...well to assure those who were left hanging from our last post, everyone survived (no one was attacked)! We actually have no clue what was making the noise. Some thought it was a wild pig, some thought a bird, others a big cat. No one will ever know.

Our last day was a travel day. We left the Lewis' estate at 3:30am to head to the Mayan ruins. After a 3.5 hour drive and waiting for the ruins to open, we climbed to the top. While at the top, our group was able to praise our great God by singing "How Great Thou Art." What a beautiful site over-looking Belize and Guatemala. 

The time had come to say goodbye to Belize and Pasta Troy. After a group hug-sandwich with Pasta Troy, we headed to our gate. Alex was the lucky contestant to be searched and patted down-he was so thrilled. Two plan rides and one layover later, we arrived back home in Indiana late Friday night.

How do you sum up ten days in one final post? I do not think it is possible, but I will try. Before we left for our trip Pasta Troy challenged us to ask God to do something big in our lives. Pasta Troy knew we would all be burdened with the needs in Belize and that we would leave grateful for what we have. But he wanted us to let God do more that just that. The second challenge Pasta Troy gave us was to leave an impression of God wherever we go. God truly did an amazing work in my life on this trip. I was challenged to spend more time with God and not miss all the blessings He sends my way. I cannot speak specifically for all of the team members, but this I know, God changed us all. Belize and what God is doing in Belize changed us. From seeing a teenager give his life to Christ, to seeing children pumped at race day, to blistering hands from hard concrete labor, we saw God do amazing things.

Thank you to Pasta Troy, Suzannah, Zach, and Abby for letting us be a small part of their ministry for Christ. God is using them to make an eternal difference in Belize.

For those who have followed our journey, we hope you enjoyed our unique perspectives! If you do not know Jesus as your Savior, will you put your faith in trust in Him to save you (Romans 10:9-12)? If you do know Jesus, will you leave an impression of Him wherever you go?

May God bless you all!

​Pastor Andrew

Today started like any other day, but better... Biscuits and Gravy. Pasta Troy shared a short devotional to us about leaving a godly impression wherever we go. As we drudged through the door into the van that bare no resemblance to an oven, but I can assure you, we cooked like turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Only to prolong our joyful suffering by tying steel and more digging. Today was the hottest day yet here and every single person got sunburnt and Andrew James almost died due to dehydration. Thankfully the day was short because we ended at midday and Andrew James was completely fine when we returned to the house. 

For lunch we had panadas, rice, and tortilla chips, and it was wonderful as always. After lunch we fastened our aprons, pulled up our big boy pants, and we... cleaned. Perhaps the hardest work came from cleaning the bath house. Although, safe from the scorching rays, the bath house still had the heat of a thousand suns. Though drenched in sweat, we sang through the work and made the Lewis household spotless... until Pasta Troy dropped his pizza later on. Speaking of pizza, Mrs. Suzannah made more homemade pizzas than we could eat. 

After dinner, David, Charlton, Trey, and Andrew James played a legendary game of horse. It was a long hard fought game between the four of us, but four turned into "tree", and "tree" turned into to two. Then the final showdown between rivals began. David versus Charlton. Mano e Mano. Fight to the death. Square or no square. To be or not to be. Horse or donkey. The game of horse has not been this legendary since Jordan versus Bird. Shot after shot and letter after letter, it came down to just one letter left. David stepped to the edge of the concrete, steadied his hand, and pulled up as if he were Kobe Bryant... swish. Charlton walked to the spot of the shot, and pulled up with confidence and moxie as if he were Shaquille O Neal, and we all know what happens when Shaq shoots... brick. David came out on top. 

Once the game was done a bonfire was lit to commemorate this trip and what we've learned. We sang songs and shared testimonies of what God has done in our lives the past week. After the sweet time of song and testimony, is when we heard it... the growling out in the bush. That is when the hunt began. It first began with an expedition consisting of four men, the leader, Pasta Troy, the tourist, Pasta Andrew, the tall scared guy with the hair, Charlton, and David... the Asian. We went out deeper and deeper into the bush drawing closer to the growling. Pasta Troy was sure it was some sort of cat in the trees, like an Ocelot or some other Jaguar type of beast. After we realized we were ill prepared with dull sticks and little bug spray, we went back to the house to load up. We sharpened our spears, sprayed down our legs, began... the hunt... part two. We went even deeper into the bush than before, our hearts racing and our foreheads dripping with sweat. Pasta Troy had no fear... natives. The sound got closer and our curiosity grew. What sounded like one beast turned into what sounded like two. After much waiting and searching, then it happened... whatever the beast was started to run towards us and that's when...

