This morning (although it will be yesterday by the time I post this) we went to the local church, Light of the Valley, for worship. George was to give the sermon, and the rest of the adults taught the various Sunday School groups. Justine had the youngest group, ages three to seven; Wendy had the middle group, ages eight to twelve; and Lauren had the teenagers. The rest of us helped out in the groups where we were needed. I was in the middle group with Darren, Lisa, and Jason. The lesson was about the Roman Centurion whose servant was dying, and who came to Jesus so that his servant may be healed. Jason demonstrated some military commands, and got the kids participating in standing at attention, about faces, and marching in place.
When Sunday school was over, we went back over to the main building for announcements. The main building of the church is just one room, with windows all around and two sets of double doors that always stay open to catch the cross-breeze. Wooden pews are set up on both sides of the sanctuary facing a small stage and lectern. There was one small drop-down projection screen, one projector, two microphones, and two speakers. The building seats about 150 people, and the compound also serves as a school.
After announcements, all the kids left and went to one of the surrounding Sunday school buildings for Junior church. Unfortunately, we were a little under-prepared, and junior church ended up being mostly mass chaos. We had a lot of trouble with crowd control, and had to physically break up a couple of fights. One of the kids found a dead bat and brought it in to the building, drawing delightedly terrified squeals from all of the other kids. The adults' ear-drums were completely shot after that...
Finally we got something like control over the room, and got the kids all playing Heads up Seven up. At long last it was time for the kids to take the bus back home with their parents.
When we got back to Hosanna House, we got lunch on the table and had team devos after lunch clean-up. George gave us two passages of scripture to read about Moses being called by God to free the Israelites. We split up into about four groups, read the passages (Exodus 3:1-14 and 4:1-17) and discussed what God's call for Moses was, and what obstacles Moses had to work around. After about twenty minutes of discussion, we came back into a group to talk everything over together and relate the scriptures we read to our own lives.
Team devos finished, Andrew said he had a headache and didn't feel well, so he went down to his room to sleep while the rest of us went over plans for VBS. We'll have four stations set up around the Light of the Valley church compound: games, singing and Bible verse memorization, Bible lesson, and crafts. We'll also have a brief opening and closing. The adults who aren't helping with the stations are going to be crew leaders, with about fifteen kids per person. The numbers in attendance will vary from day to day, but we're expecting somewhere around two hundred kids from the community to come.
Because of the large numbers of kids coming, and because the kids are coming from all over the community, we're having a bus driver go up and down the highway picking kids up. The pastor of Light of the Valley was originally planning on doing the job for us, but since he's in the hospital, we've had to find a last minute replacement.
Later in the afternoon, some of us spent some time with the girls up at the house while two groups of us went on a walk to pass out flyers for VBS. The ones who went out ended up getting drenched in the classic, sudden and angry tropical deluge. I'm glad I was one of the people who stayed back to play with the babies!
There are three little ones at Hosanna House right now staying with their mothers: Debry (deh-BREYE), Kevin, and Carnilli (kar-NELL-ee). All of them are about a year old. The girls are very trusting of us with their children, often just handing them off to us when they need a break for a little while. We're always glad to hold them. :)
One-on-one interactions with the girls are still a little bit difficult, but they seem to be starting to warm up to the new-comers. Playing games with them and coming up with various activities to do is an easy way to break the ice. So far we've played countless games of Uno, Heads Up Seven Up, volley ball, and we've had one nail-painting party. I think for the most part the girls really enjoy the attention and interaction, but some are still very withdrawn.
After hanging out with the girls for a few hours, we came back to our quarters for dinner. Andrew was up, but said he still didn't feel very well. He didn't eat much, and went to bed as soon as possible while the rest of us went up to the house for devotions with the girls. When devos were over we played a few rounds of a name-learning game, and of course the classic Heads Up Seven Up. I didn't notice at the time, but I found out later that Jason left in the middle of the games. Apparently he was feeling sick to his stomach, and Connor was down with some kind of swelling in his face that seemed like an allergic reaction to something. As of right now (well, last night as it were) Jason said he's feeling better but needs to rest. Connor and Andrew are still sleeping, so we'll find out about them in the morning.
(*quick side note: I'm writing these posts up at the end of every day and then posting them the next morning; all the guys are back to normal now.)
Tomorrow we start VBS with the girls from Hosanna House and the kids from the community. In the afternoon we'll probably spend more time just hanging out with the girls getting to know them, and playing volley ball. We might be working on some painting projects as well.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Day Two: Just Chillin'
Friday night, everyone slept like a rock, we were all so tired from traveling. Personally, I had tried to read some of my devotional book in my bunk before falling asleep. I just made it through the introduction before my eyes shut by themselves. I didn't even bother to get out of my bunk to put the books away, I just left them beside me all night and hoped they wouldn't fall on Lisa who was sleeping on the bunk below mine.
In the morning, we found out that the girls' shower wasn't working. For some reason, we couldn't get any water out of the shower head, so we all had to use the guys' shower off the kitchen. In addition to water problems, the air conditioning units in the main room and the kitchen weren't working properly. One would only blow warm air, and the other didn't have any working controls, so George and Paul left to try and find some "new" units.
