We made it home late Sunday and we had a fantastic trip!  Praise the Lord!!!

I wanted to share some final thoughts of where we saw GOD working this week and some more pictures with all of you.

First, this year Youth Enhancement Services did not have the same type of programing at the training center. They are trying to transition to a facility to help girls coming out of human trafficking.  They have the facility but are looking for the funds necessary for the ongoing operations for staff, meals, operating expenses, etc. in order to operate in this capacity. Please pray that the Lord move mightily to bring the support to fund this vision. In the meantime, they continue their outreach through advocacy programs against sexual violence (for example, programs targeted at educating preschoolers and elementary age children about good and bad touch, etc.).  They also still run the Teen Mom's center in Belize City and offer computer classes to young women at the training center.  So this year, YES extended an invitation to their teen mom's group and past students to voluntarily come and spend the week with us.  How amazing that 16 girls came!  Many of them had to arrange for babysitting for their children in order to attend.  Most also stayed to help with the painting project!  We were truly blessed with so much help.

I am amazed and thankful that these young women wanted to come and spend time with us. We recognized many of the past students and it was so wonderful to reconnect and see how they were doing. They participated openly in all activities with joy and sharing. We had wonderful discussions about the women of the Bible, how we are uniquely created by God to serve, the good and bad things about social media, and introductions and interview tips (including some practice interview questions).  The Lord brought us such JOY by orchestrating this particular group of women so we could share with them and learn with them. They are wonderful GIFTS of GOD!!!

Here are many of the girls working on a canvas painting activity:

Second, The LORD provided a new lodging location which brought significant reduction in cost. It is such a beautiful story of how the Lord brought this location to the Word At Work and how they are able to use this location for a while. They are fixing it up as it has been vacant for over 2 years. But with just barely a month's work, they were able to get some of the rooms ready for us as one of the first groups to stay.  There is much work left to be done and they can use lots of help - both with physical labor  -just let me know if you want to go to Belize to help.  Or with finances for the supplies - if you are interested, please go to their site - www.twaw.org where there is a link to donate.  Here are a few pictures of the facility today:

A short distance through a trail in the jungle and you come to the beautiful lagoon, with a little work, you may be able to swim here soon.

Here is the road back to the buildings:

Many of the trees and plants are marked with signs to let you know what they are:

 Here is a small meeting area tucked away around a bend:

Here is the large dining area:

 The kitchen:

A path with some of the buildings for the rooms - each one has about 6 rooms with attached bathrooms. Ours was fitted out with 3 full beds.

 This is the entrance for two of our rooms:

 There is also a community bathroom out near the swimming hole (not pictured as it needs a lot of work):

Not only was this location available at a lower cost for us. We actually had less bug bites (even though we were in the jungle)!  Thank you, Lord!!

Third, the work project was to paint the entire building from last year - all four sides with trim!  For a group of 8 this seemed like a large task, but we were ready to tackle it!  Amazingly the Lord worked to that we were able to finish the job and even finish earlier each day. Last year we worked until 6 or 6:30 each evening into darkness. This year we were finished by 4 pm each day!  What a blessing - we were able to get some ice cream as a treat !!  How did that happen?  On the first day, our task was to scrape 1/2 of the building and prime the other. Luckily the paint we put on in 2011 was faded, but did not require extensive scraping - YEAH!!! this gave us some extra time. The Lord is certainly GOOD!
Also several of the girls stayed to help apply the primer after lunch.

On the second day, all of the girls came to help. It is amazing what 9 enthusiastic people can finish in 40 minutes!! With two shifts of 9 people, we practically finished the first coat on the planks in record time. Leaving us the grooves and high places to finish in the afternoon.  Many hands make light work!  So wonderful that the girls were willing to paint - even while dressed in very nice outfits!

Here is the site before:

Here is what it looked like when it was complete:

As always, a rewarding and fulfilling trip...it is so wonderful to see how GOD is moving in Belize and it reminds us to look for his Hand in everything we do whether abroad or at home!  We hope you enjoyed following us via this blog.  May GOD bless you!!

Maybe he is putting on your heart an idea to serve him in some way.  our verse is John 15:16 - 

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you."

AND versus 17:

"This is my command: Love each other."

Island Debrief Day

We started today with a visit to the church site at 8-mile.  This is a location from some previous year's mission trips. They have finished the church!  Since last year they have added a new roof, interior ceiling, porch railing and new paint.

