CHANGED

 

My dear blogger friends,

I have not forgotten about you or my promise to update you about my life-changing trip to Belize. Now that the crazy American life is stressing me out a little bit, I think it's time to sit down, take some time for myself, and reflect on how much my life has LITERALLY change in the past three weeks. I haven't had a chance to do this since I got back from Belize and I think God is calling this time to do so.

** PLEASE NOTE **
I am unable to share photographs of the children from the orphanage for privacy and safety reasons. I am more than willing to share them with you in person in an album I have created. Thank you for understanding! :)

Get ready, get set, go! 

                                                                                                                             

July 12th, 2014 [Day 1]

The Day That Began My Life-Changing Journey

 Well, the day before leaving I was planning on taking a nap during the day so that I would be well rested for the 2am start of our journey. I was far too excited and therefore went 24 hours with no sleep! We met at the church at 2am, traveled to Philadelphia Airport at 2:30am, our flight left around 6am-ish, we had a layover in Miami and we made it to Belize around 10am their time. Once we landed in Belize our leader for the week, Sarah, met us and this is where our team's kind-hearted friendship began with her. Let me tell you, she is an astonishing woman of God and I admire her greatly. I am very happy that social networking provides us a way to keep in touch and help each other grow in our walk with Christ. 

Sarah & I at Silk Cayes Island [July 19, 2014]

EXCERPT #1 from my personal journal:

"Wow! What a day! Today was my first time flying and going out of the country. Flying went well, not scary, and no issues with luggage. I don't see myself becoming a frequent flyer. The plan wasn't scary because I knew God was RIGHT there, but it's just not for me. I would much rather drive and see all the beautiful sites down here. The one thing I did love about flying was being above the clouds. WOW! IT'S A WHOLE NEW WORLD IN THE SKY! I was able to capture a picture of a large rain cloud with rain falling down, but the best part was the rainbow that followed it. Absolutely stunning! Not only has God created all the beautiful things on the land but he also created all the wonderful sights I was able to witness in the sky today. Arriving in Belize wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. It almost felt like Riker's Island (prison in NYC) because they wanted you to keep moving and you weren't allowed to take any pictures. After going through customs (this also wasn't as scary as I was expecting) we finally met the famous Sarah where she got our school bus ready to pick us up. Chester was our bus driver and we sure put our lives in his hands today. Driving here in Belize is almost like NYC, except you drive in the middle of the road until you see an oncoming vehicle, you pass cars WHENEVER (yes, even if there are cars approaching you), and the speed limit everywhere is 55mph. We had some scary encounters but Chester (and God!) helped us to get here safely. An amazing God mom was that we ended up coming across his wife and children who got a flat tire on their car. We stopped to help them change the tire but then the car would' start. Then we had to use a not so sturdy chain to tow their vehicle. There were several times where the chain came off and we had to reattach it. The whole situation had God's name all over it from the beginning to the end. We finally made it to our sleeping/eating quarters after who knows how many hours. They have AMAZING accommodations here; beds, sheets, towels, security (their dog Bear), a nice dining hall and plenty of bedrooms with BEDS! We were served rice, beans, chick and coleslaw for dinner. It was all so delicious! [Also, our lunch was a stop at a Chinese restaurant, who would've thought we would have been eating Chinese?!] Well, I think that's all God wrote for today. I'm getting sleepy AGAIN, so I better hit the hay! I'm excited to see what God will show us at church and cave swimming tomorrow! God's love is like NO OTHER" 

The rain cloud with the rainbow

The school bus that we traveled in for our 5+ hour bus ride.

                                                                                                                             

July 13th, 2014 [Day 2] 

The Day That God Taught Me of His Mighty Power

Our first true day in Belize was a "fun-day". We started the morning off with a POWERFUL church service at Toledo Faith Christian Outreach Center and ended the day with an incredible adventure at Blue Creek, cave swimming. Let me just start off by saying that I have never seen worship like I saw at this church service. People were dancing, singing, hands in the air and praising God! It was the most powerful sight I have ever seen and only pure evidence of what we were about to experience throughout the week. Today was the day where God began to show me the power of prayer, HIS mighty power and how I shouldn't fear because my God is always there. This was also the day where I began facing my fears (fear of dark and rushing water and the fear of the unknown) and partaking in things I never thought I would do, simply because of fear. This day is the day that has truly changed how I live everyday of my life now, I'm constantly looking back on it. 

