Thursday July 23, 2009

This morning early Dave & I went with Bob to Belmopan to purchase a new refrigerator for the house where the teams stay. We have been in desperate need of a new one for the last couple of years. The fridge is to be delivered on Friday morning. While in Belmopan, Bob made a few other stops as well. We also stopped and got watermelon from a local Mennonite man & his family on the side of the road. We are planning on having it with the kids on our last day of camp. Their watermelon is the best I've had in a long time!

Soccer camp went well again today. Bill shared a story about accepting God's gift of Jesus. He used the illustration of being sick and the medicine costing a million dollars to be cured. If someone came to our house and offered you a million dollars for FREE so you could be healed would you take it? Of course the kids were all saying "yes, yes, yes for sure!" He explained that's how it is with Jesus. He is knocking on your door and offering to save your life forever, we just need to open the door and let him in. Bill also invited the kids to talk to any of us on the team once again if they wanted to receive this free gift. No one came forward this time but you could just read the faces of some of the kids & see that they were thinking hard about what they have been hearing & learning this week. We have only one more day to spend with the kids, so please pray for them to have open minds & ears to hear the message once more! If anything we are definitely planting seeds in them!

Wednesday July 22, 2009

On our 3rd day of soccer camp here in Belize we worked on shooting drills. Is it ever been HOT! Did I mention it's HOT! Each day we have a short bible devotion w/ the kids half way thru the camp & it was my turn to share. I shared the parable of the Unmerciful servant taken from Matthew 18:21-35. I used my kids & one of the other kids from our team to role play the story for me. It was great! I talked about forgiveness & explained that the only way for them to be forgiven is to have Jesus living in their hearts & that we have to ask Him to forgive us, we can't just expect Him to do it. I gave the invitation to those that didn't know Jesus to come & ask any team member how to receive Him as their forever friend. Immediately after my prayer the kids got back in their groups & one of the 8 yr old girls came up to Bill, a team leader, & grabbed him by the hand & asked him to tell her how to be a follower of Jesus!!!! He led her to Christ right there in the goal!!!! We had others that talked w/another team leader asking lots of questions! We only have 2 days left to share w/them yet! Please continue to pray for these kids & our team!!!!

Tuesday July 20, 2009

Things are going well here in the beautiful country of Belize! Yesterday was our first day of soccer camp. Mr. Dave drove the school bus & we picked up 40 kids to take to camp. The other kids met us at the field because they live right there in the village where the soccer field is. We had about 50-55 kids attend from the age of 5-17 yrs. Mr. Dave started off with a few volunteers showing the kids how to do toe touches, dribbling, pull backs, etc. After practicing as a group we split up into age groups and had individual training with the group leader for about 20-25 min. We were then all called back together for a short bible lesson lead by Mr. Rudy. Rudy talked to the kids about love & how we are to love everyone just like Jesus does. He also explained that love is an action not a feeling. We are to love people even if we don't really like them so much. The kids were very attentive and even gave examples to us of who they don't like ex. someone who steals from them, or beats them, or is mean to them etc. Some of these kids have had many terrible things done to them that we could only imagine so it's very hard for them to love the people who have done these terrible deeds. Some of them can't believe that Jesus loves them anyway no matter what they have been through or even what they've done in their lives. You just can't help but fall in love with these beautiful children, they are just so precious!

This morning the guys are making trips back & forth to the river loading rocks to help fill in the drive around the back of the Hosanna House. This area always seems to get washed away in then its hard to drive the van & bus through w/out getting stuck. Sarah, Tommy & Lisa are helping them unload. As soon as I'm done posting this I'm going out to help as well.

One of the older ladies that everyone call Mama wants us to come & visit her today. She lives in Armenia, a Mayan village. She make baskets, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, pot holders & other neat things. We always like to see her each time we visit here. Last year she wasn't feeling well so we went to her house. She usually comes here but she has to take the bus & it of course takes longer because of all the stops it makes. She told us her husband is not doing well so we'd like to visit with him as well. We also want to see the kids in the village. We bring them "sweets" (candy) every year, which is something they don't get much of, if any, unless a team from the home visits with them.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for the remainder of the week as we witness to the children that attend soccer camp.

