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

Truth, Teachers, and Snakes

How do you decide what is true? 

The past couple nights I haven't included our devotion time in the blog, but I decided that tonight was a pretty important one to touch on. As Christians, we must be incredibly cautious with who we allow ourselves to listen to and entrust with teaching us. We must constantly be checking what they say against the absolute truth in the Bible. Even if it is someone who isn't purposely trying to lead you astray, we must be watchful. 

The second point that Chan made in a tonight's video, was that we are all called to pass on our knowledge of the gospel. There will be some who are called to be Teachers (pastors, overseers, counselors, etc. ) but all of us are called to teach. We must be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. 

Church went really well today! I helped with the children's Sunday school, which was a combined class resulting in about forty young and very energetic kids. They behaved pretty well though. There was one little boy who latched onto me like I was his mother, wanting me to pick him up and hold him, he sat with me for the better part of the main church service. He was maybe seven years old at the most. Very cute, but very active! 

It's rained a lot again today. We took a trip to some botanical jungle gardens after lunch, and it cleared up enough for us to walk around and enjoy the scenery, but it rained the whole way there and the whole way back. It isn't the constant rain that we've had before though, so hopefully it won't be bad for VBS that starts tomorrow. Our program this year is centered around sports and outdoor games, mostly based on soccer. If it rains constantly, or starts thunderstorming, we're going to have to come up with a plan B pretty quickly! 

Funny story: tonight as we were about to go up for devotions with the girls, Jordan and Mark come running in saying that there's a snake coiled up right beside the sidewalk and really close to our team quarters. Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with Belizean wildlife, or think snakes are no big deal-- there are 63 different species of snakes in Belize, 9 of which are venomous, and the three that are the most potent are also the most aggressive. So when we heard 'snake' we all started to freak out to varying degrees. Someone mentioned throwing a rock at it to try and get it to move. We didn't have any rocks in the house, but we did have soccer balls, so we were planning on using that. Mark thought he should be the one to throw it, since he supposedly has the best aim and accuracy. Just as we were deciding who should be the thrower, Dave comes in and gives everyone a surprise--it's just a leaf. We all had a good laugh, Jordan and Mark were really embarrassed, and we all went up for devotions with the girls. 

Another good day passes, and we are now another day closer to the end of our trip. I try not to think about the leave-taking, but it's going to go very quickly from here on out. 

Island Day

"Have you ever heard a pastor cuss? 'Cause you might today!"

So said our pastor on the boat ride out to the island resort this morning. I sat in the middle of the boat, and while I caught some air at points, it wasn't nearly as bad as sitting in the front! Think choppy old wooden roller coaster. Then add bright blue-green sea, a few clouds, and some intense sun and you have our forty-five minute journey out to the island.


It was a beautiful day. Finally the sun came out of the clouds! The bulk of our day consisted of trying not to get sunburned while relaxing on the beach or snorkeling. It's nice to have a team outing like this to just hang out. We did come back to Hosanna House in time to have dinner and do devotions up at the main house, but most of the usual crowd were gone. The girls had gone to a concert in Dangriga, and hadn't come back yet. Tomorrow is church, and we pass out flyers for VBS that we are holding Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Looking forward to the rest of this week! Pray that we will all have the strength to finish strong; we're now half way through our time here, and while I can't speak for anyone else, I am feeling the effects of constantly having things to do. Even so, I'm not looking forward to the goodbyes on Thursday. 

No More Rain

It finally stopped raining! 

We were actually able to work on some outdoor projects today, including painting the gate and wall that encircles the compound. A bunch of the Hosanna House kids helped us with the painting, although some needed a little more guidance than others... (Anyone with enthusiastic young children knows exactly what I'm talking about!) Darren spent some time working on the plumbing in the girls' rooms, as well as some other hardware-related fix-it projects, and Doug finished painting the kitchen. 

This afternoon a group of six team members and six Hosanna House kids took a trip to Dangriga to watch the Women's World Cup match between USA and China (We won 1:0 if anyone cares to know :) ) at Ivy's Restaurant. I think it's safe to say all the kids had fun! On the way home they were singing a medley of John Legend, Katy Perry, Passenger, and Spongebob Squarepants... I'm not sure what anyone else thinks of that, but I (who was sitting in the van with them) thought it was the essence of "making a joyful noise"-- and it was truly noisy! Haha

While we were in Dangriga the rest of the team was getting a spaghetti dinner ready for the rest of the Hosanna House crew. I'm told it was a small group, but that it went well. Once we got back we had devotions with the girls, and now I'm sitting in my bunk writing this for you. :) 

Tomorrow is our island adventure, which everyone is looking forward to! Fingers crossed that it doesn't rain anymore... Sunday is church and then Monday we start vacation Bible school. VBS this summer is a sports theme; more specifically, soccer. We brought a bunch of soccer balls down with us, and plan on giving them to the kids to keep at the end of the week. Looking forward to the adventure! 

