Do Beautiful Deeds

Matthew 5;1-16
Our scripture today was about the beatitudes. As a pep talk to the disciples, Jesus says "happy (or blessed) are you when people insult you and harass you and speak all kinds of bad and false things about you, all because of me. Be full of joy and be glad because you have a great reward in heaven."
How do the beatitudes contrast with our culture? We want it now and we are selfish.
Our job is to be the salt and the light and to lift up others. We give the humble a sight of sight of heaven. We pass on the love of God.

On Wednesday, as the other days, most awoke to birdcalls around 4:20. Usually annoying, the sounds of parrots flying over can't be considered a bad alarm. Breakfast and devotion charging us to "do beautiful deeds" today. And Boy, did we!
Along with more block laying, stucco, building, bike repair,  playground work-we were able to award 20 bicycles from our congregation to deserving students! An emotional time for us, the smiles (and a few tears) lit the day. The students took a victory lap around the soccer field, now mostly dry. 

Heidy, a student, recently won the district spelling bee. on Friday, she will represent her district in the national competition! Some from our team assisted with preparation, and were quite impressed .We helped  kids make posters . It will be televised and many will travel to Belmopan to watch. One of the posters "Los Tambos, small but proud" A huge event for a little school that continues to grow!

During our home visits, one van became stuck in the van, Andy was chased by a dog, Several prayer requests for health of the families preceded Andy being chased by a chicken. A little girl saved him from both. We pack PBJ sandwiches for lunch, but still manage a trip for ice cream , 2 scoops for $1.50 daily. Our second day of VBS was abbreviated with "Jesus calms the storm" (a day late in my opinion). Kelley and Robin French dramatically recreated the frightened disciples as Lyn read the story.
Quickly transitioning  and wiping off the major mud, we headed to Unitedville to host a graduation party for Emerson-a Los Tambos student that completed high school this year, our only one. Eleven members of his family drove together in a small Toyota pickup to celebrate his success with cake and a slide show. Tere, Lyn , and Ms Lily as well as Emerson spoke to the crowd after an emotional slide show. Ms Lily, the principal of Los Tambos , and 2 other teachers made the trip. Afterwards, our group went to a nice dinner out at a resort in San Ignacio. It was nice to unwind together in an air conditioned room.
Our team has many talents: Jackie is a strong woman, Mary Jane is a nurturer, Mary Beth is a awesome navigator, Darby makes bird calls, Theresa is a bilingual genius, Jack can climb like a goat.
Please continue to pray for our team. Today, Thursday, we will have a community party , feeding and distributing children's clothes made by the Floozies at FCPC. Hopefully, we can blog again this evening.

Encouragement

Stretcher bearers. In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus went to Capernaum and a paralyzed man was lowered into the room by his friends to be healed. Who are our stretcher bearers that would pick us up, tear off the roof and lower you to Jesus? During morning glow we explored this question. We think our congregation is a major stretcher bearer for our mission along with the youth of our church giving so much for our mission needs. Much like the woman in the parable who gave what she could, many used the Belize giving envelopes to give what they could and decide where it should go. Lyn challenged us to find a way to carry the load for another as God's gifts.


The work today centered around library construction, gift bag distribution, playground deconstruction
prior to rebuild, our first day of VBS as well as 5-6 home visits. The kids were so excited to get the letters and photos from their givers. Many whistles and recorders sounded throughout the village! VBS scripture was Matthew 7:12 -the Golden Rule. We divided into groups of 15, songs, snacks, crafty bandanas developed quickly. About midway through our time, the heavens opened up and several inches of rain poured over the next hour. The road, soccer field, and ditches flooded quickly. This blogger was worried without Todd Howell on the case! With no let up in sight, the kids continued to be kids and of course they played underwater soccer. We  were concerned for these kids that had miles to trek, but they were unaffected. This life is different than ours, difficult by our standards, but life goes on.

We arrived safely back at In His Will to a spaghetti dinner, wet, warm and still excited about our work! Please pray for our team as we continue our work and add bicycle repair to tomorrows activities. Thank you to all who contributed to bike and bike repair funds-this is vital means of transportation for the Los Tambos school children.