Enjoy the pictures!

Hello from Belize
My first shock was walking into the kitchen and seeing ants and gecko poop all over the place. Can you imagine three women with three different ideas as to how the kitchen should be set up?
A little bit of tension but we finally came to a place where we were all pretty much satisfied. By the time we had the kitchen set up and things put away we were exhausted from the heat. It was quite warm in the house since no one turned on the a.c. or the fans before us getting here.
My goodness, I'm realizing just how much we are spoiled in the states.
When we finally got to bed it rained. Now it rains differently here than in the states. It usually starts with a few sprinkles in the states but here it sounds like all heaven opens and it rains really hard sometimes for only 5 minutes or so then abruptly stops. It does sound really neat on the tin roof. Then I heard something that sounded like the clucking of a chicken and a bird. Hey, this is the only way I can explain it. Came to fine out it was a gecko. You could hear it moving all over the room. One time it came a little too close to me and I thought "okay buddy thats far enough".
On Monday evening around 8 o"clock the lights went out--total darkness. Could not see anything. Someone lighted 3 small candles, how they found them is beyond me and some had flashlights. Rudy and Bill went to the Hosanna House to see what was going on. When they came back down they said the kids and women were quite frightened and told us to go into our house, lock the door and stay there without any kind of explanation. We were wondering why they were so afraid. Of course, their actions and words made us a little scared. We could tell the kids were becoming scared then too so we prayed and sang a few songs which I think calmed us all. The next morning we found out the H. H. had been robbed before when the lights went out. We also found out a man ran his truck into a pole. The lights were out until 2 in the mornning. It was so-o-o hot and humid. I thanked God when the a.c. and fans came on again.
On Tues. everyone went to the island but Rudy and I stayed here because of Rudy's c-pac machine. We told the guys we would wash their clothes and clean up the house. We worked all day and Rudy went outside for around 3 hours Tues. and Wed. to help the hired hand , Havier, to load stone and dirt into a wheelborrow and put it into a hole in front of H.H. Doing so they built a bit of a relationship. We also did a craft with the kids. Then Bob Eberly told us he would take us to a restaurant called Ivy's Rest. It was very nice and clean. I enjoyed chicken and Rudy pork chops and a wonderful watermelon drink. (awesome) Then on Wed. before the group came back, Bob took us to a Mennonite Farm. It was as if we went back in time to the 1800's. We went to a Mennonite school and heard the children sing. Boy is there ever a difference between our schools in the states and this one. If they had a question they had to raise their ruler.We were able to take a lot of awesome pictures.
Several of us adults went to paint the chapel one morning. After awhile Lisa, Amy and the kids showed up and then this lady walked in with her granddaughter. She was selling jewelry, baskets, etc. Really nice items. Amy and Lisa didn't want to have to tell her to come back so they "went shopping" while the rest of us painted. It finally came to the point where they were done but since "Mama" didn't bring change with her, it was kind of confusing to decifer between the Belizian currency and the U.S. currency. So Lisa had to buy another piece to make her bill come out even.
Today we went to church. We were supposed to have the same preacher we had last week but he couldn't come. Darlene Eberly came and asked if someone would give a lesson and if we had any crafts for the kids. We were wondering how this service was going to turn out with such short notice. The Lord took over. The chapel was full with children from H.H. and surrounding area. We actually used the van to pick up some kids from the area. At one house we picked up 13 kids. Amy said there were 30 people living in that house. After all the singing Rudy gave the lesson about building your house on the rock. He did a great job. Then we broke them up into two groups of children from 6 down and they went into the back room to color. The kids who were 7 and up stayed in the chapel and we helped them to make salvation necklaces. Amy did a great job explaining what the colors all meant on the beads. The kids were really listening. Did I tell you it's HOT here? Amy and I were standing there with sweat running out of every pore in our bodies. Whew--I think this is the hottest day so far.
These children are just so-o beautiful. It amazes me how clean they look except when the boys are running through mud puddles. I have become attached to a few of them. I realized today in church how hard it is going to be to say "goodbye" . I started to tear up just thinking about it. I could write more but Rudy wants to share a little too. Please continue to pray for us. I seem to have a drippy faucet where my nose used to be. I think I caught a cold from the fan in our bedroom. Believe it or not I was actually Cold one evening and woke up with the sniffles.

