Week One and Done

Week 1 is under our belt! Woohoo! This week has felt like a month. Yesterday alone we met with over 10 Pastors in different places. It is so fascinating to meet young and old pastors, some who get off track and try to give Tati and I future marriage advice haha and others who are super professional and others who are such men of peace. Others who share and get so excited to imagine the spiritual leaders of Belize coming together and breaking down walls, coming together and igniting revival! The Lord wants to do it!

One of the pastors even came outside after we met with him, and as we were talking about some other stuff, he knocked on our window and just said how refreshing it was for it to be WOMEN who are coming and meeting with him and inviting him and his church to something like this conference. Encouraging enough!

 

We ordered a new condenser from the states, so until that comes in, we will be driving without AC and only 2 windows that roll down! . . . hotbox!

Friday night we got invited to hang out with a youth group and talk to them about the Count Me In camp, and it was so awesome! They were all pumped, and we let them know that if they have any desires, they should tell us because we are directly speaking with the people in charge - so if they want basketball courts, volleyball, soccer, a tug-of-war mud pit, etc, we will keep that in mind when we look at properties and places to have this. We showed them the promo video and they were all so excited. Some were jumping up and down, some were smiling and some were trying to "stay cool", but all of them wanted to go by the end, especially since it is a free camp for them, and they have a hard time raising money in general for the things they do on normal occasions for their youth group.




          Tati praying for the youth group                                                              kids making music

One of the kids saw a guy playing drums in the video, and a girl saw another girl singing on the video, and they both were asking questions about learning how to do things like that, as well as others mentioning drama, speaking, and it was cool to see how they desire to learn how to use their gifts and desire to use these for the church! There just aren't as many people who are willing to step up as leaders and work with these kids and teach them.

Count Me In Come To Belize!





Being at the youth group really jogged my memory of going to church when I was younger and just going because my parents went to church, not at all because I understood what a relationship with God meant, and being with these kids, it really sparked a desire in me to want to be part of young people being set on fire and falling in love with God.

It was a very long day . . . but very productive for our last full day in the city

Work In Belize . . .

So, this trip to Belize is primarily so that we can go to churches and pastors that we do and do not know and invite them to this conference that is happening in March, as well as tell them about Count Me In camp in Belize possibly to start this Christmas break 2012. It is day three, and we have met with two pastors, both who are super excited about what we are doing and are giving their blessing and covering for us to use their names as supporters of our cause. Pastor Crawford even said he was going to write a letter to other churches from him with his and other well known pastors in the regions' names who are on-board, to help our spreading the word and inviting people to the conference. Supposedly everybody knows everybody around these parts, and though we are two white girls, probably the most unlikely to gather the men of Belize together, the Lord usually works like that . . . in unexpected ways.

Tati and I talking to Pastor Henry after dinner :) we are staying at his house, hence the wife beater *he's that comfortable around us haha

Here is the front and back of the invitations going out to pastors. 

We printed out 500. The cost is $40, but the Lord told Tati that He would provide, so we crossed it out and wrote FREE!

Here is the promo video for Count Me In - I am super excited about it, and love how it is a free camp for kids who are sponsored through support raising, and they are able to play sports and have fun as well as learn about the Lord and worship and be on fire for God.
Video:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f5ehLWx4p8

 

these kids are very excited about the camp! haha just kidding!

February - A New Month

Today I am taking my Sabbath day, which is going great by the way, and so since I have been so behind in catching up with blogging, I will do doubletime today. . . .

