Belize Update - Day 2 - April 3, 2012

Our second day in Belize began by waking up to a beautiful sunrise after a great night's sleep at Camalote Camp, our "home away from home" for the week. It truly is an oasis in the middle of this country. Incredible grounds and foliage, hammocks everywhere, and the sounds of birds and even silence.

We ate a big breakfast of "fry-jacks" (think elephant ears from carnivals in the USA ... but without the powdered sugar), fried beans, eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit. There was plenty of coffee consumed as well! After breakfast teams packed sack lunches and headed out or stayed back to prepare for different missions/ministries for the day.

Around noon kids started arriving at Camalote Camp for the first day of our "Camp God Rocks BELIZE." There were over 60 kids. Many new relationships were forged, as well as old relationships rekindled.

During this time a few of us and a few Belizeans also began packing "care packages" - of rice, beans, and flour - that will be taken to local villages for distribution during the week.

The Kids Team had an amazing day! The kids absolutely loved "Camp God Rocks BELIZE." There was singing, games, crafts, Bible teaching, sports, and just hanging out together. The kids here quickly attach to our team members, and so there were hugs and high-fives going on all day. Day 2 of kids camp is tomorrow, and our Kids Team can't wait to see these beautiful kids again. Just a note - most of the kids at camp this week are from the Evangelical Quest Church that we work with - coming from two local villages.

While the Kids Team was doing their thing back at Camalote Camp, the Medical Team was out at a local village seeing people with medical needs. It was a good first day, and tomorrow will prove to likely be their busiest day of the week as they move over to another village. Flyers have been distributed and the Medical Team will see dozens of people at a local church.

I'm always amazed at what the Construction Team is able to accomplish in such a short time. This week they are building two small homes for a large family. As of today one of the home has the roof trusses up, and the second home will have trusses by tomorrow. The team may be able to attach the metal roofing tomorrow as well. Amazing. These guys are extremely hard workers - leaving early and returning late in order to get the job done.

As all the teams arrived back to Camp in the late afternoon, we learned that because of the death of a local woman connected to the church down here, there would need to be a funeral tonight (or "wake" as they call it). Tonight was planned as "Bible Study Night" where members of Evangelical Quest Church would come and share with us as one church through worship and Bible study. So because of the funeral service involving pastor German Gallardo, part of our team went to support him and the family in mourning, and the other half stayed back to run the worship and Bible study time - which included kids ministries.

After everything concluded tonight, team members could be seen all over the Camp talking and laughing - the sign of a great first day.

Tomorrow is coming, and we're not sure what it will bring - but we look forward to what God has planned.

Continue checking the blog and sharing it with others this week. Thanks for letting us share the stories of our week with you!