HOME!!!

Seeing all the parents, siblings, and our church family in the parking lot when we pulled in last night was wonderful.  Lots of hugs and welcomes all around!  Over the next several days there will be stories to tell, pictures to share, sleep to catch up on, and laundry to be done.  Also, don't forget to take your malaria meds weekly over the next few weeks.

Even though we had a very long day of travel yesterday, all the legs of travel were completed with great attitudes, knowing that at the end of the journey families would be reunited.  Parents and church family, you should be very proud of our youth.  All week they loved kids and one another, shared their faith and their friendship, and had fun with positive attitudes and a "can do" spirit.

Matt is to be commended for his leadership, organization, and most importantly, preparing our youth spiritually for this mission trip.  Mission trips are by nature fluid and change is the norm.  We went into this trip with our role in the Bible Camp somewhat undefined, just knowing that we would be leading in some areas and helping in other areas.  As the week unfolded we found ourselves contributing to the program in so many ways.  Our youth and chaperones provided leadership in exercise, devotions, Bible Study, music and worship, skits, sports, and many other ways.

We met our water taxi on the pier in San Pedro very early Monday morning.  One advantage to the early start was the sunrise on the Caribbean Sea.  Here is one of many pictures of that sunrise.  The beauty and serenity of the morning reminds us that God's Creation - whether in Belize or here at home - is a place of beauty.  The morning is the start to another day He has given us to be His missionaries, His hands and feet, as we meet, encounter, and love our neighbors and one another.

Sunday Night - Part II

Just a quick post before bed.  We have a 4:30 wake up and a 5:00 AM cab to the water taxi.  Cabs are scarce in the early hours so we have to shuttle all of us with 2 cabs.

Our worship tonight was about the presence of God with us during the week.  We also shared our greatest challenges of the week and how we overcame them.  Challenges are better met when we allow the presence of God in our lives carry us forward.

Tonight also marked a milestone for our six seniors. This is their last major event as a member if the youth group.  The six have been extremely close over the years, goring up in the church and maturing in faith.  Each shared their feelings for one another and for the youth group.  There was laughter and there were tears shed as well.  The youth group will miss their leadership and presence as they go forward into another chapter of their lives.  Each member of the youth group and the chaperones wrote a few words of encouragement for our six seniors.

We have all been blessed by pour experiences here this week.  We will carry those memories with us, but more than that, we will all lean on those memories to inspire us to continue to minister to others in the varied mission fields we find ourselves.

We look forward to returning to Marion and our church family.  Phone calls will be made tomorrow when we are in Houston.

Sunday Evening - Part I

I wanted to post this after our worship service this evening, but I am posting earlier because I am having a problem with the WiFi connection.  I will post a Part II if I have a connection later tonight; but if no connection, no post.

This will be the last post from Belize.  Once we are back in the U.S. - Houston to be exact - the phone calls and texts should start pouring in.  So here is a recap of the day and travel plans for Monday.

The snorkeling reports were great; there were sea turtles, a loggerhead turtle, and eels, sharks, rays, and a host of other fish and sea life.  All under sunny blue skies.

A trip to town for lunch at Fido's (pronounced fee-dos) and shopping came next.  Free time in the afternoon will be spent at the pool, napping in the condos, and more shopping.  This is a great place to rest after our busy, busy week.

Speaking of the pool, there are some resident iguanas here who like to hang out near the pool.  Here are couple pictures.

His name is Pedro.

Is this his good side?

Can you spot the green one in the tree?

Tonight, rather than going out again, we had pizza from a nearby pizzeria around the pool.  For those of you who have been here before, Pepperoni's Pizza (aka Stoner's) is quite tasty.  A worship service (since we snorkeled this morning) and a final time of sharing and reflection is at 9:00 tonight.

Our travel day Monday begins with a 5:00 AM wake up and a 5:30 AM taxi cab ride (with luggage) to the water taxi pier; a 6:00 water taxi from San Pedro to Belize City (1.5 hours); loading the vans for the 30 minute trip to the airport; clearing Belize Immigration (passports in hand), and an 11:05 AM flight from Belize City to Houston.  Arrival at Houston is scheduled at 2:40 PM.  In Houston we will go through U.S. Immigration (passports stamped), pick up our baggage to take through U.S. Customs, and recheck our bags for the domestic flight to Charlotte.  We will have plenty of time in Houston for all that since our next flight is not until 6:27 PM.  Our ETA in Charlotte is 10:02 PM.  We only need to claim our bags and meet the church bus, then is its homeward bound!  Calls will be made from the road so you will know when we will arrive at church, probably around midnight.

