Monday - June 11th

The Road Home

Up at 5:00 am, taking last showers, packing last minutes items and loading up the van, we checked the Mission House one last time and said goodbye to our good friends Emerson and Julianna and their son Juan. As we watched the beautiful lush compound fading into the distance behind us, we became quiet and reflective for most of the 200 mile drive back into civilization as we know it. The drive seemed more daunting than usual with its multiple twists and turns and massive speed bumps, not to mention the 45 mph speed limit for much of the way. But, we made it to Belize City in good time and settled in to wait for our flight.



All was uneventful until we passed through security following clearing customs in Dallas. Then we created quite a stir! I had just passed through the scanner; Alex was in front of me waiting for her bins to come through, and Brianna was in front of her putting on her backpack. Alex yelled at Brianna to wait and began swiping at her back. I looked up to see what was going on and saw a huge Belizean Tarantula crawling on Brianna’s shoulder blade! Brianna was trying to figure out what Alex was doing, Alex was trying to tell her, security guards were running over to see what the commotion was all about and finally Alex was able to get the spider knocked off Brianna’s shoulder and onto the floor. I am sure it was in as much shock as we all were. As it began to take off across the floor, others started yelling, and Lucretia stepped up and bravely stomped and stopped him in his tracks. Security ran to look at it and took pictures of the remains! One of the guards asked where we just came from, and Brianna told him Belize. He said, “How many more of those do you have in your backpack?” Just kidding, of course! Unfortunately, we had just come through security, so none of us had phones or cameras out – so we didn’t get to record the event in photos – but just conjure up the scene in your imagination! We all felt very creepy-crawly after that and were gingerly opening our backpacks as we waited for our flight home.

A very bumpy climb out and flight home later, we were excited to have an “on time” arrival about 10:30 pm Monday night. Weary, but very gratified travelers gathered bags, gave hugs and loaded up to go home. We all enjoyed our mission trip and every experience we had during our days in Belize. God was evident in every devotional, chapel, film showing, VBS/Activities and prayer walk; His majesty and glory was present in our surroundings and His mercies were new every morning as scripture promises. As we put Belize in our memories and return to our busy American lives, we will remember the children and the people of a place so very near and dear to our hearts. We will not forget what God has shown us and will continue to seek Him out in opportunities to “go ye therefore.”
Thank you all for your prayers and your remembrances of us throughout the trip. You are priceless.

Patricia and the Team: Miles, Brianna, Landan, Lucretia and Alex

Sunday - June 10th

It’s Raining Cats and Dogs – no wait – it’s raining Lucretia!!! She had been waiting for rain in the day time so she could run out and play in it – and this was the day it finally rained!!! She is our official rain dancer!


On the way to church, we took a walk! Lucretia and I went with Miss Meghan, a teacher from TCA, to see a new baby in the community and pick up some children to walk them to church with us. Lucretia and I got to hold the baby! Oh my goodness, she was so precious and just 3 weeks old. What a blessing to behold before going to worship service – a brand new life, fresh from God!



At church, we enjoyed the cultural service and the many ages represented there. We were so excited when the praise team began to sing Revelation Song – we knew this one and felt right at home singing it!



Prayer Walking and Serving the Community

This afternoon was busy with a Prayer Walk to Manchaca Road Church. The church is in need of a new pastor and is severely crippled without its leadership. The families are hurting and in need of their church and will not attend any other. This puts the children at risk and the need is great. We prayed for God’s man to hear His call and for Him to bring strong roots to this community. We prayed for God’s covering over the families and children until the church can find its way again. We may see closed doors on a building, but we know that God will open them once again in His time.



Julianna asked us to continue our Prayer Walking over to the house of one of the students who just graduated eighth grade at Toledo Christian Academy. His mother is in poor health and they do not have the $1,000 a year it takes for a student to attend high school. She desperately wants to find a way to get him to school so he can become educated and be able to support them better than she can. They live with her parents in very difficult conditions. We walked to their home and spent some time visiting and then surrounded Sonya and Evan to pray for Sonya’s health and Evan’s future. We were humbled once again at what others must endure.




