Praise be to God. Everyone arrived safely! After a long night and day of travel, there was a lot of enthusiasm about being here (finally!) and getting settled into what will be our home for the next week. We jumped into things pretty quickly; after lunch we had an all team meeting, worship and some preparation time for the children’s home. At the children’s home, Ms. Price gave us a tour of the facilities and explained their philosophy on running the children’s home. We then got a chance to play with the 44 children currently residing at the home and put on a program for them. After some tasty nachos at Old Belize, we settled in for the night to catch up on lost sleep. We’ll start bright and early tomorrow morning with moving a chicken coop out on the farm and securing a pen for the new calves, as well as helping out at the preschool. Thanks for all your prayers and please continue praying for the ministry that will happen this week.

So much accomplished and it's only been the first full day of ministry! This morning was spent with most of us at the farm, building the new chicken coop and feeding the calves (each one drinks about 5 gallons of formula!). A few of us were with the preschoolers, helping out with the ~35 children that attend school. We came together for our lunch (or dinner, as Pastor informed us) which was a traditional rice, beans and stewed chicken meal, served to us by our wonderful cooks and hosts. After lunch we had a little down time before walking all around Ladyville to let children know about the vacation Bible school taking place at the sports field. Many children attended, including those from the children's home we visited on Tuesday. We then had our exercise for the day as everyone joined in for basketball, frisbee, soccer, duck duck grey duck, hide and seek....the list goes on. After all this work, we were blessed once again by our wonderful cooks! Everyone cleaned up nicely for church this evening. We had a prayer service, led by Pastor Westby, and were excited about the message he shared with us. What a neat way to start the week off. Thanks again to our prayer warriors at home!

Feeding time!

Another hard day of work, another exciting opportunity to be God’s workers in the field. We got right to it this morning, giving those who hadn’t been to the farm the opportunity to feed the calves and build the chicken coop. Others had the chance to go on a field trip with the preschoolers to the fire station near the airport. A few stayed at the new church building to sweep and clear away debris for the concert we will host on Friday night. All this before lunch! Pastor Westby was away for some of the morning, but we understood why when we arrived at the church and were served a BBQ feast cooked by none other than Pastor himself. Sister Cecilia’s Home for the Elderly was next for us. We talked and laughed with the residents living there and gave them a mini concert before heading back to the vacation Bible school at the sports field. We made necklaces, ate cookies and sang songs with the 66 children who showed up before playing sports with them to end the day. As we are about to head out into the city for supper at Bird’s Isle, we are thankful for the support coming from home and the prayers lifted up for us.

This picture is from VBS on Thursday

Ziplining

Cave tubing

Today was by far the hottest day since we've been here....but that didn't matter to us as we were under the shade of the canopy while ziplining and jumping into the river for some cave tubing! We had a blast with each and got to hear some pretty interesting screams while on the ziplines. What a way to rejuvenate everyone half way through the week! After lunch, we came back and were able to visit the children's home once more before starting VBS. During sports time, some will be helping with set up for the concert that The Heavenlies gospel band will be putting on tonight at the basketball court. We are hoping for a strong showing with invites going out to all the local churches. Thanks for all the comments, the group loves hearing them!

The farewell services went really well as we said our goodbyes to all we have met and served with this week. The caye was wonderful and sunny as we had a chance to relax and reflect upon the week. Please pray for safe travels for everyone going home today. Thanks to all of you who have made this trip possible and supported it!