Late this morning, Ted, Carol, and Jess arrived in Belize ahead of the rest of us. We met up at the Global Village Hotel for a lunch of sandwiches. After lunch, we got on the bus and rode over to Dorothy Menzies Child Care Center to play with the children for a couple hours. Some of us got our hair braided while a few of us threw a football with a couple kids. Teams from FBC Temple and Shady Oak Baptist met up with us at the children’s home after an hour. We stayed long enough for the other teams to have about an hour with the kids; then we headed to the bus after our goodbyes. We rode back to Global Hotel and had a dinner of chicken, fried rice, fries, watermelon, star fruit, and fruit juice. Our evening meeting began after a little break to settle in our hotel. The meeting consisted of worship, a sharing time of what we are excited for this week, guidelines, and tomorrow’s schedule, and we were off to bed.

The day was off to a busy start as we drove the half hour to Hattieville Baptist Church. Going past the Golden Haven Rest Home and the Hattieville Prison (both places we will be doing ministry work this week); we got a glimpse of the village we will be in for the majority of our upcoming week. Pastor Mark gave us an overview of Hattieville Baptist and the history of the church. Brother Lou was there to guide us in the construction project; putting up a new ceiling as the former ceiling had a lot of damage from termites, or “wood lice” as they are called in Belize. We broke into groups to remove nails and prep the wood for the new panels. Others who were not busy with the ceiling had the opportunity to walk throughout the village and visit with the locals in their homes, inviting the children to a youth night tonight and Vacation Bible School starting on Monday. After home visits, many garbage bags were filled as we cleaned up the area around the church and the football field right across from the church. Everyone was very hard at work and by lunchtime, almost the entire fellowship area had the new ceiling in place, the fields were free of trash and many children were buzzing about the VBS that is to come. While we were busy with these projects, the women of the church were cooking us an amazing lunch of beef stew over coconut rice, fresh papaya, pineapple and fruit juice. After a time of eating and fellowship with one another, we were back at work, finishing the panels in the main room and continuing to meet more and more people in the village. We had the opportunity to visit Golden Haven Rest Home and visit with the elders that live there. As we shared our musical talents with them, they returned the blessing with stories and conversation. After dinner tonight, we will be participating in youth night at the church before coming back to our hotel for a chance to meet with one another before heading to bed. It’s been a busy day, yet we know God has blessed us richly with energy and support from one another.

This morning after a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, toast, watermelon, and juice, we headed out to Hattieville Baptist Church for Sunday morning fellowship. We sang a few worship songs; then went to the Sunday school rooms. The teens in our group participated in the younger youth or elementary classroom singing songs and sharing a couple Bible stories. The children also got to practice their books of the Bible song to sing for the church during presentation time. While our teens were in their class, the adults sat in the adult Sunday school class in the sanctuary. After the hour, we all came back together for the service. There was presentation of each class. A representative from the age group or the whole class shared something that they had learned either that morning or from the past month. A pastor from the North Carolina group shared a message about his life verses, Isaiah 42:18-19. We were able to fellowship with the members of the Hattieville Baptist Church before we gathered with the other teams for a wonderful lunch. We then prepared to go to the Hattieville prison to lead a service in the chapel. While we were there, we sang some worship songs, a girl from Temple, Texas as well as the leader of a group from Hurst, Texas shared testimonies, a teenage boy from the Temple, Texas team delivered a short message, one of the inmates sang three songs, and Jennifer shared a devotional with us. There was a short time for one-on-ones with the inmates, but mostly just enough time to thank them for having us and possibly to hear a little of their story. We returned to the church for a short break before having missions training. A couple hours of our afternoon was spent on the missions training activity to work on conversational areas. We used items to remember different topics to ask people to learn more about them. After having multiple conversations with members of the other teams, we gathered for an amazing dinner of barracuda, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. For the evening service, six members of the Hurst, Texas group lead us in worship. Two girls from the Temple, Texas group shared their powerful testimonies; Burton, one of our Praying Pelican staff, sang a song titled “Get Up and Go.” An evangelist, Mr. Baptist, was born in Belize, but lives in New York, was visiting. He shared a little encouragement with Hattieville Baptist Church, since he makes sure that he stops in when in Belize. The church’s worship team came back up to lead us in more worship; then Pastor Mark shared a message. We left Hattieville to return to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