EXCERPT #2 from my personal journal:

"Before I begin, I just want to mention how amazing (annoying to some) the noises are here! Howler monkeys, tree frogs, large toads.. and much more! Well, today was a day beyond words. We started the day off with a powerful service at Toledo Faith Christian Outreach Center. There was another mission team there from Texas and the pastor from their group got the privilege to preach. He preached on 2 Corinthians 2:7-18. God has created us, Christian, to be missionaries. We are called to listen to God and find out where/how he has called us to minister. For this particular team it was to pray for healing. The team invited anyone from the congregation to the front so that they could pray for healing over them. Suzi (a lady on our team) jumped right out of her chair to get a healing prayer on the issues she has been having with her back and leg. She said it was an experience beyond words and she felt tingly. She also said she was able to bend her leg while she was up there, which was something she wasn't capable of doing before hand. Suzi was also able to do our hike today, PAIN FREE!!!!! Today showed me how I need to trust God and lean on him for HEALING. After church we went to LOL to change and we headed to Blue Creek to go cave swimming. John and Ben (John is an intern at LOL and Ben is a missionary at LOL) were our tour guide and hiked us to the GINORMOUS cave in he jungle. When we reached the little pavilion to put our things we were able to experience sugar cane! DELICIOUS! When we reached the cave where there was brown rushing water (it's usually blue/clear but all the rains made it brown). Ben checked the conditions to get in the cave and he encouraged those who could swim and had strength to tag along. I felt God take away my fear and I immediately jumped on board "LET'S DO IT!" So, we began the journey.. We had to get in the water, stay against the wall and grip on as we moved along. There was one part in particular where the current was pretty strong but it was smooth sailing after that. We reached our destination and it was BEAUTIFUL (and dark of course! We used head lamps inside)! We climbed the rocks and jumped into the deeper water from the cliffs indie the cave. What an incredible experience! God left me completely fear free!!! I was so proud of Doris for still adventuring in after her scary experience, Drew who almost gave up, Hailey who was afraid and Alisa who thought she didn't have the strength! They all did it! God provides, he truly does and it was incredible! Through good and bad today, God's hand was RIGHT THERE! He will never give up! I'm excited for tomorrow we take on our first VBS day at a village near by! God heals - God provides - God conquers

Denise and I enjoying some sugar cane! [The Coke in Belize is made with sugar cane]

Here is the BIG BEAUTIFUL cave where I began conquering my fears.  The guy in the black hat on the right is Ben, one of our tour guides and a missionary at LOL.

Here are Joe and Suzi, an amazing couple with God at their center! 

                                                                                                                             

July 14th, 2014 [Day 3]

 Our Team Was Hand-Picked

Our first "work" day in Belize was at San Felipe village where we spent the entire day sharing the Gospel of Jesus with children of all ages. As we planned of our day the night before John (he was a teacher of the older children and I was a teacher of the younger children) and I decided it was best to combine our lessons in order to fit the needs of the children. Here we are, two teachers put together to teach the first lesson of this trip. This was something I had not thought of before hand but now as I'm writing this blog. Wow, God really hand-picked us all! Spending the day in the village also taught me about how I live my life when it comes to materialistic things. I am a simplistic person to begin with and I thank God for this quality. I am not the type of person that needs to go out and purchase the latest technology nor the type of person who needs the easy way out of things. God truly showed me these qualities in Belize as I continuously watched how these people lived poorly yet purposely. 

