Everyone is here and accounted for! After layovers in Guatemala and El Salvador, the plane finally arrived in Belize early this morning. Despite flying through the night, everyone was excited to be here! We drove into the city and unloaded our luggage at Kings Park Nazarene Church, where we are sleeping, before going to Queen Street Baptist church, where we will be serving during the week. After our first meal of authentic Belizean cooking, we started working on the construction project.
We began painting the outside of the school, hammered away at the concrete at the bottom of the fence and ripped down the fence that we will replace tomorrow. Many from Queen Street church came out to help as well.
After construction, we headed two blocks down the road to Majestic Alley, a basketball court and alleyway that is in very close proximity to many homes. Within a short amount of time, children started pouring out of the homes to play basketball, frisbee and jump rope, get their nails painted, make some crafts and read on the blankets we had spread out for them. We are very excited to see them tomorrow!
So much activity on so little sleep means its time for bed! Please pray that God will restore our energy and multiple the hours of sleep we get so we can serve Him through all we do tomorrow.

Painting the church

Chipping away at concrete

Our first full day spent in Belize and it was jam packed! I'll let the pictures do most of the talking....But here is a run down:
The morning was spent at an orphanage in Belize City, then to painting at the church and putting up the fence around the church yard, followed by an afternoon of sports and bubbles with the little kids in Majestic Alley and concluding with an evening for the kids at the church, complete with face painting, crafts, songs, rub-on tattoos and a message from the pastor. Phew. Slept long and hard last night.
Today we begin with a little bit of recreation at the Mayan Ruins, Altun Ha. Loving the comments, thanks for all the prayers!

Playing with the kids in Majestic Alley

Paint time

The school is looking great!

Looking good

Family Night

Practicing the art of painting faces

After painting

The days go by and more paint keeps going up on that school and more kids keep coming to join us for sports! We truly been blessed with weather that cooperates when we need it, kids that just keep coming out from the woodwork to hear about God, amazing cooks that have kept our energy up with their delicious meals and wonderful hosts that have given us their church to stay in. Not to mention the hospitality we have found from Queen Street Baptist to host our team. Tonight, we are resting from our long day of construction and kids before the service tonight. We will be participating in their Watch Night service. A very big deal down here in Belize. It will go from 10am to midnight.

Happy New Years, everyone!

At the field

in the rain....

It's hard to believe it's already the last full day of ministry in Belize City....

So much has been accomplished, both in the physical work we put into Queen Street Baptist church and school, but also in the many seeds that have been planted in the communities we have been involved with. The childrens' home visit was a hard one yesterday, as we loved having the time to play with them, but also hurt as we said goodbye.
We then got to work on the school. We have poured so much of ourselves into the project and it shows. The school and 4 of its classrooms are looking great. I talked with one teacher who came to check on the progress. He was so thankful and can't wait to start putting posters back on the wall to have it kid-ready come school on Monday. Today's task is a final sweep through to clean up and to finish the fence. We will be mixing up cement and pouring it over the base of the fence to hold it in place and make it less easy to break in through. Please pray that the weather stays clear and rain-free for this project.

Tonight we will host a youth night at the church we have been staying at, King's Park. They have offered us so much in the way of sleeping facilities, that this is one small way to pay them back.

Please lift us up in your prayers as we go out to the island tomorrow and have some time to process through this week and what all God has done through it. See you soon!