Adapting to Belize... where its still very hot

This is from Tuesday.  I was finally able to connect again tonight.....


The sun came out today, creating a scorching atmosphere. Everyone still gave work their all, putting in every last drop of energy they had.

In VBS this morning/afternoon there were easily twice as many kids, which was alot harder for us because keeping them attentive during the 2 1/2 hours we have is pretty tough. Even though its tough running around with them playing games, all of us and the kids bond so well, and have so much fun together. The smiles they get on their faces makes me smile alone! It's amazing how God can give us the love to spread to these children, who need it more than we do.

Constuction was... well, hot. We had the sun beating down our backs while crouching down in trenches tieing wires to hold rebars together. I felt like God really used all of our hands to work extra hard this afternoon, I didn't get a chance to stop and slow down and see what was going on around me but now that i think back at it- He really was shining through us all.

PS- it's 8:50 pm and it is 90 degrees in our room (with three fans going on high)

-Sophie Stephens, Team Blogger

We're back online!

Sorry about the lapse in blog updates.  Our faithful bloggers wrote a great update last night and Marc posted some photos, but Ryan couldn't get it to send.  He tried several times last night and again this morning, with no luck.  We'll get that out to you as soon as possible.  Ryan and I (Wendy) were able to visit an internet cafe in Corozal to send out this latest post, while our group finishes up dinner and gets ready for Wednesday night church services.  The Corozal Church of the Nazarene is so excited that we are here, and the congregation is looking forward to meeting all of us tonight.  They have a sing-a-long planned and Marc will be giving the evening message.

As a mom, let me just start out by saying to all of the parents and grandparents who are reading this that YOUR KIDS ARE AMAZING!!!!!!  I'm tearing up just thinking about all of them.  Between the travel complications, the heat and humidity, breakfast times at 6am or 6:30am, hotel rooms without air conditioning and only cold water for showers, and the difficult work that needs to be done there are plenty of reasons for bad attitudes, but I can honestly say that I have not heard one complaint.  NOT ONE!  (I just wiped a tear, and Ryan is laughing at me. :-)  Anyways, they have all dug in to some challenging tasks that is glorifying the Lord, and blessing this local church.

Some of the construction work they are doing includes chipping hardened mortar off of the walls of a new sanctuary that is being built to serve as both a worship center and a hurricane shelter for the community.  That means lots of concrete work in extremely hot weather.  Other work for the sanctuary includes digging a sixteen inch deep footing, 100 feet across ground that resembles clay more than dirt.  They have also been cutting and laying re-bar and mixing concrete the old fashioned way, by hand with pick axes, shovels, and rakes.  We also did our first chain line today to move heavy cinder blocks.  Other work has included repairing the roof on another structure, and tomorrow we will be painting the outside of the school room.  It is so unbelievably hot that this outside work is accomplished through much team work.  A group of people will work for 10-15 minutes, while another group rest in the shade, drinking lots of water and then when Jared calls out "Switch!" there is an exchanging of tools while the other groups takes a needed opportunity to rest and rehydrate.  It is really something special to see work being accomplished by a system that causes us to be completely dependent on one another.

The VBS workers have been equally impressive.  We have approx 50 kids coming from the church and community, and they are an absolute joy.  The kids already have a great love for the teens helping out and it is so special to see the happiness on everyone's faces as the kids come into to great the VBS workers.  VBS starts out with some games outside, and then is followed by praise songs, with hand motions!, puppet shows, bible teaching, coloring, and a craft.  On a personal note, a highlight of this trip for me has been watching some of the teens lead worship for VBS.  It has made me feel this incredible connection to SDFC here in Corozal to see the teens singing praise songs and doing the hand motions to songs that they have learned in SDFC VBS Sports Camp or at children's church.  Many of you reading this have trained and discipled these teens by teaching them songs at SDFC that they are not here teaching kids in Corozal.  Truly Amazing!!