EXCERPT #3 from my personal journal: 

"God is just incredible! We had an awesome day at the San Felipe Village where we shared God's word and gifts with the children (and adults!) of the village. I'm so blessed that John and I had the opportunity to teach today. We worked together to share how baby Jesus was born and how John had the privilege to baptize Jesus.  I was shocked, not sure if that's okay, that they knew about the birth of Jesus. [As I am writing this excerpt I just wanted to mention how ALIVE and WELL God is in this country. It's so easy to get caught up in US here in the USA but in Belize, it's all about God's glory and what he provides day in and day out] It seems as though that God is already doing great things here and he is using us to do more great things! Dawn and I were talking about how God uniquely placed this team together with so many gifts. Dawn is a farmer, Chuck is great when it comes to getting to know the native, Joe is a handy-man, John & I are teachers…. etc. As for the day in the village it was a blessing seeing how they live TRULY makes me want to move here. Yes, they're poor but they have everything they need and they make do with what they have. There's no need for fancy houses, cars, pets of your own and the constant runs to the grocery store for something different to eat everyday. In the village there were pigs roaming freely, almost like we would see deer/rabbits/squirrels back in the States. There are also chickens and dogs that do just the same. I have yet to find out if people own these creatures or if they belong to someone. [I later found out from Jervis, the husband of Melissa and the owners of LOL, that the people in the village cannot afford to make pens for these animals nor can they afford to feed them. The animals roam freely in order to feed of the land and they return back to their owner each day. It's NOT a free for all when it's time to butcher, but each person butchers the livestock that belongs to them] You could say today was humbling, especially Greg and Margarita who fed us chicken and corn tortillas in their home for lunch. Today we also got a tour of LOL (Laugh Out Loud, the orphanage) where we will be spending the rest of the week. What a BEAUTIFUL place, I'm not sure my pictures will do justice. Before I head to dinner I just want to write down some things I've learned so far:

•  Geckos are here - haha! They make cute noises and roam inside the buildings

•  Rain is constant, always be prepared!

•  Women are eager to sell the things they make; baskets, bracelets, headbands, etc. (We encountered them at Blue Creek and at San Felipe)

•  The food is NOT bad - delicious actually

• They drive crazy here!!!!

• You thought pot holes in PA were bad… think again!

•  People are always walking/standing on the side of the road

•  Toilet paper does NOT go in the toilet (Yes, I knew this before going!)

•  The lifestyle is so laid back, I marvel at it

•  Rain comes through the roof in the dining hall when it rains hard! "

The building in the village where we taught VBS. 

Making loom bracelets with the children after our lunch.

LOL - the orphanage.. isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!

                                                                                                                             

July 15th, 2014 [Day 4] 

Philippians 4:6-7 

This was the first day at LOL and it was a stressful day for our team. The night before our team spent about two hours trying to fit our schedule into the schedule of LOL. Myself and a few other team members thought the team was going a little bit overboard with trying to pan out the schedule, detail by detail. We had not been there yet and therefore, it's difficult to see how the day really will pan out and how we can fit our schedule into their schedule. I had to walk away from the group during this time because my anxiety level was on high and I felt frustrated at what we are trying to do. I felt like we were missing our purpose here, our purpose to share God and experience God. We were falling into our American way where EVERYTHING LITTLE DETAIL in our life needs to be detailed out, but really we should be allowing God to use what He has already planned. As it goes to show, that day was then stressful because we were trying so hard to make it work. Experiencing one day made it easier for us to plan for the next day and so, the next night was a much easier plan as we all pulled together to help one another. My excerpt in my journal for this day was not much of anything but praying to God. 

EXCERPT #4 from my personal journal:

"STRESSFUL! (written in VERY LARGE letters) But, I love the children!! As a team we need to keep in mind our purpose here. Despite all trials and tribulations. We need to remember out Mighty God and what He can do!! PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7 (My prayer…) God, where can I be used to help comfort out team? Please guide and show me." 

On the first day we also lost some of our manly team to this work project. The orphanage is building on an addition in order for Jervis, Melissa and their family to live separately from the orphanage but still be there. In this picture you can see a little bit how they did this by hand. First the men shoveled the sand into buckets, then poured it in the mixer with cement, from there that was poured into a wheel barrow and wheeled over to the foundation. The men used buckets to get the cement out of the wheel barrow, passed the buckets up a ladder to the men at the top (where you see the wood in this photograph), these men poured the cement, they threw the buckets down and the whole process started all over again. I do have a video of this process, I might post it in a later blog so that way I don't have a hard time uploading this post. 

The playground at the orphanage, isn't it beautiful!?

The garage at the orphanage. These palm branch roofs are my favorite! I hope to build one like this for my future home (maybe in Belize?!)

