Belize 2023 - Tuesday, July 25 2023

We had another great but early morning! Our bus left for Sandhill Baptist at 8:00am and we ate fryjack burritos for breakfast. We then split into two groups again, one group worked on painting, while the other continued with the construction. When we got a break from painting and construction we ate tamales for lunch.

The painting group had a busy morning! Before lunch time we painted the church's fellowship hall, baptistry, hallways, and office. We started out by preparing the walls by sweeping off extra dirt, and scraping off loose paint. We then began to use a paint brush around the floors, corners, and windows since paint rollers cannot fit in those areas. We had one group of people using short rollers on the bottom six feet, then another group using long rollers on the top six feet. With all the hands on deck we were able to finish most of the painting by lunch time. After we ate lunch, some of us went to distribute food, and others helped set up for VBS.

Meanwhile, the construction crew kept up the good work! We were a little discouraged in the morning because we had to wait on a couple things before we could continue working. However, once we got everything figured out we started working and made great progress with the awnings! We started to work on building the second awning and building risers for the first awning.

After a long morning and early afternoon of hard work, it was time for VBS. This meant the return of Bob (Elizabeth) and Larry (Jacob) who were huge hits the day before! Along with a skit from Bob and Larry, our opener consisted of a memory verse led by Allie and Gideon, and worship led by Amanda, Elizabeth, Jacob, and Tristan. Next, it was time for the rotations of games, a story, and a craft. Our attendance almost doubled from the previous day which was such a blessing!

Logan did another great job with games today! We played with the parachute, some beach balls, and water balloons. Everything was fun but the kids especially liked the water balloons. 

Today's story was about Peter walking on water. We learned about how even though Peter doubted Jesus, Jesus still saved him. Allie and Jordan did the puppets, and Deana read the story. The kids loved playing with the puppets once the story ended!

Jenna did another great job with the craft today! We made shakers with paper plates and beans. The kids really enjoyed getting to decorate the plates!

After we finished cleaning up from VBS Rashida (one of our leaders) made us mangoritas (mango smoothies with added spices) which were delicious. Many people got second, thirds, and a few even got fourths! For dinner we ate coconut rice with beef stew and fried plantains - it was tasty as always! After dinner we packed up and went back to Sandhill Protestant for our devotional and showers.  

As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Come back tomorrow to read about our adventures from Wednesday, July 26 2023