Church at 8-Mile:

Then we traveled to St. George's Caye to relax and debrief from the week. We started the morning with a nice boat ride to the island.

The team was able to enjoy swimming at the sandbar, snorkeling at a reef, and kayaking in the ocean!  We saw a Manatee and a Spotted Eagle Ray on the way to swimming.  We also spent some time discussing and evaluating the week.

We saw God at work in the lives of the girls and staff at YES.  The girls were very engaged and participated in all of the sessions. Also, team members renewed relationships with girls who they had met in the past. The girls were very welcoming and quick to engage in conversations with team members.  We can see how the girls have matured and are all striving to make a better life for themselves and their families.  We so enjoyed seeing their progress - some with finishing school, some planning to work on school, and others discussing seeking job opportunities.

We continue to appreciate the Word at Work staff and support - especially Chepito, our project leader!  We are excited to be the first group to stay at Eco Village - a new location where the Word at Work will be able to host teams. While there is still a great deal of work to be done at Eco Village, the potential is great!  We were very comfortable with our rooms.

Here are a couple of pictures from today....We will post some more when we have better connectivity.

Watching the sunset from a hammock...and appreciating the world God created!

Day 4 - Field Trip Day!

Hurray! We finished our painting project at the end of Day 3! It looks great...

I have only a few pictures today as the connection is not good.

This is the before picture....

Here is the completed building with the entire group this morning..getting ready to leave for the field trip.

For our Field Trip, we went to a new location called Bacab Eco Park.  We had a great day swimming and horseback riding.

 Here are a few pictures of the swimming pool area..

Everyone had a wonderful day!  More information to come when we have a better connection.

Day 3 - Working at YES

We began the day today with a visit from some artisans to show us some of their hand crafted items.  So many beautiful handmade items to see:

We then walked over to see the lagoon at Eco Village. We have been so busy that there had not previously been time to fully explore the lodging in the daylight. We took about 5 minutes to view this area. As The Word At Work finishes fixing up this location, the lagoon will definitely be a nice spot to swim, relax, or pray.

Next we briefly stopped to refill our 5 gallon water bottles before arriving for breakfast at YES.

We spent the morning with the girls working on presenting a Godly image to the world - of acting in a loving way to others.  We worked to memorize two Bible versus about how we are wonderfully made and created in God's image.

We discussed whether people looking at their social media (e.g., facebook), would see a reflection of God or something else?  Based on our conversation, several girls commented that they would be making changes to what they post on social media. We had a wonderful conversation about the Dos and Don'ts of Social Media.

We ended the morning with the girls, with some practice interviews.

Painting continues and we will finish today.  Here are the latest set of pictures:

Caroline and Lydia enjoyed painting the accent color - PINK!

Jill is good with the detail work!

Jonathan never turns down a chance to get on the roof! And I did not want to be up there....

Samuels is always willing to work where he is needed...

We will post some final pictures tomorrow!

Please pray for field trip tomorrow - we have 31 people going and 19 of them will be riding horses.

Blessings to all!

Today is Day 2 of our work at YES. Today was an amazing day of learning, affirmation, and relationship building! Our work at YES is focusing on learning/affirming the beauty of our outward self, our inner self, and God's amazing work in creating each of us to be unique, beautiful, and with special gifts.

We continue to develop relationships through games, activities, crafts, and projects.

This is a favorite game that requires teamwork! Samuel, Jonathan, Lydia & Caroline all help add some levity and fun!

The young ladies with us this week at YES created self portraits. We then learned about women in the Bible including Sarah, Miriam, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah, Esther (remember her from our sermon series?), Elizabeth, Mary, and Lydia! Wording in small groups, we read about each woman, unscrambled their name, and  identified a quality, gift, or talent of each.

We learned that God isn't standing with a checklist waiting to see if you qualify as a proper woman of God or is you're good enough to bear his image. Through Jesus, we have a promise. The God who loved you, chose you, created your, and redeemed you is restoring His image in you!

Drawing Self Portraits

Self Portraits with Gifts & Talents

We also had fun painting on canvas, AND applying the first coat of paint to the classroom building (it matches our mission trip shirts!).

Many hands make light work! We painted 2 sides of the building in a record of 40 minutes! The young ladies of YES loved working alongside us and contributing to the school.

This evening we are planning on a trip into town for dinner and maybe ice cream!

Father, we thank You for the gifts and talents that You have given us. Help us to use them to be a reflection of You. In Jesus' name, Amen.