Tuesday March 17

Hey guys, it’s Dani. I am so excited to be here in Belize City! It’s been really warm and sunny out. I am going to give the rundown starting from Saturday when we first left Iowa. My biggest fear was getting on to the airplane itself and not getting sick. I was even offered little bags incase I did from my friends in front of me. Also thanks to Erin for letting me hold on for my dear life (sorry if I made you not have a pulse). Once we made it to the Belize Airport, Cody and myself were given a surprising awakening. Our luggage was lost and luckily we both stayed calm. Our luggage ended up making it safely to our hotel that night before dinner! (Thanks Nomar- We both greatly appreciated it! Sunday nothing really happened too exciting, we went to a pool and got to mingle with one another. We also attended Open Door Believers Chapel for service that morning. The service was the highlight of my day because it’s a lot different than our service. The music they had was more dancing and I felt really more connected with God being able to worship. I will say this trip has definitely made me come out of my shell. Another highlight from service was building relationships and meeting tons of new people. Jill and I met this girl named Leah. Leah is a woman from Canada that lives here with three children. Her husband is in charge of children’s ministry for the whole city. They provide camps in the summer from children 4 years old to 14 and all these camps would be known as our Junior Camp back home.

Monday is when we first started working. I do however want to mention Erin was not the first person to get the injury of the trip. That would be me! I have been asking around different team members and they did tell me splinters aren’t really considered an injury because everyone gets them! And since it did not contain blood, it therefore is not an injury. I have about four or five splinters on my hands and don’t consider it. My injury did contain blood and would not stop bleeding. My injury happened when I was holding a railing for Nick to unscrew with the saw and he told me to let go so I did, little did I know Nick would let go of it too. That railing came down on my right knee pretty hard with a nail sticking out and going into my knee. I can know say this is only my second missions trip  and both trips I have taken a nail to my knee. Luckily I am a tough girl and took it like a man. So I do claim the title of first injury and am pretty proud of it (Sorry Erin).

 

Today was day two of working. There are three different projects and the project I am placed at is Jevan’s house. What we are doing here is plumbing, we are replacing a railing, which was finished today. We also finished a HUGE pile of dirt, sand, and rocks that was in the front yard and moved it all on the side and back of house to cover the swamp that is around their house. We also worked on cement blocks and putting concrete for the counter we are going to start working on tomorrow (which I learned how to mix concrete for the first time ever-new learning experience for me) Also the windows finally came today and our group has to replace nine windows to this house and we are starting that tomorrow as well. So all in all we have a lot to get done in the next two days and with the amount we have to do, it will be a challenge, but I think we will be able to accomplish what we need to get done.

 

I started off my day at the Grace Primary School. Caleb gave his devotion on Daniel and obeying God. We did the Sin Chair skit. The children thought that Caleb was hilarious as usual. Once we got to our job site at Javan’s house we finished up the front porch. I went inside and cemented bricks to make two walls that will soon become the base of their countertop. Towards the end of our work day we finally got our windows so we can be ready to do that bright and early tomorrow. I went to after school children’s ministry. It was very eye opening to see these kids and how they behave. It was heart breaking to see very young kids taking care of their baby siblings. It’s a very different cultural change. Later we went to a friend of Ryan’s to worship and talk about our trip. And now I’m ending my long day writing this.   Emiley

 

 

Hello, Iowa. I understand the weather there is about as nice as here. Darn!  J  Well, today is day 4 of our trip and we are beginning to see some actual progress in our work projects.  At my worksite, we finished moving a pile of sand/rock that had been in the front yard for years, to the sides and back of the house, which was much like swampland.  We worked in the hot sun for 2 days on this project so were glad to see the last rock moved today. In this house, we also built a couple of short concrete walls in the kitchen to put in a new sink, and at the end of the day we got new windows, which we will be installing tomorrow.  We also finished installing a new railing for their front porch.  It was a good day and I expect to see even more of our plans come together – at all 3 worksites.

The thing that strikes me most about Belize is the attitude of the people and how the culture differs from ours.  What stands out to me the most is this. I understand not being able to do projects that take money or skills that you don’t have.  What I don’t understand is not doing things that need to be done – things that don’t take money or skills.  Like cleanup work, or moving the pile of rock and dirt that we did.  I can’t imagine not doing that stuff at my own home.  If something needs done, we do it.  If something needs cleaned, we clean it.  And so on. You get the picture.

 

I guess that is one of the many ways God can use us on a trip like this.  If people can see that we would come 1700 miles to do things for them because we love God and we love them, it makes it all worth it.  People look at us and wonder why we do it.  That is what gives us the opportunity to have conversations with them about our faith.  If that is how God opens doors, so be it.  We are happy to be here.  We don’t mind the work and we love the people.  It’s good to get outside of my world and think about someone besides myself for a while.  This is, once again, a mountaintop experience.  I’m so thankful to be here.  See you soon!   Julie