Prayers for travel mercies and on-time flights; passports in hand at the airports (they have been kept for the youth until the morning) and all other paperwork in order.  Prayers also for continued good weather and safety for Dan, Taylor, and Sterling Smith who are staying a few days longer in San Pedro.

Sunday Morning

Everyone was ready for a good night's rest after an active day yesterday (see the previous post for details).  Awoke to partly cloudy skies that have already given way to sunshine and blue skies.  A couple shots from the pier at Banyon Bay this morning.

Morning sun

Banyon Bay villas in background; restaurant where we had breakfast in foreground.

Looking south from the pier.

After a full breakfast at the resort restaurant most got on the boat for a morning of snorkeling and encounters with creatures of the deep.  Here they are ready to go.

And finally, here are a couple shots from dinner last night.

All smiles, of course.

The guys table - Happy Birthday Aaron!

Right next door to the restaurant is the Dand-D ice cream /sorbet shop.  We have been there on every trip we have made to San Pedro - it is sort of the Jack Frost of Sam Pedro for us.  To celebrate Aaron's birthday, we all had ice cream or sorbet.  before we went in we sang "Happy Birthday" to Aaron on the street.  This attracted the attention of a guy on the street who took great interest in our group; well maybe to much interest.  As with most stations with people on the streets, if you spend a little time to satisfy them, but not enough to encourage them, they eventually go on their way.  This was the case, Matt and I deflected most of his comments while the rest got ice cream.  By the way, mango and blackberry sorbet is a good combination.

Well, it is time for a walk on the beach.  An update on the rest of the day later tonight.

Saturday Evening - but you will probably read this Sunday Morning

We slept in until 6:00 Am this morning after a late Friday night.  We packed up, loaded the vans, ate breakfast and said our goodbyes to the staff of the Bible Camp and to Jane and Laticia, our Belize family and cooks.  We look forward to seeing them again in February.

The zip line course had six lines from one tree platform to another.  After a short run to get used to it, the next ones were longer.  Most seemed to skim over the lush rainforest/jungle, but actually it cleared with plenty of room.  Two of the runs crossed the Caves Branch River, which was real cool.  While waiting at one platform we saw four monkeys fairly close overhead in the trees.  They crossed over our heads in the treetops.  The guides said they usually weren't that close.

From the zip line we got our tubes and headed to the Caves Branch River.  Much of Belize is limestone karst and so there are many caves formed by water filtering through the limestone.  The Caves Branch River flows across the land, but in places it flows through a cave and exits farther downstream.  We walked/hiked upriver for about 30 minutes to the place where we put our tubes in the river.  Before starting there was a rock to jump from into the river at a deep spot.  Soon after we began to float on our tubes into the mouth of a cave.  The light from the mouth was enough to see the walls and the formations on the ceiling.  Farther ahead it got darker, and our helmets and headlamps showed the way.  Our guides kept us together and gave a push when needed.  The river was surprisingly slow through the cave.  At two places the wall of the cave opened up to the rainforest with sunlit views of vegetation.  Leaving the cave thew river wound through bamboo and trees.   After tubing we had lunch at the tubing center and changed clothes for our trip to San Pedro.

We drove to Belize City to catch a water taxi to San Pedro.  We were lucky to step right on to a boat at 3:30 for the 1.5 hour ride to San Pedro.  Our luggage and all of us made it to Banyon Bay Resort by 5:30.  The resort is on the Caribbean Sea with the reef in sight offshore.  Pool time, showers and dinner were followed by devotions.

Approaching San Pedro on the water taxi.

The pool at Banyon Bay - some of our boys in the pool.

Most will go snorkeling tomorrow morning followed by pool time, shopping, and resting.

Signing off after a long, god, active day!

