Friday March 17th

Hello all! Happy Friday. This is Kyle, Caleb and Cody. This morning we started off with our last day at Grace primary school doing our devotions with our groups. It was great to see them one last time and sing songs with them. After that we earned some free time because we worked so hard this week and got everything done by Thursday. We had two options: Stay in the city and take a cultural tour and do some shopping, or go out to a national park and do some zip lining and cave tubing! We (Caleb and Cody) did go out to the park and had a blast! We started off by riding 5 or 6 zip lines, the tallest being 350 feet tall. The were some great views in the foothills of the Maya Mountains. We then rode into the national park and met up with our guides for the cave tubing. We had to get our helmets and tubes and then began hiking into the jungle for about 30 mins. On the walk, our guide showed us many things, from plants with ink to termite dens. Those of us who were brave enough even ate some termites! Great source of protein, and kind of minty. We then got into the river at the mouth of one of the cave systems and strapped our tubes together and began our journey. In the cave the guides spoke about how the Mayans used these cave as ceremonial places and all the different geological discoveries. Once through the caves we did some open water floating which was fantastic. We were able to get out and swim around, though careful around the rocks because there are deadly water snakes! Luckily we saw none. We finished off our day with lunch provided by the guide company and then back to the city. I'll pass this off to Kyle to speak about what it was like in the city and how we finished our day! Well, on Friday we didn't have much to do because we finished all the work we had planned for the week by Thursday. So on Friday i went with the group to go sight seeing. We went to a couple museums and learned about the culture and some of the background of the people of Belize, and while doing so we took a little time to go shopping until we had to meet with the other group for open door. They were a little late but that was okay. Our group came up with some stuff last minute to do for the kids, and they seemed to love it! After church we finished off our day by going back to one of the museum my group had already visited and ate dinner at the restaurant there. Its on the oceans, so you could imagine how beautiful, and cold it was.

That about wraps up the day! Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow!

March 16th, 2017

Hello everyone! It’s Erin, Hailey, Kendra, Anthony and Zach! We are having a great time here in Belize and definitely enjoying the weather!

Today was day four of the work week. This morning we went back to Grace Primary School to share songs, skits, games, and devotions. This morning I (Erin) shared one of my embarrassing moments from high school with the students to explain why I always have the song lyrics in front of me. You’ll have to ask me about it when I get home if you want to know ;) Kendra and Zach did their devotions and both did a great job! The kids heard my (Erin) laugh for the first time and a boy immediately starting mimicking me. Then Cody asked the class to give their best impression of it. It was hysterical and pretty accurate. Afterwards, our team went our separate ways to our work projects. Hailey and I are working at the church where we have been doing A LOT of painting! We were able to get the outside of the church building completed so part of our group stayed at the building where we have lunch (My Father’s House) to help touch up the paint on their balcony. Nick, Caleb and Troy did electrical work inside the church. I believe they ran wire through the building and installed electrical outlets as well as a breaker box. They also installed a few exterior lights. Anthony, Zach and Kendra are working at Mavrine’s house. They also did A LOT of painting and the guys were finishing up some of their construction projects. Our friend Wellington, who has been our driver/worker on construction projects/companion/bodyguard on all of our previous trips, lost his house in the tropical storm that hit Belize last year. Thankfully, he was able to have another house built but still doesn’t have power or water. Some of the guys went over to his house after their projects were completed to help him work on a few things. Glad we were able to help him out! Once everyone was finished at their work sites, we got cleaned up and went out to eat at Bird’s Isle. Nomar, Wellington, Jermaine and his family joined us for dinner. It was so nice to get to spend some time with them outside of our projects.

Thanks for all your prayers and hope all is well back at home! We’ll see you soon!

March 15, 2017

Wednesday. Hump day.  We are over half way through our trip.  Our work finally is showing progress.  We are working at Mauvreen’s house. She is a member of Open Door Church and works at the Bible Society, where we have done work on past trips.  We have replaced boards on the outside of her house, tore off the old roof and put on a new roof, and only came down through her ceiling once, right, Anthony? J We added railing to two staircases, working on plumbing, and only broke one pipe, accidently, of course, right Zach? J and began painting yesterday.  It is such a blessing to work on the home of one of our friends, and even more so because she helps us when she isn’t working.  Our work team, Chris Liebsch, Zach Chaplin, Darlene and Ryan Foust, Kaitlyn Dew, Kendra Newell, Anthony Chilton, Cody Miers, and myself, is awesome! It seems like we are all just an extension of each other.  We all get along fabulously, including our brothers from Belize, Wellington, Germaine, Jarod, Randy, and John.  What a joy it is to work alongside brothers and sisters in Christ, in order to accomplish a good work for the Lord! God has blessed us with cooler weather this year so far.  It has rained a couple times, which is unusual, but not enough to keep us from our work. 

