Belize – Day 8

Today we spent the morning working on some projects on the base, building some support structures for water tanks and building a cement wall for a shower.  The students were all working hard, and have even developed some job-skills here in Belize!

We had a great lunch, and then watched the last episode in the series of ‘Fan or Follower’. We learned that the most important consideration between a  fan and a follower is LOVE.  How our motivation to do anything must be based on following Jesus’ example of love for others.

We are now off to the river to wash, and then are heading to Marla’s House of hope for a couple of hours.  We will be back later tonight, and I will try to post some more pictures!

Below are comments from all of the students:

Richard : Bonjour à tous, j’espère qu’il ne fait pas trop froid au Canada J Ici nous avons beaucoup de fun à aider les enfants qui sont moins fortunés que nous. Avec l’accompagnement de nos 6 merveilleux leader Laz, Alicia, Wil, Mr Tracy, Mrs Tracy et Mr. Matt nous avons appris énormément d’aspects positifs et je parle pour la majorité des élèves je crois que lorsque on va retourner au Canada nos pensées vont changer car Dieu nous a montré qu’on a beaucoup de bénédictions comparé a d’autre jeunes à travers le monde . Bref, Que Dieu vous bénisse tous ! Je vous aime Maman, Papa et Cynthia.

Friedisha: Hey mommy, I am having fun here but I still count the days until I get back home. We went to two different churches in the morning and in the evening, BIG CULTURE SHOCK. Lazarus and Alicia says ‘Hi’. I miss you and everyone else! Only 2 days left! I LOVE YOU!

Dana: This mission trip has been great, we got to meet many interesting and nice people. I can’t wait to see you in 2 days, I miss you all! The food here is really good and so are the people we are living with. Each day we learn new and exciting things I can’t wait to tell them to you.

Kwame: Belize has been a great place to stay in for the past week. In addition to all the things we did last week, yesterday we went to a church with a hilarious pastor. His name is Frankie and he has 4 kids. He has a lot to say about relationships at a young age… We also walked up a Mayan temple which had a beautiful view. Sunday evening, we went to another church in Armenia. This church was Spanish but thankfully we had Jean-Martin to translate for us. Being here is a blessing and even though I am enjoying this trip, I am looking forward to coming home to see my family. BLESS!

Matt: The weekend of this trip has been amazing. On Saturday, we got to play lots of games and sing songs with these kids at our youth rally and it was awesome to see how happy they were and you can tell that they had so much fun. On Sunday, we went to this church in the morning and the pastor there was so funny and he really knew how to catch your attention with all the things he said. He never made you feel like you wanted to leave or to sleep, he was really entertaining. We also got to see the Mayan Temple which was so cool because it was really high and the view was amazing. And at night we went to a Spanish speaking church where we sang songs and we did our skits. Even though we couldn’t understand the songs they were singing because it was in Spanish, we knew it was emotional for them and for us. This trip has been amazing and I can’t wait to tell all my stories with everyone!

Jean-Martin: Time goes by really fast but so far, it’s been an amazing experience helping and meeting families in need and suffering from poverty physically and spiritually. My apologies for not keeping you updated these past few days. D: Miss you a lot!

Bethany: Yesterday was an exceptionally cool day. In the morning, we visited the Fellowship Church. I was very touched by the pastor’s sermons. Afterwards, we visited the Mayan temple; where I grasped onto every rock as we descended this 13-story temple. Later in the evening, we went to a Spanish church where I met Damaris. As the church service went by, I would glance over my shoulder to see her singing her heart out to God. It was amazing to see these young ones on fire for God. I felt connected to her, and soon, she sat next to me. As Mr. Tracy read some verses in the Bible, Damaris tried to follow along in my Bible. By the end of the church service, I felt God telling me to give her my Bible; and I gave her my Bible. As we were leaving, I watched her holding her new Bible tight to her chest very happily. I know that God has blessed Damaris through this Bible and I praise the Lord for everything. Knowing God is the best thing ever and I know that God has blessed others as well as my team through this trip.

