A look into the Belize mission trip!

On July 13th, 2013, we made our way to Belize on a mission trip with First Baptist Church of Frederick.  This photo was taken while flying over Florida!

We had a two hour flight from DC to Miami, FL then another two hour flight from Miami, FL to Belize! Here is our first glimpse of Belize from the air!

We arrived at the airport in Belize City, Belize where we met up with Mark, the missionary that lives in Belize. We all hopped in the van and started our journey to the mission base. We drove through the city for about 30-45 mins before we got to… the road. This road is about 25 miles long and it took us over 2 hours to drive it since the condition of the road are horrible. The drive wouldn’t be complete without breaking down! We broke down in the middle of no where… luckily a shoe string saved the day!

On Sunday morning, we headed into the village to go to church. After church, some of the people in the village set up their tables in front of the church to sell necklaces, bracelets, and other hand made items. The children would grab your hand and take you around to the different tables. I spent almost all of my money the first day because I just couldn’t say no! The items that they had for sale were so beautiful!

A rare photo of me in FRONT of the camera!

I took this photo on the morning of my 26th birthday. It was so humbling to be in Belize for my birthday. It was so nice not wanting to ‘go here’, ‘go there’, or want ‘this or that’ for my birthday. I spent the day with good friends, amazing people, and doing nothing but serving our God.  This is for sure the best birthday that I have ever had.

This is just a glimpse of the cabana’s that we stayed in at the mission base. The windows were just cut-outs and had a screen over it. It was amazing waking up to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the sun shining brightly through the window. It was so easy waking up in the morning… I was up before our 6am alarm every single morning (and I am NOT a morning person!)

 

Every morning, we would walk around a mile and a half from the mission base to the lagoon where we would boat across the lagoon to the village.

Hard at work! We painted two houses while we were in Belize. We would arrive in the village around 8am and pain until noon or so then have lunch. Every day, a different person in the village would cook us lunch. It’s another way that we can help support them because they don’t have any jobs in the village to bring in money.  After lunch, we would head to the church to teach Vacation Bible School to the children!

Here is Sarah and Mark, the two                        Here is Ricky snapping a photo! He did
missionaries that live at the mission                a good job at capturing this trip and
base in Belize.                                                           updating the church’s facebook page
about our mission.

                    

 

Meet Brandon! Brandon offered us two different workshops while we were there! He taught us how to make drums and rain sticks. I really enjoyed meeting Brandon and learning about him and the Belize culture… he surely taught us a lot! He said that he was inspired by a friend that always told him that he could do anything that he wanted to, so he picked up wood work. He is mainly self taught and he is very talented!

Having some fun before Vacation Bible School!  All of the children gathered to watch a few boys jump over the rope… we all had a good time! Here is our Pastor holding the rope!

 

All of the children enjoyed learning how to play the recorder… even the littlest ones!

                    

I was trying to take a photo of the dog when this child ran into the photo. I just love this photo… I am very happy that I could capture this moment!
During Vacation Bible School that day, they made airplanes! This little boy had the biggest smile on his face while he ran around flying his plane. Sometimes that ‘accidental’ photo turns out to be one of the best ❤

(To be continued….)