Otterbein Team/Otterbein Church Waynesboro, PA July 11- July 25

Getting a late start to blogging for our trip, soooo sorry! Had trouble getting on line and figuring out how to do this. Anyhoo, our team arrived safely on Sat. July 11th. Everyone was pretty tired after leaving so early in the am. Bob met us at Dullas airport & traveled along with us. When we got to Charlotte there were 2 other mission teams also going to Belize to do mission work. Each team had their t-shirts on with the name of their mission team as well as us. So it was pretty easy to pick each of us out.

Our team consists of:

Dave & Amy Churchman (Team Leaders)

Sarah Churchman

Elizabeth Churchman

Olivia Churchman

Luke Churchman

Lisa Cantwell

Tommy Cantwell

Bill Gleason

Rudy Hawbaker

Sandy Hawbaker

After landing in Belize we went into Belmopan for lunch and then got a few groceries to hold us over until Monday when we could go into Dangriga, which is about 30 min. south east of the orphanage. When we arrived at Hosanna House the kids where right there waiting with big smiles on their faces. Once we got settled & finished cleaning the guest housing we were able to spend some time getting to know the kids.

Sunday 7/12/09

Attended church service in the new chapel. This was the 2nd Sunday of having services in the new chapel. Bob had a local Spanish man preach w/a translator for those of us that cannot not understand Spanish. We just hung out around the house today w/the kids. We went to watch a local soccer game not far from the house. Dave ended up playing because the one team was short a player. We had devotions at the house w/the kids at 7 pm. The kids use hymnals and sing accapella & then have a short devotion or reading along w/prayer. They just love to sing & they know the hymns by heart!

Monday 7/13/09

Went to Dangriga for groceries today. Stopped at the Bluefield Lodge to make reservations to go to Tobacco Caye this week. Since the weather didn't look to good toward the end of the week we decided we better go tomorrow and come back Wed. afternoon. Stopped at the farmers market to buy fruits & veggies & then to the "Price is Right" grocery store. We forgot to bring Pringles but found a bag of Lay's potato chips for $12.95 Belize! Crazy I know!!! Made arrangements for our boat ride to the island & then headed back to the house. Spent the evening w/the kids & getting ready to go to the island tomorrow. Rudy & Sandy were unable to go with us because after 9 pm there is not any electricity so Rudy couldn't plug in his c-pap machine :( Once again we had devotions with the kids at the house. We tried to go to bed early since we knew we had to leave the house around 8 am for Dangriga.

Tuesday 7/14/09

Up early & ready to go to the island. We will take lots of pictures for Rudy & Sandy. Will blog when we get back!

Wednesday 7/15/09

Back from our wonderful trip to the island. God is such a great artist! Beautiful, beautiful is all I can say. There are just no words to describe what we saw & experienced! Like the song "Indescribable", that's pretty much what it was! If you have never experienced the Caribbean you must, if you have the opportunity! Now remember this was our 2 days off. So we took advantage of the time we had. We picked the best 2 days to go! The only time it rained was Wed. night. We met many different people from all over the world like New Zealand, Holland, Canada, Wales, Switzerland, & Washington State. Of course they would always ask why we were here so we were able to share our mission with them.

We arrived on the island around 10:25 am got s ettled into our little cabanas & straight out to the water we went. I took along inner tubes this year so the kids could just float around in them. We snorkeled and swam right at the island. The water was perfect! We saw so many starfish this year. They were everywhere! The kids loved that! Since it gets dark here in Belize around 6:30 we all hung out on our decks on the water and just talked and watched the sun go down. Once it got dark enough we noticed little flashes of light coming from the water. It was like the sea was twinkling. We found out the next day that they were from glow worms. It was so cool!

Wednesday morning we had breakfast and went out on a boat to see Manatee, which we never did spot any & then to Bird Island & then snorkeling. It was so great! All of that pretty much depleted what energy we had left in us. We left the island around 2:15 so we could be back at the house at a decent hour.

While we were on the island Bob took Rudy & Sandy to the Mennonite farm & and out to lunch so they could see some sights as well.

Had devotion with the kids once again & then to bed. Long day!

Thursday 7/16/09
Got up early to get an early start on painting the inside of the chapel "Banana Split" which we all wish we could have had some of to eat! It would have been so refreshing! Had the chapel painted with the first coat by 10:30. Had lunch and finished putting the second coat on in the afternoon. Told Bob we needed a cross for the alter, said he'd find us some. Had a few scattered thunderstorms late in the afternoon. It usually rains here every night and 1-2 times during the day.

Dave took some of the older kids from the home along with Rudy, Bill & our 3 girls to play soccer down the road with some of the local kids thru adult. They had a good time and should sleep well tonight. Had devotions with the kids again & you could tell they were pretty tired after playing soccer.

Friday 7/17/09
Up pretty early again. Had a good breakfast before the guys got to work on the cross. Bob found some wood to make it from. I went down with the guys to make sure it got the final inspection for the template before they started to construct it. While the guys worked on the cross we were in the house with the kids coloring and then I took a few of the younger ones outside to blow bubbles. They just loved that! Dave & I went into Dangriga to pick up the older girls from a school they have been attending for the last 2 weeks. When we got back to the house Rudy & Bill had the cross finished. It looks great! It definitely is an "Old Rugged Cross".