We visited the TCA school first thing this morning and brought notebooks and giftbags for each of the students. Muggy and I talked with Emerson Manggor, the TCA director about opportunities for individuals to come to teach here. He is very receptive to the idea. They had to hurry me out of the classroom as I was having too much fun talking with the students.
Placencia is about an hour’s drive from TCA. We pulled up to a facility along the river and parked. Melissa had arranged for us to have a water taxi for the day. We motored through the mangrove channels, bound for the oceanfront area. There we rented snorkel gear and headed out with our guide (Louis).
We headed for Silk Key on the Queen’s Reef. It’s 21 miles out from shore and quite a long (and this day, bumpy) ride. The picture below endeavors to capture the “non-reality” feeling of where we were and what we were doing. We snorkeled around the island and saw incredible sealife, including a six foot nurse shark. Our guide had prepared a wonderful BBQ chicken and potatoes for lunch. After lunch we boarded the boat again and proceeded to another dive location. Absolutely un-belize-able!! We saw two more nurse sharks, two loggerhead turtles and numerous rays!! Truly remarkable!! The ride back to shore was long and bumpy and we all had to “go” pretty badly.
A day of struggle for me. I am experiencing an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. I asked Muggy to pray for me and she did. I will ask if I can walk to the job site this morning.
God led me to Joshua 8 again this morning. He’s done this in the past when I struggle with feelings of inadequacy/failure/shortfall, etc. I did walk to the property this morning. I enjoyed just being alone with God and walking down a road in Belize. By the time I arrived at the worksite, I was back on track. We accomplished a lot again today. Much color was added to the walls and it was uplifting to see the fruits of our labor. Melissa says we contributed over 200 hours to the project.
At day’s end, even serious-minded Melissa was exuberant and mischievous with the paint; evidenced by this picture:
The morning devotions time today proved to be one of the most powerful times of the trip (at least so far!). Nancy shared her testimony and prayer commenced following this. Then Jervis shared that he was fighting relapse and guilt from his past. We took authority right then and called it spiritual warfare. We anointed Jervis again and laid hands on him. Jacob prayed in a might way against the spirits!
The day provided more of the same; lots of paint, and then some more paint. Nancy and Linda continued their ways of always finding things to do and were working with the Belizean workers sifting sand and carrying cement.
The group has achieved a very beautiful (and funny) level of familiarity.
The evening brought a time of praise and worship and seeking the Lord. Two visions of God’s anointing confirmed His presence.
My mornings have rapidly settled into a routine. I awake about 5:30 and walk a few steps over the house where the girls are staying. Their place is the one where we do our socializing and eating. It’s my job to turn the coffee on. The girls don’t like to be the first downstairs as one never knows if there are critters around (spiders, snakes, scorpions, etc). I sit at the table in the screened porch and spend time praying, talking with God and blogging.
I enjoyed a morning ride into town with Jervis. I met several of the locals: Edmond, the director of TCA, Robert – a machinist of some kind and Tim, the man who started TCA. We went to the Internet Café so I could post the items for the blog. The shop was full of folks, from kids to adults, busy about their business with the internet.
The shop owners are “Coolies”. This is the name for the Belizeans of East Indian descent. Their appearance is Indian or even Asian. The folks of Mayan descent are known as Ketchi. Other groups here are the Creole and the Gauban, descendants of an Ethiopian ship that wrecked near Belize.
The remainder of the day found us painting, painting and then some more painting. We are very nearly finished with the priming portion of our task. Perhaps on Wed we will begin to paint in color.
Muggy and I walked over the Fisher’s house after work just to say hello. It is fascinating just observing the flora here.
After dinner I asked where I could find a tarantula. Hannah, one of the interns, showed me how to use a flashlight held against your nose to walk through the grass and see the spider’s eyes reflecting back. We found lots of spiders, but no tarantulas.
The team then returned to the work site to enjoy a time of praise and worship on the roof of the new building. The staff had set up chairs and built a bonfire (we all moved about 25 feet from the fire due to the heat and it was incredibly humid evening as it was). Jervis played his guitar and led us in a few worship songs. Muggy shared her testimony and then we had an intense time of prayer for the staff and the interns. We prayed for each person individually and anointed them with oil. It was powerful!
As we sat on the third story roof of the building, I could not help but think of the Mayan connection we are making. I have stood atop mounds in Cahokia, IL and the Ocmulgee Mounds in Macon, GA. As we flew from Belize City to Punta Gorda on Saturday, I noted that the hills on the landscape looked like the mounds in both these other locations. It is posited that the Mississippians were of Mayan origin and traveled up into North America. I felt a strong connection between where God has taken us (St. Louis, Macon and now Belize).
Up not quite as early this morning.Coffee and conversation amongst the team while I prepared a devotion for the morning.Jervis arrived about 7 and we conducted morning devotions.Ken asked that we progress through the week could we please spend some time sharing our testimonies.