Thanks for your prayers! Other than all the rain this week, everything has been going really well. 

*Recently it was brought to my attention that the font on these posts is hard to read-I apologize for that! Normally when I post from my laptop it works just fine, it might just be the app that I'm using to upload the blog from my iPod. Unfortunately there isn't much that I can do to change that at this point, as the internet here doesn't work well enough to upload the posts from my browser. I hope that you are all able to bear with me until I can get this figured out! Thank you for your patience. :)

Follow Jesus

How do you choose to follow Jesus? 

Our devotions tonight with the girls were a continuation of the Francis Chan video series from last night. Chan talks about how as a church, people often miss the mark when trying to follow Jesus' commands about how we should live. He uses the example of him giving his daughter a command--"Go clean your room." It would be crazy of her to come back an hour later and say "Hey dad! I memorized what you said--you said 'clean your room!'" Or " Hey dad, I learned to say it in Greek, listen!" Or even "Okay so I got a group of my friends together and we're all going to meet once a week and talk about what it would look like if I cleaned my room." No, she knows better. She follows through with the command. Chan also uses the example of the game " Follow the Leader." As kids, we all play this game, doing exactly what the leader does. He pats his head, we pat our heads. He flaps his wings, we flap our wings. How weird would it be to have a kid sitting on the couch, claiming to be playing along saying "Yeah, I'm flapping my wings in my heart." It just doesn't work like that! And yet, somehow when it comes to following Jesus, we have this idea that yeah, it does work like that. So how do you choose to follow Jesus in your daily life? Food for thought. 

Now for the fun stuff! :) We spent a lot of time on projects around Hosanna House today, even though it rained all day again. A group of us worked on painting the kitchen, which hasn't seen a new coat of paint for several years. We have it almost completed, all but some of the higher parts of the walls which we'll work on tomorrow. Darren and Don went through some of the children's rooms, checking the plumbing to make sure it worked properly, and seeing what parts might be needed to do any fixing up. The rest of us spent time just hanging out with the girls; talking, painting nails, and playing card games. We've had some interesting conversations with the girls. The boys of the house and a few of the team members spent some time playing soccer in the rain as well. It seems like everyone has had a pretty good day! 

As far as prayer requests go, there are two girls here who speak only Spanish. One of them was feeling really homesick tonight, and she cried all through devotions. I can't tell you how much I wanted to be able to communicate to her that she is loved and try to comfort her, but the best I can do is give her a hug and a sympathetic smile. Pray that we can find a way to get the message across to her that we care about her! 

As always, thank you for all your prayers and support! We all appreciate it. :)

Fear God/Fear Not

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

Francis Chan speaks on this topic in a video series that we are using for devotions with the girls. The Bible speaks of fearing the Lord, and many people interpret that to mean an awed reverence or respect, but when you really look at the scriptures (especially Isaiah and John) it means a terror that was expressed by "falling down as though dead." How do you handle that? Those who have been in the presence of God couldn't stand up for fear of Him. Keeping that in mind, the next thing that happens in Isaiah's situation is God's reassurance--"Fear Not." That heart-thumping, wild-eyed terror comes first, then God says "Hey, I've got you. Don't be afraid." Over and over again it happens throughout the Bible.

So how do we live in fear of God, those of us who have never seen him face to face? Something to think about.

It rained off and on all day, which put a damper on some of our plans for projects around Hosanna House. We were originally planning on painting the front fence and some other areas, but it was too wet. We still got some stuff done though. In the team quarters, one of the girls' beds had an ant nest in it that we found last night, so we took care of cleaning and spraying the room today. Some of locks needed changing in one of the other team buildings, so some of the guys took care of that in the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent either hanging out with the girls, or meal prep/cleanup. There were a couple of minute-to-win-it games that really hit it off with everyone, including a cup-stacking game that everyone wanted to try! It's been a really good day, in spite of the rain. A lot of people are still really tired from traveling though, including me, who took a two hour nap this afternoon!

Thank you all for your prayers and support, I look forward to what the rest of this week will bring. :)

Safe

We made it! All safe and sound. Well, mostly. There were several leaks in our checked bags (applesauce, conditioner, dish soap, cooking spray) as well as many crushed boxes of cereal, cookies, and other snack food. But we anticipated that to some extent.

It's been a long hard day of travel, and we're all pretty exhausted. We met at HGBC for final preparations at 3am, and by 3:45 we were on the road to Reagan National. It was close to 6:00 when we made it to the terminal and got all our bags inside. For some reason our airline was really backed up this morning. It was a mad house inside, and we waited for close to two hours before we finally got our bags checked and tickets handed out to everyone. Thankfully though, the TSA was moving people along pretty quickly and we made it to the gate just in time to board our flight to Miami. Everything else went pretty smoothly.

