We started our day with eggs, bacon and delicious fresh pineapple and papaya melon for breakfast -thanks to our awesome chef, Roger. We made another trip to the hardware store, this time to the big one in Belmopan to buy concrete screws, a machete and other hardware before heading up into the mountains to the church.
Today the main job was to the hang doors but we also had to frame out the new door openings cut through from the Sunday School rooms into the sanctuary. 
Two more of the door frames completed yesterday were trimmed out in molding and the doors hung. We also got the line run for the water although the water was not currently available at the street so there is more to be accomplished there. Roger 
started running the wiring to put lights in the new classrooms which will allow those rooms to be used on Wednesday nights. There was a little extra time for tossing the football with local kids and a visit to the next door neighbor with a gift of a baby blanket during the day.
At 4:00, we hurried home to get ready to return for the 7:00 service. A Belizean woman named Jane is cooking for us and had prepared our dinner of fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad and pineapple juice. She and her husband and little girl Hannah joined us for the feast.
Two more of the door frames completed yesterday were trimmed out in molding and the doors hung. We also got the line run for the water although the water was not currently available at the street so there is more to be accomplished there. Roger 
started running the wiring to put lights in the new classrooms which will allow those rooms to be used on Wednesday nights. There was a little extra time for tossing the football with local kids and a visit to the next door neighbor with a gift of a baby blanket during the day.At 4:00, we hurried home to get ready to return for the 7:00 service. A Belizean woman named Jane is cooking for us and had prepared our dinner of fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad and pineapple juice. She and her husband and little girl Hannah joined us for the feast.
But the highlight of the day was Wednesday evening prayer service. Tonight we 
were joined by a congregation of around 40 kids and adults. Most of the congregation arrived on the bus, and after a brief introduction took a moment for everyone to tour the new construction in the back of the church where we had been working. They were all excited about our progress. We sang songs together and 
they gave us each a gift, a mug from Belize. To honor our partnership between Lagoon Road and Trinity, they presented Hal with the key to the church building, which was wonderfully symbolic of our sharing and building up the one body of Christ together. Ben shared a message with a point about the importance of remembering what is temporary and what is not. 
He showed a Belizean dollar bill with a little sticky note that said TEMPORARY. Then he took two little notes that said FOREVER and gave one to an adult and one to a little girl on the front row. It was a good message encouraging us to tell others about Jesus, but we knew God was working when another little girl came up after the service and wanted a slip of paper that said FOREVER. We presented each of the children there with a book as a gift from Trinity and they were all smiles. We talked to one of the children’s teachers about starting a church library with
the remaining books, and about mounting bulletin boards in each of the class rooms for them to use for teaching. It was a wonderful service which ended with a testimony from an older man in the congregation who had only been a Christian for a year. He said when he looked into the face of his grandchild he wanted to make sure that he learned about Jesus.
It was a day of progress and growing and fellowship with God.
were joined by a congregation of around 40 kids and adults. Most of the congregation arrived on the bus, and after a brief introduction took a moment for everyone to tour the new construction in the back of the church where we had been working. They were all excited about our progress. We sang songs together and 
they gave us each a gift, a mug from Belize. To honor our partnership between Lagoon Road and Trinity, they presented Hal with the key to the church building, which was wonderfully symbolic of our sharing and building up the one body of Christ together. Ben shared a message with a point about the importance of remembering what is temporary and what is not. 
He showed a Belizean dollar bill with a little sticky note that said TEMPORARY. Then he took two little notes that said FOREVER and gave one to an adult and one to a little girl on the front row. It was a good message encouraging us to tell others about Jesus, but we knew God was working when another little girl came up after the service and wanted a slip of paper that said FOREVER. We presented each of the children there with a book as a gift from Trinity and they were all smiles. We talked to one of the children’s teachers about starting a church library with
the remaining books, and about mounting bulletin boards in each of the class rooms for them to use for teaching. It was a wonderful service which ended with a testimony from an older man in the congregation who had only been a Christian for a year. He said when he looked into the face of his grandchild he wanted to make sure that he learned about Jesus.It was a day of progress and growing and fellowship with God.
Wow - what a great day you had! God is SO good! Roberta
ReplyDeleteThe next best thing to being there with you is reading about your daily experiences and how you are touching the lives of the people in Belize and how each of you have been blessed in return. I hope you have enjoyed the warm weather there – it has been FRIGID in Raleigh this week! Look forward to your safe return.
ReplyDeleteSandy Cooke