My prayer for this month:

Lord make this a month of abundance, obedience, communication, humility, promise, commitment, independence, flaming our hearts inner fire- believing, knowing, claiming and acting out of our inheritance and power from the holy and powerful one within us. A month of unity - between me and Tati - a month of speaking truth and challenging each other, but also a month of opening our mouths and daring to speak to leaders in this country- continually making ourselves vulnerable, but trusting that Christ is refining us together as a team and He will give us the words to say to these men of Belize. We are trusting that the land is being made fertile and we as sowers need to only sow the word, so we are COMMITTED, to each other, to our mission, to being obedient, to knowing and studying and speaking the word. A month of strengthening our foundations, toughening our skin; a month of being made strong through our weakness, clothing ourselves in humility, killing pride and outdoing one another in honor. In Jesus name, Amen!

 new fertile heart! lol

   Okay, so after a frustrating day of traveling around trying to do registration and licensing stuff for Tati's car and trying to find the problems going on with the AC in the car, we spent a wonderful night stopping by Marconi's house and we got to meet his family, his pets, and even catch a snapshot of a glorious picture of him clearly back in the Glory Days! haha!!! We love Marconi and pray showers of blessings over him and his family for being such an amazing brother and friend to take us through Mexico. (We know we stressed him out a little





                                                    

Marconi back in the day . . . a smooth criminal ;)

 

Belizean sunset

A little boy who said thumbs up to a Count Me In camp!

This is Patch, but we renamed him Rocket . . .

He's one of the guard dogs at the house we are staying at

Look at these cute little stray chihuaha dogs!! aah!

Crash Landing In BELIZE!

WE MADE IT! Wow, what an adventure. I apologize for the tardiness of this post, as I know some have been waiting in anticipation. We left Friday around noon crossing the border, and arrived at the Mexican-Belize border on Sunday night . . . I had NO idea how many people were praying for us! Wow, I feel SO incredibly blessed - from Athens GA people, people from facebook, friends we met along the way, and then tons of people who are supporting my family! Prayer really is a supernatural thing, you know.
OK! So let me give you guys a rundown of this wild trip through Mexico - basically there are 3 or 4 things that really had an impact on our experience:

- Tati was the only one driving our vehicle the whole time (* since Marconi really only knew her, he wanted her to be the one to drive, and because it was her car we were towing*)

-We were driving a white 15 passenger van TOWING OUR CAR! the whole way! Neither one of us had ever towed anything in our lives

-At each stop, we would park, sleep in our cars for about 2-4 hours, then get back on the road .... with only one driver, this was a HUGE detail as I watched Tati unravel. By the third night we were both examples of delirium at its finest.

-The BIG KICKER is that Marconi was in front of us, and was driving a big yellow school bus packed with stuff, and it would NOT GO OVER 45 MPH!!!

Alright, so here is the story from bottom to top of the trip.

First off, in Belize EVERYTHING is imported because they have hardly any resources of their own. Because of this, there is a pretty big and successful industry of people paying people like Marconi to fly to the states, buy a car or bus or van etc and drive it down. Because everything is imported, everything is WAY more expensive. . . you can see why people would be driving through Mexico regularly for this sort of thing. . . for themselves or others.

The team of guys and vehicles we had included: Marconi and Uncle Lloyd in front driving a yellow school bus towing a jeep cherokee, Tati and I in a 15 passenger van towing her Chevy Impala, and then behind us were Marconi's cousins Nigel and Nicolai who were closer to Tati and my age, and they were driving another 15 passenger van, towing an astro van.

This is Sunday night - everyone looks a little beat esp Marconi lol

The first 60 miles in Mexico is supposed to be the most dangerous, and after the first 300 it is way easier *or so they say. We crossed into Mexico, stopped at a restaurant, and there were a few groups of caravans that wanted to travel together. Because it is the Cartel family/gang that rob, mug, kill and do all the stuff to people, that travelers want to avoid, there is a business that some of the Cartels run sometimes where they offer to lead caravans through the first 60 miles. So 2 of them found us and offered there services and Marconi was confident in them, and so they got on Marconi's bus (he was in the lead) and stayed with us through the first area. Not a single thing happened out of the ordinary! Tati even learned how to drive the van and tow rather quickly!

Because of the length and lack of sleep on the trip, the days sort of blur together, but what I know is that the country was BEAUTIFUL -I posted lots of pictures under the Mexico Tab- and even a youtube video of our delirium :) don't judge. I would definitely make the trip again if there was more sleep involved and if we were again in a caravan and with people who know the route. 

