Futbol!

Today was great but largely another computer day. Today's post will be especially brief.

I worked a lot on the Succotz tourist map and have a preliminary draft done that I'm very pleased with. It reflects a lot of the data gathered in our recent "business tracting" venture in Succotz, organized and filtered for the most relevant entries and information. Take a look:

Can you find Iguana Rd?

We also had computer class and it went great! We started teaching about the internet today and how it can be used as a tool. Most of our students are adults who sell various things, often to tourists, and already are seeing the benefits of selling online. As they've done so well on everything so far, we decided that next Wednesday we are going to devote the entire class time to how to start a small online sales presence via eBay, Amazon, and social networking. This is all very exciting as it shows how our efforts at teaching these computer classes will not just give our students a mediocre introduction to computers in general, but real skills for application that will allow them to raise their standard of living.

In the evening, Katie had 7 more miles to run for the day to keep up with her Olympic-prep training schedule. I was her escort to the park and while there I ran into Pres. Lemos from the San Ignacio Branch of the LDS Church and his wife. It is fall futbol (soccer) season and he plays for San Ignacio United, one of the regional teams. These are very intense leagues, somewhere between intramurals and minor leagues in the U.S. From all of my observations, these leagues are a great blessing to Belize. Generally, the men who play on them tend to learn rigorous work ethics that translate into career habits since the leagues themselves don't pay so they have to make their living in other ways. It is a positive outlet for the men that can keep many of them from getting involved in gangs or drug rings. President Lemos is a really amazing man (and not too many years older than myself) and from what I can tell, the futbol leagues tend to be full of men of similar caliber. Tonight he and the others on their team began practice for the fall season and were setting up a bunch of cones and stakes to run maneuvers. So, I helped them set things up while chatting with Pres. Lemos and his wife as Katie ran her 7 miles (which only takes her 45 mintues--a consistent 6 & 1/2 minute mile pace and she never runs her fastest while just doing training runs). Anyway, it was great to chat with Pres. and Sis. Lemos, as they are both wonderful people. The evening made me wonder if Succotz has a team in the league and what a blessing that could be to their community.

These are the cones and pegs we set up.

Here are the players for San Ignacio United Futbol team, practicing their drills. Pres. Lemos is #4 in Blue.

I told you it would be short!