This is the learning center at the orphanage. The children who are not old enough to go to school learn here during the school year and all of the children utilize this building in the summer time (and other times too, I'm sure!). This is the building where we did our VBS lessons and games we had for the children. 

                                                                                                                             

July 16th, 2014 [Day 5]

I'm Depending on the Wrong Things

After having one stressful today I was ready to attack the next day with high spirits. As we arrived at LOL early in the morning I shared Philippians 4:6-7 with the team before getting off of the van.

[6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [5] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

I knew that the night before we all felt a little discouraged, frustrated, and exhausted and I did not want this to be the case for Day 2. I used to often find myself needing to plan my life out, being ahead on my "to-do" lists, and living my life by a schedule. After awhile this began to take a toll on me and my stress levels were sky high until I encountered that verse. I thought "what in the world am I doing!?", here I am doing everything BY MYSELF when I have a MIGHTY GOD who has already done it for me. Ever since then I have used this verse as a reminder to myself that I do not need to plan my life out nor follow a schedule because God's plan will most likely always be different. After a stressful night I desperately wanted my team to feel this sense of peace also.

EXCERPT #5 from my personal journal: 

"Today was a much better day! Before we got off the bus I shared with the team my favorite verse - Philippians 4:6-7 - to remind us that God is in control and we need to cast our worries on him. Today went a lot smoother than yesterday; we understood the schedule better, we had more LOL staff and most of all we felt better equipped. I did get a little stressed out by a teammate but God provided the right people at the right time and I was able to get through it. This was also the first day that I missed home a little bit. I do not do well under stress, in fact it makes me very upset. After the stressful night last night and a bit this morning I finally broke down. BUT, God helped me to understand that the only one I need to depend on for comfort and assurance is Him. This trip is really helping me to grow into a woman of Christ, the one I've been longing to be. I've spoken out a lot more in a Godly way than I ever have before. I feel God really working in my life and I'm really feeling blessed. As I am writing notes to my teammates, I realized how each person has made some sort of significant impact in my life. I do get off topic very quickly [I'm sure you might have difficulties following my blog sometimes and I apologize!] I just wanted to mention how much I fell in love with the little children. Two children in particular [I won't share names for identity safety] truly stole my heart. The children here are SO BRIGHT and brilliant! I had a chance to work with Suzi (she worked with the young children all week) during "Numbers" time. I was sitting next to Billy (again, not the real name), who is about five years old, while he was working on his worksheet. I noticed that his worksheet had time-telling on it and I knew that I would probably have to help him when he got close to that section. I began helping the young girl next to me and when I glanced back at Billy's work I realized that he completed it, CORRECTLY! I was truly amazed! I later learned that the children in this country start school at three years old, which explains why they know so much by the age of five. We should consider this in the States!! I forgot to mention, but yesterday I got a chance to talk with the coordinator, Barb. Her and her husband, Jeff, moved to Belize from Tennessee by a strong call from God. They have a remarkable story to tell! They were also able to eat dinner with us tonight, which was a great opportunity for our team to get a chance to bond with them. What a couple of God!! *** Today I tried sweet corn ice cream from our daily pit stop on our way home. DELICIOUS! Apparently, it's home made ice cream made by a mennonite man and it's shipped to his local stop!"

Joe, Drew and Mark (not pictured) are working on fencing out a garden area behind the Learning Center. This will be used to teach the children, of all ages, gardening skills. 

I'm not sure of the story behind this painting, but some of the other missionaries and children were working on it in the Learning Center. I love the quote "With heart and helping hands, you impact lives for eternity". I believe this quote is a great description of what we, and many of the other people giving their lives to serve Christ in Belize, are doing on this mission.

Please meet Doris. Through a prayer letter sent to my aunt and shared with Doris,  I inspired her to join our team and serve Christ in Belize. This is just one of the many amazing works of God throughout this trip! Anyways, this photograph is when Doris captured one of the large toads roaming around our sleeping quarters. Whenever it rained at night these big guys would come out and make a lot of racket, keeping some people up at night.

