Don’t Stop Belize ‘n
Belize.
A country God has imbedded into our hearts.
A country we love.
A country we Lord-willing will go back to someday.
Dan and I would both say it was a life-changing trip. It is hard to physically be back in the States when we feel our hearts are still in Belize. We have been overseas before on mission trips, but there was something about being able to speak the language of the people there. Belize’s national language is actually English, but we heard most of them spoke Creole. We thought Creole was a Spanish/French mix. In Belize, Creole just means broken English. So anytime a Belizean heard us speak English, it was English they spoke. It is on these type of trips that we are to take what God showed us in Belize and try to apply it here in the States. Some of the most tangible things, we have never thought of before. We are eager to see how God uses this trip and what we learned, for His glory alone.
This trip is going to take a few blog posts, so I am putting aside the weekly schedule of blogging. I am too eager to share about it!
Starting from the beginning. I read my last post and it was about the worry of the weather. The radar at 11:00pm Saturday night said it was supposed to get nasty at 3:00am. Dan and I decided to get up at 2am and left at 2:45. The whole drive up to Grand Rapids, we were waiting for it to get nasty. It ended up just raining the whole time. That means we got to the airport at 4:15am and our flight didn’t leave til 7:15am. If you’ve ever been to the GR airport, you know it only takes like 1/2 hour to get through everything. So Dan and I had plenty of time to just wait. Though, we were EXTREMELY thankful for good driving weather – we would’ve rather had good weather and wait, instead of ice and be tight on time. So we were definitely thankful!
We thought this was a genius idea in the airport. So instead of having to tip your water bottle to try to get water into it, they have a dispenser that you can just rest your bottle on, and it will fill it up – for free! It’s kind of like a pop machine at a restaurant. What a great way to save on plastic! Dan and I always travel with our Nalgenes so this was definitely a piece of excitement for us.
We flew to Dallas and had a 3ish hour layover. Then we flew directly to Belize City, Belize. We landed around 3:30 and met the rest of the group there (the other 5). We met the missionary who was picking us up and off to Patchakan we went! Patchakan was about 1 1/2 hours from the airport. Patchakan rests about 9 miles from Mexico – in fact you can see the mountains of Mexico from the highway.
It’s nice that the toll booth was closed on weekends!
Sugarcane is a main source of income for many Belizeans – though, it does not pay well. This is the only (I believe) sugarcane plant in the country. Sugarcane takes about 8ish months to grow until they whack it off with a machete – which means it is all cut by hand.
I would say sugarcane is around 8 feet tall – depends though.
On our country drive, we saw this John Deere billboard! I freaked out being a farmer’s daughter and my brother-in-law is a John Deere salesman! Felt right at home.
Typical Belizean road. The road to Patchakan was QUITE bumpy!
There sure were a lot of cows grazing! Dan and I both had hamburgers one night and we could definitely tell that they cows were only grass fed and weren’t “fat” cows. We are definitely spoiled with our juicy burgers in America.
Once we got to Patchakan, we attended the Sunday night worship service, led by a missionary/pastor who had been there for 28 years (I think).
As we walked in to flee the mosquitos, I was in awe of the simplicity of the church. A large peach-colored curtain hung from the ceiling to the floor as a backdrop for the stage. Fluorescent lights gave light on the situation as the sea green tile gave rest for our feet. The people from the village of Patchakan flowed in with smiles, wearing dresses, and voices ready to praise the Lord. The slated windows brought a much welcomed freshness of air as butterfly-sized moths flew around the sanctuary. And the sanctuary was the whole church.
In Patchakan, most spoke Spanish, so the service was in English and Spanish. The pastor read through the whole book of 1 John – the way it was read, a few times Dan and looked at each other convicted – and we were only a few hours into the trip. The pastor didn’t really add many comments – he just let the Bible speak for itself. We sang from a Spanish songbook, but sung familiar tunes such as Lord I Lift Your Name on High, They Will Know We Are Christians, and Just As I Am. To sing in unison, joining two different languages, two different cultures, yet singing to the same God, sent chills through my body. We truly were one in the Spirit.
