Belize 2008

"Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith,

I am glad and rejoice with you all." Philippians 2:17

As promised... the blog about Belize! A group of 30 folks from Crosspointe spent 8 days in the beautiful country of Belize. We flew into Belize City and then drove about an hour north to the town of Orange Walk. We had 2 teams working at Josue Christian Church, a medical team and a construction team. Laura Susan was the pharmacist for the medical team, and Springer was on the paint crew for the construction team. We worked for 5 1/2 great days... hard work, but so worth it.

This is where we stayed in Orange Walk.

Springer and our friend Brandon enjoying a drink outside the D'Victoria.

This lady's chicken smelled unbelizeable... but we were warned NOT to eat anything sold on the streets. Oh the temptation...
Pretty sunset after a church service on Sunday night
Inside of the church
Someone brought a pet parrot that Springer thought was pretty cool...
Ok, so I was a little nervous about holding our feathered friend... this may be the most famous picture of the trip... thanks a lot, Brad, for sharing it on Sunday!
See, I really enjoyed it after the first moments of extreme anxiety!
Iguana... I did NOT hold him!
While setting up the pharmacy, these little guys showed up with lots of questions... mostly "Where are the bubbles?!?!"
Coke is so much better out of a bottle!
This is the pastor's daughter, telling me a joke about a duck.

Springer and our friend Jarvis taking a break from the workday for a picture
Here I'm teaching a family how to take their medications These big beautiful eyes filled with tears when I pulled out an oral syringe to show his mama how far to pull up one dose... he thought he was getting a shot!

Springer working on chairs for the children's rooms at the church
Springer and the paint crew did a great job painting the church inside and out!
Jason and Springer trying out the spearmint
Taking a break for some dodgeball... these little guys loved Brandon, Springer, Jason, and Jeremy Pharmacy Friends! Claire, Michelle, and Melanie jumped in and did a great job working in the pharmacy. I was so, so, so impressed with them! Together we filled prescriptions for over 700 patients seen in the medical clinic.

The guys lifting a beam to reenforce the ceiling and get it ready for a second story
One of the chairs we built... Marvin the pastor is an amazing artist, and he painted this one!
Springer and some of his buddies at the "Thank You" service the church gave us on Thursday
Me and my friend Letty, who is Pastor Marvin's wife... we share a birthday! I enjoyed getting to know Letty during the week.
Our team! We love these folks!
The medical bus... two of our physicians saw patients in the bus. A precious lady named Dita graciously let us have her home for the week to house the pharmacy and another physician exam room.
The paint crew, Jason, Samantha, and Springer... job well done!
On the last work day
Here we are taking in the sights at Altun Ha, some of the Mayan ruins in Belize... also supposedly a good birding spot (i.e. the binoculars), but it was raining while we were there, so no Toucans in sight.
Our friends Jamie and Claire at the top of one of the ruins
For fun on Saturday we traveled up to Ambergris Caye from Belize City for a day of snorkeling.
You can still see the imprint of our lovely snorkeling goggles... what you can't see YET is my severe sunburn... our sunblock, though claiming to be waterproof was not so... ouch
On the way back home

Overall we had a great week serving our God. We were grateful for this opportunity to follow His call to go and serve. We look forward to Him using us more and more to glorify His name in all the world!