One thing we haven't mentioned in our previous postings is that we end every day together in a time of worship and sharing. We will sing, pray, and talk through our days. We usually meet out on the porch, and get to enjoy the cool night air as we worship - it's a great way to end each day.

Wednseday started with all of us assuming (except Jennifer who knew she would be working in one of the classrooms) we would spend our morning working at the burial grounds. Remember though that one of the key words in Belize is FLEXIBILITY, and so right from the start our plans changed. Scot was asked to head to Stella Mara's to take the special needs kids on a field trip where he would help teach swimming lessons.

Stacy, Sophie, Michelle, and Jerry stayed behind at the burial grounds to help lay cinder blocks and spread mortar.

Jennifer started her day in one of the classrooms to be a teacher's assistant.

She was only in the classroom for the first part of the day, however, because there was a preschool field trip to the fire house and they needed extra volunteers. They even came over to the work site where most of us were working to recruit extra volunteers. Jerry, being a fireman knew this would be a great adventure for him, and Michelle volunteered to go as well.

The little girl that Jerry ate lunch with yesterday is very attached to him. She spends time with him every opportunity she gets -she eats with him, sits with him on the bus, etc.


Of course, Jerry the fireman was the perfect person to demonstrate how to properly slide down the pole.


And he was also the perfect person to catch kids taking a tour through the cab.

Jennifer, Jerry, and Michelle made it back by lunch time, and once again we had a delicious homemade lunch.

After lunch Jerry stayed at the burial grounds to continue the cinder block/mortar work and even spent some time working on Kenny's house. Scot and Jerry also went over to meet the local ambulance crew. They have a very primitive, basic level medicial capabilities, ie they have no certified parimedics. Jerry and Scot were able to offer their expertise and talk them through certain situations.

Sophie, Stacy, Michelle, and Jennifer headed out to a local prison. We weren't allowed to take cameras inside (and in all honesty it just wasn't a good idea to take any valuable inside), but this is a quick shot we took of the outside of the prison as we were getting back in the vans at the end of the day).

The woman in the prison are learning howto sew. The basic idea is that if we equip them with a trade/skill, when they get out of prison they will have means of supporting themselves. We came with six working sewing machines, but there were over thirty women. When the women were waiting for a sewing machine to work on their projects we had other activities to work on. For the most part though, this gave us a chance to talk to them and hear their stories. It's hard to put into words all that we experienced in the prison today, but it was definitely a challenging, but fulfilling day and one that will be in our hearts for a very very long time.

And one last picture for you. This is our group last night after dinner. In a lot of ways this trip has been challenging, but our group is getting along very well and we are having a great time growing closer together and closer to God.