Hardly anything you find in Belize is new, and almost everything needs some kind of maintenance tweaking. Darren was pressed into service as the maintenance-man all day, fixing shower heads, beds, and drills to fix other things. When we finally did have the new A/C units, most of the guys helped to install them while everyone else was hanging out with the girls playing cards and volley ball.
The finding of the A/C units was pretty miraculous. When George and Paul left, they searched up and down the Hummingbird Highway for shops that had working appliances. The shops that they found open didn't have what they were looking for, and most of the other shops were closing for the weekend. Finally, when they had driven all the way out to Dangriga they found a shop that was open called Harry's Paint. When they asked the shop keeper about A/C units, the man took them into the very back of a trailer behind the store, where they keep extra appliances and store various odds and ends. In the very bottom of a pile of microwaves and other appliances, were two air conditioners of the exact dimensions we needed. They plugged them in to make sure that they ran properly, and then loaded them into the van to take back to Hosanna House. Meanwhile, the power had been out in the whole compound for the better part of their adventure. Thankfully lunch only involved making sandwiches, so cooking wasn't an issue.
After lunch, most of the team members went up to the house to spend time with the girls. The women in the group had a nail-painting party, and some of the guys good-naturedly joined in. Of course, they took their nail polish off right away, but it made the girls happy that they participated.
A good bit of the afternoon was spent just hanging out and trying to stay cool. Some of the team members who had come down before spent the afternoon becoming re-acquainted with the girls they had known on their previous trips. A few were worried about how previous relationships with the girls would carry over, if they would open up quickly to us about their lives or if they would be more reticent. I think they were pleasantly surprised by their reception.
The youngest four kids on the team have quickly hit it off with the younger Hosanna House crew. We hardly ever see Connor, Dillon, Jennifer, and Caleb. They're often out looking for exotic bugs, finding their own adventures and playing games with Renaldo, Mikie, and Isaiah.
When we're all just sitting around together, the girls seem somewhat withdrawn but when we involve them in games and activities, they seem to open up. They love to laugh and joke with each other, and Heads Up Seven Up is one of their favorite games to play.
On Sunday we're going to the local church, Light of the Valley. George is preaching the sermon, and the rest of the adults are in charge of the Sunday School classes. We got word that the pastor of the church is in the hospital with a serious infection, please keep him in your prayers.
In the morning, we found out that the girls' shower wasn't working. For some reason, we couldn't get any water out of the shower head, so we all had to use the guys' shower off the kitchen. In addition to water problems, the air conditioning units in the main room and the kitchen weren't working properly. One would only blow warm air, and the other didn't have any working controls, so George and Paul left to try and find some "new" units.
Hardly anything you find in Belize is new, and almost everything needs some kind of maintenance tweaking. Darren was pressed into service as the maintenance-man all day, fixing shower heads, beds, and drills to fix other things. When we finally did have the new A/C units, most of the guys helped to install them while everyone else was hanging out with the girls playing cards and volley ball.
The finding of the A/C units was pretty miraculous. When George and Paul left, they searched up and down the Hummingbird Highway for shops that had working appliances. The shops that they found open didn't have what they were looking for, and most of the other shops were closing for the weekend. Finally, when they had driven all the way out to Dangriga they found a shop that was open called Harry's Paint. When they asked the shop keeper about A/C units, the man took them into the very back of a trailer behind the store, where they keep extra appliances and store various odds and ends. In the very bottom of a pile of microwaves and other appliances, were two air conditioners of the exact dimensions we needed. They plugged them in to make sure that they ran properly, and then loaded them into the van to take back to Hosanna House. Meanwhile, the power had been out in the whole compound for the better part of their adventure. Thankfully lunch only involved making sandwiches, so cooking wasn't an issue.
After lunch, most of the team members went up to the house to spend time with the girls. The women in the group had a nail-painting party, and some of the guys good-naturedly joined in. Of course, they took their nail polish off right away, but it made the girls happy that they participated.
A good bit of the afternoon was spent just hanging out and trying to stay cool. Some of the team members who had come down before spent the afternoon becoming re-acquainted with the girls they had known on their previous trips. A few were worried about how previous relationships with the girls would carry over, if they would open up quickly to us about their lives or if they would be more reticent. I think they were pleasantly surprised by their reception.
The youngest four kids on the team have quickly hit it off with the younger Hosanna House crew. We hardly ever see Connor, Dillon, Jennifer, and Caleb. They're often out looking for exotic bugs, finding their own adventures and playing games with Renaldo, Mikie, and Isaiah.
When we're all just sitting around together, the girls seem somewhat withdrawn but when we involve them in games and activities, they seem to open up. They love to laugh and joke with each other, and Heads Up Seven Up is one of their favorite games to play.
On Sunday we're going to the local church, Light of the Valley. George is preaching the sermon, and the rest of the adults are in charge of the Sunday School classes. We got word that the pastor of the church is in the hospital with a serious infection, please keep him in your prayers.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Day One: Travelling
We made it safely to Hosanna House!
