Island Day

The team woke up early this morning to leave for our island trip. It was nice to have some vacation time to enjoy God's creation. The people who went snorkeling saw some pretty amazing creatures including a stingray, a barracuda, a large (at least six feet long) shark, and many kinds of colorful fish. We also saw dolphins on the boat ride back to the mainland.

When we got back to Hosanna House, we went up for devotions and activities with the girls. Part of the devotional activity was to write down some goals for your walk with God. There were three questions to answer:

1. In one year I want to...

2. Some ways I will work on this goal are...

3. Someone I will ask to hold me accountable is...

It is an interesting exercise. Even if you're making a shorter term goal, I would encourage you to try this and see where you are in the next weeks or months.

After devotions we played a game with the girls, and just spent some time hanging out. They're all headed into town for a "Fun Day" tomorrow, so the team is planning on spending the morning cleaning our team quarters and preparing for the evening activities. Tomorrow night we're having pizza and ice cream with the girls, and we're making the pizza. We're going to have a busy afternoon! After dinner we'll have our traditional farewell games, skits, and a slideshow of the week. It will be an emotional night, to say the least. Our team has done really well in making connections with the girls, in both building new relationships and maintaining existing ones. It's always difficult to say goodbye.

A short P.S.: It was requested that I add an anecdote from last night's dinner with the girls. Apparently, when we set up the drinks and food in the kitchen at Hosanna House, we made things a little confusing. Doug went to get a drink, and found a pitcher of what looked like pink lemonade or weak juice. He filled his cup, and went back to sit down.

He took a sip.

It wasn't juice.

It was, in fact, a weak solution of soap and water that the girls use to wipe down the tables after meals.

So now some members of the team are wondering what he might have said earlier in the day that would have warranted washing his mouth out with soap. ;)

Baby Shower

This morning we had our last day of VBS at Light of the Valley Church. I heard that the total number of kids had increased to seventy, and my personal group that I lead had doubled since yesterday. It's an interesting challenge keeping track of nearly twenty 9-10 year olds! Everyone was well behaved, which made it a little easier. During our days at VBS, the group leaders were supposed to pick two kids from their group each day who they thought were the most well-behaved and most engaged. The names we chose went into a hat for the closing ceremony today, where the kids' names were called to come up and receive a prize. We had some soccer balls to give out, along with some other smaller prizes, but of course the soccer balls were the most exciting for the kids.

In the afternoon, our team spent some time working on landscaping around the Hosanna House compound. A group of us went down to the river to gather some small stones to put down on top of the ground cloth around the bushes outside the house. Darren continued to work on maintenance projects in the house as well. The rest of us played volleyball and threw water balloons around with the girls. Some of us also helped prepare for a surprise baby shower that we were holding for one of the girls later in the evening.

For dinner tonight we had lasagna and brownies up at the house with the girls. As soon as dinner was over we cleared everything as quickly as we could and had a short devotional. Then we started setting up for the surprise baby shower. The girl we were holding it for went with Miss Estelyn down the road to her house while we decorated and set up. When she came back about a half-hour later, I think she was pleasantly surprised. We played some typical baby shower games, and had a little "reveal" of the gender of her baby. It's a boy! She's due in about a month. Pray that she finds the support she needs in motherhood, this young girl is going to have a tough road ahead. She's about thirteen years old.

Tomorrow the team has plans to take a trip out to an island just off the coast for a bit of a vacation. Then Friday we plan to spend a good part of the day packing, and then we leave on Saturday. This trip has really flown by.

VBS Day 2

We had our second day of VBS today. Many of the kids had invited at least one friend back, so we had a much larger, slightly more rambunctious group today. It went well though. The group leaders that I spoke with said they had minimal problems with the kids, and that they all had a good time. It did rain more today though during our activities, which restricted our game time to indoor games. I imagine we'll have an even bigger group tomorrow for the last day.