                                                                                                                             

July 17th, 2014 [Day 6] 

God is Most Glorified in Me When I Am Most Glorified in Him.  - John Piper

One of the greatest things our team did, besides being at the village and orphanage working with the children, was creating something special for them to keep and remember us by. John, one of our team members, has a brilliant idea to build a Gaga Pit for the children of Belize just like we have at our church. Now, back track a little bit to VBS at our church two weeks before going to Belize. Every year our church does VBS and we always have a penny war between the girls and the boys. The boys and girls bring pennies in all week long and place it in the appropriate bucket. Each night we weigh the buckets to see if the boys or the girls are in the lead for the night. At the end of the week we see who the winner is and whoever the appropriate winner is gets saved from the pie, slime or water! This year the girls lost so I was put in a baby pool (Pastor Ken was nice enough to join me!) and each child got a chance to throw a water balloon at me. Needless to say, I was drenched by the end and so was PK! Anyways, the money that the children raised through this event was used to help the children at the orphanage in Belize. Our children built a Gaga Pit for the children in Belize.. how amazing is that?! Who knew that the children of our church would also be able to impact with us in Belize?? 

 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18

EXCERPT #6 from my personal journal:

"Today was the same routine and everything went smoothly. Our team and some children from LOL finished the Gaga Pit - what a blessing to these children! Not only do the children have something new to do BUT they also helped in creating it. I actually got a video of the first game played in their new pit - amazing!! They fees are so lit up every time they play. God is also providing more life to the orphanage through one of the dogs, Pippin, the German Shepard.  Today Dawn said that within the next twenty-four hours Pippin should have her puppies (we are expect 3-5 puppies). Dawn and I spent a little time trying to help Pippin as she desperately searched for a safe and quiet space to have her puppies. She needed up in a tree where she could curl up and no one would get to her. Hopefully by tomorrow we will see some puppies! Tonight using debrief Alisa shared that one of the older girls loved having us there. She said that other groups come but they are boring and no fun. I think that made the hearts of our team so full! Suzi also experienced an awesome God moment today too. She was having a difficult time breaking through with one of the little ones, Sally (again, not the real name!). Sally asked Suzi if she was staying for another five days and when she was going to be coming back. WOW! A girl who was giving her so much trouble wanted her to stay and wanted her to come back. These two stories sow what an impact we are making on these children and I'm sure more of an impact than we will ever know. I think my favorite part of the day was going out in the pitched black at our sleeping quarters and looking at the stars. John, Hailey, Drew, Alisa and I sat there gazing at the beauty God has placed right before us. We talked about galaxies, heaven and people singing applications to have a one way trip to Mars (yes, you read that correctly! Isn't that crazy!?) Also, PK has a NICE infection on his ankle. He went to an American clinic down the road. We drew a line around the redness and in doing so I could feel the heat of the infection. The doctor at the clinic said it was just badly bruised and that he should feel better within a few days. "Lord, I pray that you're able to heal PK's ankle, take out the infection and make it new again. Comfort him in his pain and selling. It's in your glorious name that I pray for this healing. Amen <3"

Here is the BEAUTIFUL Gaga Pit that our team and the children of LOL created. It's now three weeks later and we heard that the children STILL play it everyday and every night! God is glorious!! 

Here is a photo of Charles/Chuck (AKA Chaz) and I with Pippin! She was very pregnant and very ready to have those puppies! We found out the Saturday before we left that she gave birth to TEN PUPPIES! 

Doesn't this look lovely? This is what PK's ankle looked like and I'm sure you could understand our concern. Well, just so you know he is good as new now! He was taking Naproxen all week which he didn't know has aspirin in it and he's pretty allergic to aspirin. Needless to say, after taking something different his ankle is now all better! Praise God! 

                                                                                                                             

July 18th, 2014 [Day 7] 

What Am I Missing in My Faith?