Envision a collection of huts and board structures, a duck pen, a pig pen, and children playing baseball completely surrounded by jungle and you have Foster Care in Belize! So much different than what we would encounter in the US, this facility houses foster children and runs as a working farm as well. The folks who have a heart for this difficult ministry are from Houston, Texas – go figure! Isaac is the precious 2 year old you see peeking through the railing and is there because his parents are both too old and ill to care for him. His father comes to see him every Sunday and brought him a birthday cake for his 2nd birthday. It is a very heart-wrenching situation. We took food to them and prayed for God to give the foster parents all the physical, emotional, and spiritual support they need to care for these beautiful children.





Lucretia engaged immediately as she always does – what a gift she has – and began to play baseball with the son of the foster parents. He attends TCA and will be playing on the baseball team for nationals, so he and Lucretia practiced for a bit while we were at the foster care home. Check out her swing!


We finished our evening with stopping by Laguna Village and buying our new friend’s coffee after she roasted it for us and praying for her and the women’s enterprise we discovered the day before.

One last quick run into town produced Fanta for the trip and a final round of ice cream for the team. We are back at the Mission House, paring down and packing up with mixed feelings of sadness at leaving our home away home and excitement to get back to our families and all things familiar to us. We have been blessed in more ways than we can express; we pray that we have been a blessing to every life we have touched and that the seeds we have planted and the saplings we have watered will continue to grow and put down roots that will hold strong and true.

We leave the Mission House at 6:00 am tomorrow morning – Monday, the 11th. Please pray for our safety in travel – from the 200 mile stretch from Toledo to Belize City, to the air travel from Belize City to Dallas and then HOME to Midland. We love you all as the body of Christ holding us up as your brothers and sisters while we have been in the mission field. Our thanks is but a small expression of our appreciation for you.

While the conditions have been challenging here in Toledo, Belize, we have been guided by scripture at every turn. In particular, we claim Philippians 2:12-18.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.”

Patricia and the Team: Miles, Brianna, Landan, Lucretia and Alex

Friday & Saturday Combined - June 8th & 9th

A Little R&R

After a very busy week, the team took a little Rest & Rejuvenation time on Friday and had a cultural exchange day. We spent time together and with locals just enjoying the surrounding area of Punta Gorda. I took the day off from blogging as well!


Rise & Shine

Saturday dawned bright and early, right along with the parrots and some new bird sound we hadn’t recognized before. He sounded like a long-winded trumpet – with one straight shrill blast! Woke right up to that! With a full day ahead of us for our VBS/Activities day, we didn’t want to miss our only opportunity to see the Market in Punta Gorda. We headed into town at 6:30am and found the Market in full swing!


The store opening times here are not quite the same as back home!

We were done touring the Market and shopping and were back on the road to the Mission House by 7:30am – no Mall hours here! The meat market photo will make you appreciate our USDA approved stamps!


VBS/Activities

We were so excited to have our VBS/Activities Day from 9:30 to 11:30 Saturday morning. What a whirlwind that was! We had our planned activities that would relate to specific scriptures and principles from God’s Word. We did a Balloon Stomp – where the kids had as much fun stomping out their own balloon as they did everyone else’s!


We had a Balloon toss, a Share the Word circle, Tug of War, Human Chain to Untangle, and a Balloon Toss.



Then, there were the unplanned events – such as turning the well organized balloon toss into a balloon blast!


We had a great time – non-stop in 99% humidity (and that was NOT raining) – and sent or took all the children home with arms full of extra balloons, water balloons and bracelets that Lucretia had brought for the ending treat.

We greatly enjoyed and felt privileged at the opportunity to use this tremendous way to touch the lives of these children and let them know how much God loves them.

