Greetings from Belize!

We just completed our first three days of the trip…

Day one started early… really early… we had to be at the Midland airport at 3:15 a.m, but due to “springing forward” that night, we had to leave our houses at 1:45 a.m. in order to make it on time. We had a really long layover in Dallas, where we met our team member Amy, and by the time we reached Belize, we all felt jet lagged even though we weren’t really. We made it to our accommodations – Pine Ridge Lodge – within a couple hours. It’s a lovely guest lodge, operated by a British gentleman and his Nicaraguan wife.

On the first full day of our trip, we went to El Progresso, which is about a 15 minute drive from the lodge. The students were on holiday – Benefactor’s Day here in Belize – so it gave us time to help prepare a room for the floor refinishing project without disrupting students. We all helped move furniture out of one classroom, and then Scott, Jacob, and Matt began their day of assisting Moses and Lisroy with resurfacing the floors. Cora, Jillian and Adalise went with Moses to get a truckload of sand – they filled the bed with 100 shovel full of sand… which they might not have expected doing when they first left to make a supply room! At any rate, when they got back, the guys got to work. It was a quieter day for the rest of our team, but we prepared some things for the rest of the week, explored the village, and visited with people who came by to hang out.  Amy, Alea, and Walter went to Janet’s house and helped make fried rice for lunch… and they squeezed lots of Jamaican Limes for limeade. After lunch, we finished the floors in one classroom and then spent some time playing soccer and volleyball with a group of students who had meandered into the school yard. We also met some Americans and one Canadian who is on a 6 month mission experience living with families in different parts of the world. They’re spending time with some families in El Progresso, helping on their farms. The girls on our trip were quite fascinated about this kind of adventure… it wouldn’t surprise me to see them do something similar someday.

Today’s activities were a lot like yesterday’s… except with all the students back in session! First thing this morning, we helped the teachers and students move everything back into the classroom they worked on yesterday. It was quite amazing how fast the students put back everything back in place – including books on shelves and classroom things put away. Then we moved everything out of a second classroom and they quickly got to work on those floors. While they did that, Amy and Gift, a young woman who was friends with Susie Mauldin when she lived in Belize and came to visit with us today, helped substitute in the kindergarten class. Several of us floated in and out to help as needed… The other team members did an art project with each of the classes… we made flowers with coffee filters, markers, and pipe cleaners. They had a good time, and our team had fun working alongside them. There was also plenty of time for visiting, and games of Red Rover and Duck, Duck, Goose and Tag (Touch) and Simon Says. We had lunch again at Janet’s house, along with Pastor Kenny and his wife. It was a good day and I’m sure I’m forgetting some things… but I’m tired and it’s time for bed!

Looking forward to hearing what tomorrow holds… I hear a waterfall visit might be involved!

I planned to share pictures, but I'm having trouble getting those uploaded. You can see pictures on Facebook, though!