A Belizean Summer||2.6||The Last Couple Weeks...

Wow. It has been so long since I last posted. And for that I sincerely apologize. Life has been just a bit crazy down here the past couple weeks!

Let's see. So the last time that I posted I was getting ready for my second trip with Resurrection Life Church. Wow. So much has happened since then! And I definitely will be posting more about all of that soon- I promise!

But here's just a quick update on all that will be happening in the next week:

I start my final trip tomorrow. O my stars. I can not believe how fast this summer has flown by! It seems like I just arrived a week or two ago. I am so sad that I have to go home in less than 3 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I miss everyone like crazy and I'm super excited to see everyone again. But I have completely and thoroughly enjoyed my time down here. Yes, it has had it's bad/stressful moments. And yes, it has been extremely stretching in many, many ways. But God has been glorified over and over again and if there was ever any doubt in my mind that He is alive and working, it has been squelched this summer. I can't wait to share the stories of how He has moved this summer.

Anyhow. Just wanted to let you all know that I am doing well and haven't forgotten all of you back home! Love you!

A Belizean Summer||2.5||A Sacrifice of Love...Do you remember?

Ok I'm going to take a break from all the fun things happening in Belize and talk about the real things in my journey right now.

**Disclaimer: this may or may not get a bit preacher-y. So bear with me.**

My fabulous older sister, Melanie, from The Realization of Good, posted recently about the book, The Story: Recapture the Mystery by Steven James (read her post here). She gave me the book probably half a year ago to read, telling me, "This is so good and it's going to change your life." Of course, being the younger sister that I am, I didn't believe her at first.

But this book has truly changed my view of Christianity, the Bible, and Jesus, which has ultimately changed my life. I could give you example upon example of lessons I've learned or thoughts I've had or light-bulb moments when I've experienced Jesus in such a real way but today I want to share with you the Reality of my Jesus.

Doesn't it just give you shivers of excitement to think about actually meeting Him and hugging Him and seeing His scars when we get to heaven? I get so excited thinking about that. But it hit me really hard when I read a portion in James' book about Jesus' sacrifice and the scars in His hands.

Think about it with me for a little. Jesus, our Creator, came to earth as a human(which, if you ask me, is in and of itself, no easy feat!) and loved on so many people, changed people's lives, made some amazing friends, and then died for all of them and all of us! I'm sorry but that just blows my mind. I seriously can not force my tiny human brain to fathom it.

And then I think about His scars. The ones He received for me.

You know, I grew up in a Christian home. I've known about Jesus' amazing sacrifice since I was a baby. And yet I barely think about the crucifixion. Why is this? I don't know. It seems as though I have become so focused on the truly amazing fact that Jesus even loves me that I have forgotten the most amazing sacrifice anyone has ever made for me!

So when I thought about Jesus' scars in His hands today, I had to wonder how I'll react when I see them for real. If I were to see them today, would it impact me at all? Would I be overcome with emotion? Or would I just be like, "Oh yeah, You died for me. Oops. Sorry Jesus! I kind of forgot." Because that is honestly how I am sometimes. This is a problem people. If I am truly a follower of Jesus Christ, how is it that I could possibly forget that Jesus died for me?!?

So here's my challenge for not only you, but for myself: When you think about Jesus, or how much He loves you, or whatever, please, do NOT forget His sacrifice of love. As cliché as it may sound, Jesus' sacrifice was the greatest act of love that any man could ever show. As Christians, let's stop and think about how amazing that is. And in doing so, let's live our everyday lives in such a way that we show Him how grateful we are to be given that chance of eternal life.

A Belizean Summer||2.4||Happy Birthday Jemma!

This sweet little one woke me up this morning like this: "Krista! I'm five now!"

So we celebrated by taking some fabulous birthday morning selfies! :)

Ah, sweet little Jemma. She has stolen my heart. She is so full of energy and I have so loved getting to know her so far this summer! 

