Belize Day 3-4: Thursday & Friday, July 8-9, 2010

Thursday, July 8, 2010

11am - Cold showers feel excellent here. So hot! For breakfast we had cereal, bananas, and muffins. Abigail then led devotions and prayed for us. I also collected money from everyone to convert at the bank. At 8:30am we went over to the worksite. Ady’s group went up to Craig’s house and worked on children’s ministry stuff. Bob worked on a toilet in their home, and the rest of the teams were at the construction site where we finished the deck. We stopped work about 10:30am and cleaned up. I caught a monster toad today, so everyone got a kick out of that. Ren then went to get a broom, and there was a lizard on it, so I caught that as well. Good fun!

8pm - Drove to Pastor Ron’s place and picked up another team from New Jersey and together we drove about an hour-and-a-half to Rio Frio Cave. It was an incredible beauty of nature. It had a massive entrance and inside the roof of the cave was about 150 feet high. There was another opening about 150-200 yards on the other side, so there was sufficient light to see. There was a river running through it with a sandy beach inside the cave. A couple of the kids could not wait to swim ... no, actually, they slipped into the water trying to cross the river for pics. It was quite comical. We hiked around and took lots of pictures. After that we went to the Rio Frio Pools where there were small rapids and water falls and spent about an hour swimming, sliding down the rapids, and playing in and behind the waterfalls. We did have a few bumps and bruises from people slipping on rocks. Nicole slipped and other girl slipped with her, hitting her ankle on a rock. She was able to move it, which was a really good thing. We got ice on it right away, and as of this writing, the swelling has subsided quite a bit. I ended up carrying her back up the mountain trail about a quarter mile on my back. I got a very good work out you could say. We got a pair of crutches from Pastor Ron for her to use, so pray that she will heal quickly. I also whacked my head pretty good when one of the Belizian boys challenged me to go down under the water and grab a rock from the river floor. With hands in front of me I went down cautiously. Then, out of nowhere, Wham! My forehead slammed into a bog ole' rock. I got myself a nice little memory wound. Ha Ha! Anyways, we had a very nice time mingling with the other time and aside from the minor injuries, had a wonderful time. When we got back to camp we had dinner and are about to have a team meeting.

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Friday, July 9, 2010

This morning I woke up at 5:30am. It was raining and I actually pulled my blanket out for the first time since being here. Went back to sleep and got up for the day at 7am. We had breakfast at 7:30am and Travis led the devotions and prayer time. We then headed up to the worksite, trudging through the rain and mud puddles. Ady’s team worked up in the house again at Craig’s request on the Christian Education stuff. Nicole was switched to Ady’s work team so that she could sit and work, and Dylan traded down to another team to work on the construction site. I got all of the teams organized and working, but with 20+ people a good bunch of them were quickly out of things to do while boards were being cut, rafters were being built, etc. so I sent them out into the fields for more rock duty. They had fun out there with their raincoats on and they worked hard to remove several very large rocks using sledge hammers and a pick axe. Around lunch time the rain let up and the sun came out. We had an awesome, authentic Belizian meal - rice and beans prepared in coconut milk, chicken with a delicious sauce, and cole slaw. It was super delicious! After lunch we got back to work. We got the entire worksite plot mowed. Then it really hit home that all of their work clearing rocks had been important. We got one of the gutters hung - a major project! - got the frame lifted, and the rafters in place. We then really cleaned up the worksite, and could begin to see how far it has come since we started on Tuesday night. We then took showers before going down to the market to do our major souvenir shopping. They also had a nice little cafe, so many of us got some coffee and ice cream. We are now back at camp where we bought some more things from a local woman - bracelets, necklaces, etc. and are about to eat dinner. Good day! Nicole’s ankle is looking much, much better today. Please continue to pray for a quick and complete healing.

At 7pm we went up to the Fritzler’s home for games, fellowship, and Bethany made us Orange Julius's. She is raising money for dance camp by selling drinks and snacks, so our team has been getting things from her. I jumped in on the Uno game. The first game lasted almost a half-an-hour and Ady won. The second game lasted almost an hour-and-a-half. It was becoming an endurance game, and after all that, Ady won again! What a woman! lol! When we came back to camp we had a team meeting. After the funny things of the day were reported, we all shared deeper things we are learning. It was really good! We then had a time of worship followed by partnering people up to pray together. It was really awesome!

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