This morning we had French toast for breakfast then headed to Hattieville to start our first day of Vacation Bible School. When we arrived we prepared the church for the day’s events. A few of us worked on the ceiling of one of the Sunday school rooms while the rest of us sat in on VBS planning. Our group wasn’t leading the VBS today, but we were prepared to help wherever needed. The children started to come to Hattieville Baptist Church half an hour before we were going to start, so we played little games, talked, and sang with them. For VBS the Temple, Texas group lead and we filled in where they needed help. There was music, a story about Jesus’ life, a game of soccer, and a bracelet craft. After VBS, we had a lunch of sandwiches and watermelon. Before we returned to Dorothy Menzies Child Care Center, we went on some home visits and did some construction. At the children’s home, we felt more at ease since we had been there before. We played with the children, put together bracelets, sang songs, read books, and talked with them. For dinner, we went to Old Belize, a place where the locals spend time, to have chicken nachos or chicken burritos. We returned to the hotel for quick showers and an evening meeting of worship, sharing of ways we saw God at work today, and tomorrow’s schedule.

This morning after breakfast at the Global Village Hotel, we set out for Hattieville Baptist Church. When we arrived, we played with the children that came early. Ted continued in his faithfulness to the ceiling project while the rest of us prepared for VBS. We were the ones who lead it and the other teams helped us where we needed it. Tony and Britt helped organize a game of soccer or Frisbee, McKenzie, Beth, and Ashley taught the Bible story and a dance, Jennifer, Carol, and Merle helped with the craft, and a few of us lead some singing. Jessica, Elizabeth, and Morgan helped out as well sometimes with crafts, or just making sure the kids were doing well. There were just over one hundred children in attendance, about twenty more than yesterday. After VBS, we had a lunch of tortillas, beans, BBQ chicken, cole slaw, papaya, and pineapple. As soon as we finished eating, we were off to Altun Ha to see the Mayan ruins. We had a group picture taken there; many of us climbed upthe ruins. The view was beautiful! Dinner was back at the church we had fish, salad, coconut rice, and fresh fruit. For our community movie night we played Beauty and the Beast; the children enjoyed the movie. Chris, a leader from Shady Oak Baptist Church in Hurst, Texas, closed out our movie night with a short devotional. He shared the parallel between Jesus and Belle being the beautiful one; he also told us that we could be given new lives from God.

This morning after breakfast at Global Village Hotel, we headed out for our last day in Hattieville. As in the past, when we arrived we prepared for VBS. This time Shady Oak Baptist Church was in charge of the morning activities; we gladly filled in where we were needed. There were about one hundred and forty children. We did music, made power bracelets, shared Jonah and the big fish with a felt board, and played a game of tag. The children had lots of fun; it was hard to say goodbye to them at the end of the morning. Some of them stayed around for awhile. For lunch we had chicken, fries, rolls, and fresh fruit. We went out into the community of Hattieville to do some prayerwalking after lunch. We returned to the church for a soccer tournament. The children loved to play; they liked the medals as well. Dinner was meatballs, rice, potato salad, fried plantain and fruit. In the evening, we had teen and adult Bible studies. The teens had some music and an intern from Shady Oaks did the devotional. For the adults, Pastor Merle from Westminster shared, Carol, Ted, and some of the Belizeans shared. We all came back together in the sanctuary for some worship, “thank you”s, songs sung by Burton, birthday cake and ice cream for Tony. We all said our “see you later”s with many tears and returned to the bus back to the hotel.