LJ in BELIZE!: Hallelujah Hattieville !

SO, Sunday Feb 5, Tati and I left Belize City and headed to Hattieville, a village outside of the city. We stayed with Pastor Mark Somerville and his wife Sheri and their two super fun and crazy kids MJ and Shadrach. The experiences just keep getting richer on this trip.

this is just us driving . . . after a long hot Sunday

I can't really describe the level of poverty in Hattieville, as you can see and smell sewage in front of everyone's yards . . . and I didn't get enough pictures. . . but as soon as we brought our bags into their house, we stuffed everyone into our cars and drove to church that night!

Shadrach and MJ

Look who's reppin' !

Muscles

So we get to church, and this small small small little church is FULL of children, and there is a drummer, and Sheri is leading worship and someone on a really old keyboard held up on a chair - basically this place brought me to a place that has changed my life. As we reapplied bug spray, as we were SO tired from the long day, the worship started and lasted hours and hours! Some of the kids had tambourines and passed them around when they got tired, but it was SO AMAZING. THE SPIRIT CAME! And I felt overcome with joy and praise for the Lord. We were dancing, doing motions, and as fifteen to twenty little poor kids were just dancing and getting down, and Tati and I were with them just getting lost in the worship, it was SUCH A JOY!!! As the last song was sung and it helped to bring the energy down, I sat on my seat with two or three little kids on both sides of me, and I just closed my eyes and started crying. I just felt like I was in heaven. I know it has got to be so much fun, so much energy, and I was just refocusing my world and my life, thinking, "How in the world did I get HERE?" Surrounded by love, by people who have nothing, but they have Jesus and the CHILDREN! They looooove Him. I just KNOW that heaven is full of laughing, giggling, whispering children.

During the lesson I asked the kids on my left and right (as they were distracted and unable to pay attention *I'm as usual in that boat with them*) to write in my journal anything they felt like God wanted to tell me. . . . another humbling experience that brought tears to my eyes.

The next day Tati and I stopped by the nursing home in the town for our friend Angie who we saw in Grandbury - she knows and loves a lady named Olga that we stopped by and said hello to.

Here is a picture of her and Angie that was up in her room

Wheelchair

Another amazing encounter we had was with a lady in the room next to Olga's named Christina, and she shared with us her love for Jesus. We got to pray for her hurting hip and neck, and asked the Lord for healing for her body and heart. She was SO sweet, and when Tati prayed for her I could not help but start crying, just SO humbled and in awe of her love for Jesus. She pulled out this picture of him from under her bed, and started kissing his picture over and over and over again. She kissed that picture

probably 30 times.

Check out Tati's cold turtle blanket thing that I guess you add water to and it gets cold. . . .quite the fashion statement

We then drove back to the church to meet Mark and Shadrach, and we goofed off for a little while Tati and Mark did real business, and Shad and I did our own business . . .

OH and GUESS WHAT - He likes Bieber haha

p.s. Here is a Stunna video of the dancing kids themselves :

http://youtu.be/pYmx7Z9Lmoo

I wish I could tell you how crazy and energetic these kids were. . . . haha

And of course.... I got my hair did . . . I kept it in for atleast one night . . . it was just necessary for the Belizean experience . . . but it didn't stick with me :)