Monday, November 5, 2012

Day 3 - Blankets, Beds and Babies

What day is this?  Oh, yea - it's Monday.  Many of us feel as though we have been here for a week already, and yet today was the first day of actual mission team work.  We were so very inspired to have about 20 Belizean women and 6 men to join our group projects.


The women's group took advantage of the large chapel area to set up sewing stations for making fleece blankets.  Large tables draped in bright, multicolored fabric were spread all throughout the room.  These ladies began to work fast and spent the morning and afternoon cutting, tying and folding over 100 yards of fleece.  The over-arching message behind making the blankets is to share the fruits of our labors - and these women will get a chance to give the blankets to other families in their village.


During lunch, Quest's missionary women led a discussion that would allow Belizean women to have an opportunity for personal testimonies and faith sharing.  Our team was surprised by how few material things these woman have and yet they know scriptures very well and strongly feel the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  Heather Thomas went so far as to say, "it felt like they were missionaries to us".  


It has been a blessing to see how God has changed many their lives.  Last year, Forrest Page and others led a young Mayan girl to accept Christ - right on the front porch of Camalote Camp.  Her mother and grandmother are the women we buy our crafts and souvenirs from.  This family showed up once again to offer their wares for sale.  But this time, they are more excited about sharing the love of the Lord - mostly by 
their testimonies of recent baptisms, home cell-groups and church worship.



Just outside the chapel, QC and EQC men set up under Austin's wood shop and began making the first of many beds.  Travis Cain and Asa High teamed up to help us develop the bed template and then conveyed instructions to the group.  Within an hour or so, saws were screaming, drills were turning and wood was being assembled.  



Everyone talked about how good it felt to get busy and get our hands dirty - and all worked safe. 


When we broke for lunch, Micheal Albright led one of our "lunch lessons" - sharing the story of Moses.
Several men offered personal testimonies and we are hoping that our Belizean brothers will be inspired to open their hearts as we work together this week.


Believe it or not, our men's group assembled over 25 beds today!  We will continue tomorrow and we have decided to add another project - building a few outhouses with scrap lumber.  


It's getting late and I am running quite low on sleep, but I simply must share this story.
When the Belizean woman showed up for their project day, so did their children.  Now, we had prepared for a few kids - just not 14!  Nina Reynolds was leading the kids care team and had to make a call to the "bullpen" for additional nursery workers.
     

So a schedule was created to include another woman and one man from the men's group. We rotated in for one-hour intervals so that people didn't become overwhelmed.  Needless to say, the first few hours of "Camp Cry, Scream and Runaway" were tough.  Especially for fellas.  :)


   Untill Tomorrow...

p.s.  I have had several emails asking if we are checking responses to the blog - and the answer is "yes".
Feel free to comment!  We will get them.




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