finishing up in Belize

Where to begin? This has been an emotional last 2 days for us all. We did our last day of VBS yesterday. We had 82 kids come. We were excited for that number as it was higher than previous days. We did the story of the parting of the Red Sea. We were so glad to have the bracelets from the 4^th graders from RCDS with the translation in Spanish to give the salvation message. At the end of VBS, we passed out ositos (little bears) from Chelsea’s Bears to each of the kids. They were very grateful and excited for their special treat! We then came home had a wonderful dinner of fried chicken, french fries, cole slaw, cheesecake, and bread pudding. We then loaded up our vans and headed back into the village for a special Good Friday service in Bella Vista. The church shared multiple songs that they had prepared just for us. Several of the children of the church even performed dances for us to worship songs. It was so precious. Then our kids sang 2 songs for the church, which they loved. They then asked Mr. C to come up and preach. He hadn’t prepared anything. Even more comical was that his reading glasses had been left at camp, and so he had to borrow one of the ladies’ from the congregation’s glasses. They weren’t quite the right prescription but he did just fine anyways. He gave a wonderful message in both English and Spanish. It was on passages from 2 Corinthians 4 and Revelation 21. We said tearful goodbyes to kids from the church and some of the church members. As we were outside the church, there was a processional from the Catholic Church with the crucified Jesus covered with a shroud and about 250 people following behind it with candles and music. It was a very different experience from anything we have in the US.

After church we came back and did devotions. The kids were pretty tired after our time of sharing and diving into the Word. They headed to bed. Mr. C. and Miss Frost stayed in the dining room as the kids worked to finish their “shout outs”. When Miss Frost went to bed, the lights were still on in the girls’ dorms, only to find out that moments before the lights had been turned back on due to a scorpion sighting. It was a mama scorpion, which Makayla and Shanice (our Belizean teenage girls staying at camp with us) were quick to point out and kill one of the babies. They also were quick to point out that there is usually more than one baby with a mama. Mrs. Clark and Miss Frost needless to say were thrilled to hear that news! NOT!! Most of the girls were asleep already, so it didn’t phase them. We have been keeping a very close eye out for any of the babies that might have strayed after their mama was murdered. They were not the only scorpions we saw though. Miss Frost had a fairly decent sized one jump on her leg this afternoon while working at the trenches. She quickly brushed it off (with a slight scream) and then squished it.  

This morning we were moving more sluggishly. But today was a day for victory!!! We FINALLY conquered the trenches! HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was much rejoicing in the camp! After finishing our digging, we donned our swimsuits and headed to the river for more rock hunting. We took the trailer to fill with rocks to line the bottom of our trenches. We ended up making two trips, which allowed us some time to play in the river and cool off on another HOT Belizean day. (Easily over 100 again). A few nights ago, we asked the kids to come up with a verse to write on a rock from the river that would be placed in the foundation of the chapel’s trenches. So today we wrote our verses, prayed over the completed trenches, read them out loud to each other and then placed the rocks in a trench. It was so cool!

We had a more relaxing afternoon. We packed, cleaned and prepared for tonight and our departure tomorrow. Tonight our dinner was sautéed garlic shrimp and fried shrimp with fries, cole slaw and pineapple upside-down cake. Our missionary Darlene is turning 50 in May, so tonight we threw her an early surprise Birthday Party. She was definitely surprised, and we had fun. We also had a talent show complete with all sorts of acts. Skits, limericks, dances, songs, and even a comedy act. Josh emceed the event for us! Gregorio, Flor, Micah (their grandson) even came out for the talent show. At the end of the evening, we gave out the gifts we had brought for all of the people we were ministering with. It was difficult to say goodbye to Gregorio, Flor, and Micah tonight.

We had a great time of sharing again tonight during devotions as we looked at how we can continue to make an impact in each other’s lives beyond our time here in Belize. After devotions, the kids stuck around to play Mafia, and then we called curfew at midnight. We are all anxious to see you tomorrow. We will leave here around 11:30 (10:30am your time) to begin our journey up to Belize City to then fly home. We look forward to seeing you on the other side of Customs at LAX! Love you all!!