Other highlights of the day include a daily homemade snack that is brought to us by ladies of the church.  Today it was chips and cheese sauce and yesterday it was mini-meat pies.  The teens, and grown-ups too, love this daily treat.  We also enjoyed cooling off yesterday and today at the local bay.  Yesterday the teens had fun in the water launching each other into the air (they got our son Jordan a good 10 feet into the air, I think that was the record!) and today they had fun jumping off a pier.

Our evening activities include a large group devotional time, followed by time to journal, and ending with meeting together in family groups to talk more about how we see God at work through our project and in our own hearts and minds.

I would like to write more, but we are already late for church and need to go.  We'll do our best to post tomorrow.  Thanks for your comments and prayers.  They are making a difference!

Getting Started

and yes, its still hot.

Today was amazing, you could see God everywhere. From doing construction to VBS to just hanging around the hotel, the vibe was just great.

We have divised an eating plan for mornings and nights:

Blue and Red teams eat  the first breakfast, Yellow and Green teams eat second.

Blue and Green teams eat dinner first, with Yellow and Red teams to follow.

Most of our meals have come from a Belizean Restaurant called The Jo Melin, and its delicious food with great diversity- just like Belize.

There were lots of kids at VBS, and they were having such a great time playing games, doing crafts, singing and dancing, and watching the puppet shoes we put on. Despite the heat, all of us had a great time running around outside teaching the kids games and playing too. It was a terrific way to learn about the kids and bond with them. They must have had a good time because they all said that they were coming back tommorow and bringing friends!

The construction went really well too, we got all the walls of the church smoothed down, the tape peeled off the ceiling, the cement chisled off, the floors swept, and the walls plastered. We all worked extra hard, and we all sweat alot. At every break we could get, you could find everyone standing or sitting by the few fans we had available, or by the water machine cooling off.

In the end, we all realized that we just need to slow down and look at how incredible this trip has been, and will be. God shows up in the strangest of places, even when you're not looking for Him.

-Sophie Stephens, Team Blogger

Welcome to Belize!

We finally made it, and its hot.

If you haven't heard: the first group, who left Saturday, had to sit on a plane for around 12 hours up in the air. We flew from San Diego to Dallas without a problem, and took off from Dallas without a problem, too. Although when we tried to land in Belize, we experienced some turbulence that put us a little off course, where we ended up in Cancun. Our day ends with the first group having to fly back to Dallas, and having to stay at the Comfort Inn (where we got a lovely discount) and meeting up with the second group at the Dallas Airport.

Walking out of the plane in Belize was like walking into a sauna and even though it was a cooler day out for Belize, our team was sweating bullets.

We took a bus from Belize City to Corozal which was definitely the fun part of the day. Everyone was glued to the windows, searching the trees for birds and monkeys and other exotic creatures. Even though it was raining, all of us had our heads out the sides, enjoying every minute.

Both teams arrived at the  wonderful Maya World Guest House, where we dropped off our loads, and walked straight to the church service, followed by an authentic Belizean dinner. When we got back to the hotel, I'm sure everyone was excited to jump in the cold showers (I know I was) and rinse off. The night ends with tired faces, and anxious minds ready to get to work tomorrow.

-Sophie Stephens, Team Blogger

Try Again Tomorrow

Aside from the tour of the Caribbean Sea, things have gone very smooth today.  We are all settled in a hotel near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport for the night.  The McGinty's and Allen's are flying out tomorrow morning at 7am, while the rest of us are meeting up with the Sunday group and leaving at 12:30p CDT.  We should land in Belize at 2:30p and continue on from there.

And the Adventure Begins....

Just a brief note to let everyone know that we are safely sitting on the Cancun tarmac waiting to fly back to Dallas.  We attempted to land in Belize City, but our pilot wisely routed us to Cancun instead.  We will be in Dallas for the night and then wait and see what tomorrow holds.  More to come later....

Maya World Guest House (our hotel)

We'll be staying at the Maya World Guest House during our trip. There are no other guests in the hotel besides us.

16, 2nd Street North, Corozal Town, Corozal District, Belize, Central America
Phone Numbers: (501) 627-2511 and (501) 666-3577
http://www.aguallos.com/mayaworld/index.htm

Purified drinking water will be available in five gallon jugs for US$1.25.  The water supplier is about three blocks from the hotel.

