Belize 2023 - Saturday, July 22 2023

This year some of the Alive in Christ youth and parents had the amazing opportunity to go on a mission trip to Belize and serve at Sandhill Baptist Church! Our journey began at 4:50 Saturday morning when we got on shuttles to the Kansas City Airport. At the airport we went through security and waited at our gate for about an hour before boarding our plane around 8:00am. 

When we got to the Dallas airport we had to hurry because our layover was only about 45 minutes. However, when we arrived at the gate we were informed that we did not have a plane so we had to wait for a new one. After waiting about 30 minutes we went to a new gate to board our plane. Once on the plane we had to wait about 40 minutes because the plane did not have enough catering. After all those delays we finally took off around noon.

After our flight and customs we were kindly greeted by our leaders: Pastor Mark (Marshall), Christi, and Rashida. Then it was finally time for lunch. Our lunch was scheduled for 12:45pm, but after all the delays and the time it took us to get through customs we ended up having lunch around 4:00pm. We went to a restaurant called Sky Restaurant. There, we had a Chinese meal served family style.

After our late lunch we got on the bus to Hattieville Baptist, where we would be staying, to get our beds set up. Outside was just as hot as we expected, but no one was prepared for how hot it was inside. We were all sweating buckets just trying to get our air mattresses set up. The place we were staying at was pretty small and only had two showers and two toilets (for the 29 of us, including 2 of our guides, to share), but we were all just so blessed to have a roof over our heads.

Since we had such a late lunch, it was already time for dinner. We took a bus to Sandhill Baptist church where a local woman had prepared homemade tortillas, chicken meatballs, and beans. We then had our orientation meeting, then headed back to Hattieville Baptist church for our evening devotional. Once all that was completed, all 29 people took turns sharing two showers, so we had a very late night.

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Come back tommorow to read about our activities from Sunday, July 23