Thank you for all of your prayers! To my knowledge, the only prayer request we have now is for a speedy recovery from travel exhaustion.


*A view of Belize from the plane, just before landing.

Friendships and Feeble Words

I've been thinking about something lately, and finally thought I might share it with you readers out there in internet-land. With a matter of hours left (27 by the time I upload this) before our team leaves on our journey, and with humble thanks for reading my stumbling musings, I'll continue.

God has been speaking to my heart lately about friendships. I have a few very close "kindred spirits" that I hold very near and dear to my heart, and I have people that I know and talk with on a regular basis as "friends" and then I have "acquaintances" that I kind of know, but not on a personal level. What I have been considering recently though, is how I form those friendships. Generally I am a very passive friend-maker, only seeking out people as friends when I think I will be around them long enough to form deep and lasting bonds. If I think I won't be sticking around, I'll only form "acquaintance" level relationships with them. If I see them on a regular basis for an extended amount of time, I might consider them to be "friends;" and if I continue to keep in touch with them and spend time with them, perhaps after several years I may consider them to be "kindred spirits."

Perhaps an example may help illustrate my situation. This past year I took some dual-enrollment courses at Messiah College. In total, I took four different courses, two of which (German I and II) were with the same core group of students. I found that by the second semester, I had formed closer friendships with my German classmates than with the students I met in my other two courses. Both of those other courses required some amount of group work, through which I became acquainted with my classmates and formed some surface level friendships; but since I knew I probably wouldn't see them outside of those courses, I didn't make an effort to form lasting relationships with them.

Over the course of this school year, I have been feeling God tugging at my heart and telling me that I need to be more intentional with my friendships. I should make that effort to keep in touch when we part ways. I should be genuine with everyone, and do my best to make the other person feel comfortable. I should look for the things we have in common as well as the things that make us individuals and use those as conversation starters. Above all, I need to listen to their story.

There are a couple of things I would like you, dear reader, to take away from my ramblings. First is this: Seek people out. Listen to their story. Be intentional about following up with them. For me personally, I cherish the times I spend with my close friends, but they only became close because someone was intentional about following up on those vague plans to "have coffee some time." The second thing is a request. In the context of this trip, and future trips, please pray that our team will form relationships with these girls that will be followed up on and nourished through the year. The last thing those girls need are more empty promises. Pray that we will be examples of the "Friend who sticks closer than a brother."

If you made it this far, I thank you whole-heartedly for your time, and I hope some part of this made sense. The next time I write I will have some updates from Central America. :)

Disappointment and Guilt

Summer has struck. School is out, weather is muggy, and our church is about to send another team down to Belize where the weather is even muggier, and school will not be out until a few days after we arrive.

This is my (Aubrey) second trip down to Central America, and while I am really excited to build new relationships with the girls, as well as revisit old friendships, I'm worried that this trip will not be like the last one. One of the girls that I befriended last year, and who I have chatted with on Facebook several times since, has had to move out of Hosanna House to somewhere in Belize City. Maybe it sounds melodramatic, but words cannot express how disappointed I am that I will not be able talk with her, encourage her, and nourish our friendship face-to-face. Chatting on Facebook can count as communication, sure, but it doesn't foster the same connection as meeting with someone personally.

Which brings to mind another point. In leading up to this trip I have not been nearly as diligent with studying my Bible and talking with God about what he wants me to accomplish while I'm there. I've been "Facebooking" God, and that's not acceptable. I've allowed myself to become distracted with other things in my life: graduating high school and preparing for college especially, to the point that everything else gets shoved to the sidelines. I know I'm not the only one who struggles with this, but it doesn't make it any less of a sin.

So, my prayer going into this trip is that God will be clearly working in the team, showing us what is most important to accomplish; be that a project around Hosanna House, or just taking some unstructured down time with the girls. Also that He will continue to work in my life personally, drawing me closer to Him and helping me to release my anxiety and distractions.

Till I write again,
Aubrey

Under Construction

Hello again!
Over these few weeks leading up to our departure date, I'm going to be working on updating the blog for this year's team. Bear with me as I attempt to get things sorted!
~Aubrey

Back in the States

We're back!

I know I didn't keep up posting very well towards the end of the week. The days were packed full, and the internet wasn't working well enough for me to post anything even if I did have time to write.

But I have time now, so I'm going to try and back track to let you all know how the last part of our week went with the girls. For the moment though, I'm exhausted from traveling. I'll put some stuff up occasionally throughout the week for those of you who are interested.

