We head for home today.

It was bittersweet to leave.

Even though we only had a short time in the morning before catching our plane back to the mainland, God still blessed those few short hours with more gospel conversations.

We headed back to Estels as a group this morning for breakfast.  A waitress who was there the day prior when just a few of us visited this place remembered us.  She had talked briefly with the teen who was with us the day before.  She saw that we had a few Bibles sitting on the table and asked if she could have one! 

I immediately said yes… and her response was …really?? Yes of course!  I was beaming that this woman was REQUESTING Gods Word from us!  I grabbed one from the table and showed her that it was a study Bible.  This was the only time I was able to place a Bible into someones hands on our trip and I pray that God will awaken the eyes of her heart through her reading and study of His word!

We made a quick stop to back street where the locals had some merchandise stands for a few last-minute souvenirs before we headed to the airport.  We said our final tear-filled farewells to David, one of our other companions who joined up with us for out trip. David it was truly a blessing to meet you and I do hope we get to do this all again soon!

This time we flew straight into the international airport to catch our flight back to Miami.  While we were away our friends and family back home were experiencing a week of heavy rains and flash flooding.

We had beautiful weather for our flight back although we were grounded on the tarmac in Miami for an hour while we sat in the plane because a storm had hit there hard and fast and shut everything down.  We were somewhere behind 50 planes in line for a bay the captain said but no complaints from us.. we were thankful to be on the ground!

Looking back over our trip…we did lose a few people here and there along the way for some moments due to respiratory illness or heat exhaustion, but God was so good in providing the health that we did have there and allowing us the work that was accomplished and the outreach that we were able to do.  There were times that we didn’t even have time for dinner and other moments where we were wishing that we had more time to spend in some places with the people. It is really amazing to see how God has gifted everyone in the group and to see their niche and where they flourish, for some it was in the prison, some it was with the children or the teens, some with the labor they provided at the church. God has gifted ALL His people and not just to sit in a church building once a week but to go out and do the work of the body.  There were moments outside of everyone’s comfort zones I’m sure and there was growth that took place in those areas and in interacting and striking up gospel conversations in the community.

It was a really amazing time and at the same time eye-opening and sad realizing that as it was said  they have an adulterated view of the gospel.  There is a great need for a true Gospel message there.  A message has reached the Belizeans but from a lot of our conversations and our outreach we see it’s a message of I bless so that God blesses me and the flip side of that is if I’m not being blessed then it’s because I’m not blessing others enough.  It’s a very self-reliant, self-centered, temporal mind-set and is very sad because that will (and does) fail them.  I am thankful that the men in our group are forming relationships with some men there, men who are willing to learn and grow in truth and seeking those relationships to be able to disciple and invest in them

Prayer is a powerful tool that we can use from anywhere.  So if you are reading this I ask you to pray.  Pray for the life changing experiences we had there to continue with us in our daily lives here. Pray that we (all believers) get out of our self- centered mindset and see the urgency of the gospel.  Everyone has an eternal soul and it’s going one of two places and we don’t know when– we’re not guaranteed our next breath.  Also pray for the people of Belize and that God would be pleased to raise up those that are willing to go there and also men there who are willing to learn and grow and able to teach and serve in Belize.

My husband just said the other day about us spending next summer in Belize…… the question is…was he serious??

 

Soli Deo Gloria