The morning meal was prepared and delivered by Melissa and company and we enjoyed delicious breakfast burritos wrapped in soft taco shells. And it was very good.
Shortly, we traveled the short distance to the work site and met with Garrett, one of the interns, who was our boss for the day.Initially, I wondered if Garrett would be able to deal with all the questions he was getting, but in not too long a time, he had us all painting walls and ceiling beams.
Sorry, not able to post pictures at this time....maybe later!!!
The day was filled with painting, joking and singing.Some of the team found that the acoustics of the building made them into incredible singers…at least that’s what they thought!Gary and Jacob did their best impression of Johnny Cash Live.We were joined later in the day by Melissa making her first ever visit to the job site during a day of work.She is usually occupied meal preparation, parenting and administration.I enjoyed a rare opportunity to talk casually with Melissa as we worked in one of the rooms painting trim.She is an engaging and focused woman with a passion for serving the Lord that burns fiercely.
Jacob took me out into the field to show me some of the compound, particularly the outhouse.I was to find out later in the day a truth about this outhouse.I needed to visit the outhouse later and when I opened the door and found a incredible patchwork of spider webs; and on the wall behind the webs, a brown mass of undetermined origin.The mass was about 18 inches and oval shaped.
Even though there are restroom facilities in the new building, I was glad that Jacob had shown me the outhouse as otherwise I’d have never found the termite nest.When I told Gary about it, he asked me to show him where.He told me that if I’m ever lost in the jungle, a termite nest can be burned during the night to keep bugs away.I also learned that if you have foot fungus, the smoke from the burning will cure the fungus.And, if you put the nest in the water, shrimp will crawl in to eat the termites and become trapped and then you have dinner!
Gary didn’t hesitate a bit.He walked to the nest and tried to pull it off the wall.It did not come loose, so he got a machete and pried it off.Then we went to the field and set it on fire.Thousands upon thousands of termites came out of the next.I’m told that sometime scorpions are in the nests eating termites.
We were all very tired and hot and sweaty by the end of the day and were thankful for warm water and clean clothes.A delicious meal was served again and then the team, two interns and Jervis met for our evening debriefing session.After sharing our high and low points for the day, Jacob shared his testimony.
We made a late, quick trip to town to the internet café to post this blog, but both cafes were closed.I enjoyed a wonderful ride with Jervis, listening to more of his vision and passion for Laugh Out Loud..
As I awoke in the morning darkness, and listened to the profound silence, I realized that I was beginning to brush away the trappings of the digital, plugged in world we live in day to day; and I found it liberating!!My work and thoughts of such continue to invade my thoughts, but I believe these musings are fading.
We began the day very early as Belize is two hours behind Eastern time.Most of us were up at 4:30, so the coffee was on and we continued getting to know each other.
We attended church this morning in Jacintoville and were truly blessed by great praise and worship.The team left the main service after worship and joined the children in another building.We had a great time interacting with the kids and we presented our skit on the story of David and Goliath (available on DVD for $4.95 plus S&H)
Then it was back to the house for lunch and preparing for travel to Blue Creek recreational area.
We had a truly remarkable adventure at Blue Creek, culminating in a journey upstream into a cave.It was like something at Disney World, except this was the real deal…complete with bats flying around!!I was sincerely impressed with the adventuresome spirit of the ladies of the group as this was not an easy hike and it was a little daunting going into the cave.
LOL has four or five interns here with them; mostly early 20-somethings who are earnestly seeking what God has for them.This is one of the key facets of what LOL is.
Jervis and Melissa welcome individuals as interns who are thinking missions is for them.Belize is an excellent place to “test the mission waters”.There is definitely the reality of the missions field here, but there is no language barrier as the Belizeans speak English.The missions experience is extremely challenging and coming to a ministry like LOL is an excellent starting point for anyone thinking they may want to really get involved in missions.I’d recommend that anyone reading this talk to members of this team about our experience.
We enjoyed an evening meal prepared by Melissa (she loves cooking for missions team!).Then, the team sat down with Jervis to debrief the day.He asked us the high and low point for each of our days.Then, he shared his testimony with us.Jervis’ testimony is his, but suffice to say, God has a calling and a purpose on this man’s life and the life of his wife Melissa!!God has snatched him from the jaws, the very gates of hell!
Delta Flight 665 took off from AtlantaAirport right on time, bound for Belize City, Belize.The plane was full; packed with passengers on the way to Belize for a multitude of reasons.Some were going for business, some for pleasure and six of us to find out what God has for us in Belize.
As this was a first visit for most of us, we spent the three hours on the flight in curious conversation with other passengers who had previous Belize experience.A couple of quick notes here about traveling to Belize:
1)You can bring $10,000 US out of the country without declaring it; however, you are allowed only $5000 US brought into Belize.(The exchange rate is two Belizean dollars for one US dollar).Of course, few of us will ever be traveling with this much cash!!
