Friday, July 21, 2006

Excerpt from my journal, one month ago.

Wed. June 21st

Had a better night sleep, work up just before the alarm. Went to breakfast and had a quick pow-wow with Scott, G and Leah. Decided who was going where, then we had a short devo- Scott told us a "story" to put ourselves in- asked us, what burdens we need to let go of, to give to God.
I had a hard time pin-pointing mine - kind of knowing one, but not knowing how to let it go fully. So, it's something I'm sitting in and asking God to reveal how/what etc.
I took a group of kids, Em, Kristen, Blake and Shireen to ARiola's. Talked to Vicky for a short time and then went back with Blake to find Scott. He was going to send a couple of people with me to make visits to a couple of the older people in the village. We got back and Scott was a bit discouraged about not having jobs for everyone to do right away. But eventually Herdie came and they went into Dangriga to buy paint and start painting the church there. Blake, Josh, Sarah, and I chilled ate lunch and waited for Em, Kristen and Shireen to come, but then Josh, Sarah and I decided to walk down to make sure they were coming back or that Vicky hadn't forgotten to wake up from her nap. :) She did, but Shireen(the school teacher, not team member) got there, so that's when they left.
We hung around the beach until about 4:00 beacuse we thought ght kids didn't get out of school till then, but we were wrong. So at 4pm we took all the clay buckets and went to the "shed" which is like a big long hut with no walls. It was a bit chaotic at first, bu tthen we just started having fun and making animals/ cars and planes for them all. It was really a blast! But, dinner came sooner than later and we had to quit a little pre-maturely.
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(excerpts copied as written at the time... you can see my shortened and not so eloquent way I journal)

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Preach it

Okay, so tonight as I was waiting at a stoplight on Elm Creek Blvd. I saw something that made me roll my eyes and laugh. There was a guy holding up a sign that on one side read "The wages of sin is death" and on the other side said "God's free gift is Eternal Life" or something close to that. You know, that verse in Romans... sorry, I've never been very good at scripture memory.
Anyways, if I wasn't a wuss and HAD automatic windows, I really wanted to yell out to him... "yeah, I know, so what's your point... and what do you think you're accomplishing by holding up your banner on a street corner."
This is no new or irregular news... christians do stupid things all the time in the name of Jesus, and it makes me sad. I guess I'm just noticing more how much it bothers me.
Contrast that with last night...
This awesome group of about 12 young people from South Africa came to praise and share with our youth group about their side of the world. Their worship was beautiful and energizing... reminiscent of Heart of the City... joy and soul coming out of their toes and all for Jesus Christ, not at all to put on a show. They shared with us an amazing story of their lives in Capetown, actually the slums of Capetown, I forget what they called it.. something " Estates" but it's nothing like estates at all. It's horrible poverty in the corner of an incredibly wealthy and beautiful city. I can't describe it all, but I was moved to tears as these young people stood up in front of us and talked of their horrific experiences. What made this so impactful to me, besides the stories and incredible worship, was the fact that this video they shared started out saying "we're not doing this to raise money, make you feel guilty, or any of that, it's to share what our life is and to celebrate love, God's love and power and miracles" -my paraphrase. It was a confirmation to my soul about where my spirit and passion for people lies.

Thank you Jesus, for this amazing ministry you have started in CapeTown South Africa, I pray for the pastor, that you would raise him up and give him strength and wisdom and continued support in whatever way he needs it. I thank you for the words you spoke to me, through them, last night.
Amen

Sunday, July 16, 2006

adjusting

It has been a little over two weeks now since I've been home from Belize. The days have gone by so quickly sometimes I think to myself, "did it really happen?" I had a few days to rest before getting back to work and once back to work it was "go go go." Work was so busy, and that was really good because I didn't have time to think about where I still really wanted to be.
On the flip side, I feel like I did a lot of reflecting those first few day and off and on last weekend, but this past week has been less reflective. I think it was because outside of work I was really busy too, having house-sat for the Adlers again. I don't like sleeping at their house because it is big and there are lots of noises so I had to juggle time and figure out how long to be with their pets at night. It was busy to say the least.