After the church service we headed 15 minutes to Corozal, which sat on the bank of the Caribbean Sea. After dumping our stuff off, we walked down the street to eat supper (by this time it was around 8:30/9:00pm). We saw a Mexican restaurant called Primos – and it was not your typical restaurant. There were no walls – just open seating outside with a thatch roof over your head. This was my first opportunity to try the beans and rice, so that I did, coupled with pieces of chicken. It was AMAZING! Our waitress was extremely friendly and helpful! Other members of the group had fun trying local combinations such as onions and peppers, that ended up drawing tears and runny noses because it was so hot! Quite memorable!
This is a view from our balcony at the hotel
Another view…
The first morning we were up pretty early and saw the sunrise – I saw it as God showing us His majesty and reminding me of who He is. God created this gorgeous sunrise for His children – front and center for us to see. I told myself “let the brightness of who God is, dwell in my richly today.”
We worked on the Presbyterian Medical Clinic’s roof – that was the goal of our trip – repair the roof. The roof was leaking in many places. The roof needed to be stripped of the old layer and we were going to recoat it with another layer of elastic roof/drylock-type paint. On Monday, it was HOT – as in 86 degrees I think. It felt hotter at times being on a roof, but God greatly blessed us with a breeze, that we felt being up higher. Our bodies didn’t have much time to adjust to the heat as we worked a full day, but with that breeze, we all survived :).
This was the necessary ingredient for survival that day! I think Dan might be panting at this point! That man worked HARD! Dan had been sick the past 2 weeks, so his body was saying “don’t do it” in the morning as his stomach was just churning, but as the day went on, he felt better and better. Oh, and we were reconnected with our friend, suntan lotion.
This is a view from the roof – patients (who could drive) would park their cars along the fence, walk into the clinic and be greeted by the chaplain Arturo, who was always willing to speak a word from the Bible.
We used straight-edged shovels and paint scrapers to try and get the old layer off.
We are glistening with sweat 🙂
A type of banana tree
After scraping, we had to powerwash the whole roof – Dan was the MAN at this! For him it was “therapeutic” in the sense that it was rhythmic – back and forth, back and forth. I think that is why he also enjoys snowblowing and mowing lawns! As water gathered, we would sweep away the access water into the drains. And a drain is just a hole in the side of the roof where the water feel straight onto the grass below.
Here are a few Belizean houses…
Lee, the missionary (his wife is the doctor who works at the clinic), was telling us a little more about Belize. He said Belize is about 50 years behind the U.S. That means they don’t really believe in debt, families build next to each other (more for strength in numbers and safety), and just how they live life.
Very NICE house!
A man riding a 3 wheeled bike, selling plastic baskets. We were a little uncertain as to how he could see where he was going.
The name of our hotel – we thought it was a little expensive, but it is what it is. The mattresses were quite hard, but it was a HUGE blessing because we were bent over all day and sleeping on something hard, prevented a sore back in the morning. I will forever be thankful for hard beds!
Sights in Corozal
At the end of the workday on Monday, Scott (team member from Maryland) bought us all pineapple fantas (except Dan chose grape – wierdo!). I never had one before, but it was inSANEly good! Of course it came in a large glass bottle, which made it taste even better!
Dan and his boring grape (though I did try it and it was really good!)
I had never heard of pineapple Fanta before, but I am desperate to find it here in the U.S.
For supper, we thought we would just eat somewhere local again – it’s fun to try their foods! We were trying to find this one place, but couldn’t. We asked this teenager on a bike where it was and he pointed and tried to tell us – we never found it. While driving around, we saw him AGAIN, and he realized we were lost. So he kindly said “I’ll just show you and follow me.” So this teen took time out of his night to show us where this restaurant was. It ended up being closed, but I was just in awe that this teen would do this. That is just one example of how kind the Belizean people are! They drop everything to help. This type of situation happened on numerous other occasions as well.
We ended up going to this Chinese restaurant, that was recommended to us. While walking on the street, we met another missionary who recommended this place and he ended up eating with us, which was really cool! He said they had the best sesame chicken in town, so I gave it a whirl – it was really good! You may wonder “why Chinese in Belize?” Honestly, Chinese restaurants were EVERYWHERE! On every block. And the grocery stores were also owned by Asians. Something I would’ve never thought of! Again, this restaurant had no walls – could seat maybe 15-20 people, and was all outdoors. It was refreshing!
Thus concludes the first 2 days in Belize! I can’t wait to continue to share more about the trip, but I am assuming you have to grab more coffee by now as I have just written a book!