The hotel also has a washer and dryer available.  Each load is US$2.50 for wash and US$2.50 for dry.  Laundry detergent is provided for free.

A police station, post office, fire department, market, supermarket, and restaurants are all within walking distance from the hotel.

Packing Party on June 24

Dont forget to join us in the Family Life Center on Thursday, June 24 at 7pm for our packing party.  Bring your duffel bags and we'll distribute supplies.  See you on Thursday!

Belize Updates

A couple of updates regarding our upcoming trip:

• We will hold a brief meeting in the Friendship Plaza this Sunday at 10a.
• We are going to lock in the final cost of trip at $1,550 each.  This will allow for unexpected emergencies and/or we'll leave a small gift with the church when we leave.
• If you signed up to bring tools or other supplies, will you please bring those to the packing party on Thursday, June 24.
• In addition to spending money, dont forget to bring money for food on travel days.  We should be in Corozal for dinner when we arrive and for breakfast on the day we leave.
• For VBS, if you are able to bring a box of crayons for crafting and a small stuffed animal(s) for prizes, it would be appreciated.  
• It is also recommended that you bring a water bottle to re-fill each day.
• I may be able to bring a laptop and data card with us to Belize.  If you are interested in being our daily blogging correspondent, please let me know.
• And if there are any emergencies back at home and you need to reach one of us in Belize, please contact Pastor Marc at 858-414-7198.  Please use sparingly, as the per minute rates are not cheap.

Notes from the June 13 Meeting

Thank you to everyone that was able to join us on Sunday for our Belize Missions meeting.  Here's the highlights from our meeting:

• Reminder to all teens and parents that we need to have your signed and notarized medical and travel authorization forms into the church office by June 18.
• If we do not have emergency contact information for you, please send that information to Ryan as soon as possible.
• Our final contribution amount per individual should be less than $1,550 each, but may not be completely settled until we are actually in Belize.  We are still using estimates for things like final construction costs, hotel, meals, and day trips.
• Ryan will be contacting each individual with their current contribution standing to make sure no monies have been missed.
• Insurance has been purchased for everyone through the Nazarene Work and Witness organization.  If you will be going on the side-trip afterwards, we are asking for an additional $10 per person to cover the three extra days in Belize
• A tentative trip and daily itinerary is available and posted on this blog.  Please be aware that dates and times are subject to change based on circumstances, i.e. weather.
• We will have a mandatory packing party on Thursday, June 24 at 7p in the Family Life Center to divide up supplies and equipment to take down with us.
• A suggested packing list has also been posted to this blog.  
• We are also suggesting that everyone bring $100 cash with them for spending money.
• Devotion journals are being made for each individual.  As part of this, we would like for everyone to take a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper, fold it sideways like a booklet, and include several fun facts about yourself.  Please return these to Marc on this coming Sunday.  If you will not be in church on Sunday, can you please scan and email it back.
• Examples of games to play with children has also been posted to the blog.

Less than two weeks until we leave for Belize.  I cant wait.....

Belize Updates

A couple of notes on our rapidly approaching Belize trip:

• Our next Belize team meeting is June 13 after church services.
• If any teens or parents need a notary for the medical/international travel authorization form, there is one on the campus of PLNU.  Her name is Julie Alexander and she can be reached at 619-849-2459 or juliealexander@pointloma.edu.  Signatures are $10 each and she prefers appointments via email.
• If you still need to get vaccinations, here’s a list of travel clinics in San Diego County: http://sdiz.org/Community/Travel.html
• The recommended vaccinations are Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Tetanus, and Measles/Mumps/Rubella.  And the recommended medications to bring with you to Belize Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) and Chloroquine.
• We need everyone to be up to $1,500 by our next meeting.  We already paid American Airlines for our flights and need to send down a big chunk of money very soon to the church in Corozal to buy construction materials before we arrive.
• We also have a few people that have requested financial assistance for our trip.Please continue to spread the word within your community that we are still in need of tax-deductible contributions for our trip.
• I will be standing near the tables right outside the church doors before and after the service if anyone has any money to turn in.