Belize City Sunday

 Here is Pastor Henry Baizner and his wife Carolyn and their son Harold. They have been so great to us this past week letting us stay at their house, cooking us meals, hanging out with us and more. Some memories we have with them include Carolyn playing my drum, Pastor Henry watching Courageous with me and Tati - even though I'm the only one who stayed awake! Sharing our gummy vitamins each morning with Pastor Henry :)

This is their house - not the best picture, but basically they have two guard dogs, Prix and Patch . . . and they have this very heavy gate we have to open each time we come in. 

    See Tati demonstrate

That's where we park!

  

MEET PATCH! 

  

He sort of run this yard . . . 

  

This is Tati and Patch's relationship

(observe the sharp, mean jaws ready to bite her arm off)

MEET PATCH AGAIN.

Hi PATCH. BE NICe to Tati!!!

This is mine and Patch's relationship. 

Look at him SMILING!

Yeah, we're getting pretty good. . . right now we are working on accomplishing a real twirl . . 

OK! So today is Sunday February 5th, and Tati and I are FINALLY leaving Belize city today. We are going to head to Hattieville, which is a city more south. Supposedly this city is much different than Belize city. I get the impression that it is less developed, more mountainous, and there is more crime. We got some bread, and a 5 gallon jug of water, and we are ready to go! We still have some snacks we got from the states that were mainly for our drive through Mexico (which btw I can't believe already happened) but I am actually excited to run out out of the American snacks and solely be living off of fruit and bread, water and instant coffee! Soon enough for sure. 

This morning we went to church at Pastor Eugene Crawford's church which is called Central Assembly of God. It was super lively, very full . . . I snuck a picture, mainly because I like the balloons up there! Worship lasted the longest which I enjoyed the most, and they had women with flags and twirly ribbon-dancer-like things (i have no idea what to call them!) that they danced with and it was awesome! Definitely different, very cultural feeling, energetic, freeing, and refreshing.

It just hit me that we have been here a week now, and I have not really been taking pictures! I really do want to record where we go, and the different feelings and environments of the city, the mountains, the North/South/East/West, the villages, the jungle areas etc. . . So here are some pictures I snapped on the way home from church, but it is on our way to Pastor Henry's house which is in Lord's Bank, a little village/town outside of the city

typical house in Belize . . slightly nice than average

Basketball courts!

I LOVE this tree! Look at it! it grows out like an umbrella! perfect place for a bench. Maybe I will go sit on it. 

The things I love the most are the green NATURE, the CLOUDS which are SO HUGE EVERYDAY! ... people riding on BICYCLES, people actually OUTSIDE being a visual part of the community, the FRUIT STANDS, the ISLAND MUSIC many times playing out in the streets, the WIND, and I really LOVE seeing all the LAUNDRY hanging outside! I don't know why I love that last one so much, but it is just refreshing and reminds me of a special memory I'll write about later.

Public buses

Yesterday we drove past this little water channel, and there was a canoe race happening!

Crossing the bridge

colorful little houses

two little kids at the house of Pastor Brooke's yesterday: Brighton and Rashawn

More pictures to come, I will make sure to take some more of Belize City on our way out

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!*