So the day was spent baking cupcakes and making all kinds of food for her birthday party, which we were honored to be invited to this evening! As far as I could tell, it was a smashing success! [I certainly loved it :)] We all laughed at the kids enjoying the games Jessica and Amir had provided and ate yummy food and watched them smash Olaf the Piñata to pieces and 'played volleyball' and just had a fabulous time!

Musical Chairs

Olaf was a good sport. ;)

The Piñata didn't exactly explode like it was supposed to, so it turned into more of a candy scramble than anything. :)

Such a cute 'Frozen' cake!

This adorable little guy was dancing and 'DJing' all night! We had so much fun watching him!

So thank you so much Amir and Jessica for allowing us to share in your beautiful daughter's birthday celebration! And Happy Birthday Jemma! I love you and I'm so glad I got to be a part of your special day!

A Belizean Summer||2.3||Driving and Soccer Games and Mexico!

Oh my goodness. You know, Belize is known for going slow and not rushing, etc, etc. But I feel like so much happens here in short amounts of time that time just flies by!

On Sunday we said goodbye to Broadway UMC and sent them on their way. SO. On the way home from the airport, Amir didn't want to drive so I got my very first experience of driving in Belize! I'll admit, it didn't go as smoothly as planned, no pun intended. :) They have speed bumps down here instead of speed limits. And they are hard to see. And it was just tricky. Plus Amir and Connor act just like my dad and brother. So it was constant teasing the whole way home. :)

And.... GOAL!!!

So when we got 'home' to Orange Walk on Sunday, we quick changed clothes and jumped into the truck with some of the others and headed back down to Belmopan to watch the Belize vs. Dominican Republic soccer game!!!!! It was so exhilarating. Seriously. If you think we Americans get excited about our football games, you haven't seen anything yet!! I have never heard/seen a crowd get so excited about anything ever. Every time Belize would get anywhere close to the goal they would all stand up and go crazy and then if they didn't make a goal, they would all yell at them. And when they did get a goal it was just chaos. It was seriously so much fun. Oh yeah. And Belize won!!! 3-0 

The Crew-Erin, Amir, Jacob, Me and Liz! (Connor was sitting
elsewhere.)

After the game, we went to Pasquales(a yummy pizza place in Belmopan City) for supper. The ride home was a long one for sure. There were 4 of us crammed into the back of the pickup so it was definitely bonding time! :)

Monday afternoon we took the 45-minute drive up to Chetumal, Mexico. Again, we packed 4 of us into the back of Amir's truck. (Like I said, it's good bonding time for us interns. haha) Chetumal has a movie theater, McDonalds, mall, etc. and Amir's daughter has a birthday coming up so they wanted to get some party supplies and kindly took us along! So we crossed the border and went on an adventure! We had such a fantastic afternoon/evening. We went to the mall and saw a movie and then we went to this AMAZING restaurant for tacos! They were DELICIOUS. It was such a fun beginning to the week!

The Chetumal tourists. :)

Mmmm... Such yummy food!

A Belizean Summer||2.2||Let the Children Come Unto Me ~ Jesus

 "Then Jesus said, "Let the children 

    come to me. Don't stop them!" Mark 10:14

    "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this welcomes me... Whoever is the least among you is the greatest." Luke 9:48

.............................................

These two verses just keep running through my head as I go through the week. These children have grabbed a piece of my heart. I can only imagine how hard it is going to be to have to say good-bye later this week.

Let me explain a bit. My group, Broadway UMC, has been serving at an orphanage here in Belmopan City for 3 years now. This year they have been working at building a fence on the one porch in order to prevent the younger children from falling off. So the men have been working on building it, leaving the rest of us to either paint the railing or hang out with the kids.

The orphanage has one room dedicated as the 'nursery'. The under-school-age kids play in there all day. And of course those are the ones who I've connected with. I just love their little squeals and smiles and shenanigans. Yes, they are very tiring. Yes, they fight over silly things. Yes, they act like toddlers! [DUH! That's what they are- what more would you expect?! ;)] And yet you can see in their eyes that many of them have already been through more than anything any child of their age should ever go through. They have been forced to grow up faster than normal. However, they are still at the age where you can also see the care-free happiness of a child pouring out of their eyes. And that amazes me.