Friday Evening

Our youth families have been leading Bible Study with the campers each day.  The campers are divided into four age groups: 8 and under, 9-10, 11 year olds and 12 year olds.  They visited a different family each day for Bible Study under the theme: "God's World, My Responsibility - Connect God's Way in God's World."  Here are a couple pictures from Bible Study from my family. Our topic has been Taking Care of God's Creation.

the youngest children exploring the prayer garden and seeing God' creation

Taylor talks about the environment.

Our weather has been hot - highs in the low 90s - but there has been a good breeze.  If you can be in the shade, the breeze helps; but out in the sun, where afternoon sports activities are held, it can be quite hot.  We take lots of water breaks.  Except for one overnight rain and a very brief shower this morning before we got up, there has been no rain.  

Our last evening worship on Friday had more songs and skits by camper teams with our youth leading them, and special music performances by the children and our youth.  Scott delivered the evening message, and the camp director, Brother Dwight, recognized all the counselors, our mission team, and everyone who made the week a success.  

The night is not over yet - there is a bonfire on the BTC grounds with campers and youth.  It seems unusual to have a bonfire in a tropical setting with temperatures as they are.  

Saturday morning after breakfast we are loading up and leaving the BTC.  We are going to Caves Branch Outpost for zip lining and cave tubing.  The zip line runs from tree platform to tree platform across stretches of jungle.  Cave tubing is similar to river tubing as we know it, but the river winds in and out of caves.  From there we drive to Belize City to catch a water taxi to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye off the coast.  It will be evening before we arrive and transfer to the hotel.  So this will be the last post until Internet is available in San Pedro.

Keep the team in you prayers as we travel on land and water tomorrow and begin our R&R.

Friday Morning

Thursday was a full day at the Bible Camp topped off by a banquet at dinner.  As usual the day started with exercise at 6:10, (yes, parents our youth are getting up at 5:45 or so and in place by 6:10; do you think that will continue when they get home?!?) followed by devotions, breakfast, praise music, and Bible Study with the campers; plus our youth planned with their groups the skits or songs they will perform as part of the evening worship.

Happy Birthday, Nick!

Thursday was Nick's birthday, and he was "front and center" during the morning assembly as the whole camp sang several verses of "Happy Birthday."


After lunch, we took a break from camp during rest time and the social issues segment to ride out to the Kings Children's Home.  Two years ago our youth painted some of the boys' and girls' rooms at the Kings Children's Home in Belmopan.  The orphanage was a small, overcrowded building that was always in need of repair.  Up to 50 children shared space in what would be a modest-sized home in the U.S.  Since our trip in 2012, the Kings Children's Home has moved to a new location east of Belmopan just off the Western Highway.  Our youth were anxious to see the new building and some of the children they and met two years ago.  A picture of the building can be seen on this link to their website.  The Home's policy is not to allow pictures of their children on social media, so I will not be posting pictures of our youth with the kids.

The building is spacious, clean and new, and secure.  We were given a tour and our youth had time to visit and play with some of the children.  Miss Leonie, the director of the home, told me there are over 100 children in residence.  She and some other workers were cutting cloth to sew 81 uniforms for the school year that begins in September.  All children in Belize wear uniforms that they must supply.

We returned to camp in time for sports in the afternoon and then time to clean up for the banquet.
All the  evening activities a revolved around the banquet.  The children dressed for the event, as did our youth.  The chapel was decorated for the banquet with tables and tablecloths, flowers and other decorations.  Several of our youth and adults helped wit the decorating.

The tables are set for the banquet.

Bird of Paradise centerpiece.

Our girls all dressed up for the banquet.

And the guys . . . they did the best they could.

The campers knew to wear yellow, the color of the banquet this year.  They were dressed up for the special occasion.

The campers dressed in yellow at the banquet.

More campers

The banquet started with everyone parading in front of the group and striking a pose for photographer Matt.  Dinner was served followed by the daily quiz competition among the three camper teams.  There was special music and dance throughout the evening.  Our youth sang "Come Ye Sinners" and did a skit about being a youth group and making a difference in the lives of others.  Dan Smith sang a solo, "How Great Thou Art."  The camper groups did skits and songs.

"Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy"

Today is Friday, our last full day of camp with the kids.  It promises to be a full day - with a bonus 2 hours tacked on to the 10:00 PM close - so looks like we will be active until midnight.  Prayers are appreciated as we close out the camp.