After the first 100 miles, Tati and I forgot we were in any sort of dangerous territory, and just had a blast. We had so much fun just talking about life and dreams and this trip. We laughed more than I have laughed in a very long time. After our trip through Mexico I told her that I feel like I have lived more life in the past week than I had in the past year. Being gross and dirty and exhausted and being in messy committed relationships - living life outside of comfort and plans - I would rather sweat and be hot and feel refreshment all the more from being clean, and be tired from working, thinking and laughing and sleep so well and just feel all the more alive and refreshed afterwards.

Of course by day three, we are both exhausted - - I'm feeling guilty for falling asleep while Tati is chained to the steering wheel - hahaha

We ran into a few different Americans too! Most were couples retiring who had bought land in Belize and were moving their stuff down. One of the couples made the trip through Mexico into a 10 day trip, and they all laughed talking about how EVERYONE in the U.S is so terrified with the stories that are told and even exaggerated on the news - but how easy and beautiful and harmless their trips through have always been. 

In Mexico, as far as I could tell, what it comes down to is that people want your stuff. People will beg for it. People will steal it. There are the federal police who are legitimate and looking for drugs; they have the grenade launchers, the big trucks, dogs, guns and all of that - but they are the good guys - then there are the military police who are the police who ask for a bribes. Most of the time they want to take or ask for your flashlights and men's sunglasses. After talking to everyone Mexican, Belizean, American, and more people in the mix from other countries traveling through - I get the strong impression that no one really wants to harm you. They just want your money or your stuff. So the trick is to basically not look obvious. It also helped that we could not speak Spanish - there were even official people doing checkpoints at the border who would stick their head in the van and say "Teeps?" . . .and we would laugh and say, "sorry we dont know what you are saying" LOL! obviously they were asking for a tip . . . um sorry guy, not happening. 

  There was a point where Marconi pulled the bus over to stretch, and so we parked behind him, and little did we know, but the tar on the road was really soft and the tires sunk right into it! luckily our car was able to drive out of it, but the bus got stuck. We had to hail a semi to come and pull us out!   

The funniest part was that once the bus was back on the road, we were behind it, and the huge long thick chain that the semi pulled the bus with, somehow it fell off the bus and as we were driving we saw it fall on the road . . . so it took us a few seconds to realize we need to stop and go get it, so since the road was soft, Tati couldnt stop the car, so I got out, jogged about 1/4 mile to the chain, then wrapped it around my arms and neck (this thing probably weighed over 60 pounds) and I was trying to hard to run with it on me and catch up back to our van - but tati was still moving away from me! Like at the same speed I was running, so it was very frustrating, but still pretty funny, and finally I was able to get in and catch my breath!!! Definitely a good work out

Check out our ridiculous delirious radioshow we made, and dont judge us! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvG7rhQpgS0&context=C3e1a72aADOEgsToPDskKVq_15HAvXphHrzPLLMmNk

*and I just figured out how to make it so that people can become members of my blog, and that way they can comment and get updates for when I put up a new post!*

On The Border . . . Thursday Day 9

So, we stayed two days in Grandbury, got to have some more great memories with the Logozzo's before we left including a little worship music time and just goofing around. Tati and I left their house this morning at 2am so that we could meet Marconi, our guide through Mexico, at the border.

We met him and his crew of three other guys, all related to him actually, and altogether our caravan will consist of a yellow school bus towing a jeep cherokee, a big ford church van towing an astro van, and another big ford church van towing Tati's car. Tati and I will be learning how to not only drive through Mexico, but also learning how to tow a car . . . . not exactly ideal for this setting, but we can't complain. Not at THIS point! We are staying at a hostel-like place on the border and actually leaving to cross the border tomorrow morning! PLEASE pray for protection and hiddenness as we travel as quickly as we can to Belize!

  notice the change in scenery! 

