Grace Covenant Mission Trip Journal

Sunday, July 15 (Day 7)
This morning after breakfast, our team left for Life.net Church.  Pastor Lee's church meets at the George Price Freedom and Peace Center.  George Price is considered the founder of modern day Belize, having served the country for 40 years and securing independence from England during his time in office.

Cade (guitar), Austin (drums) and Chapman (singer) helped out with the worship team.  Pastor Lee expressed his great appreciation for our team helping out and said that worship was very dynamic and very much a God-experience this morning.  Our team sang and played "Oh How He Loves" and was very moving, with many raising their hands in praise to our Creator.

After the singing portion of the service was over, kids aged 3-10 came downstairs for children's church.  Kim Palmer led a team of youth in singing, games, crafts, story time and snacks.  Ericka one of Pastor Lee's daughters could not stop talking about how much fun she had in children's service today.

Cade (narrator), Isaac (Goliath) and Austin (David) sang in operatic style the most hilarious, and yet most exciting rendition of the classic Bible story.  Cade sang the story of how David slayed Goliath.  Kim Palmer jumped in several times to get the kids involved having them say things like "Goliath is Big", "David is small", "Oh No!"....

We had the kids assembled a shield with stickers, putting the full armor of God on a soldier.  Then Margo led the kids in playing "Simon-Says and finally we had snack time.  Before we knew it, church was over and it was time to say good-bye to the kids.

Pastor Lee invited us all to his house for lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken salad, watermelon, chips and sodas or water).  It was a good time for all of us to get to know Pastor Lee and his family better.  Pastor Lee and his wife shared a home-made video with all of us highlighting their marriage and kids (anniversary video).  Then we all chatted or rested.

In the afternoon we went to Maya Mopan.  This is a neighborhood not too far from Pastor Lee's church.  Mayan's live in thatched roof, primitive housing.  Today was a real eye opener for many on our team.  Many of them saw extreme poverty, but in the midst of it all they all experienced God's love and joy in the hearts of the kids to which we ministered.  Our team went door to door inviting all of the kids in the village to a mini-VBS.

About 75 kids showed up and we had an awesome time!  Austin, Mike, Kim and others made balloon hats swords, dogs and other inflatable animals.  Others on the team:   Bailey, Mikyla, Margo and some other girls from Lee's cell group painted faces.  Isaac, Chapman and Cade played ball with the kids.  Aaron made sure that we had plenty of photos of the day.  And Karen held lots of babies and talked with the locals about Christ.  Cade, Isaac, Austin and Kim performed the David and Goliath opera and received many laughs and a ton of interaction from the kids of Maya Mopan.  

Even though we were only in the Maya Mopan village for a couple of hours, our hearts were all touched deeply.  Pastor Lee explained how they had built a wooden house for a family in his church for about $6,000.  He hopes to be able to build more houses in the future in this area.  Some of the craftsman in the village brought out jewelry, bags, bowls and baskets to sell.  Many of us picked up small items to take back home to remember this trip or to bless family and friends.

Our team de-briefed and prayed this evening, prior to packing for our return to the USA.  This trip has touched the lives of not only the youth, but also the adult chaperons on the trip.  We received much more than we could ever give and we all realized that none of us will ever be the same person we were before this trip began.  Each of us will now hold a special place for Belize in our hearts and hope to return again one day, God willing.