McDonald Road Youth Mission Trip

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Well, yesterday and today we spent finishing up our projects.  We were able to finish the ceiling in two classrooms, put Facia board on the entire wing that needed it,  build two wrap-around-tree picnic tables, paint the house we built last year, and and put in sidewalks at the other campus of the school.  I was quite proud of what we accomplished. 

When we were almost done, the principal brought all 300 or so kids out to say thanks.  It was great.  They sang songs for us and presented a beautiful wood carving.  It's a relief of several Belizian animals:  A toucan, a Tapir and some others. 

This morning was a bit too exciting for some of us.  Me and a few of the teens went to see the famous Canoe race that happens this time every year.  It is a massive collection of canoeists all starting together in a mad scramble.   From here they race for four days all the way down the river to the Ocean. 

Well, it was all that we had ever thought it would be and more.   It was raining when we left the hospital and we had to deal with that for most of the time we waited for the race to start.  When the gun did go off:  what a mess!   There boats running into each other, "pit crew" members getting practically run over and canoes tipping everywhere!  One poor team of american or european women flipped and then got stuck against a bridge.  They tried for about 15 minutes to get themselves unstuck.  finally they had to have help from a bystander and managed to get going.  I don't think they will be in the winning pack.  

When we got back to the van we discovered that it wouldn't start.  I had heard that the van was having problems and had heard ( I thought) what you needed to do to get things going.  Well, it didn't work.  We sent Wade running back accross the bridge and to the hospital to get help.   Soon Dan was there and he did something real quick and got it started.  That was great for my ego.  Then I went and drove the van the wrong way down a one-way street (these aren't marked in Belize, you just have to know).   People do go the wrong way here all the time so I just kept trying to dodge the oncoming traffic.  Until two cops stepped into the road and stopped me.   I was just a few hundred feet to the main road and there were no more cars coming.  I could have made it easily.   But no, they wanted me to back up all the way to the end of the one-way.  I begged them to let me turn around, so they finally did.  Unfortunately it was the narrowest part of the street.   As I made my 30 pt turn, the van started Squeeeling like a banshee.   Lucille pretended to speak to all the bystanders "Well, in case you missed us, here we are!" 

Now we are resting and getting ready to tour Spanish Lookout, where the mennonites live and then go on to VBS for the night.  Pray that we can make one final impression on them that will help them draw closer to God.   Also pray that we can make the right impression on their parents who watch through the open windows.  

Everyone is doing good.  We have had no serious injuries or illnesses and those who came sick are almost completely recovered.  We've accomplished a lot, yet we haven't pushed it so hard that we have killed ourselves.  Thanks for all your prayers and keep praying that the trip will end as great as it has gone. 

Wednesday was a great work day.   It was cool all day (has been our entire time here but especially that day).  We got ahead on all of our projects.   Everything is looking so nice.   One of the teachers told me how much they appreciate what we are doing for them.  

We spent yesterday at Barton Creek Outpost.  It turned out better than expected.  It started with  a small group of us going in early to birdwatch and two (Dan and Wade) to go for a long hike to some amazing waterfalls.  The birdwatching was amazing.  I saw two crazy beautiful hummingbirds (one of which had a long thin tail that hung down about 6 inches from the main tail). 

At about 10:00, the bus arrived.  I was there to meet them and got to see a neat sight.  As they were parking a herd of riding horses led by two guides all came cantoring through the orange grove that borders the Outpost.  

In a few minutes kids and adults were claiming hammocks and jumping off of rocks and swings into the creek or finding relaxing chairs under the thatched roof of the outpost lodge. 

Then we organized for our activities.  Soon we had people riding on canoes up into a huge cave.   Inside they saw a small skull that dates back to about 800 A.D.  It was one of 23 babies and one adult that were sacrificed in that cave.  The skull was from a small baby just a few months old. 

We also saw pottery that has been collecting drips of "holy water" for over 1200 years.

While the canoers were navigating the passageways, a group of six riders went out with two professional guides.  The main guide owns a ranch that is listed in a book about the "1000 things to do before you die".  He was very good to say the least.  He stopped and helped climbed a coconut tree and gave us the very best coconut juice any of us had ever tasted.  It was just sweet ---not strong like some. 

By the end of the day, most everybody had gone in the cave and 22 of us had taken a horse ride. 

About 3:30 the hikers came back.   They really had had a blast.  It wasn't as hard as excpected and the view was surreal. 

In the evening we were served some delicious local food.  Some of the best I have had.  Actually someone said it was Jamaican style.   I don't care what style. It was good. 

Then we sat on the open porch of the lodge and sang worship songs and had a worship talk.  The couple who managed the place raved about the treat of having us sing like that.  They miss hearing praise and worship songs they said.   (They are from  Tennessee originally).

Anyway, the minutes are ticking here at the Cafe. 