2)Processing customs is fairly simple.You are first processed into the country with your passport.You then retrieve your bags and proceed to customs.If you have things to declare AND if they choose to levy an import tax, it will cost you about 20% of the declared value.You can pay in US or Belize dollars.Most times you will not have things to declare, but I recommend that if you think it needs to be declared, declare it and let them decide.They will ask you the value of what you are declaring.
As you approach Belize City, you will be awestruck by the beauty of the ocean and the incredible lack of development!There are few, very few, habitations along the coast, with even fewer roads leading through the jungle.Belize City is not a large city by US standards.I’m guessing the populations might be about 20-30,000; but note that the entire population of Belize is only 250,000!
Belize City International Airport is one runway and no taxiways; so, once on the ground, your pilot will execute a 180 degree turn and taxi to the terminal.It’s interesting to see United Airlines and Delta MD-88s or bigger at this terminal.I believe this speaks to the development potential of this wonderful little country.It’s an “old school” exit from the plane down a portable stairways and into the terminal to process into Belize.
Once through customs, it’s time to find your next mode of transportation.Ours was Tropic Air Airlines.The employees of Tropic Air make it very easy for you to check your bags and obtain your boarding pass.Tipping is recommended and encouraged.
There is a nice, little restaurant upstairs in the airport.If you have time, grab a quick bite of lunch.We thought we had time, but just after ordering, a Tropic Air employee came to our table and said they had another plane ready (flexibility is the key to air power right?!?!?)So, we asked the waitress to pack our order to go and we headed for the gate.
Tropic Air planes are small.Ours had room for about 14 passengers.I sat right behind the pilot (literally, I could have reached out to tap him on the shoulder!). Ours was to be a 30-45 minutes flight to Punta Gorda in the Toledo District in the southern end of Belize.
Flying over the Belize landscape it only takes a few moments to realize this is a very sparsely populated country!The Belizean jungle is formidable and certainly not a place I would want to travel through.I was told later on that the US and British military regularly send personnel to Belize to train in the jungle.It is definitely the “real deal”!
Jacob pointed out to me that if one looks along the rivers, you will see the thatched huts of indigenous people living in the jungle.Another clue is smoke curling up through the jungle canopy.
And if you thought Belize City was a relatively small town, wait until you see Punta Gorda!!As the landing strip (and yes it’s just a strip!) came into view I thought, “Whoa, this is going to be interesting!”(See picture insert)
The pilot made a beautiful landing and we taxied to the terminal….kind of a stretch to use that word.(See building behind the team in the next picture.)
We are definitely in another world!I’ve experienced a sense of remoteness in other places that I’ve visited:the solitude that is eastern Montana during antelope season or the realization of just how far I was away flying over the Black Sea on the way to the country of Georgia, but this is different.There is virtually nothing around this small community but water to the south and east and jungle every other direction.Honduras is across the water to the east and Guatemala across the water to the south.
Jervis (half of the lead missionary team here at Laugh Out Loud) and Gary, one of their interns met us at the airport.After hugs around, we loaded up the van and headed for San Felipe.On the way, we stopped at the new property where we will be assisting with the continuing construction of the new LOL facilities.
The larger districts in Belize (there are six) are administered by governors.The towns and villages and small communities are governed by a chief who is responsible for all administration, to include doling out appropriate punishment for crimes.There are laws for governance and taxing set in place, but the communities receive virtually nothing from the national government.Belize remains a part of the British Commonwealth (it was formerly known as British Honduras) and, as such, the Royal British Army maintains a garrison here.I understand this is very desirable posting for RA personnel.
We continued on to our residence for the next week.It’s a facility owned by the Toledo (district) Christian Academy (TCA) including a church, school and facilities for church teams to stay while here helping.The first night we stayed in the building pictured below.The next morning we realized that the building next door was probably intended for us as the hot water was on in that building!!So, we moved!
We moved in, set up beds, unpacked and prepared for a night out on the town.We went to a wonderful little restaurant in Punta Gorda and met up with the rest of Jervis and Melissa’s (the other half of the mission leads here), their family and the interns from Louisiana, Colorado and Virginia.We enjoyed some wonderfully delicious food and great conversation getting to know some of the others we are to be working with the next week.As time permits, I will endeavor to introduce you briefly to some of the staff and interns.
We were all pretty tired after this day of travel and it felt good to return home and turn in for the night.The facilities we are staying in are (to me) like a hunting cabin.Rustic but most definitely adequate.Electricity, fans, hot water and coffee in the morning!
Less than 24 hours to go and we will be in Belize City, Belize!!! UN-BELIZE-ABLE!!! All of our team members are VERY excited for this opportunity to represent Christ Chapel Warner Robins and to be about God's work!! As He tells us, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God..."
I will endeavor to provide updates regularly. Keep us in your prayers!!!