Sandy pretty well covered what we have done so far. One thing that she didn't mention was we had to prepare the field for the futbol, (oops been here only a week and I'm talking the language already) soccer field. Dave, Bill, Selvin, Roderick and I lined off the big field to make 3 smaller ones for the camp starting tomorrow evening. We did this the first thing yesterday morning. Also, last evening Dave, Bill and I hung the cross we had made on Friday. We made it out of a rough cut piece of 4"x4" lumber. We hung it using 3 strands of 18 gauge wire. It reminded us of the verse in the Bible that says, " A three stranded cord is not easily broken". I must say it did look pretty good. We closed the service today by singing the "Old Rugged Cross"

Sandy & Rudy

Fun on the River!!

Tommy and I picked up bits of trash about the yard after lunch. It was a hot day so Amy suggested we all head to the river. I've never seen the girls happier except when they played football (soccer). We somehow loaded 23 children and 3 adults in the van. The river is a clear, wide stream very close to Hosanna House. No one knows its name, it's just "the river." It's so precious the way the older girls look out for the younger ones. Of course, the toddlers and littliest ones stayed behind. One of the girls, Yolanda, brought a soccer ball to toss back and forth in the water. It's greatest depth was about 4 feet right under the bridge. Many of the girls jumped off the 10 ft. bridge above with squeals of delight all the way down to the surface of the rushing creek. A couple of the quieter girls, Brenda and Florita, layed down the water at a shallow point and just lanquished in the ripples. With the mountain vista in the distance, I felt like I was in paradise, watching these beautiful children playing, laughing and splashing in the sparkling, cool waters. At the end of our swim time, Dave called the girls together and they rehearsed the Good Samaritan skit, "Belize style." One of the girls was a downtrodden, beaten European that many passed by, until a kind hearted Belizean woman came along. The girls really enjoyed performing their Bible lesson.

After we returned to Hosanna House, Gladys and Mr. Bob loaded Tommy, me, Elizabeth and several of the girls to visit nearby neighbors to invite to church on Sunday. We visited with many walking along the road and at about 8 houses of different colors and conditions. One of the wood homes was painted a bright coral pink and we petted a gray, dun-colored horse there tied to a tree. Everyone was outside mostly, some mowing the lawn, others sitting on their porches. One lady with blonde hair was especially kind and gave us plaintains, avocado, bananas and other fruits. She was a one of the poorer homes and was so happy to give us this gift!! She needs some new boards for her porch steps and Gladys will ask Mr. Bob about this.

Good Morning from Belize! Lisa Cantwell reporting;-D

So far this journey to Belize has brought this scripture to my heart from Luke 4:18,19: "The Lord has put his Spirit in me, because he has appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to tell the captives they are free and to tell the blind that they can see again. God has sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness." (Jesus was reading in the synagogue on the Sabbath from the Book of Isaiah).

We rose to sunny day with a surprising blessing of an intermintant cool breeze. We heard the usual morning sounds: children playing outside, hens clucking, puppies whining and voices of the team re-capping adventures of the previous day. We had a quick breakfast of cereal because we had to get to the church to paint the dull, gray concrete walls a fresh new yellow. This color is like the peoples of Belize-as bright as the sun that bronzes their skin, these cheerful people greet us with big smiles most everywhere we go. So, the inside walls of the church now reflect the sweetness of the people we have come to serve. Save for a breeze now and then, it was very sweatty work. All rolled the paint on quickly to beat the approaching noon heat.

An elderly lady known as "Mama," brought her handmade baskets, necklaces, bracelets and earrings to show us while we were at the church. Several of us bought her beautiful handiworks to take home as gifts. She lives several miles away and rode the bus to see us with her young granddaughter along. She shared that her husband is blind and she takes care of him. Her hands are beginning to show signs of arthritis and she was worried that it might slow her work down. She also has cataracts and cannot afford the operation to remove them, so her vision in one eye is fading. She didn't seemed discouraged though and was pleased with her time with us. I made several pictures and hugged her farewell. I was amazed at how she squatted by the side of the road waiting for the bus. (Her knees must be in better shape than mine!!) Amy and I encouraged her to get under the bus stop shelter out of the hot sun. I hope that we can visit her home. She'd like to have us come by. It would be so sweet to pray with her and her husband.

