Last Day on the mission base. Here’s the team report for the day:
Hey everyone it’s Mary, Amber , and Brian for your Day Seven update. We went to bed to the sound of rain, luckily we were spared a rain out for the rest of the day. This morning we woke up to the smell of fry jacks again. The guys the left for some early morning “football” with the village men. The girls hung back and rested up for the final day of VBS. We had about 15 village guys play with us and at halftime we were able to share the gospel with them. Most of the people are familiar with the Bible, but many here have not accepted Christ. The girls came over at lunch and we met at THE restaurant in town (Gentle’s Cool spot.) Then we went to the church and watch the guys play around with Kasey’s Horse. Luckily these guys were more fleet of foot and there were no close calls like Kasey had. Then we went down to the School for VBS. The hardest part of the day was leaving. Many of the children were sad to see us leave, and it was also difficult to say goodbye to these precious little ones. Zach especially had a difficult time leaving his new best friend Leroy “Brown” baddest dude in the whole dang town!!!!!!!!! On the boat ride back to the base Jacob decided to pick on people that are bigger than he is. Needless to say he ended up swimming the last 100 yards or so. AND of course you cant just throw one person off the boat, so we elected Mary and Zach to share in his lesson. As soon as we returned to the base (well right before we got back to the base) the rain came again. Everyone is a little down because we know that many of the people that we have met we will not be able to see again before we leave. Mary, Niki, Zach, ETC, want to stay, but I promise parents I will get them on the plane somehow. It is great to see their hearts break for these people. God has softened all of our hearts, and grown us in ways that words cannot explain. I know that the people that are coming back to Hartsville are not the same as the ones that left. Thanks to God for coming here with us.
Tomorrow we will be able to go on our free day excursion , although I think everyone is more excited about Air conditioning , Cold drinking water, and Hot bathing water than anything else. God bless and thanks for all your comments and prayers. They have been a blessing all week. Amber says to pray for her to be mellow on the plane rides back home. Also pray for whoever sits beside her. AND Aunt Judy is doing well with her toes. Brian and Aunt Judy are awesome chaperones and God has blessed us with them and we all LOVE them both dearly! Again we all love yall and we will see yall when we get home! GOD bless and LOVE!!!!! Aunt Judy says that hopefully someone will comment to let her know they love her and miss her!!!!!
Aww i know that its going to be hard for ya’ll to leave all the little kids there but know that ya’ll have made a great impact on their life and got to share Christ with them. I am proud of you all and glad that you have made it threw this Zach i know you dont want to leave the kids but you have to come back to Hartsville we miss you dearly and need you. I love you Zach and i am so ready to be able to see you again! I will pray for a safe trip back home.
Hey guys. Glad to hear that you have made such great friends and have come to mean so much to the children and adult in Belize. You are my new heros. It takes alot of courage to leave your comfort zone and go and do what you know God wants you to do. I know you have made such a huge impact in their lives. I am very proud of everyone of you.
On a lighter note, I hope you have a great day tomorrow on your excursion. Be safe. We will see you when you get home. PLease tell Niki to take her Malaria medicine tomorrow (Tuesday). Tell her we may see her at the airport. Love to all. Miss you also. Can’t wait to see you all. You are all in our prayers.
Love you,
Milissa
Judy,
You know you are loved and appreciated for all that you have done. We are so grateful that you were there for the kids this week. I pray that God will continue to bless you for your willingness to step out and chaperone. We will be glad to see you again when you return home. Tell Kyle we can’t wait to see him as well.
God Bless.
Judy,
I do miss you and a lot of people at work miss you too. I’m glad that you are recovering from your injuries. Brian I take it you didn’t go swimming on that boat ride home. Judy and Brian Thank you so much for all you have done this week. I’m proud of you also.
All the young adults,
I’m so very proud of what you have done this week. I have missed you all dearly but my heart is so happy for you and what you have accomplished this week. Keep Christ in your heart and always seek him for guidance. We will see you when you get home.
Have a great time on your excursion.
Jacob and Kaleb remember you have to stay we forgot to give Brian the money to get you back in the country LOL!!!!
Jacob I love you so much and I’m so very proud of you for standing up for God I’m glad you are trusting God and doing his work at a young age don’t be like me and wait until you are old to see how great God is and all he has in store for you. Trust in God always
Well I’m going to go for now
I love you
Love always
Sandra and to Jacob that is MAMA
A friend of mine wrote this and I thought is was so true. I just wanted to share it
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this. Proverbs 3:5-6,11-12 (The Message)
We are all so very proud of all of you!! Zach I told you, you would fall in love with some of those little children. Just remember what a difference you may have made in there lives by just spending that time with them. I hope yall have a great time today on your excursion!!
Judy and Brian, thank you so much for all you have done for these youth this week. We will be praying for yall a safe trip home!!
We cannot begin to tell all of you how proud we are of you. I hope you enjoy your free day, please remember to stay safe. We miss you and look forward to your return home. We continue to pray for you.
PS- did Mary Elizabeth swim 100 yards? Wow.
Have fun, we look forward to hearing about you day, later this evening.