David Clingaman & Charlton Seitz

So today we started off with doing our daily devotions in our book about Joseph. Today's devotion was about favoritism When we insult people we are really insulting how God made them. After that we had some magnificent muffins, fresh pineapple, and eggs from Mrs. Suzannah for breakfast. After breakfast 6 of the guys went to the dump to get rid of all the trash from the truck. Elijah and Alex said "Nah" and stayed to help Mrs. Suzannah with dishes and cleaning...which was the wise choice as some of the guys came back smelling like a dead body. Once we all rejoined, we headed over to the church to dig the foundation for a fence. 

We started to dig the Mariana Trench. Well, it might have come short a few feet, but details, details. Meanwhile, we cycled out Trey, Andrew, and Elijah to clean the upstairs of the church, which happened to be infested by city birds that migrated because... season reasons. The rest of us were digging. Once we dug out the path for the foundation, we headed off to eat lunch. For lunch we had cheese sandwiches and the watermelon we had bought at the market yesterday. After that we continued digging our trench for a few hours. The digging was really hard work. Lots of rock and roots got in our way. NOT to mention all the blisters we obtained from the digging. After all the hard work, we were really proud of what we had accomplished! Even though it was hard, we all learned valuable life lessons about working together.

After all the hard work, we took cool showers to relax us. For dinner we had some palatable spaghetti made by the world famous Mrs. Suzannah (P.S she is an amazing cook). We then all got ready for our last church service here in Belize. Alex did a great job playing the sax and the quartet did a superior job on their song. Pastor Andrew preached on laying aside all weights that hinder your walk with God. To conclude it was a hard but good day.

Elijah Thomas and Andrew James

WOWZA! I am finally a man! Today marks my 18th year of being on this planet. and let me tell you... its had its ups and downs. But today, was a good day. We woke up at 5am to see the sunrise on the bay. It was absolutely breathtaking! Breakfast was amazing! ( as expected) We went to chocolate factory after breakfast. Its so crazy to see how chocolate is made in Belize. Afterwards, we went to the market to buy groceries for Ms. Suzannah. the market is exactly how you would expect a market in Belize. we went to a couple of stores in downtown Punta Gorda. It was cool. I went on my final college visit before I make my decision, The University of Belize. The good thing is they have a civil engineering degree, so my decision is easy! UB has everything to offer so I grabbed an application to fill out, but apparently I need parental permission...and funding. For lunch, we had loaded nachos! I love loaded nachos! It was super awesomely good. We went to the waterfalls after lunch! The falls are so beautiful. Elijah peed his pants (figuratively not literally) trying to work up the courage to jump off the cliff into the water. It was actually hilarious! David was being a lil baby about it too! Pasta Troy lost his sunglasses in the water but luckily scuba diver Andrew James was able to find them with ease. They made me go on the swinging bridge again... that bridge over the creek that leads to the falls is way to sketchy for me. I'm shocked we all didn't fall through! Dinner was awesome! We went to a restaurant with a pool table, hammocks, and checkers! To eat, we all had different burgers and fries. The burgers, however, were made with chicken instead of beef. It sounds gross but it was really tasty. when we returned back to house, there was a birthday surprise for me: cake and ice cream! how did they know I love cake and ice cream? The rest of the night was chill as we went to bed. This is definitely the best Birthday I've ever had! God is Great! I guess I'll just have to come to Belize again next year!

Alex

The one Sunday for our group in Belize was a big day on the trip itinerary. We had practiced several specials to sing for the worship service at New Hope Baptist Church, and Pastor Troy was excited for us to meet the beautiful people of Belize that God was bringing together and forming into New Hope Baptist Church.

We ate a quick breakfast and headed out for the building, and helped get doors and windows opened and curtains opened. (The church, as per cultural norms for the area, does not have any climate control, so opening doors and windows to get air flowing is a top priority.)
 
The church family started to arrive. Sheldon, a garifuna man well over six feet tall, brought in his adorable little boy and his half gallon jug of Crystal water. George and Laurita, the Spanish/East Indian couple who are to be married at the church in a couple weeks, arrived, Laurita with her earnest good nature and George with his smiling chill. A Mayan mother and her children came through the doors, and the little ones headed straight to the room where they would sing and hear their gospel lesson. And Dave, the American citizen who has lived in Belize for over forty years, carried in the arrangement of flowers from his backyard that his wife had brought every week before losing her battle with cancer just two weeks prior.