The church services here on Sunday and tonight, were very uplifting.  The people are on fire for God and the singing part of their worship service is fantastic.  On Sunday, Caleb, Madison, and I led them in a couple songs.  They really enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed them.  We were running on empty when we arrived in Belize, after losing our teammate, Ashley.  The church here just poured love into us and made us feel so welcome.  They prepared us to do our work this week.

Julie Daugherty

Every morning we start our day by visiting the Grace Primary School. We teach the kids lesson about Jesus and living our lives according to his word. On Monday Darlene did her lesson. It was about the Good Samaritan. I (Chris Liebsch) Was Vic Tim (haha did you catch that?) Anthony and Ryan were the thugs that beat Vic Tim up and took her money. Julie as a passerby too’ worried about her new jeans to help poor Vic Tim and Sonjia was too busy on her new Walkman (showing our age lol) to help either.  Zach played the good Samaritan to finally stopped to help Vic Tim and got her up and some place she could rest. Troy made donkey sounds because the good Samaritan had a donkey with him, Zack grabbed a little boy out of the audience to be his donkey and Troy was in charge of the sounds.

Tuesday was my devotion and I told the story of Zacchaeus. Zach played Zacchaeus and Anthony was the tree so Zach had to climb Anthony. The kids found this hilarious!! Sonjia always leads us in a few songs and the kids love it. They know all of the songs and several of them they sing in different languages which is a lot of fun for us.  Today it was Julie’s devotion and she talked about “Your Heavenly Father Loves You.” Troy and I played a husband and wife who took their little boy to the park. We grabbed a little boy out of the audience and he was our son. We picked him up and were swinging him like he was on a swing set and then Zach pretended to go down the slide with him because he was afraid to go by himself. That was showing the kids that if we are ever afraid Jesus will come and help us too we just need to trust and believe he will be there when we need him. The kids love it when we make them apart of our story. Everyone has done a great job with their devotions and have had a lot of fun doing them.

Going to the school is one of my very favorite things to do. The kids are always wanting to give hugs and high fives and are so happy and genuine. It always starts our day off on such a positive, happy note. I wish I could bring one of them home in my suitcase. Lol!!!     Chris Liebsch

March 14, 2017

Greetings from Beautiful Belize! This is Kristin! Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. This week (so far) has been such a crazy experience. As a first timer on a missions trip, I am in awe of everything I’ve done and seen here. I’ve heard all about it from the people who’ve come to Belize on previous trips and told me so many stories, but until you experience it yourself, it just doesn’t really sink in. I’ve got to meet a lot of people that the “old guys” have met before on previous trips and know very well, and that I’ve heard a lot of stories about, so I feel like I already know them, but, oh my goodness, these guys are so funny! And let me just say, some of the nicest people I have ever met! We’ve gone to the school twice now and the kids there are really fun to be around. They are kind of fascinated by my tattoos and like to trace them on my arms. I’m supposed to be leading the songs each day, but they’re really the ones leading me. They know all of them (and in 4 different languages in the case of This is the Day lol) and sing them better than me. The work we’re doing is at a church, we’re painting and doing some structural work (not me, I’m not a construction/ladder person and way too clumsy, and they want the building to look better than when we started). The colors they picked are so bright and I love them. The wife of the pastor of the church has been so grateful for the work we’re doing. She is so nice and has come over to talk with us each day. There is a woman who goes to the church that came by today with some fruit for us and just thanked us over and over again for helping with their church. It’s really humbling to do this. It doesn’t seem like we’re doing that much but they are just so thankful for what we’re doing. It’s really amazing to see. This afternoon I got to go to a place called Pickstock. It’s another church in another area of Belize City and it is VERY different from any other place I’ve ever been. It was pretty crazy. They’re a rowdy bunch there for sure. We got to read with them and sing some songs then played with them outside. When it was time to leave, they were all hugging us and asking us to stay and hanging on to us, not wanting us to go. I cried a little bit when we left. (It’s what I do. I cry a lot lol) The work we’re doing is pretty tiring but it’s been very rewarding. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done in my life, but it’s something I’ve felt that God has put on my heart for a while now, and this was the time to do it.  Sorry if this is kind of all over the place, but I had a lot to say, and wanted to make sure I got it all in. I’m sure there’s a lot that I missed though. There’s been a lot of amazing things happening (and this is only TUESDAY!! We’re still here until Sunday!)  Please continue to pray for us as we continue doing His work here! Love to you all!  <3 KB

