By Belize on 6/23/2008 1:03 PM

Well, the Belize Mission Team has safely arrived home.  Our flight arrived a little early last night; around 10:40 instead of 11 p.m.  We had a great last day (Saturday) in Belize.  We headed out early to Caye Caulker.  Cynthia's oldest 2 children went with us.  After a tight ride on the water taxi to the island, we spent the morning snorkeling.  We saw corrals, sting rays, fish, a lobster, etc.  It was a fun and tiring time.  Then, we ate lunch and roamed around the island.  It was so laid back there. . still beach-like roads, no cars.  It was truly beautiful.  We took the 5:00 water taxi back to Belize City and headed out to Lake Independent for dinner.  We were all so tired, but the meal and fellowship were very refreshing.  We knew we were experiencing the Belizean culture when we arrived at 6:30 for a 6:00 dinner and were just on time.  The meal was very good.  Then we heard 3 songs and had a time of worship together.  We headed back to the hotel and to the camp to take Cynthia's children home.  It was tough...

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By Belize on 6/20/2008 10:21 PM

What a Friday!  We were able to accomplish the things we had set as goals at the beginning of the week.  YEAH!  The guys got up early again and headed out to the camp.  They began working hard on a partly overcast day.  They enjoyed some fresh, hot tamales for breakfast cooked by Cynthia's mother-in-law.  They said they were great! 

The girls also got to camp early as well (not 5:30, but before 8).  They had to run a few errands on the way and then set out for a productive day.  They went in various directions.  Some finished painting the ceiling, others scraped and painted the railing outside, Mary Alice cleaned the mud off the building that DWs had put on it, Elsie finished packing up the kitchen, and others picked up trash.  They were a busy group.  Cynthia and her daughters helped in various ways. 

Then, around 10 a joyous celebration broke forth as the final piece of siding was drilled in place.  It was an amazing transformation.  JT finished filling the holes with foam and the clean-up began. ...

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By Belize on 6/20/2008 8:04 AM

It was another hot day.  If you ask the guys the heat didn't arrive until the girls showed up.  It was cloudy and cool until they got there and then the sun really came out.  The guys got up early again and got everything finished on the siding except the upper part.  We can't wait to share finished pictures with you.  It is amazing the difference in the look of the house.  They plan on finishing up today!

The girls continued painting the ceiling inside and have almost completed it.  Our goal was to get it finished on Thursday, but we will use our last day to finish it up along with some outside painting that is still left to be done.

It was a really fun (and a little sad) afternoon.  It was our last day of camp.  The question of the day is how many people can you fit into a 15 passenger van with only seats to hold 11?  Our answer today is 22!  As we made our route in the white van, almost every child was out waiting for us with smiles on thier faces.  They were ready for camp.  Two of them were wearing the shirts that we made the day before.  They were so excited!  We talked about how unusual it was for us to imagine someone pulling up in a white van and us just sending our 2 year old to jump on and yet that is what we have experienced.  We had a fun day at camp.  We talked about David and how he made music.  The children played instruments and sang together.  They decorated foam visors.  Then we just played together.  It was so much fun just building relationships!

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By Belize on 6/18/2008 9:03 PM

The guys got up and out early this morning and they really got some work done!  They finished the hot side and began working on the last two sides.  Half of both of the remaining sides are completed.  As the girls and Wilton arrived at camp, we were so excited to see how good everything looked!  They continued working hard until lunch.  Then they headed out to cave tube.  They took Ashley (the pastor's son) and Jermaine (Cynthia's son) with them.  Jermaine didn't take his hands off of Henry's shorts.  He was a little scared!  They went without a guide and just floated down the river.  It was a refreshing afternoon. 

The girls continued painting and moved to painting the ceiling inside.  They also finished up some yardwork.  We had a great lunch from the ladies!  They keep us well fed. . chicken sandwich, fresh fruit, and chocolate chip cookies!  We had 12 children at camp today.  A great number for a fun afternoon.  The children heard the story of Jesus feeding the 5000, made t-shirts with their handprints,...

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By Belize on 6/17/2008 9:08 PM

Tuesday has come and gone!  It has been a wonderful day.  Our team worked together so well today.  You would be proud of how they represented the body of Christ.  Team members helped out and didn't spend idle time sitting around.  They were focused on the task at hand.

Our first order of business when we saw the camp was to find a way to mow.  The grass was high and it was hard to walk around.  Yesterday we saw a boy mowing up the street and the girls approached him and asked if we could borrow his mower.  He told us to stop by his house and ask for Ivan.  So as we headed out to camp today, we stopped and he let us use his mower.  WOW!  What trust.  He sent the mower with us and then rode his bike to camp.  He allowed us to use it until early afternoon making the camp look so beautiful.  A place that children can actually use.  Several took turns wading through the bugs to mow.

The guys continued to press on with the siding.  The hot side is almost done and they even started another side just to continue working out of the heat.  They will be heading out at 5 a.m. tomorrow to try to beat the heat, but don't feel too sorry for them because they will stop around lunch and return to cave-tube in the "refreshing" waters!

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By Belize on 6/17/2008 9:03 AM

We had a good first day of work despite the HOT sun!  The guys spent the day getting a little over a half of one side of concrete siding up.  It is the sunny side of the building and totally brutal heat.  They worked very hard!  Andrew and Scott kept the fires going to try to keep the bugs away. 

The girls spend about an hour picking up children for camp.  When we finished we had a total of 11 children.  Some preschoolers, some grade-schoolers who hadn't gone to school.  Cynthia was very proud of the group we had gathered.  We played games, shared about God's creation, sang, and made a nature plate.  The children had tons of fun and didn't want to leave the girls when it was time.  After taking them home, we stopped by to smell fresh bread and reward the group with fresh cinnamon rolls.  YUM!  We continued painting in the afternoon.

During the day we had 2 families come and ask for assistance.  Our group listened and showed compassion, but knew our own limitations of helping.  We worked well together...

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By Belize on 6/15/2008 10:30 PM

Hello from Ladyville, Belize!

We arrived in Belize on Friday morning after two smooth flights. Everyone made it through customs just fine--well, except for Wilton. Wilton, our toolman, attempted to smuggle drill bits into the country but the Belizeans would have none of that! So, after a brief "search," cash-counting, and paying a generous duty tax on his drill bits, they let Wilton go free--yay. We checked into the Global Village Hotel at 12:30 pm and then drove to the Sand Hills Camp. Despite the mosquito infestation, we were able to begin nailing new siding on the main camp building as well as covering the inside with a new coat of paint. We also met Cynthia's (the camp caretaker) beautiful children and entertained them with a game of freeze tag.

On Saturday, the group left the hotel bright and early for some good ole fashioned sight-seeing. We drove to Belize City and then headed down Western Highway towards Belmopan, the capital of Belize. Van number two (driven by David, assisted from the backseat by Henry) had a tire blow out half way to Belmopan, which led to a fortunate encounter with Vitalino the owner of Cave Branch Cave Tubing, Inc. Vitalino stopped along side the highway and offered to help our group change the tire. Before long, we were back in the van and following Vitalino to the caves for some awesome river tubing through ancient caves (pictures to come)!

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