Sorry we haven't put any pictures up yet.   I forgot to ask dean for a card reader and then forgot our camera cable.   We may be able to work something out though.  But no promises.

Keep VBS in your prayers tonight.   We will have two Med-school interns with us.   they are quite interested in what we are doing. 

 

 

Monday, day four in Belize, and I’m Tim who is writing a blog for cornflakes cause he’s too lazy to do it himself, not really but still. We’ve done two days of work so far which includes priming the house we built last year, and making bases for picnic benches, and putting up Styrofoam in one of the rooms at Eden primary, and the list goes on. Today we went to some waterfalls and had a good time even though the water was cold. Dan got some of us to too jump of one of the cliffs into the water, such as tiff, Ash, Emily, Anna, wade, Lucil, and yeah some other people who my mind has blocked from memory. We’re  having VBS at a school tonight for the second time, the first day was a success, with a good bit of kids showing up, some moms came to check it out also, the kids are awesome, they always smile, and soak up the attention we give ‘em. We’ve all got some sun, some more than others, me and Megan came with tans, so all the other unlucky people have to start from scratch, like the ghosts tiff and ash (their pink now). Brad says hi to Mary. But aside from all the fun we’ve had there’s been a lot of getting to know some of the people we didn’t know so well before. In the guys house we’ve had some interesting times, Christian and me both play dodge ball in our room (I’ve been head shot five ten times now, and I’m getting tired of it). There’s David who always has some way to make things smell………. “better”. And Justin, the silent one, he’s startin to talk now so he aint to silent now. And Christians dad who is old but still pretty funny. All in all its been a great trip so far with fun for all, and no complainers!!! Which is awesome, we still got lots to do, and things to see, every ones fine though, no ones died yet or become mortally wounded so I guess were all good.  Blog ya later.

Well,
I realize that I'm not the one most of you want to be hearing from.  However, I'm the one least needed at the work-sites and also the one who is still recovering.  So me you have. 

Anyway, everything is still going well.  Everybody worked hard yesterday and got us caught up to where Dan Ford wanted to be.  Then in the afternoon we went to some falls and relaxed a bit.  For the second year in a row, everybody got done swimming while Nicki, Jean and I were out birdwatching.  We came back to an empty swimming-hole and no bus.  I was afraid there had been an accident and they had all taken off for the hospital.  But no, they were just pulling a Shawn Hensel and taking the bus just over the hill to get us worried.  

VBS was a bit more chaotic this time.  We doubled our turnout and had 70 some kids there.  This time we tried having the game before the craft and that just got the kids all wound up.   It was hard to keep them under control.  

The neat thing was that we had a guest with us.  She is a german med student working at the hospital.  She wanted to see our VBS and actually helped out with it.  She is a self-professed "pretend Christian".    She has also been attending our worships.  Last night at worship she expressed how touched she was by what was happening with those kids at our program.   I think she is one of our most important friendships for God here.

We did have some "excitement" yesterday.   Dan had a pile of lumber almost fall on him!  He was at a lumber yard and someone was getting some wood out on the other side of a pile he was looking at.  The whole thing came crashing down in front of him He says he could have really mangled his leg if he had been a foot closer.

The only other excitement was when one of the VBS kids bit Justin on the leg.  Left purple bite marks!

Oh, and I managed to get an earplug stuck in deep in my ear last night and had to have one of our nurses extract it.  Fun!

Tommorow there will likely be no blogs.  We will be gone from early A.M till late P.M. 

See you on Thursday for sure!

Do you want the good news or the bad news?  Why don't I give both at the same time:

Nothing exciting happened yesterday.   It seems "exiting" is often accompanied by close calls, danger, or set-backs.  So far, we have not had any of these.   The only real negative, so far, is that we got off to a slower start than hoped for yesterday.  But isn't that always the case?  Belizian time traps any who dare pass through it. 

Yesterday we started all of our projects in the morning and then went to our favorite Mayan ruins in the afternoon.  We were lucky to miss a bad rainstorm and had a great time viewing buildings that date back over a thousand years. 

We capped the day off at Cayo Twist our favorite No-Dairy Ice Cream shop and then went back to campus for worship and just sitting around sharing stories and jokes. 

Please keep us in your prayers as we work and head out to another VBS tonight.
 