March 13, 2017

Hey everyone! This is Karen and Madison. We heard you have a lot of snow on the ground back home. And here we are enjoying the beautiful Belizean heat!

 Today was day one of our work projects. We started the day off at Grace Primary School. Where we did songs, skits, and devotions with elementary kids. The kids were kind of hectic. The we broke up into two work groups. Our group went to the Bungiu Wama(God With Us) Baptist Church. Some of our team worked on the roof, replacing boards and building tresses. The rest of the team began the task of painting the outside of the building. The paint soaks into the wood very easily, so we will have to do a couple of coats. We got a lot accomplished on our first day and are ready to get back to painting tomorrow.

The other work group is working on the house of one of the church members of ODBC, that is in great need of a lot of repair. They also are replacing pieces of tin on the roof. The tin proved to be hazardess to a few which resulted in cuts and scrapes but nothing major. They will also start painting there at some point.

Some of our team members left our worksites a little early so that we could go to work at the Pickstock Church After School program. We were surprised to find that there was another group from the United States when we got there, but helped the kids with their reading. I, Karen, got to reconnect with a little girl that I met two years ago, and she remembered me. It was good to see her again and see how much she’s grown. I, Madison, thought that the kids there were even more hectic that he ones at Grace Primary. But was a good eye opening experience to see and hear about those kids’ lives.

As in years past, our Belizean family, here has shown us great hospitality. We are so thankful to be back here again and to be able to share this experience with our team members who have not been here before.

Please continue to pray for our team and we are sending hugs and prayers to you back home!

Day #2

This morning we went to church at Open Door Believers Chapel. This is the first time I’ve ever been to Belize, and going to their church was such a great experience. I thought their worship was awesome and it was my favorite part! Everyone was there was very friendly and welcoming and I loved getting to talk to everyone! In the afternoon, we went to see the Mayan Ruins. It was very fun and beautiful, even though climbing all the stairs got a little tiring! Overall, today was a great day!

I have to say, it sure was nice waking up to the sun and warm weather! We started our day going to church. As always, we were welcomed with open arms and hugs. Caleb, Julie, and Madi lead us off in worship followed by their praise band. It was nice to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. During the church service, our remaining team members, Ryan, Anthony, and Erin joined us. We were so excited to see them! After lunch we drove an hour to the Mayan Ruins where were learned about the culture and were able to hike up some pretty steep and tall steps to get to the tops of some. All in all, it was a very good day, being reunited with our friends from Open Door Believers church as well as the rest of our team members. We are all excited and looking forward to beginning our day at the school and our work projects in the morning. Thank you all so much for the prayers. It’s definitely been difficult but we are feeling the power of your prayers, so please keep them coming!

Saturday, march 11

This is Kaitlyn and Kathy! We would like to say our day started bright and early but it was just early. The Des Moniesairport was very under staffed for the amount of travelers. So we got a bit of a late start. Which in turn made our arrival to Belize a little late as well. But all is well we arrived here safe and sound.

​We are missing our three other teammates and we are looking forward to their arrival tomorrow afternoon. Our group has been thinking a lot about Ashley today. Knowing she was to be here in Belize serving alongside us. We have had a wide range of emotions the past few days. But with prayer and God leading us on we will get through what will be a tough week. 

​We are staying in a new hotel this year and so far it is nicer than the place we normally stayed. We will let you know if we all have running water in the morning, preferably warm.  We have also been getting reacquainted with old friends and Nomarhas been taking good care of us in Ryan’s absence. After we finished getting settled in we had a little bit of time to catch our breath. Then we went to dinner and Caleb then lead the team in worship by the ocean near “Karen’s light house”. 

​We are looking forward to the church service in morning with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Open Door Believers.  Then we will see what the rest of the day has to bring and what God has planned for us this week!

​Take care and have a great week! We will see you at the end of the week!