Day 4: Thursday – Workday (Part 2)

Marla’s House of Hope is freshly painted inside and out.  The mural is nearing completion.   The King’s Children’s Home has a fresh coat of paint on its exterior.  Two homes for children are a little nicer than they were.  The children can take a little more pride in where they live because of the labor of our youth.  In speaking with several of the children at both homes, they said they liked the new colors on the walls, and we know they enjoyed the company of our youth.

When we have been painting, the children always want to help.  They will freely pick up any brush or roller that is laid down.  Letting them help allows them to take part in fixing up their home.  It also takes patience and more patience.  Sometimes it creates more work, depending on how skilled or old they are.  We often found ourselves repainting the sections that children had painted.  

We ended our day a little early today, so one van went to the Village of Armenia to see our friend Ramon.  He is 80 years old, and we have known him for many years.  One of our construction teams built a small house for him several years ago, and he is always seen by our medical teams in January.  Ramon only speaks Spanish, so we relied on Eric Burton to translate for us.  Another van took care of business by getting more supplies for the mural and for the next work project on Saturday.

I asked the youth if they wanted to add to the blog.  Laydon Hutchins was the first to volunteer:

So far the trip has been an incredible and eye opening experience filled with excitement and lots of big hearts seeing the children. It was so incredible seeing the work we had accomplished and how the children offered to help and paint right beside us just touched my heart. I can’t wait to see the rest.

--Laydon Hutchins

Mornings are better for posting pictures, so I will try tomorrow.

Day 4: Thursday - Workday

It has been getting light a little after 5:00 AM and by 6:00 the sun is peeking through the morning haze.  Today will be hot and humid, pray the rain holds off so we can finish outside painting projects at both children's homes.

Matt has prepared a devotion booklet for everyone with evening group devotions and an individual morning devotional.  Devotions each night are family-led, so the youth lead through prayer, sharing about the day, and dreading the day's selected scripture.  Matt then has a short devotional based on the Scripture, relating it to our experience here in Belize.  We break into our families for discussion questions, the return to the whole group for final discussion.  Matt is doing an excellent job in both organizing everything, but also seeing to the spiritual growth on this trip.  Later in the week we will be using Philippians chapters 1 - 4 in our devotions.

Jane and Laticia are keeping us well nourished.  Breakfasts are usually bacon and eggs with toast or cinnamon buns and fresh fruit.  Dinners have been fried chicken, spaghetti, and last night stew chicken with rice and beans.  Everyone is eating well.

Thanks for you words of encouragement and prayers.  A few pictures from yesterday at KCH:

Part of boys dorm room before  painting

The same part of the room after painting.  Some of the boys cleaned the room before moving the beds back in place.

Holly painting with a smile. 

Adam on the high ladder painting the kitchen at KCH

Teamwork - holding the ladder for Adam (nice shoes, Adam).  

Day 3 - Wednesday Workday (part 2)

A sunny and hot day in Belize today.  Our team separated into two groups today; the larger group returned to Marla's House of Hope while the smaller group went to the King's Children's Home.  Both groups painted at the homes.  At Marla's the work shifted to painting the exterior.  The building is two tone blue with lots of exterior wall space and a porch with a concrete lattice rail that was tedious to paint.  The mural group painted outside in the morning and then on the mural in the afternoon.  By the end of the day most of the house had been painted.  Some touch-up and trim painting needs to be finished tomorrow, and an interior hallway needs a second coat.

At the King's Children's Home two dormitory rooms were painted first.  Six of our youth tackled the task of moving bunks and painting in a girl's dorm room and a boy's dorm room.  The boys room contained 10 bunks and only one or two other pieces of furniture.  That is 20 boys in a narrow room with bunks lined end-to-end on both sides of the room.  A coat of paint was on the girl's room and part of the boy's room by lunch.  After lunch six new youth came to the KCH to finish the boy's room, second coat the girl's room and paint in the kitchen.

It is amazing to see how well everyone is working together.  The painting at the KCH is a challenge with dozens of children wanting to help and wanting attention.  The rooms are cramped and hot.  Yet, the inside painting was completed.  At Marla's the main areas of the outside are freshly painted and the children also pitched in.  This may have been the most demanding day on the youth physically and emotionally, as the reality of life at an orphanage began to sink in.  Despite some difficult conditions our youth were both compassionate and industrious.

We look forward to a restful night and a full day of work tomorrow.  We will divide again to complete painting projects at both children's homes.

Prayers for our own families and our church family back home.  More tomorrow.