A Foray into Laguna Village

After such an exuberant morning, we spent the afternoon learning about the nearby village of Laguna – a little Kekchi Mayan Indian village nearby. A lady there has coffee bean trees on her property and she roasts and grinds coffee for sale. We originally went to buy some of her native coffee and found oh so much more!

She led us through her back yard of cacao, coffee and fruit trees – which she is quite resourceful in using to care for her family. Then she took us into a nearby grass hut structure with a dirt floor – inside were two sewing machines and a number of short stools the height of a footstool. Along one wall were hanging brightly colored woven purses, fabric pieces and various articles of clothing. A young lady was sewing a Mayan blouse and we soon learned that we were standing in the middle of the newest enterprise in Laguna – a collection of young women who could not go to high school, single mothers and women were the sole support of their families. They had just formed their group the week before and were combining their skills and talents to create a business that would enable them collectively to sustain themselves and their families. The weaving was absolutely magnificent – and done with sticks and thread – they tied the yarns to a post on the wall, sat on the footstool about four feet away, and using four or five different pieces of sticks and wood, they formed the patterns in their woven cloth.

It was an unbelievable demonstration of what can be done using almost nothing! It was a humbling and magnificent experience – I felt like God’s hand was on that bundle of sticks and yarn, transforming it into His loom, weaving His patterns into the lives of these precious women. What they can yield by hand is beyond comprehension. We felt like – no, we knew – we had found an unfathomable piece of God’s handiwork.

We finished our day with the best watermelon and cantaloupe imaginable and closed out Saturday with a refreshing rain shower. Thank you, Lord, for you are awesome, indeed!

Thursday - June 7th

Allow me to return to Wednesday afternoon for just a moment, where I will pick up a very important event to us that I did not include in yesterday’s blog. One of the most memorable moments of a trip to Belize is the visit to Julianna’s parents’ farm. Just a few minutes down Manchaca Road is a little piece of heaven where Pastor Jose and his wife grow mango, coconut, oranges, cashews, and cacao, along with a few cows and an orphan baby parrot!


We wandered the farm for a bit, fed the cows some oranges - watching in wonder at their long tongues wrapping around hands and oranges alike and swallowing them whole - the oranges, not the hands – and knocked some coconuts to the ground!!!


We drank the milk and scraped out the coconut jelly for a snack. Brianna caught a baby chick, narrowly escaping a pecking by the mother hen.

Pastor Jose and his wife are recovering from having strokes so we continue to pray for their health and the return of their strength.

Today was the last ½ day of school for the TCA students; so, while they endured the morning, we all found spigots to fill as many water balloons as possible before the “Great Balloon Bust” at 11:30 to properly close out the school year!


We lost count, but there were easily 650 balloons done when Emerson came for the containers. We sent some across the way to the school yard for the kids to throw and kept some this side of the draw to catapult with our balloon sling shot.



On the count of three, about 65 students stormed the balloon buckets and tubs and had an all out balloon fest! Then the balloon shots started from across the way and the kids ran around like crazy trying to catch the incoming balloons. When all was said and done; teachers, students and even we were soaked!

It was exciting to see everyone having such fun and engaging with us as sponsors of the end of school event. The whole thing was like “Gone in 60 Seconds!”

A trip into town was in order this afternoon for more food supplies for the mission house, and – of course – more Fanta! We also picked up a couple of watermelons – can’t live without them around here. We made a trip to the local Chocolate Factory, took the tour and some pictures, then bought some of the chocolate – it is so very good!


Now is the slow time for the little factory with two small vats for mixing chocolate into a creamy confection.

But they have a website and they ship chocolate to the rest of the country! There are so many tiny enterprises in Punta Gorda; but, they all seem to manage to stay in business, regardless of their size.

Home again, Emerson came by to ask if Miles could take the teachers into town to order supplies and uniforms for next school year, which Miles gladly did. We appreciate the fact that we are able to serve in a way that is appreciated and needed for this school.