A mama dog just scavenging around . . . sad to say I couldn't find any puppies!!

  the guys hooking up tati's car to the Van to tow it

 that whole leaving at 2am caught up with Tati

My parents asked me to buy a baseball cap, to look more manly - here's my proof guys :)



So, knowing that tomorrow we are going to start this whole driving through Mexico thing - I do realize it is a big deal. Of course many people have expressed their fears, shared facts and asked me to reconsider - and I want to thank everyone so kindly for all the care and love and protective hearts. Please keep us in your prayers. It is likely that I will not be able to blog for the next 2-3 days until we get to Belize.    Psalm 91

Day 7 - Grandbury Send Off (Tuesday)

I think I found a new Psychiatrist . . . this is Jessie, the Wilson's sweet dog, and my running partner for the day

So, today we said goodbye to the Wilsons, attended the Convergence Ministry School, and then met the Lagozzo Family in Grandbury! Another amazing family, and we are FINALLY getting ready for our send off. The Convergence school was so refreshing, and we got to be prayed and prophesied over, and they even took up an offering for us which was so unexpected, but blessed us greatly!

Ok, so I woke up this morning and told Tati about how I had this dream that was really weird . . . among other weirdness that I don't remember all of, the end of my dream was me and another person sitting at this table, and we had two bananas in front of us. We had no choice but to eat them, and one was the banana of life, and the other was the banana of death. I ate one, then woke up . . . . hahaha, SO on our way to the Convergence school, I was feeling kinda down on myself and low for some reason, and we stopped at a Racetrac gas station to get coffee, and I bought a banana . . . and I said, "Tati, I will choose to eat the banana of life." . .  so.... Something hilarious that happened, is that when we were being prayed over by this school of young and older people, Matt, the president of the school, gave me a word and told me in front of everyone that the Lord had given him a picture of a banana! And something about how the Lord wants to peel back old layers and . . . basically Tati and I started laughing so hard that I barely heard the rest of his word for me . . . anyway, it was slightly embarrassing to share my dream with the whole school from the night before, but I did!! hahahaha

Matt and Sonya, the presidents of the Convergence School of Ministry

So, we got to see Steve and Marci Fish, the Pastor and pastor's wife of Convergence, our friend Danielle, Sonya, and Amber, people we had had meetings with earlier in the week, which was awesome! We then came here to Grandbury, and I realized very quickly that the familiar faces and places (my cousin Natalie who I stayed with 2 nights, the Wilsons who we stayed with 2 nights, and the Convergence people who we saw throughout the past week) were now transitioning out, and a new pre-Mexico chapter is beginning. . . time to not trick myself into getting comfortable for long is the reoccurring theme I am encountering.

Me, Danielle Martin, Tati, and Amber White!

Tonight we went out to eat with Angie and her son Cade, and on our way to Walmart, she got a call about a house fire of a friend of their family's. Terrible! We stopped by the house, and it was quite an unexpected scene to be coming up on for the night. Definitely will be praying for this family!

Tonight I got to talk to Brad Kinney on the phone for a good while, about his driving travels through Mexico to Belize, on the same route we are taking, but he went all the way through to Costa Rica. It was very informative, and helpful! Thanks Brad!! -Right now it looks like we will be leaving at the butt-crack of dawn on Thursday morning, and meeting our squad of caravaners at the border and begin the drive down through Mexico! The most dangerous spots will be closest to the American/Mexican border and the first Mexican state. We will be trying to get through the country as fast as possible - definitely no messing around!

Crazy sky picture before the big storm that hit the same night 

I am typing this pretty quickly, and have not forgotten about my huge need to write out all the info on this trip on that tab, in order to inform people who do not know or understand what this trip is about, and why we are going to Belize, why we are driving through Mexico, and what our purposes and intentions are, and the origin and story of this trip for Tati and me separately and together. I type pretty fast, so I can very easily type our a blog update, but I have been putting it off because for one, I don't really know if anyone is actually reading this blog, but also because I know I have to really be tactful and detailed about how I word it all. Nevertheless, it's something that there is no excuse for, why it is not already up. Regardless, I am not on vacation - I really am following through with what I believe the Lord has put in front of me. . . . more details soon!