Day3: Wednesday - Workday

How many tarantulas did we see?  Well, quite a few.  He-man the camp caretaker took us around the grounds last night.  At first we saw a few small ones - if any tarantula is really small!  Then he found some larger ones.  They live in holes in the ground and are coaxed our with a stick or metal rod.  He-man got them out, and then anyone who wanted to hold one could.  A lot of the youth held one or more.  Lots of pictures were taken, so you will see the evidence when we get home.

Breakfast is in an hour and then it is off to the work sites.

Here are a couple pictures:
One of one of the scripture verses Grace lettered.

And one tarantula picture. Yes, that is Rachel and her friend!

Day 2: Tuesday - Workday (part 2)

We rolled out of the Baptist Training Center at 8:00 AM to travel to Marla's House of Hope. Just out of the BTC we met our third van being delivered to replace the one that overheated yesterday.  Soon we were all on our way for our first day of work.  Marla's House of Hope is an orphanage that houses around 20 young people - mostly girls - who have been victims of abuse.  They were mainly elementary and middle school age.  We found that several of the rooms had been painted recently, and the rain was threatening so starting on the outside walls was not an option.  The paint we thought would be on-site was not, so we worked with the house mother in selecting paint colors for a girl's dorm room and a living room and hallway.  In the U.S., a trip in and out of Lowe,s for paint is pretty quick.  In Belize, a trip to Builders Hardware is another story.  Being waited on, checked out, and then paying at a separate window all takes time.  Even so, by mid-morning our youth were painting walls inside.  You should know that EVERYONE worked very hard today and the results are readily visible.   A team working with Melanie Orange has started a mural and several worked on lettering Bible verses over the doorways throughout the house.

After lunch the clouds began to give way to sun, which means that we will be painting the exterior of the building over the next couple days.  Late afternoon found us washing down the outside walls readying them for paint.  We also have a small group who will be painting a couple dorm rooms at the Kings Children's Home in Belmopan.  Our youth are working so well we felt they could spread their work to another place.

We returned to the BTC a little before 5:00.  Some local ladies had jewelry and baskets spread out at the entrance to the BTC, so some shopping was done.  A warm or cool shower, depending on the status of the water heating units felt good after a long hot day.  Our dinner of spaghetti, salad and cake disappeared from plates rather quickly!

Devotions are at 8:00 tonight followed by a tarantula hunt on the BTC grounds led by He-man, the camp caretaker.  Not to worry, these are tame tarantulas, and He-man knows the grounds very well.

God has been good to us on this first day of work.  A slow start turned into a day of great progress.  Fresh paint livens up a room, and we hope will brighten the lives of the girls who sleep in the dorm room at Marla's.  The weather seems to be changing from clouds and rain to sunshine - thanks for the prayers for good weather.  The youth have been dedicated workers and have also been very supportive of one another.  We anticipate a good night's rest and a fulfilling day of work tomorrow.

Your comments have been shared with the group, thanks for them.  Uploading pictures from this end is difficult; Internet speed is slow.  I will try tomorrow morning to post one or two.

Day 2: Tuesday - Work Day

It is early yet, so only a few of us are stirring, but "official" 6"30 AM wake-up is minutes away.  Jane and Laticia are preparing breakfast.  All of us have some morning quiet time for devotions before or after breakfast.  We prepare to leave for Marla's House of Hope at 8:00 this morning.

Please be in prayer for us as we begin our work today.  We will be preparing to paint inside and out (if the rain hold off for outside) and meeting the children.

A word about the weather - there has been a lot of rain over the past week, so there is standing water along the roads.  We hope will have brought some Carolina sunshine and blue skies with us!  More on our day later.

New picture added to the post below - check it out.

Day 1: Arrival in Belize

FBC Marion Youth on Arrival at the Baptist Training Center

We had a smooth flight and arrival in Belize today.  We cleared immigration and customs, than loaded our luggage and ourselves in vans and headed west from Belize City toward Belmopan.  Only a couple miles from the airport one of the vans overheated, so we reloaded luggage and passengers into the other  vans and made our way to Cheers Restaurant for lunch.  From the water along the sides of the road, it was evident that a lot of rain has fallen over the past week.  After leaving Cheers we drove the rest of the way to Camelote and the Baptist Training Center.  Once there we settled into our rooms and had a chance to relax before dinner.  It rained hard during the afternoon.

Jane and Laticia prepared dinner - fried chicken, mashed potatoes, beans, and watermelon - the first of many good meals we will eat this week.  After dinner devotions and then an early bedtime due to a long day of travel.

Everyone is well and we are looking ahead to a good night's rest and a full day of work tomorrow.  You are in our prayers, and we rest knowing we are in your prayers.