Our flights back went smoothly, and we all made it through security and customs without any issues despite being a very tedious process. Our first flight left Belize city at 1:30 Belize time, 3:30 local time. Our second flight from Miami was scheduled to leave at 8:15, and we all made it in plenty of time to re-check our bags and go through customs and security for re-entering the US, but the plane didn't actually take off until about 9:30. The captain said there was a broken taxi light that needed fixing, and then we had to wait in line for the runway to take off. So after sitting on the plane for an extra hour, we finally made it back to Reagan National by 11:30. By the time we finally got all of our checked bags (which all came through just fine) and left the airport, it was past midnight. With the two-hour drive to the church to unpack and re-shuffle bags, we didn't made it back to our homes until about 3 o'clock. Even then, most of us made it to church the next morning.

Consequently, I'm nearly falling asleep even as I write this. You'll hear from me again soon, though.

Day Five: VBS day two, and Team Outings

Our second day of VBS went smoothly. We had about a hundred kids come, which ended up being about 25 more than the first day, but not nearly as many as we were initially expecting from the numbers Paul gave us. The theme verse was Romans 8:38 -- "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love."

When we got back we were all hot, tired, and ready for lunch. After the meal we had our team meeting about some issues we've been having through the week and what we were planning to do for the afternoon. A group of us wanted to go to Dangriga to watch the World Cup match between the USA and Belgium, and some of us wanted to go swimming out in Blue Hole.

I went with the group to Dangriga.

To be fair though, we weren't just going to watch the game. We were also picking some items up that the team needed from the grocery store next door. But Tim Howard is the best goalie ever.

The Blue Hole group enjoyed doing a bit of caving and wading in the watering hole. They took lots of pictures for the six of us who didn't go so we could enjoy the experience vicariously.

No matter what group we were in, we all had to be back to the house in time to prepare the spaghetti dinner we were going to eat with the girls. We prepared all the food down in our kitchen and then brought it up to Hosanna House. Everyone enjoyed the food and fellowship!

Because the afternoon had been so crazy full, we didn't have time for team devos after lunch, so we came down early from activities with the girls so we could have our own devotions. We talked about the story of Esther; what her calling was, and what her obstacles were. Instead of splitting up into smaller groups though, we stuck together as a team to discuss the story due to time constraints.

Day Four: VBS and Painting Projects

I woke up this morning to torrential, tropical down pours. I say it in the plural sense, because they never last very long. It's like someone is dumping the ocean onto us through a sieve, in thirty-second intervals. It never drizzles. There were at least four of these over the course of last night.

When I finally got out of bed, most everyone else was already up and getting ready for VBS. Mornings are usually pretty relaxed, with everyone getting breakfast whenever they want. But since today was the start of our VBS program, we all had to be ready to load up in the vans by 8:45.

By the time we reached the church, there were already some kids there waiting for us to start, and it was only 9 o'clock. We set up some songs and tried to get them organized into groups as the rest of the kids trickled in. Eventually, we had it set up so that there were four groups: The Eagles, the Flying Squirrels, the Bats, and the Hummingbirds. The groups weren't very even, though.

During the course of the day, the groups rotated from station to station. The report I heard from the group leaders sounded like we had the usual crew of kids who were really enthusiastic about learning, and the typical group of trouble makers. Kids will be kids, but hopefully we can maintain a little more control tomorrow.

Since working with little kids is so exhausting, we all came back and crashed after lunch. Wendy said she felt like a migraine was coming on, so she took some medicine and laid down during team devos.

For our devotions we read Isaiah 6:1-13, about how Isaiah was called to an unknown task, and yet still volunteered. The task ended up being an impossible one: calling the unwilling Israelites back to the Lord. We talked about how Isaiah's situation contrasted with Moses' that we read the day before; how while Moses made excuses about not doing his job, Isaiah felt unworthy to do his job. They're very interesting stories, I suggest you take the time to look over them and come to your own conclusions.

After team devotions, I took some down time to work on the blog while the rest of the team went up to the house to hang out with the girls and work on painting projects. We painted two of their rooms: one of the girls' rooms, and one of the boys'. We were able to paint two coats in the girls' room, but we weren't quite finished with the boys' room by the time supper was being served. While we were painting their room, Isaiah and Mikie came to visit with us and keep us entertained with their antics. I got Isaiah to sing the Belizean National Anthem for me, but he told me he would only do it if I sang my national anthem, and I had to go first. I got through about two lines before he stopped me and told me it was his turn--that boy has quite the personality. You can't help but love him, though.

Devotions with the girls after dinner were a little more chaotic than usual. I left early, needing some down time to write up the day's activities and generally just needing some space, but I was told later that they were having some issues with authority figures and deciding what game was going to be played. Please pray that we will all learn to work well together and put our differences of opinion aside.

Glitches and issues aside, we had a good day. :)

Day Three: Church Experiences

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.