OK all you who are anxiously awaiting more word from us, here are the blogs that were written on the laptop on Sabbath:

Anna Ward

            As my first out-of-the country mission trip, this is the best experience ever. Belize is nothing like America. If you looked for a little bit, you could find similarities, but overall its 2 different worlds. The SDA Church here is so simple; it almost makes me home sick for McDonald Road. I had to use the restroom before church, and Merita took me OUTSIDE!!!!!! The toilet was a hole in the ground with a seat on it!!! It’s pretty poverty-stricken here and it’s an honor to be able to help in any way. The plane rides were both breath-taking views and the bus ride was a lot of fun. We flew over clouds the looked like snow landscapes! When we get home I’ll post my pictures on Facebook and anyone can ask about seeing them. The ones I got in the plane are really detailed and I got some of the ocean from the sky! =) It’s a great Sabbath and I love international travel now. The food is pretty good and it’s so terrifically hot here… Can you say TAN?!?!? hahaha! Anyway I can’t wait to get home and get to tell everyone about everything! I’m really excited to see what God’s going to do here. As simple as the church is, the people are so happy.   Dolly and Wilhem are great people and I can totally see God in them. Call me spoiled but I think it’d take a long while to be as happy and content in these conditions as they are. We’re going to have our first night of VBS so I should probably sign off. God bless you all and I love you!                ~ Anna

Amy Cash

Well…we are pleased to announce the arrival of 29 exhausted members of the McDonald Road SDA church to San Ignacio, Belize.  So here’s the story:

We left the church about 1:15 in the morning on Friday the 29^th.  We arrived to the Atlanta Airport in enough time to unload all our luggage, tie them with matching orange tags, and franticly search for Dan’s bag which we thought was left.  Don’t worry…we found it.  Thirty minutes later, we were allowed to check in, go through security, and get to our gate.  Our flight left on time at 6:40am.  The best thing about that flight was when the stewardess turned out the overhead lights for take off.  Some were asleep  before the stewardess had even made her first announcement.  We were able to get a few short naps on both flights and on the bus rides to and from the respective airports, but we still arrived to the hospital extremely worn out.  The bus ride to the hospital here was longer then usual.  We had to stop for lunch and to pay for some hardware.  The exciting part was the fact that 3 out of 4 springs on the under side of the bus were broken and we couldn’t drive like a true Belizian.  Fast and furious.  We finally did make it to the hospital, unloaded our luggage, have supper, then worship, and finally were able to go to bed!  Never have I seen 17 teens so ready to go to their rooms.  Sleep came to us all but not before 2 rounds of screams from one of the girls rooms.  The first was for a spider crawling down the wall, and the second was for a gecko scuttling across the ceiling.  All I have to say is…they better get used to it!  

It is now Sabbath and we have been to church.  We are now just chillin’.  A few went tramping around the hospital grounds, some laid out in the sun on a blanket, and some stayed in the houses, sleeping, playing guitar & singing.  Tonight we are headed to VBS tonight for our first program.  Then we’ll  be off to ice cream at Cayo Twist! Yipee!

As always, we are thinking of you all at home.  We’ll try to send some sunshine your way.  We’ve got lots!  Probably enough to spare.

Please continue to pray for use and all that we are doing.  We love you all!

 

Hello family and friends,

Well, I had brought a couple of blogs people wrote yesterday, but the internet cafe's Word program is out of date.  It can't read the blogs we wrote on our laptop yesterday.  
So,  I will  try to do the job for now. 
 
Our first full day went well.  Went to church in the morning and got to experience church Belizian-style.  Some of us thought it was the best they had heard in a while, others were not so sure.  Sabbath afternoon we spent preparing for our VBS, hiking and just relaxing outside and in our dorms.  Then we headed out to Billy White to do our VBS.

The VBS went very well.  This was the first year that we had students directing it:  Tiffanie and Girean.  Thanks to the help of Janice Parker, Pam Lewis and others, they put together an awesome program for those kids.   And boy did we have kids.  We had a lot more than we did on our first night last year in San Antonio.  I think we ended with 33 kids or so. 

I loved watching our youth interact with the kids and their parents.  Wade was our evangelist.  All through the meeting he kept bringing in kids that he had found out in the street and schoolyard.  At the end of the meeting I saw one of the little girls give Ashlie the most loving hug.  It seems they are already bonding. 

One of the most touching things I saw happened just as we were about to leave.  Nicki was watching some older youth and adults kick a soccer-ball around.   Suddenly, the ball went out of control and slammed into one of our little VBS kids.  She was standing there eating some nachos she had just bought at a fundraiser that was taking place on the school grounds.   The nachos went flying and the little girl was left empty handed.  We watched as she walked off broken-hearted and went to a dark corner of the school building.  She just leaned her little head into the wall and started crying.  In an instant, Nicki was with her and comforting her.  She pulled out some money and took the little girl back to the food stand and gave her money to buy more.  What a touching scene.   It turns out that just a few minutes before, that little girl had had her craft stolen by one of the older kids.   Nicki had been able to give her the craft that she had made.   I think Nicki has a new friend! 

Anyway, everything is going well.  Tiffanie seems to be doing fine.  The only person who is not %100 is me!  I caught a bug that had traveled around my home the week before I left.   I'm not too bad though.  I'm taking it easy and just doing what I need to to keep things moving.   The staff this year are great.  They are keeping things running like a well-oiled machine.  Praise God. 

Thanks for your prayers!