Day 6 - brief update

So - it is Day 6, we are back spending the night in McKinney, TX, with our friends the Wilson Family, and since we left Athens we have been in Brownsboro, Arlington, Fort Worth, Grandberry and McKinney TX. We have met with lots of people, to talk about our trip, share about our lives, we have even met with a great couple who started an organization called Count Me In, which is a Christian youth camp for underprivileged kids, and we are bringing it to Belize in 2013! Tati and I have been able to visit Convergence Church in Forth Worth, which is the "mother church" of The Awakening, our house church/church plant in Athens, GA. It was so cool to see where Jessica and Travis (pastors) came from and to meet all of their amazing friends who miss and love them like crazy.

I am slowly building this blog, and I know as time progresses, it will be harder to not update, but I will do my best!

As of today, we have spoken with Marconi, the main contact we have in our caravan through Mexico, and we will be meeting him in Houston Wednesday night, and crossing the border Thursday. Please pray for us during the 3-4 day trip through Mexico to Belize.

It has been such a blessing to have almost a week of traveling under our belt, and preparation together before we actually cross the border. Tati and I could not be more of an unlikely couple! We are opposites in so many ways. She is a planner and organizer, whereas I am more go-with-the-flow, she is a way better multi-tasker, whereas I am many times focusing on one thing at a time; but it has been really good. There will be a lot of refining and sharpening happening throughout this WHOLE trip.

We have been blessed to have a family help us get work done on the car we are driving, as well as tint the windows, and help us buy the rest of the items we needed for this trip. It has been so cool to walk in the provision the Lord has had all along. We stayed with a family on a farm in Brownsboro, and the husband Roger, had a surprise rescheduling for a surgery, and if that hadn't have happened, we would not have had a place to stay on our way through TX. Also, Mrs. Susan Wilson had just dropped her daughter off at Seminary school, and was "jones-ing" for her daughter, and the fact that Tati and I were coming through was exactly what was able to bless her and fill that daughter void - which was so great for us. We have loved Susan, our spiritual mother these past few days.

We met with Matt and Sonya, a couple who are presidents of Convergence Church's ministry school, which we will be attending tomorrow (very exciting), and with some more of Jessica and Travis' very best friends Royce and Danielle Martin - awesome couple I wish we could've spent more time with.

I got to stay with my cousin Natalie, who is an Aerospace Engineer at Lockheed in Ft Worth, and she got to show me around the mile-long base, and I got to see the newest classified stealth fighter jet, the F-35. SO awesome - I wish I had pictures, but I would be in prison for life if I'd even tried. I also met a new cousin of mine on the Marcopulos side (mom's side) that I had never met, named Kathleen, who was SOOOO amazing. A very sweet addition to the family I've had but never knew about!!

I am registering with the State, letting the gov know I am traveling beyond borders, thanks to all the info and resources from my Aunt Deborah, who has the hookups. I will be free to talk/skype/chat/text etc from now until Wednesday night, so I will continue to love hearing from you guys and keeping in touch. I will definitely let everyone know when I get to Belize, and hopefully will blog again before Wednesday night.

Tati and I have had a lot of fun so far, this week just taking the dive, packing up, getting in the car, and going - and the times in Texas have been a blast - but also very strengthening and team building for us - SO much better than just going straight from Athens to Belize.

Though some still have fears and doubts and love to express their opinions about this trip- the trip will speak for itself and already is. I am learning about blogging, and I would be fine with a journal in my knapsack, but in no way is this blog a means for attention- it's necessary and wanted. . .and despite the craziness that this journey sounds like, there have been far crazier things done (for the Lord, and for man alone), but unless I truly knew, confirmation after confirmation, that I was supposed to come on this trip, it would not be happening. And I do. So here we are.


Hopefully this blog will be updated with pics, and descripts, and info within the next few days!!!
Love you guys.

Tati - trying to figure out which gps will be better!