all my people were safe, even though I didn’t know if their homes were.
 Meanwhile, Chris Luben was at the center, also without water, electricity, or cell service. He headed up a cleaning effort even before Frank Tench and I could make our ways to our campus! Chris worked tirelessly for days to make sure that our buildings were clean and ready to open for school again the very next Monday, the first day that the Ministry of Education opened schools for the ones that could open. Our center sustained very little damage. Only the railing that goes around our roof, which was already in need of repair, was totally destroyed. Other than that, we only had some flooding and tree damage that was cleaned up. I note in particular that the roof we replaced at the beginning of 2021 came through the hurricane unscathed. Roofs were torn off all around our city, including the roof of our Principal and Administrative Assistant! But our roof held strong.
 All in all, we have a lot to be grateful for. All our people are safe. There is some property damage among our community, but no one lost their homes entirely. For FUM, the biggest losses were the roof railing, my car, and my dryer (which was in the flooding in my garage).
Much love,
Nikki
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Joys and Concerns
• We are enjoying school this year. For the most part, the kids get along and the teachers are enjoying engaging with them. It is turning into quite a fun year.
• Oscar has returned to us and we are expecting his family to join him soon! We are thrilled to have them back safely with us.
• Oscar remarked this Sunday how happy he was to be back at church and see our youth still taking leadership and gathering in joy with each other for Sunday worship. It was wonderful to see Oscar affirming our youth in this way.
• My family is traveling to Merida in a few weeks to see the doctor again. She needs to check my joints and see how my medication might need to be adjusted. We are still not satisfied with the effectiveness and side effects. I remain hopeful that we will figure it out soon and my health can stop being something that gets in my way every single day.
• We have two weeks left of the school year and they are, as usual, very busy weeks. I am hopeful that we will all be able to work together with harmony and that my health will hold up.
• Every year over Christmas, I have a special burden in my heart about our students. Some of them go home for three weeks with loving and happy families. But not all of them do. Join me in praying that our students will stay safe and make wise, healthy choices over the Christmas break, and that we will come together again in January joyfully.
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Ways you can support Belize Friends Ministries:
Click here to support my ministry!
Click here to support Belize Friends School.
Click here to support FUM's Covid-19 Solidarity Fund.
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Thank you!
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