The HBBC Belize team landed in Belize City on Monday at 11:02 AM. We were blessed to have no travel difficulties whatsoever; even managing to get 41 team members onto two flights without any hiccups. We all arrived in the same place, at the same time, and all of our luggage arrived as planned. Thanks be to God!
HBBC was greeted at the airport by Billy Hensley, the son of local missionaries Piper and Joe Hensley of Blue Thumb Missions. Our adult drivers (Arthur James, Jim Turner, Scott Abee and David With) located the four 15 passenger Ford rental vans from Pancho's Rental Services and loaded our luggage on-board. We headed east from Belize City to the capitol city of Belmopan. The team caravanned from the airport towards our destination--mile 49 1/2 western highway. Along the route, most team members napped, chatted about what was to come, or quietly observed the passing scenery--seeing poverty in a third world country for the first time can be shocking. Some of the facial expressions on the looks of our younger youth said it all--we weren't at Five Points anymore.
Due to the short layover in Atlanta, the team had gone without a full breakfast or lunch so we stopped halfway into our 57 mile trip at Cheers restaurant. Cheers is a popular open-air restaurant located halfway between Belize City and Belmopan. Hanging from the ceiling in Cheers is a collection of hundreds of youth group, non-profit and service organization t-shirts. We plan to hang an HBBC Belize team t-shirt on our return trip next Monday. After a delicious Belizean meal, the team drove 26 more miles to Blue Thumb Missions.
After unloading the vans and assigning beds in the bunk houses, the team had orientation with Joe and Piper. Joe is a carpenter by trade (hence--Blue Thumb missions) and Piper is a gifted gardner and greenhouse operator. The property reflects their God-given gifts. It is aesthetically simple but meticulously groomed. Joe explained that our group would be working on two projects this week: a sports-camp for elementary-aged children and painting the exterior to the chapel, bunkhouses as well as sanding and re-staining 20 picnic tables that belong to the open air dining room. We immediately felt God's warmth and presence as Joe shared about God's direction in the life of his family and the origins of Blue Thumb. His vision became our vision and the group was ready to get to work. After a quick pizza dinner and a team devotional; beds filled quickly and the lights went out on Day 1. It was a good day.
A strong thunderstorm storm blew through the jungle early Tuesday morning but it didn't slow us down. John Cashwell, Arthur James and Melissa Pendergraft prepared a wonderful breakfast of Papaya, mango, bananas, cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit juices, granola, and more. After David shared a devotion from Mark 8 with the group, it was time to get to work. Joe recruited Jim Turner (who Joe calls "Big Jim") to supervise painting the Blue Thumb chapel. Our youth are divided into four teams (blue, red, green, and gold) so Jim delegated painting duties to the Red, Blue, and Gold teams. The Green team (mostly older high school students and rising college freshmen) headed into the jungle village adjacent to the Blue Thumb property. While the three younger teams painted, the Green team walked with Billy and David through mud, jungle grass and winding dirt paths to recruit village children to our afternoon sports camp. It was an amazing scene--most of the houses are made of bamboo and/or concrete block and many of them are open-air (no walls). We spent two hours walking from house to house inviting children to attend our camp. It was a huge but albeit muddy success.
At noon, the team took a lunch break from the humidity and heat while Amy Stoner and Brooke Johnston set-up for the sports camp. The kitchen staff (see above) fixed a delicious array of sandwiches, munchies and more fresh fruit. We all needed the energy--collectively the team had sweat enough to fill a baptistry--we've finished off four 5-gallon water jugs. After lunch Amy assigned sports camp duties to our four youth teams and then we waited. We weren't sure how much our muddy morning recruitment efforts would pay off but slowly and surely the children arrived. By 1:30 there were 65+ children at the camp playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, four-square, and drawing with sidewalk chalk. It was an enormous joy to see so many HBBC youth playing alongside the village children. Every 15 minutes, the children would rotate to a different game hosted by a different group of our youth. By 3:15 PM, the sports field and basketball court were filled with nothing but laughter, fun and fellowship. All 100 or so of us circled up at 3:20 for a giant group prayer and we invited everyone back for Wednesday's camp. Day 2 was a huge success and God blessed us enormously.
On Tuesday evening, the group was treated to a wonderful spaghetti and garlic bread dinner followed by rich chocolate brownies made especially for Jenny McDonnell's birthday. In the evening, the group gathered under the Blue Thumb picnic shelter for a devotion, prayer and sharing about where we saw God in the day. Most everyone talked about seeing God in the faces and smiles of the beautiful Belizean children. The children, after all, are the real reason we made the trip and through them we experienced the Kingdom of God. It was another good day.
Please continue to pray for us to experience God's blessings of strength, energy and patience as we begin Day 3. We're hopeful for another good day.
Belize Mission Team 2014