Now I sit, trying to decide what I want to say about this trip that made an impact on my life. I still don't quite know where to start. In the first blog I wrote about how there are similarities between Belize and Haiti. I don't know how to explain it, but I love Haiti in many ways and Belize in many ways. Some of them intersect... for instance the most important part of each place is the people who have made an imprint on my heart. I love the whole village of Tricote in Haiti because the whole village is a family and for the most part they are working together, but Hopkins Village, Belize there are select places that I love because the feeling that the whole village loves you is not the case. In Hopkins it is more technoligically advanced and people seem to fight for themselves, unless they are involved with Herdie's church. I don't know if I've explained this well, but to say it simply, Belize is another place that I've let into my heart to share with Haiti.
The Ariola's are the family with the Brittle Bone Disease kids, Raheem Cindy and Destiny.. they also have two other siblings, Sarah and Josiah(or Jo Jo). These children have a joy that comes from Christ alone. They are beautiful, all five of them, and have two wonderful parents who love them from their toes. Their mother is Vicky, she is only about 27, only 2 years older than myself. Last year we connected just a little bit at the end of the trip, and I wondered what it would be like this time around. She has been through so much it's sometimes hard for her to accept help and love from others, but clings and trusts God ruthlessly and I had the priveledge of hearing her story on the last day. We took a long walk on the beach and around the village, it was as if I was with a girlfriend from home just exchanging life stories. I wish we had been able to have more of those times because I feel like I made a new friend and now won't see her for a very long time. I thank God for the times I had with her and pray that their might be more in the future.
There were really fun times with the kids on the team as well... and as for my prayer about bringing us together as a team... that happened right away when we got there. If you read the Belize blog: www.teambelize.blogspot.com , you know that we had a slight problem with the bus that first travel day. We were stranded in the jungle on Hummingbird Highway half way to Hopkins Village. The whole team got off the bus and walked up the hill, huddled up and began to pray. Our hearts and minds were unified bringing our situation to Him and trusting that there was a reason for what was happening. It was an awesome adventure from the beginning and made this trip completely different not even able to compare with last trip, they were each great and unique.
The girls in my cabana were hilarious... I really got to know them better and vice versa. While being with people on a daily basis you get to see the many sides. I think it shocked one of them and it helped our dynamics a lot! She now can see me as a normal adult person who goofs around and has fun. It's hard to pick up on all the sides when you only get an hour and a half on a wednesday night. So, one of the nights we stayed up talking(well, 3 out of 4 of us) until 1am and laughed a lot, but also had conversations about life, love and other mysteries. (sorry, for those of you who know of the Point of Grace song... it just flowed. :)) It was a good bonding time! :) I love the senior girls!
We had a lot of rain-out days... one such day we all hung out in the guys' cabana doing various things... talking, making flyers for movie night, writing encouraging notes for each other(we had a wall with little bags with each of our names on 'em to put little notes in). Another rainy day some of the kids went to the "Innies" restaurant where we had our breakfast and dinners and played with their kids. The rainy days made it hard to do our crafts, which was frustrating to me because I planned all this stuff to do and there was no place to do it well in the rain. :( All I know though, is that crafts are not my thing, especially with kids that are hard to control. Each time we would get ready to do them, I'd think of ways to make it less chaotic and none of them worked. It would start out well, but then be crazy at the end!
Another cool thing about the trip is that the leadership was really great... we all had different strengths and I think we all complimented each other well. Especially Leah and myself, and we also got to know each other better which was super cool. I feel like I have another new friend!

So... I think that's about all for now... I still have boxes sitting in my room that are calling out to be unpacked. The sun and pool are also calling out, maybe they will get my attention first... we shall see. Oh, and another note... I bought a bike last week... so if anyone ever wants to go biking give me a ring!! I even have a bike rack(well, a friend is letting me use it since it won't work on his car) so I can take it places... it holds two! :)

Pics! (click on them to view larger)

Because of all the rain, the entrance to our cabana's got flooded. But, not our actual cabana's, this is the main lobby/little restaurant place.









This is the late night in the jungle, would've turned out better if the pic wasn't blurry! :(









Here's the beautiful beach we got to look at each day! :)









The paintings i did from last year... I took another picture just cuz

Saturday, July 01, 2006

back from belize

love is all you need.

i'm slowly learning that belize is trying to share the place that Haiti has in my heart. but i do believe it is different in some ways. i will share more on that later.

it's good to sleep in my own bed... but home really isn't home, having moved while being gone. i knew it would be strange, but i didn't know how drastically it would affect my mood this morning. not having familiarity was really hard and brought me to tears many times, not to mention having some culture shock, too.

my cable line isn't going to be hooked up until thursday, so here i stand(because I need to go quickly) at Dunn Bros checkin' up on my e-life, if you will. :) course, not much was missed because everyone knew i was gone. it's all good... and funny to realize how much junk mail you can get in 11-12 days. Especially in the account that seperates the really really crappy stuff. you still get things like "new music tuesdays" from iTunes or Ticketmaster Concerts. Atleast I do, and never realized how much. There are some "random" facts for you.

and now i'm signing off... more processing and pictures to come...
call me or email, or i will(wasn't meant to sound like a threat)... i miss friends! :) hope to see you all soon