We are going into town this evening to eat shrimp for the first real team outing for a meal. We are looking forward to this time to regroup, recoup and review the week and what is left for us. We are over halfway through our time here, which is hard to believe. We want to be able to get ready for our last big event, which is the VBS/Activities on Saturday morning. Also, tomorrow, we will be enjoying a cultural exchange day. Please pray for our VBS/Activities preparation and execution and our time of embracing the things of the Belizean culture. Please pray for our safety and our energy. We need a lot for Saturday in the sun and humidity - and pray we have a great turnout of children!

Wednesday - June 6th

We went to sleep to the gentle sounds of a gathering rain storm, and awakened to a sizzling lighting bolt and crack of thunder that threatened to split the sky asunder. With each thunderclap the storm’s “applause” became louder and more intense. As the electricity flickered on and off intermittently, the reverberations were even more magnified in the silence without fans blowing. We all had fitful sleep; and I, for one, was glad when the first light of day peeked in our window so I could just go ahead and get up! But one glance at the beautiful, rain-washed morning erased any discomfort from the night before.

We were prepared for a woman from the area to come at 7:00 am to show us her wares for sale; she had a few small items, and we spent a little time with her.

We went on to breakfast, and were able to enjoy Miss Angie’s wonderful cooking. She is woman of faith who continues to joyfully touch each life around her. We found out that she has no small knives for paring – only the large machete like knives – which she wields with great skill, although, she does say not to stand too closely! We’re glad we are not the chickens she prepares!



Upon returning to the Mission House for our morning team devotional, Lucretia gave a wonderful devotional on forgiveness. We were reminded that forgiveness is a choice and that God chose to forgive us in spite of and because of our sinfulness. Our morning team devotionals continue to be a source of strength and inspiration on which to base our days – giving testimony to the fact that a quiet time with Lord early in the morning “availeth much!”

I missed talking about our prayer walking the children’s playground in yesterday’s blog, so I want to be sure to include it today. A structure that began as a giant sandbox bordered by concrete, grew into a full fledged playground – complete with roof to protect from rain and sun, a fence to protect from animals and a set of equipment on which to swing and climb.



The ongoing efforts of our mission teams from year to year have created this facility to serve the children by providing a safe, clean and protective area in which to play. As we prayed over the playground, we were reminded of how Jesus welcomed the little children and made an example of how important these little ones are to Him. We not only prayed for their safety and their joy in just being children; but also, that each child who entered the playground would make the decision to “make Jesus the boss of his or her life.”

We had the privilege of doing the children’s chapel time this morning. Miles and Landan took the upper grades; Lucretia and Brianna took the middle grades; and Alex and I took the lower grades. We all enjoyed the interaction and the opportunity to share principles of God’s Word with the children at TCA. They are sponges for the Lord! The hope is that they will go out into their homes and communities and be like little lightning bugs at night – bringing light into places of darkness.




We helped prepare for the 8th grade graduation, known here as Standard Six. There were six graduates this year, and they were just awesome! There was a humorous valedictory address by the leading student, and certificates of achievement in various subjects. Each student shared their favorite scripture and why it was their favorite. When we realize that there will be at least one if not more out of this small group that will not get to go on to high school, it is sobering to think that this young person will go straight from being a “child” at school into being a laborer, earning his way. What happens to these students who experience such an abrupt departure from learning and fun and enter into the world at large? This is where the hope remains that roots from the teaching ministry of TCA will keep these young ones “rooted and grounded…” The prayer is that they will “be like a tree planted by the water” and that they “shall not be moved” from their faith and dependence on the Lord. Please pray for the six young people, that they will be provided with the opportunity to continue their education, giving them time to mature and grow in stature.

The rest of our evening consisted of a raucous volley ball game with some of the staff and students – this was Landan and Brianna – and finally a trip into town to cool off with ice cream – all the rest of us!!!!

As we settled into the mission house AFTER the ice cream run, we decided we had enjoyed the video series called StoryKeepers by Focus on the Family so much, that we set up the projector and had our own move marathon to see the remaining three videos! A good time was had by all.