We took a quick lunch break and then, Rudy, Sandy, Bill and Dave went back to complete painting the church. I wrote in my diary and savored the BLT sandwich for a while longer than I should have. By the time I arrived the church, there was wasn't much painting left to do. One of the workers at Hosanna House painted quite a lot. I didn't want to get in his way, but he did save a section for me. So, I climbed up the ladder and painted above the entry to the vestibule. I had a great "sweat bath" up there. The front of the church somehow looked plain and empty. We decided it needed a rugged cross made of native rosewood or mahogany. The men will work on that project tomorrow.

All morning and afternoon while at the church, I noticed a thin man with dreadlocks cutting the tall grasses along the roadside with a machete.' I stopped to talk with him and took his photo. He was Garifuna, (Caribbean) and from the nearby city of Dangriga. We've been there a few times to get groceries. His small frame was muscular and he was very dark. I learned from Gladys, the caretaker's wife, that there are several ethnic groups in Belize: Mestizo (Spanish-Indian), Creole (African-European), Maya, Garifuna and European. The girls here are representative of all except the last group. The African ancestory came from those brought over as slaves in the 1700's to work the mahogany plantations. Mahogany is no longer an export product due to its depletion.

In the afternoon, I went up to Hosanna House to practice the song, "Wonderful, Merciful Savior," I've been teaching the girls. They sang with the CD and without. They are also learning "Above All." The other day, a couple of the older girls wept softly while singing the words. Sometimes even the tougher personalities have such an open heart. The group is growing in number! Several of the younger girls that were too shy to join in are now with our little group. They sound beautiful. Their names are as lovely as they are: Ingrid, Raqueli, Joy, Darlene, Victoria, Earlene, Sherry, Keesha, Bernadett. There are many more names that I am still learning. One little darling, about 3 or 4 yrs old has AIDS. She is a beauty with big eyes to match her big smile. All of the little ones climb into our laps and want to cuddle with us or hear a story read to them. You cannot come to Hosanna House and not fall in love.

Toward the end of our day, Dave, our leader and soccer coach, rounded up all of our kids along with some of the girls from Hosanna House for a rousing game of soccer. Selvin, one of the three boys residing at the orphanage, played too and is quite amazing on the field. A couple of the neighbor boys joined us, also. They were little guys, but mighty players. Most of the Belizean children played barefoot. As the sun softened and began to set, a cool breeze caressed our skin and the kids exploded with energy on the "football" field. (I've been corrected several times by the locals: "It's not soccer, it's FOOTBALL!") I was the "camera lady," in charge of videotaping and had to dodge the action a few times. The final score was 3 - 2. All were in good spirits after the game. The girls teased Tommy, the goalie, calling him, "Tommy Dreamer." Sara and Elizabeth scored a goal each. With the exception of a few minor scrapes with the ball or a misplaced kick to the ankle, there were no serious injuries. Let's just say that when soccer camp begins on Monday, I'll probably be a cheerleader or camera lady.

Amy prepared a delicious dinner of spagetti, garlic biscuits and oreo "dirt pudding" for dessert. Sandy made a fresh green salad. We had a few extra guests for dinner to include Bryan and Kim (prospective Hosanna House parents from Greencastle, PA) and the caretaker's children, Renisha and Reginnie. Every evening we join the kids at the house for devotions. The girls request songs from a hymnal and songbook. We sang "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus," "Kum Ba Ya," "Because He Lives," "I Have a Friend in Jesus," "God is So Good" and more. They love to sing!! About 10 of the girls then sang their special song, "Wonderful Merciful Savior." One of them read from the Bible. It's the same scripture printed on our soccer t-shirts, Matthew 22:37- "Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind." Seems like a good thought to end a full day!!

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".