I guess I've just never been in an orphanage setting before. Yes, I've worked with kids with horrible childhoods/pasts. Yes, I've babysat foster kids. And yet, all of that is so different from this. I just want to take all of them home and love on them and show them Jesus and what a good family is like. And I know I can't. And there is a piece of my heart that feels like it is ripped apart everytime I think about it.

There is a young girl (I can't give her name) at the orphanage. She is 'my baby'. I don't know what it is or why, but she has captured my heart more than any of the others. Maybe it's because she's one of the 'naughtier' ones. I don't know. She is just so adorable. Tonight she kept saying, "I don't want you to go!" and "Please, please, PLEASE take me home with you!" And I nearly broke into sobs. In fact, there are tears on my face as I write this. I so badly want to take her home with me! [And her little brother too, for that matter. He's equally as cute. :)] Don't get me wrong, it's not that she is treated poorly at the Home. In fact, I am extremely impressed with how well the kids seem to be taken care of!!! It's just that she has me wrapped around her finger and I am not sure how I'll every be able to say good-bye!

Oh bother. The end of this week is going to be really hard, isn't it?!? 

You know, I can't help but think about God in all of this. Yes, I am struggling so bad with just wanting to take care of all of these kids, but especially the little girl I'm now attached to. And yet I'm reminded that if I can fall so in love with a child who messes up, who is not perfect, who throws tantrums sometimes, and who I barely know, how much greater is the God of the universe in love with me? I seriously struggle with that on a daily basis; I don't understand how God could love me when I mess up so much! And I'm not trying to sound like some great, upright Christian missionary who is just seeing God in everything I do, but I am seriously being challenged.

And it's so hard. It's so hard to realize that my heart may be breaking just so I can learn yet another thing about God. [I know, I know, it's not JUST for that reason]

Please continue to keep this group in your prayers. I know I'm not the only one of our group who is going through a lot of emotions right now. Pray that God would continue to be glorified. For He truly is AMAZING. [
Even when He might be testing our patience. ;)]

A Belizean Summer||2.1||Training and New Adventures

On Monday we had training all day. I'll admit it got a little long sometimes but it was all so interesting and obviously things we need to know to be the best we can be this summer as interns. In the afternoon we had a nice long break, during which Erin, Liz, and I decided to go find some ice cream! Erin was here last year as an intern so she took us to Western Dairies, a Mennonite-made homemade ice cream shop. It was yummy!

Liz, Me, Erin

Blueberry(NOT Cotton Candy!!) ice cream from WD

Ice cream breaks are the best breaks!!

After the ice cream we headed back to our hotel room to relax for a while before going back to the church for the rest of our meetings. After a super delicious supper of Belizean BBQ chicken(debatably better than Pennsylvania Dutch BBQ), we played an intense game of Belize trivia. So much fun + we learned more about the country!!

Tuesday morning we ate breakfast with all the rest of the staff and then Connor, Channing, Jacob, Liz(all interns), Adam(new Thirst office staff member), Jason, and Perla and Luda(trip leaders in charge of us interns for the summer), and I headed out to Caye Caulker for a couple days! We arrived on the island Tuesday afternoon around 2:30 and set about exploring the island right away. And of course we enjoyed a super delicious supper, followed by ice cream! :)

Wednesday we went snorkeling! Well... the other interns did anyhow. I decided to just go in the boat because when my youth group was down a couple years ago I had tried and didn't really enjoy it since I couldn't see anything without my glasses on. But! I have now learned that the owner of the snorkel shop has masks that fit over glasses so I'll definitely have to try again sometime this summer. The rest of the afternoon and evening was just spent relaxing and enjoying each other's company, as well as some more DELICIOUS food!

The interns + ICE CREAM!!

Wednesday morning's sunrise

More Sunrise

The whole group

The water is so beautiful + the sky was GORGEOUS!

