Forest Ecology and more!

So much has happened since my last post, but I'll try to give all of you a short and sweet summary!

Over spring break mom and Wendy came to Belize to visit! My friend Heather, who is also studying in Belize with me came along and we had a blast exploring Belize together. It was so good for me to be able to have some quality mother-daughter time : ) Some of the highlights were ziplining through the rainforest canopy, hiking through Actun Tunichil Muknal (a cave with remains of ancient Mayan sacrifices), feeding howler monkeys at the Baboon Sanctuary, and eating lots of good Belizean food! It was really hard to see mom and Wendy go, but I'm glad that they were able to experience my temporary home for the semester.

The following week we had forest ecology and headed off to Cockscomb and the Jaguar preserve in south-central Belize. I loved the abundance and variety of birds there...I'm sure I looked stylin with my binoculars permanently looped around my neck! We also spent a lot of time treking through the rainforest looking for birds and learning about various plants and animals. One of my most memorable experiences there occurred the second night we were there. I was asleep in our bunkhouse when I heard a strange vibration next to my head. Thinking that it was probably some sort of furry critter, I moved my arm to scare it away. Snapping on my light I discovered that a little mouse had nibbled a chunk out of my leather bible! Needless to say, I did not sleep very well thinking that a mouse enjoyed hanging out next to my head.

Just this last week, we had the second half of our God and Nature course. We learned about the ethics surrounding Christian Environmental Stewardship. The course specifically covered the ethics of animal rightts, wilderness and nature ethics, and anthropocentrism, among other things. One of the things I will remember is that our stewardship of creations can be likened to the structure of a trust fund with God as the trustor, humans as the trustee, creation as the trust, and God, humans, and creation as the beneficiaries. I realized that often I view humans as the beneficiary of stewardship (which is anthropocentric), thinking that we should care for creation becasue it will make our world a better and healthier place to live. It will preserve the beauty and diversity of creation for future generations. While these things are not at all bad, from my perspective, they should not be the primary motive for serving creation. First, although we are given dominion over creation in Genesis 1:28, the Hebrew verbs in Genesis 2:15 tell us that we are to serve and preserve creation. Our goal should be to serve and protect creation with Christs-like humility.

Secondly, we cannot define the value of creation-it is not valuable simply as a commodity or for its aesthetic beauty. Creation has God-given, intrinsic value. It is my hope that I can live more in accordance with these ideas from now on!

For the next two weeks I will have my internship at a clinic near San Ignacio. I am not sure yet what my responsibilities will be while I am there, but I would appreciate prayers that it would go well!