The rain held off enough this afternoon that some of us were able to get started on some of the projects. Several people were a part of the painting crew, painting the outside wall of the compound. Darren and Cassie worked on maintenance projects in Hosanna House, changing light bulbs, fixing plumbing in the bathrooms, and replacing ceiling tiles. A large part of the day for them was compiling a list of parts and pieces that they needed to buy from the store in town, and then going to get them. Darren said that when he went into town with Paul, he found a fruit stand that was selling Red and Golden Delicious apples from the USA.

Those of us who weren't working on projects hung out with the girls in the house. As usual it was just a laid-back time to get to know each other. We watched Zootopia, painted nails, and played some games. The team also took turns rotating through the showers, since we had been without water since the power went out last night. Sarah wanted to mention that she is currently in the lead of the burping contest that she, Mark, and Jordan started. I think it's safe to say that the barriers are coming down in our group, haha.

We continued the devotion series with the girls in the evening, and showed a short preview of the video Josh is putting together to show them at the end of the week. It's hard to believe that  our trip is half over already. Time flies when you're having fun. :)

Power Outage

VBS started today! I'm sure I've mentioned before that we're hosting a soccer-themed VBS for the kids of Valley Community. We had a pretty small group today; only about thirty kids in total, roughly six in each group. Everything went really well, all the kids were well behaved, and the rain held off until we were all done for the day. I'm anticipating a much larger number of kids tomorrow, since many of them will bring friends back. Another positive for the day: the bus that picks up the kids didn't have to be towed out of the barn like last year. Praise God for that!

We got back to Hosanna House just in time to get lunch ready and have team devos. We discussed what projects we wanted to try to get done this week before we left. Most of it involved painting the wall that encompasses the compound, but Darren took a tour through the house with Paul to decide what other projects we can work on. They ended up with quite an extensive list. We'll see how much of it we can get through by the end of the week.

It was a pretty relaxed afternoon, most everyone was up at the house hanging out with the girls. A few stayed back in the team quarters to rest for a bit. It rained on and off all afternoon, so we weren't able to get started painting like we had originally planned. But it was a nice afternoon to just hang out with the girls.

In the evening we had devotions and activities with the girls as usual. We continued The Comeback series, this time talking about God's grace and mercy through the story of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus. The message that we wanted the girls to take away was that you're never too far gone for God to save you. There's nothing you can do that will make God say "No, you're not worth my time." I think for those of us who have been raised in a Christian environment it's easy to forget that God doesn't look at our pile of good deeds and our pile of bad deeds before he lets us into heaven. He just looks for the mark of Jesus.

After devos we went back to the team quarters where Sarah and Jordan decided to have a burping contest. I guess you can call that team bonding, haha. On the way back down, some of us were looking at the stars, and I think we saw Mars. At the very least it was a very bright, beautiful star. You can see them so much better from down here, without all the light pollution. Now there's even less light pollution, since the power went out in the whole compound. Hopefully it comes back before morning. Ah, well. Life is an adventure here!

Church and Adventure Day

This morning we took the team a little way down the road to go to church at Light of the Valley. Our team had charge of leading their four Sunday School groups after a short worship time with the entire congregation. Becky lead the 2-7 year olds, Wendy had the 8-12 group, Jordan had the teenagers, and Dave taught the adults. I helped with the 8-12 year olds, and everyone was pretty well behaved and things went smoothly.  Becky says they had great success with the youngest group.

After Sunday School, we all gathered back in the sanctuary for a brief worship time before heading to the river for the baptismal service. It was really special to be able to witness that. Four people were baptized, including two girls from Hosanna House. After the baptism, the church people took communion at the riverside, and then everyone headed back home.

Once we got back, the team got ready for a little day trip out to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich (shuh-nahn-tuhn-itch). Darren, Wendy, and Jennifer decided to stay back and hang out with the girls for the afternoon. They taught the girls origami, and just spent some laid-back time with them, while the rest of us were climbing up and down stone stairways and looking at monkeys and iguanas.

When we got back from the ruins, the team got dinner and then headed up for devotions and activities with the girls. We started a series called The Comeback, talking about how God brings us back from our lowest points and restores our lives.