Thursday morning we headed back to Belize City bright and early so Adam and Jason could catch their flight home. From there we traveled back to Orange Walk where the interns and Perla and Luda all enjoyed one last meal all together before Connor and I went with Amir to his house and the others stayed in Orange Walk.

Amir and his wife Jessica, along with their 4-year old, Jemma live in Yo Creek, which is about 10-15 minutes from Orange Walk Town. Connor and I stayed with them in their home Thursday night and Friday night. I thoroughly enjoyed it; Jessica's parents live right next door and they grow a lot of their own fruit so Thursday afternoon after my laundry was finished, Jessica's mom took me to the back yard and told me about all the different trees. It was so fascinating!!! Did you know there are multiple kinds of mango trees? I didn't!! I just loved talking with her. She reminded me so much of my grandma. And after a while Amir and Connor and the rest of the family came out back looking for us. And Amir and Jessica's dad chopped some coconuts down for us so we could taste coconut water and coconut straight from the tree; I've never had real coconut before-just the flaky white stuff you can buy in the States. It was such a cool experience!

Friday then we (Amir, Connor, and I) traveled all day. We needed to do trip setup and our trip is in Belmopan City, which is about two hours I think from Yo Creek. So we drove down and then around Belmopan, getting everything ready for our group to arrive Saturday! It was a loooong day. Driving down here wears you out more than in the States, I'd say. Belizeans are kinda crazy when it comes to driving!! (Amir's a great driver though-I promise! ;)) Plus there are a bunch of potholes and speed bumps so you're constantly speeding up and slowing down. We slept good Friday night though!!

And then the adventure really began!! Saturday afternoon our group arrived! They are from Kentucky and are staying in Belmopan City, which is the capital of Belize. They are serving at The King's Children Home and so far are having a great time!

My first group- Broadway UMC

So I'll post more on our trip later... Wanted to update everyone on the past week!!

Please continue to pray... They're so much appreciated! Thanks!

A Belizean Summer||2.0||The Adventure Begins

I have safely arrived in Belize! I got in yesterday at 1:15ish (Belize is two hours behind us so it was like 3:15 at home). Some of the other interns and a staff member were there to pick me up and take me to the D*Victoria Hotel in Orange Walk Town, where I'll be staying for the next couple days. The afternoon was spent in some laid-back training/get-to-know-you games, followed by a picture scavenger hunt through the town. (Super fun!!) After that we met for supper(burritos), provided by one of the assistant leader's mom. Seriously. The food down here is too good to put into words. :) After supper, we walked the short distance to the ice cream shop, where Jason(Founder and CEO of Thirst) kindly treated us all! It was a very tiring, but very awesome first day!

Then today we met with several of the host pastors in the morning. It got a little long because it was mostly in Spanish but I honestly enjoyed it for the most part because I felt like I was brushing up on my Spanish! I talked to this one pastor who knew very little English but with his broken English and my broken Spanish I learned that he moved here from Guatemala about 4 years ago with his family. He has 4 boys, aging from 22 to 14 and lives here in Orange Walk. I am so glad I took that Spanish 1 class at Faith with Mr. Lapp!!!! Anyhow. After the meeting, we ate lunch with the pastors and then split into small groups and traveled to some of the different towns we'll be serving in this summer. My group went to Concepcion to meet with Pastor Eduardo about some things (I won't be traveling there but one of the other interns will be!) and then traveled up to Corozal. Omystars. Corozal is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! You seriously come around the bend and BOOM! ocean!!! I will be staying with a group there for a week and let me tell you, I can't wait!! It is seriously so pretty up there. Fun Fact: Corozal is in Northern Belize, just 30 minutes from the Mexico border. We ate supper at this pretty restaurant called Tony's. It was awesome because we ate on this pier-type thing out over the water! Anyhow. Then we came back and just kind of hung out and did whatever!

Thanks so much for everyone's prayers!! It means a lot to me to know that so many people care about me and the other staff members here!!

Packages/Letters from friends!! So fun!

My plane!

Pastor Angel's house here in Orange Walk Town

Tony's Restaurant in Corozal

My view from supper tonight

Watermelon Juice-My favorite!!!