Pastor Troy told us that the norm in this area has been for neighborhoods to be inhabited by one ethnic group, and for churches to be attended only by inhabitants of the neighborhood in which it is located. New Hope Baptist Church has been a beautiful example of breaking out of this mold, and as we sat among creoles and mestizos and sang in the choir with anglos and mayans, this beautiful Gospel mold-breaking was on full display.

Our group provided several songs of special music, with all of us participating in some singing and Alex, David, and Andrew contributing instrumental pieces. Our songs were situated between memory verse quoting, taking up the offering (featuring new giving envelopes we brought with us), and testimonies from the church members.

One testimony was shared by Hamlet, a man who helps Pastor Troy out with a great deal of manual labor around the church facility and the Lewis home and grounds. Hamlet shared with us that he had made a decision to obey Christ by regularly contributing his tithe to the church offering. In the week after that decision, he had, for the first time in his life, caught an iguana while he was doing work on Pastor Troy's home grounds. The iguana had provided 38 eggs and, between the meat and the eggs, three meals for his family. (Iguana and guana eggs are a real thing here, and considered a delicacy.)

Pastor Troy preached a great message out of Psalm 63, and after the service, he dealt with a twenty-year-old young man by the name of Martin, which resulted in Martin trusting Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior! Due to many cultural factors, many of the conversions and discipleship progress that has happened at the church have come only after many months, and sometimes years, of conversations and untangling of some difficult religious histories. It was beautiful, on this day, to be present as God gave the increase.

I had actually come to know of Martin earlier in the morning. I had selected my seat for the service, which involved setting my water bottle under a seat, double-stacking the plastic chair in my spot (this is encouraged for, um, larger people, to avoid breakage), and setting my Bible on the seat. After fifteen minutes of greeting people as they came in, I came back to my saved seat to find Martin in my seat and thumbing through my Bible. This made me like him immediately, and we hit it off - he told me he wants to be like me and marry a white woman and have good kids, and I taught him how to dap, before the service started.

After the service, we were treated to lunch at Coleman's Cafe, which is a highlight of the trip for those who have been. They have a great buffet lunch with local delicacies, and Alex told us he was eating for himself and his parents, who came on the last trip and were partial to the restaurant.

After a short rest at the Lewis home, we made it back to the church building for a Sunday evening teen outreach event. We did a photo scavenger hunt in the neighborhood, and when the neighborhood is bounded on one side by the Caribbean, you know it's going to be fun. Our guys had a blast mixing with the local church teenagers running up and down local streets getting pictures. The evening continued with skits by our guys and a short challenge by Pastor Andrew, which was well-received.

This Sunday gave us a full glimpse of the heart of 'Pastah Troy' (the creole-influenced pronunciation everyone seems to use, including us now), and, honestly, the heart of God: from many peoples, a people coming together as one under the Lordship of Jesus Christ to advance God's kingdom in this corner of the world.

Today we started off with a Belizean breakfast- fry jack, beans, and canned ham. 

After breakfast, Elijah gave us some thoughts in Ephesians 4:22, speaking about putting off the old man, and putting on the new man. Once we finished up, we all loaded up to head off to the church to lay out new concrete.

Once there, we unloaded the truck, and the real work began. It was so hot that Trey has turned into a lobster (figuratively) from the sunburn. We started off by... going back to the house for a sieve while Pastor Troy and George, a member of the church, started measuring out the area for the concrete.

Now with the sieve, we started getting all the rocks out of the dirt to mix the concrete. The concrete was going to fix a small lip in front of the doors, as well as expand the front porch.

We had a bit of a slow start, but we got a good amount of dirt sifted and the area measured out and ready for pouring, but first; lunch.

Lunch was from the rainbow cafe, with pork, rice, and beans. They had a habanero pepper on part of the rice, which is a little more than some of us can handle, and we felt some burn even after taking them out. Zach also caught a wild lizard, which was very cool to see!

Once we all finished lunch we went back out to pour the first batch of concrete.
We started out by mixing the cement with the water and dirt, and pouring it out onto the porch. Once we had the second batch poured we realized that Pastor Troy was the only one smoothing it out, and couldn't do so at the rate we were going. Unfortunately, we had to wait for Chino, another member, to help Pastor Troy smooth and flatten it. We also changed the mixture a little, and it helped a lot. Once finished, we had some extra, so Pastor Troy and Pastor Andrew made a step for the back door.

We headed back to the house and had dinner, made up of enchiladas, rice, and green beans- all of which were amazing. Thank you Mrs. Suzannah for dinner!

Thank you for your support and prayers. Please continue to pray that God will continue to work in our team.
Signing off for today, 
​Andrew and Trey.