Belize-Day 2

What a day! We were up bright and early for breakfast: pancakes and sausage. I won’t mention any names, but at Greg Johnson’s table, lots of pancakes were eaten. If we hadn’t had sausage, I might say they made pigs of themselves. Just kidding. The food has been very good, and the quantities have been more than sufficient. Our hosts, Lyle and Rose, are taking good care of us. After breakfast, we did a little bird-watching. The trees are filled with Green-headed parrots. We tried to take pictures of them, but we weren’t very successful. I think Nikki Hawkins got some good pictures of a few crows, however. Then we were off to church. The music was fantastic and the people were so very gracious. We sang for an hour and then I got to preach. Following church, we dashed back to the school for fried chicken, their weekly Sunday lunch. I think I could get used to that. Then some of us headed back to church for a block party while others stayed and got started digging. Fortunately, Lyle had a good part of the digging done before we got here. As we were driving out, I looked and our guys were doing their very best state-worker impersonation: three of them were leaning on shovels while the others supervised. They did work hard and got a lot done.

We had almost 30 Belizean children at the block party. Many were neighborhood children and not from the church. We did Bible stories, arts and crafts, and recreation. Mark McCurry tried to play a little soccer. Pictures will be available later, but Mark did a great job with the kids. It was back to the school for dinner and then back to church for worship. Randy Smith said he would fit in well at the church because when we got there at 6:55 p.m., no one was there. But by 7:15, we were up and going with a good crowd. We sang for over an hour, and then I got to preach again. These Belizean Christians love to praise the Lord, and they do a great job at it. They sing at the top of their lungs and put everything they have into the service. Pastor Cliff and the congregation were such a blessing to us. The young ladies who led the music were gifted and spirited and energetic. I’d like to bring them to Southside for a few months. So far, everyone is healthy but tired. David has had a little problem with his asthma, so please pray for him. We get started in earnest tomorrow. Pray that no one gets hurt digging and that God uses us to minister to the staff as well as the boys who will be back at the school tomorrow.