P.S. I MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! See you guys very soon!! ❤ ❤ ❤  X) J

Jessie: It is already day eight!! So much has happened and I don’t want it to end. The trip seems to go by so fast but it feels like I’ve been here for months! If that makes any sense…

Anyway, this past weekend was jammed with activities. Saturday was the youth rally at the base. These kids were really awesome to have fun with. They were shy at first but by the second game they were laughing and giggling and getting quite competitive! Children in Belize are awesome, why cant kids in Montreal be like that?!! Seriously. On Sunday we visited two churches, one in the morning and evening to perform our skits and worship songs. These two churches are very different from each other, a bit culturally and structurally but they were the same spiritually because they both worship the same mighty God. After the first church service, we visited the ancient Mayan temples. The view was beautiful and the carve of the building was too.  Oh thanks mom for FINALLY commenting on the blog…sheesh. It was great to hear from you and I really miss you guys…didn’t think I’d get homesick but I’m starting to feel it. Anyway, peace out!! See ya soon J

John: Hey everyone, it’s so nice here, I like it here! So far so good, we did cement today. Yesterday, we also went to church 2 times. I really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to seeing you at the airport!  See you soon!

Elisabeth: Hey! We are now finished at the preschool. We built some playground equipment and some benches. On Saturday, we had a huge youth rally with a lot of children and that was awesome. The PEOPLE HERE ARE SO NICE!!!!! Yesterday, I had a hive reaction, so they gave me Benadryl. Unfortunately, it made be a bit drowsy the whole day. I almost fell asleep in church, and that doesn’t make sense because it was one of those impacting sermons where the preacher is very loud too. Then we had an hour bus ride to the Mayan temple, I slept the WHOOLLLEEE ride. THE MAYAN TEMPLE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! It was a bit scary how high up it was, but it was stunning. I got some really nice pictures. We went to another church that was Spanish where we performed our skits. Today we are doing work on the base. It is SO hot here, it makes Cuba feel like Antarctica. And it makes Canada feel like, like, I don’t even know. I love it so much here, and all of us are like a BIG family, it is so cute. I don’t really want to leave, but I am a bit homesick to be honest. Tomorrow WE ARE GOING SNORKELLING!! See you guys soon!!! Btw it wouldn’t hurt TOO much if some of MY FIVE SIBLINGS wrote on the blog… he he he.. LOVE YOU ALL!!! 😀

Spencer:  hey, 2 days till we get back. As much as I enjoy it here, I can’t wait to get home. I miss you all. It’s really fun here. Being able to build walls and different structures. It’s really fun to see how much people with so much need can be so happy. There are some different creatures here then were used to in Canada but they are neat to see. We’ve had a lot of opportunities to learn lots here about each other, nature and God. see y’all soon.

Sam: Hey mom, Saturday we had a youth rally it was very fun and I can’t wait to tell you all about it in detail. Sunday, we went to church the morning and the evening. The morning church was fun because we could relate to what the pastor was saying, we presented are skit (ask, seek, knock). We sang and it was fun. Afterward we went to the Mayan temple it was awesome. Later on, we went to church again and this time we presented both skits and we sang too. I miss you guys, see you in 3 days!!!!!!!!!

Ashley: Hello everyone reading this! I’d like to tell you guys about how we spent our Sunday. We had breakfast (which was delicious!) then we were headed to River of Life, which was an english-carribean church. After church we visited the Mayan Temples of Belize, and let me tell you the top view was definitely worth the hike up the temple. Later on, at night we visited a Spanish church. At the church we preformed two skits, sang a song, and reunited with kids from the preschool and our youth rally. I’d like to thank everyone for supporting me and thank you for all your prayers, love you all.

Dell: I FEEL BLESSED! Yesterday we went to two churches and in the second church Richard and I played the drums and blessed the church. We visited a Mayan temple and the view from the top was amazing! I’m excited to come back home keep praying for us! God bless you all, see you soon!!!!