Day seven was our last day at the orphanage, a hard day for sure. I scrambled around jumping at any opportunity to have some of the interns and missionaries at LOL to write a little word of encouragement in my journal. I did not want this day to end nor did I want to leave this orphanage. On Day 6 God put a little buzz in my ear about coming back to Belize at some point in time, possibly to do my student teaching. There is just something about this place that felt like HOME to me, considering I never missed home besides when I was feeling a little stressed out. On this trip I learned a lot about following the call of God, all of the people we met didn't end up in Belize because THEY felt like it. All of the people we met are in Belize because they felt a strong call from God to be there and even to go back if they were there for a short time. This is something I'm still trying to figure out and understand; how do I know the calling is from God and not the selfish desires of myself? I am patiently waiting for the call from God to go back to Belize because I know a part of me belongs there. I told a lot of people when I got back that I could honestly drop EVERYTHING I have here in the States to live in Belize with nothing. I've mentioned how laid back it is in Belize but it's also BEAUTIFUL, and not just the physical characteristics. God has created such a breath-taking and simple country. Some people have told me that that is the Caribbean but I beg to differ. What I mean is that God has created a type of sanctuary in this country. It's a place of peace. It's a place where the presence of God is easily evident. It's a place of love. It's a place of family. It's a place built on SIMPLE. It's a place of hope. It's a place where your faith could be made stronger. The one thing I might regret a little bit was that I don't believe I grew a relationship with the children like I could have. This might have been purposely because I hate saying good-bye and leaving the people I love or it could be that God did it purposely so that I might find myself back there at some point in my life. 

Today we also had a chance to visit Punta Gorda and view more of God's beauty! We got to spend time in the city getting sour sap ice cream, mouth-watering lime juice (oh how I miss it!), purchasing some Belizean souvenirs, and saying good-bye to our dear friends Jeff and Barb. They requested that we stopped at their home in Punta Gorda to say good-bye before our free day Saturday and our journey home on Sunday. Our team has felt an incredible bond with this couple and we are not sure as to how or why this happened. On both ends we all wish we had more time to spend with them and their family. If anyone from our team wants to go back to Belize, Jeff and Barb have generously opened their home to us. How gracious is that? A total blessing from God! Three weeks later we are still keeping in touch with them through Facebook (thank God for social networking!) and we are all learning more about each other everyday! This was one of the toughest good-byes that we had and we all miss each other dearly. Hopefully God will be calling some of us back soon!

EXCERPT #7 from my personal journal: 

"I can't believe today is our last day. This week went slow yet so fast. Goodbyes are not my favorite thing. I would much rather just leave than have to go through the struggle of good-byes. We had our usual day with the children; doing the VBS lesson, playing games and of course some Gaga! My favorite God moment today was the children running around on the playground singing one of the VBS songs that goes *I'm following Jesus HEY-HEY-HEY* (Click here to listen to the VBS song!) This just goes to show that we have made an impact in these children, yet again! As I was watching them on the playground in this moment I just felt so inspired by how full of God they are. If these 3-7 year olds can live and breathe the grace of God, why can't I? Why do I struggle? Why do I fall off track? This trip has shown me how powerful God is. How can anyone NOT believe in God? Seriously?! Melissa and Jarvis joined us tonight during our debrief. They gave their testimony of how God created LOL. Melissa said how our God is a God of FINE DETAILS. There are so many small things that happened in their testimony that were just small things that led to big blessings. [I wish I could remember their full testimony in order to share it with all of you so that you could understand the power of God]. I think the most inspiring thing about their story were the visions they would get while praying or even just closing their eyes. I've never heard anything like that before. I've heard of people hearing God talk to them but never have I heard of people envisioning what God was telling them. To me this was VERY powerful and made me realize that I am missing something in my faith, I'm not faithful enough."

This quote was found on one of the cabinet doors in the kitchen. While we were at Blue Creek in the cave, Ben quoted this before he jumped off of one of the higher cliffs. This quote has altered the way I now live my life; why have fear when God wants me to live more under his protection?

This is a prayer that I also found in the kitchen. My guess is that this is the prayer they say before they eat each meal. This is a prayer I hope to use with my future family for our meals. 

This picture was taken during our adventures through Punta Gorda. From where I am standing, off to my left, on a good day you would be able to see Guatemala!  

This is the view that Jeff and Barb have the privilege of waking up to everyday. How breath taking? What pure evidence of God!

This is a picture of Jeff & Barb's home where we stopped to say good-bye, a tough good-bye! 

                                                                                                                             

July 19th, 2014 [Day 8] 

God Has Created All Things on This Earth Not as Things to Look at But as Things to Glorify HIM. 

