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Written by Tim Schmoyer
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Monday, 23 June 2008 |
 Belize Update - June 22
 Today was actually a pretty relaxing day. Our original plan was to go into the prisons after lunch, but some communication issues between people at the prison meant that might happen on Wednesday instead. So, we woke up and did our normal routine: a brief devotional with Kevin, an hour in Quiet Time with God, and breakfast.
The Sunday church service at Hattieville Baptist Church was fun! Most of our teens helped in the various Sunday school classes. I even taught the adult class. Their format is a bit different than ours. They start with about 30 minutes of worship with everyone together. Then they break up into Sunday school classes for an hour and come back together afterwards for another 30 minutes of music and the main sermon. Oh, and I love how they do the offering. Instead of passing plates, they invite people to worship by coming forward and laying their gifts in baskets on the alter. That certainly made tithing a different experience than what we're used to in America! Instead of feeling like you're paying "church admission fees" or something, it felt like a serious act of worship by laying it on the alter in the presence of God and all the other believers, which adds a level of accountability and expectation in the church, too. (I'd love to see our church at home try doing this with tithes sometime and make the comfortable people feel a bit uncomfortable!) Watching all the Belizian people sacrificially give to the Lord reminded me of the Bible story of the widow's two mites -- even though she had very little, she still gave all she had.
After lunch, we went to a very nice beach with some of the church's Belizian teenagers. We spent all afternoon swimming, playing sand volleyball, swinging from the tarzan rope, and especially getting burned! I applied sunblock three times and still got burned! Doh!
Then we ran into a little schedule problem: dinner was scheduled to be at 6:00 PM at the hotel, but VBS started at 6:30 PM at the church. (It's difficult to reschedule meals because the cook and workers travel from so far away to get here every day.) We practically swallowed our dinner whole (no biggie -- it was soup! lol) and rushed out the door. When we arrived at the church, about 20 children were waiting for us outside. I grabbed the guitar and led the kids in some fun songs with hand motions with Jenna, Tyra, Laura and Rachael while some of the others quickly set up for the puppets behind us. Then Riza, Carrie and Megan did a quick funny ice-breaker skit and Amy, Jeffrey and Mim did a great puppet show. Jake did a great job of doing the main teaching to the growing group of children and then they all split up into smaller groups with our teens to do the discussion, game, craft and review. We ended with Katie and a Belizian teenager named Noel doing the clown thing with balloon animals and cookies.
Throughout the night the group of children continued to grow. We started with about 30 and there were maybe 70 by the time it was over. Tomorrow we expect there will be about 200. Traditionally it grows larger and larger throughout the week as word-of-mouth spreads. We had a hard enough time keeping tonight's crowd inline -- the last VBS night on Wednesday is going to be absolutely crazy! Whew!
Even though we're all dead tired, we still did our debreifing time back here at the hotel because it's proven to be a very valuable time for us to reflect together on what God's done through and in us that day.
As we approach the mid point of our trip, pray that our stamina will stay high. I can tell we're starting to drag a bit and there's still so much to do! Pray also that everyone's health stays. We've had a couple minor cases of dizziness, cold spells, and stomche aches all due to too little hydration. Everyone is doing great with drinking, but it feels like we have to stop and drink every couple minutes here just to stay ahead of the heat's toll. And when you're really hot, sometimes you don't feel like eating either, so pray everyone will keep up with that, too. Thank you!
Still no new pictures posted -- sorry! That won't happen until I can find an Internet connection that's faster than dial-up. It's also difficult to get online everday to post updates since the computer and Internet isn't always available. (Note to self: bring your own satelite dish next time.)
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Written by Tim Schmoyer
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Monday, 23 June 2008 |
Belize Update - June 21
No thunderstorm came through this morning, but we STILL did not get to work on the camp building this morning. We were all out there ready to go, but another equipment setback meant that we stood around and played some VBS games together to kill time. Eventually Kevin showed up with some machetes and we trekked about a mile back into the jungle to go swimming in the river. The river felt wonderful to our hot and sweaty bodies, especially since we literally walked through the most densely populated mosquito infestation we've ever experienced. We were swatting three or four at a time, both on ourselves and whoever was around us, despite wearing bugspray.
After lunch we went to a Mian Indian village and did a day of VBS with those children. We were really able to bless one family in particular that Kevin knows there with a monetary gift that another teenager in Minnesota had graciously donated specifically for the Belizian people. This Christian family will use it to run electricity to their hut and help him be able to go to a doctor for his back. We also purchased many of their trinkets in order to support them even more, since most of us were going to buy a lot of those things from a random person at the market later next week anyway. We figured we might as well support them instead. By the time we left, their faces were glowing with gratitude. They definitely felt blessed. Oh, and I also saw my first real banana tree and Kevin even picked a banana cluster off of it, which we ate on the bus on our way back home for dinner.
This evening we went to youth group at Hattieville Baptist Church and joined their teenagers for their weekly meeting. We had a great time meeting some of them for the first time, playing games together, singing and sharing testimonies.
Tomorrow morning we're actually taking over all the teaching at church, including Sunday school classes and the service! Since it came up at the last minute, this isn't really something we prepared for ahead of time, but I know our kids will do a great job nonetheless.
Thanks for your prayers and keep 'em coming! Pray that we would become unified as a group, that everyone would see and appreciate the various individual roles that each member contributes regardless of the "value price tag" they may place on it.
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Written by Tim Schmoyer
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Saturday, 21 June 2008 |
Belize Update - June 20
As usual, plans changed again today. We thought we could finally start construction on the camp building this morning, but a couple complications with the brick delivery schedule set it back yet another day. Grrr! Fortunately we found out in time to quickly make other arrangements for our time today, which really turned out to be exactly what God wanted.