The atmosphere with the girls up at the house seems different this year- different in a good way. Everyone seems to get along pretty well, and I think we've been able to make connections pretty quickly with the new residents. God is working in these girls' lives in a big way, and we can only pray that we are facilitators of that work and that relationships continue to flourish throughout the week.

The VBS that we are hosting at Light of the Valley begins tomorrow and runs through Wednesday. We're all looking forward to it, and praying that the good weather holds for all of the outdoor activities we have planned.

Arrival

We made it safe and sound to Hosanna House! Despite delays in both of our flights, we were able to make our connections and arrived in Belize City by approximately 2:00pm local time (4pm Eastern). We were able to get through customs smoothly, and after stopping at Cheers to get some dinner the team decided to divide and conquer. Eight went to go get some additional supplies from the Mall, and the rest went straight up to Hosanna House to start unpacking and getting the team quarters set up. Of course, we also stopped to say hi to the kids who were playing volleyball in the courtyard when we pulled up. We saw some familiar faces there, but there are also many new residents that we're excited to get to know.

Today was pretty relaxed. After nearly twenty hours of being awake and on the move yesterday, we all needed a day to just settle in. We met in the morning after everyone was up to go over some expectations for the week. Several of our team members will be teaching Sunday school at Light of The Valley Church tomorrow. Dave was going to preach, but we found out that the church is having a baptismal service instead of their typical worship service. At least one of the residents of Hosanna House will be baptized tomorrow.

One of the other points we went over was our VBS that we are hosting at Light of the Valley. The theme last year was a soccer camp, and it was such a big hit we decided to do it again this year. We also brought a bunch of soccer balls to give out to the kids at the end.

After our little meeting, we went up to hang out with the girls for a bit before lunch. They love doing hair and nails, so that was the agenda for the day. One of the girls decided to give me cornrows. Matthew was game enough to get the works-- he let the girls do his hair, nails, AND makeup! He wants everyone to know that he was very beautiful. ;)

We've been having some internet connection problems since we got here, hence the delay in getting a blog post up. The power in the team quarters also flickered on and off for a bit. Currently, it's running fine, and we found a temporary solution for the internet problem.

Later in the day we played volleyball with a few of the girls, and just as it was beginning to rain we decided to head in for our respective dinners. When I turned around to go back to the team quarters, I saw a beautiful, perfect rainbow in the mountain overlooking the compound. I have never before seen such a clear, stunning rainbow.

After dinner we went up to the house to have devotions and play some games with the girls. It might take another day or so before everyone really gets comfortable with each other, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves. A lot of us are still pretty exhausted from travelling, and a few of us are fighting colds Jennifer was complaining today of pain in her ear, and we're worried it might be an infection. She was able to get some treatment, and said she was feeling a little better as of devo time with the girls.

It's been a good day, and we're looking forward to what God has planned for the rest of the week.

Round Three, 2016 Edition

Hey all! It's that time of year again.

I'm headed back to Belize with some members of my immediate family, as well as members of my church family. This is round three for me, but this team will be the seventh that our church has sent down to Hosanna House. Every year has had very unique individuals who bring back amazing stories of the experiences they've had and how they've seen God working. Every year I'm bewildered by my own experiences and how God has provided for me personally. The very fact that I'm able to go back again this summer feels like a small miracle. I am so thankful for this opportunity to love on these people, and to learn from them.

Going on short-term mission's trips, it's easy to get caught up in what we can accomplish and what we can do for the people that we meet and spend our time with. I think we need to be reminded that learning and accomplishing go multiple ways. Yes, there are things we can do for the women and children at Hosanna House. There are projects we can work on, there are people we can love on, there are things we can show and teach them about teamwork and family. But we need to remind ourselves to be open to being taught, to being loved on, to being shown that our ways and our culture are not universal. In addition, we need to open our hearts to being taught by God, and recognize His providence and hand in our endeavors.

With some of those thoughts in the back of my mind, it is with great anticipation that I wait for that very, very early morning when I get on a plane and visit my brothers and sisters in Central America.

Thanks for your support and prayers!
~Aubrey