Today was another day of facing fears and experience more of the beauty of our mighty Creator. We started out week with a fun day and we also ended the week in the same way. This day we went snorkeling at Silk Cayes island, which is about 23+ miles from Palencia. On this small island we snorkeled around the barrier reefs found right off the shore, had lunch cooked by the snorkeling guides and had some free time of enjoying the water and the creations found below the water. One of my favorite experiences was when we were finished at the island and we took our boat out to the middle of the ocean and jumped into the water with our snorkel gear on. Where did I find myself? Swimming with the sharks of course!! We were able to swim right above nurse sharks, stink rays and star fish! What an amazing experience and other one done without fear!! 

EXCERPT #8 from my personal journal: 

"I conquered the fear of boats!!! We had a 23 mile boat ride to Silk Cayes island where we went snorkeling and I rode on the open top of the boat! One of the many God moments for the day, this one is my favorite. We got up at 5am for breakfast at 5:30am to get to the boat station. From the boat station we would take the boat to the snorkeling company. Well it needed up that the snorkel place didn't open until 8:30am which meant we had forty-five minutes to kill Jervis saw this as an amazing opportunity for a devotion time. He shared his testimony of growing up in Belize City, selling drugs at age eight and having warrant out for his arrest. He came to the States where he went to a Bible college with Melissa. Jervis thought he was a nobody because he had no education, he stopped going to school because selling drugs gave him the job and in the income that you go to school for. Melissa saw more in Jarvis and knew she wanted to be with him but her parents were not on board with this idea. His point to us was that education is a good thing but it doesn't determine who you are. God created you in the womb along with plans. We need to listen to God's calling and where he wants us to be. This life is not about us, not about our family, not about education, IT'S ABOUT GLORIFYING GOD. Well, after snorkeling on the BEAUTIFUL island (snorkeling was fun but not really my kind of things) we went to the middle of the ocean and jumped off ship! Yes, I jumped into the middle of the ocean and swam with the sharks and stingrays! Two huge fears of mine were completely CONQUERED today and I wasn't afraid of nervous at all. As I shared my emotions with PK he mentioned how we have to many people praying for us at home and that was just the power of prayer working! (Therefore, I want to thank all of you for graciously praying not only for me but for my team as we endured some amazing adventures in Belize serving God!)"

My prayer for this day:

"Jesus, what am I doing wrong? What am I missing? Do I have fear? Do I know have enough love for you? Why Can't I thrive in you like I see the people here do? As I am listening to Jarvis talk I believe that I don't love you enough God. What can I do? How can I change? Guide me Lord. Help me Lord. Provide me strength. I want more of you God. I love you. Amen"  

Meet Jervis! This was our first boat ride that took us to the snorkeling company.

Here are Doris, Jervis, Hailey, Drew and I on the top part of the boat ride to Silk Cayes island! 

Jervis is taking in the beauty of God. Right in front of him is Silk Cayes island where we spent our afternoon. 

Just soaking it in! 

Here is Alisa and I in our snorkeling gear after lunch!

Here is everyone taking time out from snorkeling the second time around and instead enjoying the clear and warm water. We eventually did our own bit of snorkeling near the shore where we were able to see some coral and fishys!

Suzi and I enjoying the water. 

Here are Sarah, Jervis, Denise, Pastor Ken and myself on our boat ride back to Placencia; the sunset was absolutely beautiful!

Yes, this is a real photograph that I took! This is when we were arriving in Placencia to eat at the Tipsy Tuna and enjoy some free time of shopping. After experiencing this, again, how could you not believe in God!?

                                                                                                                             

I have many more reflections from when I returned back to the States but I will save these for another time. I do realize this was a long blog post and it could be longer, but I wanted you to be able to picture the amazing experiences that I had the privilege of experiencing. Belize has a special place in my heart for sure. I am praying and waiting on the call to God of when I will be back there and the reason I will be back (I should say, my fiancé and I! Yes, I got engaged two weeks after I got home from Belize!!) 

I want to personally thank each and every one of my prayer warriors out there! Your prayers were felt strongly in Belize and we wouldn't have been able to accomplish all that we did without your prayers! I also thank ALL of you who helped me financially, without you I wouldn't have been able to endure on this life-changing journey! 

My new family of Christ.