We all met at the church at 1:30 am to finish last minute team packing and say a word of prayer before pulling out for the airport. The plan was to leave at 2:00, but we didn't make it out until about 2:30. Despite the delay, we still made it to Reagan National Airport in time to check our bags and go through security with a narrow margin before boarding our 6 o'clock flight to Miami. The flight went smoothly, all the first-time flyers did fine.
We landed in Miami around 8:20, and had a two-hour layover before our flight to Belize City. While waiting in the airport, several of the team members went on a hunt for food, something a little more substantial than the Pop-tarts and Tasty Cakes we had earlier.
As we landed in Belize city, we were greeted with a view of vibrant green palm trees, sand, and winding rivers. Once we disembarked, we had to go through immigration check-in and gather our checked bags to go through customs. We all made it through without a problem.
Miss Estellyn (the director) came to pick us up in the Hosanna House van with a trailer for the luggage. After we had loaded all the luggage into the trailer and rented anther van for the rest of the team members, we all drove to Cheers for lunch. After Cheers, we made our way down the Hummingbird Highway to Hosanna House.
By that time, I think we were all struggling to stay awake, but we still had to unload the food and make dinner. Finally, it was bedtime and we were all very ready for sleep.
So far today, we're just planning on trying to recover from traveling and hanging out with the girls at the house.
Prayer requests/praises:
Thank you Jesus for safe travelling with no incidents in security!
Pray for quick recovery for the team, it's rough with little to no sleep for twenty-four hours.
That we will be able to make a difference in these girls' lives, and that the new team members will warm up quickly to the girls, and vice versa.
We all met at the church at 1:30 am to finish last minute team packing and say a word of prayer before pulling out for the airport. The plan was to leave at 2:00, but we didn't make it out until about 2:30. Despite the delay, we still made it to Reagan National Airport in time to check our bags and go through security with a narrow margin before boarding our 6 o'clock flight to Miami. The flight went smoothly, all the first-time flyers did fine.
We landed in Miami around 8:20, and had a two-hour layover before our flight to Belize City. While waiting in the airport, several of the team members went on a hunt for food, something a little more substantial than the Pop-tarts and Tasty Cakes we had earlier.
As we landed in Belize city, we were greeted with a view of vibrant green palm trees, sand, and winding rivers. Once we disembarked, we had to go through immigration check-in and gather our checked bags to go through customs. We all made it through without a problem.
Miss Estellyn (the director) came to pick us up in the Hosanna House van with a trailer for the luggage. After we had loaded all the luggage into the trailer and rented anther van for the rest of the team members, we all drove to Cheers for lunch. After Cheers, we made our way down the Hummingbird Highway to Hosanna House.
By that time, I think we were all struggling to stay awake, but we still had to unload the food and make dinner. Finally, it was bedtime and we were all very ready for sleep.
So far today, we're just planning on trying to recover from traveling and hanging out with the girls at the house.
Prayer requests/praises:
Thank you Jesus for safe travelling with no incidents in security!
Pray for quick recovery for the team, it's rough with little to no sleep for twenty-four hours.
That we will be able to make a difference in these girls' lives, and that the new team members will warm up quickly to the girls, and vice versa.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Firsts
They say there's a first time for everything.
Don't ask me who 'they' are, but we've all heard it at one point in our lives. First smile, first step, first word, first laugh, first fall, first this, first that.
I am one of the seven Davis' traveling with the team. (Heyo! You can see who is going here.) I happen to be the first born, this is my first flight, my first time out of the country, and first time living off of Don's cooking. (That's a joke, I'm sure we'll all be fine. ;) ) And this is my first blog post as the team's official blogger!
All those firsts being taken into consideration, one would think I would be feeling much more anxiety and trepidation about leaving this Friday. But honestly, I'm mostly just excited. I'm a little bit worried that we'll forget something important, or that the kids won't like us, or that we won't be able to communicate well despite the fact that the majority speak English. But I'm trying to cross each bridge in my own life as I come to it.
In the end I can only speak for myself from my own life experiences, but I'm praying this next week will be life-changing for the whole team.
Will you pray for us, as we prepare to go?
Don't ask me who 'they' are, but we've all heard it at one point in our lives. First smile, first step, first word, first laugh, first fall, first this, first that.
I am one of the seven Davis' traveling with the team. (Heyo! You can see who is going here.) I happen to be the first born, this is my first flight, my first time out of the country, and first time living off of Don's cooking. (That's a joke, I'm sure we'll all be fine. ;) ) And this is my first blog post as the team's official blogger!
All those firsts being taken into consideration, one would think I would be feeling much more anxiety and trepidation about leaving this Friday. But honestly, I'm mostly just excited. I'm a little bit worried that we'll forget something important, or that the kids won't like us, or that we won't be able to communicate well despite the fact that the majority speak English. But I'm trying to cross each bridge in my own life as I come to it.
In the end I can only speak for myself from my own life experiences, but I'm praying this next week will be life-changing for the whole team.
Will you pray for us, as we prepare to go?
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