Kyle
Just wanted to tell you that we love and miss you very much. Even Kari and Kayce miss you. Kari has not had anybody to argue with. Please have a safe trip home. MaMa said to tell you hello and she loves you. Be careful and see you soon. Love ya.
Mama
Guys and Girls,
I cannot tell you how proud I am of you. I knew this would be a life changing experience for you. I want all of you to know how much I need each of you to be fully involved in ministry back home. You are amazing students and I cannot wait to sit down with each of you and hear your stories.
I want to report to you all from the other side of the world. Like you, my life will never be the same again either. I have never seen so much poverty. It is everywhere and a bit overwhelming. The thing that keeps us pressing on is the love we receive from the people here, and they do not know Jesus. They have no idea how poor they are and they have no idea how lost they are. It makes me want to come home and shake people. We have it so good yet we take it all for granted. We have little true unconditional love for one another and we know the source of love, yet we reject it. I have so many pictures but even they do not tell the story very well. I pray we will come together when we all get home and build a stronger youth group.
I hope you guys have a great day on your free day. I will also be praying for your trip home. We will be home Friday evening. We have a long trip home but at least we will get the day we lost coming over here back.
I love you guys and I miss you all. Have fun and God bless you.
P.S. Judy and Brian thank you for all you have done.
Y’all have had some exciting—and hilarious—adventures on your trip! We are so pleased to hear how God has worked in your hearts as you have done His work. He will also be working in the hearts of all the little lives you have touched.
To all of you young people, we are proud of you for stepping out in faith. When our son looks around for role models, we are so glad he can find people like you at our church to emulate and admire. We are all very much looking forward to your testimonies on 6/28.
To Brian and Judy, thank you for taking on the responsibility of chaperoning and guiding our teenagers. We know your hearts have also been richly blessed.
To John and Melissa (and Evangeline) thank you for hosting the Lakeview crew and for all of the work you do for the spiritual and physical needs of the people in Belize.
Matthew just turned 10yo and we have all started praying that God will make a way for Jeff and Matthew (and maybe me!) to come down in there in a few years for a mission trip.
Blessings to you all!
love,
Caroline
Hey guys! Glad to hear that your last day went so well. We are so proud of all of you for taking this trip and doing God’s work. I am especially proud of you Amber! You are awsome! I love and miss you dearly! Don’t worry about the plane ride home! Just remember it is bring you back to me! lol God is taking care of you and you WILL do fine!
Aunt Judy, you know we (the girls and I) love you very much as well! I am so thankful you were on this trip with Amber! I am proud of you as well for stepping up and taking this on.
Brian, thank you too for heading this up and leaving your girls behind to go on this trip. I know that was extremely difficult.
Be safe on your “Fun Day” tomorrow! No playing with the animals guys!
Amber, we are gonna pick you up from the church. Mr. John has to work and I am not sure I can handle driving that far yet. Besides, we have to give Aunt Judy and ride home! I Love you and want to see you very much but we have made it this long and we can make it a few more hours. See you VERY soon and don’t forget anything. Someone please make sure she packs eveything because she loves to leave things. But DON”T bring home the ketchup! Love YA!
It sounds like God has moved many mountains. Judy and Brian, thank you for chaperoning this group of young people. I know God will bestow his blessings on you and your families for this. Ashlyn, we love you and can hardly wait to see you and hear about your experience when you get home. I pray that you have a safe return home. Love all of you!
Hello everyone! We have enjoyed all your updates. Caleb I hope you will always remember your time there and the people you met. I am so glad you had the opportunity to take this trip. I pray that God has impacted your lives and you all will be forever changed by the events of this trip.
Thank you Brian and Judy for all you have done for our youth. You both are greatly appreciated. I am sure you will always have a special bond with this group.
We hope you all enjoy your excursion day and air conditioning (that would have been the hardest thing for me to do without).
We also hope you have safe travels home. We will see you at the airport!
PS: Caleb, your little brother misses you!!!
judy, Amber has Dramamine with her. It may help to give her some before she gets on the plane. Maybe she will be too sleepy to be scared! haha Love you all!
Judy, I do miss you and love you, Have prayed daily for you and all the team. God is continuing to use all of you. You have been a great chaperone according to the comments… Kyle, I hope you are doing OK. We miss you around here, and hope your free day is fun… Zach, how are your “Stings.” Sorry, but glad you got the right treatment for them… Brian and Judy, thank you both for your dedication and leading and supporting the students. God bless you all and I pray for a safe trip home..
Love and miss you, Judy!! Is your hair still all fixed up? I really want to see it. Tell me you at least have pictures. See you soon!
i know u may not see this before u get home but i’m so proud of each of u.
kasey i can’t wait to see u and ur sisters will be soooo glad u r home. if u see this call from miami to let me know what time the plane is coming in. i plan on meeting u in charlotte.
i love u and i will see u soon
momma (cammie)
Hey!!! We miss you guys and gals!!!!! We are just sitting here at church checking up in the updates and they are pretty interesting! We hope yall are having fun. We cant wait to hear these stories in person i am sure they are hilarious. Well we guess yall are about to leave LOVE YALL TONS!!! see ya later and come back safe 🙂