We spent a little over an hour at the church running through our puppet shows, dramas and skits one final time before heading to the nursing home to spend time with the elderly people there. It was really a great time! The girls painted many of the ladies' fingernails and toenails just as an excuse to serve them, make them feel special, and especially to provide human touch. The kids are coming home with a lot of great stories from here. Personally, I had a great conversation with a blind gentleman named Lincoln. It turns out he's already a believer and clearly understood the gospel. He said, "I can't wait until we get to talk again in heaven when I can actually see your face." All the kids connected very well with most of the elderly people there who often go for extended periods of time without any physical affection or a meaningful conversation.
From there we drove to an orphanage in another town about an hour away while eating lunch on the bus. As soon as we arrived, the children came streaming out of the barb-wire fence and just started hugging us. There was no shyness, no name introductions or anything -- just a huge craving to be held, which we did for a while. A bit later we played games with them in a little field next to the orphanage, did a couple skits and did two puppet shows. Then Carrie came out in a decked-out clown costume to hand out stickers and make balloon animals. She was definitely the highlight for all the children! I got to talk with an 8 year-old boy named Ashley for a bit. Christmas is his favorite time of year because that's the only time people come to play with him.
Late afternoon we went to the local marketplace in that same town and setup to do some skits and dramas right in the middle of it all. Carrie came out in her clown suit with balloon animals again to attract a crowd, which worked perfectly. Then all the other kids performed a couple "ice breaker" skits for the audience that had formed. The people loved it! After the main drama called "The Woman," Kevin shared the gospel with everyone and then sent us out to talk and pray with the people. Almost everyone eagerly took a copy of the Gospel of John we handed out, but more imporantly, several people also prayed with some of our teenagers accept Christ! It was really a powerful experience for all of us.
After dinner back at our hotel, we went back to the church to post VBS flyers around the nearby stores, bus stops, parks and other public places. We're looking forward to that starting on Sunday!
The morale of the group is very positive right now. It hasn't been without it's litte struggles the past couple days, but most of the homesickness seems to have disappeared. Even the teens who are usually pretty quiet are opening up, talking and laughing with everyone, which is great to see! Everyone is drinking plenty of water, covering themselves in layers of bug spray and sunblock multiple times a day, and everyone is working well together as a group. Despite less than ideal conditions, no one is complaining either. They're all doing a great job! Communication seems to be our biggest issue right now -- getting all the kids to hear where they're supposed to be and when; and then actually getting them to show up on time. In a group this size with plans that seem to change every couple hours, it's easy to understand why this is the case, but it still makes for late starts and a sense of confusion sometimes.
Assuming there's not a thunderstorm tomorrow morning, we should FINALLY be able to start working on the camp building. We're all excited to kick into "manual labor" gear and see the walls go up on this building. Danny Britten, our construction leader from New Jersey (a friend Kevin's and the brother of a guy I know) arrived today to lead the project. Drinking a LOT of water will be crucial tomorrow because there is no shade out there at all -- nothing but direct sunlight all morning long working hard in the heat. So far I'm the only one with a bit of a sunburn, but after tomorrow others may join me!
Sorry, I'm back on dial-up again, so it's impractical to post pictures from today. Plus, it would take a LONG time to upload them all. Since they pay for the Internet connection by the minute, I'll get them up later if I can find something faster.
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Written by Tim Schmoyer
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Thursday, 19 June 2008 |
Belize Update - June 19
I got temporary access to "higher speed" Internet access, so I'm able to quickly upload some pictures for you all! Woo hoo!
We got a late start this morning due to being VERY tired from traveling yesterday. Oh well. Since we had other time commitments, we unfortunately had to cut personal quiet time with the Lord to 30 minutes. I was excited to hear Jeffrey say afterwards, "That was too short. I read the whole book of Ruth in that time." Every day from here out we'll be careful to guard our 1 hour alone with the Lord each morning, though.
After breakfast, we went out to the camp to pray over the foundation. The block won't arrive until tomorrow, so we couldn't do any construction on it today, but we at least wanted to see it and pray for the work there. Afterward my 2-minute crash course on bus driving apparently wasn't enough to teach me out to properly start the engine. After several attempts, it started to smell like it was burning and we called a mechanic. He came out and hot wired it, but it turns out that I just didn't have in park all the way. Doh! lol
The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent at the church reviewing our dramas, skits, and puppet shows. It turns out we were not nearly as prepared to "perform" as we thought we were, but after several intense hours of memorizing, rehersing, practicing and reviewing, we're a LOT more prepared now than we were before.
We left the church at 4:30 PM and gave everyone an hour and a half to just chill and relax until dinner at 6:00 PM. Oh, and the food here has been absolutely fantastic! Most of it is grown and made from scratch right here on site -- everything from the iced tea leaves to the freshly sqeezed oranges for orange pudding. Every meal we walk away more and more impressed.
Right now we're swimming at the house of one of the church members. The poverty here is pretty humbiling, but apparently this family is well-to-do. When we're done here, we'll head back to the hotel, do a little debriefing and head to bed.
So far everyone's attitudes are still great, although 6 hours of memorizing and rehersing this afternoon was definitely taxing, especially in the heat. I'm really impressed by how some of them have stepped up to take the initative in certain areas. Mim really took over the puppet group this afternoon in a huge way -- I'm very impressed with her! Riza and Megan have really stepped up to memorize a lot of lines for the VBS skit, too. And Josh and Tyra continue to keep everyone laughing and in good spirits. Carrie and Laura are great at keeping the group on track and focused. And of course, everyone else is doing great, too. Although most have had to step out of their comfort zone at least once so far, no one as resisted with a lot of push-back yet. I'm looking forward to seeing them stretched even further as the trip continues.
I got pictures posted. Check them out here.
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