Our work constructing a library:

 

Living Tree bag distribution day is like Christmas Day!

 

 

 

 

 

REsponse to Jackie:
She says to tell you all is well and she returns your love; but she is hot! thanks for your response-we read aloud before breakfast!

Holy Cow!

Today was a busy productive day for our team! We slept well to a heavy rain on tin roof sounds.  Breakfast was pancakes and eggs, we made our sandwich lunches to pack and then had a before glow reflection discussing our own baptism. "Does baptism define me as beloved by God in such a way that I live out love?" We closed with a beautiful prayer to start the day.

Our team was eager to get to the school, and we were not disappointed! They start the day with prayer, Lord's prayer, pledge and raising the flag. The pledge "I am Belize, I am the hope of Belize..."
sums up how we feel about these youth and how education can change their way of life. Our team split into library construction, playground repair and home visitation .  The kids pitched in to help move 100 concrete blocks. We completed one wall and part of the second today. Kelley and Darby took school photos of 94 children . They are printing them tonight to be framed and given out later in the week. This is a simple gift for those that have so little.

For the playground, we are rebuilding the swing set, and  doing significant repairs to the climbing fort. On the visits, 20 families received rice, beans, wooden spoons, etc. Many babies were kissed, necks hugged and prayers said. God has richly blessed us all to be here with such beautiful children , reaching out to their  families.

Aside: Andy took us on a wild van ride tonight. He says he felt like the driver exam video. Cars crossed over, pedestrians in dark clothes, animals of all kinds-all with no traffic order. At one point a cow zig-zagged wildly in front much like an undecided squirrel!
To Susan-Charlie is alive and well.

Arrival!

We have arrived!  Twenty members of the Belize Mission Team  arrived bright and eager at 3:45am to begin a new adventure! We traveled without incidence, meeting up with our mission scouts, Tom and Tere in Belize City right on time. Did I mention the attention we attracted wearing our day glow GREEN team shirts?  The weather was a little overcast, a nice introduction considering the heat. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed reuniting with the McBrides.
Everyone is in great spirits, sweaty but happy!
After unloading, organizing, we divvied up bags of rice and beans for distribution. Our plan is to begin building a library tomorrow morning, along with playground repairs, and home visits. After a wonderful dinner, we had devotion time. We call it afterglow or before glow-depending on the time of day. The team finished with a beautiful communion service led by Lyn-an extension of the FCPC communion table this morning. Showers and soft beds were welcome sights at the end of our long day! Big things are happening tomorrow!

Two are there, twenty to follow..

Tom and Tere arrived in Belize on Friday ahead of the team to prepare our way and set the stage. They attended the graduation of Emerson. He is the first of the seasons graduates that Ft City Presbyterian Church is following.

Last week our team had our Packing Party. After consuming lots of good food prepared by awesome support staff coordinated by Linda Schnoor, we packed and weighed 25-30 twenty two gallon tote boxes. We loaded our Living Tree bags for the students Los Tambos School, household items, dresses and shorts hand crafted by our own Flannel Floozies, books, school and VBS supplies. Each of these will be a team members suitcase allowed on flight.
This week we finish up our last minute packing and prepare ourselves for what our mission needs from us as we "Walk in the Footsteps of Jesus".

Pre-Tripping

Countdown to Belize Mission Trip 2013!
Our wonderful team of 22 will be leaving Fountain City in just over 2 weeks! We have planned for our travel and are being flexible with the itinerary. Life in Belize runs a little slower than we are used to, but we know we will accomplish all that we are supposed to. Today Tere reminded us that we have travel buddies-another body on the trip that will be sure we don't forget to return. 
For some it will be their first trip-it is always exciting to see how the newbies are affected. Stay tuned.

As a pre-trip workout out team rallied together during Operation Inasmuch in April 2013. We worked at Ft City Elementary doing landscapework and enjoyed a cookout that afternoon.