Cayo Christian Academy

Hello,
  Sorry for the delayed post, there was no wifi at YWAM last night (although it is still fun seeing the kids try to figure out the wifi password for something that doesn't exist).

We currently have 34 of our 46 students at Cayo Christian Academy (CCA is grade 8-12).  We had breakfast at 6:00am and arrived at the school at about 7:30am.  The construction team immediately began building a 10x10 shed.  The leadership students helped with some setup, guarded some experiments, and set up their kids games.  There are 800 students on campus today participating in a science fair.  Many of the students come from Church run schools but don't attend Church.  The Science Fair opened with a great chapel.  The school sang their "School Song".  I will be curious to hear how our students liked the song.  It definitely articulated the school's vision well. Hearing the students sing about grace was awesome.  After chapel, our students then became much more busy.  There are some elementary schools visiting and they have been playing games and participating in crafts out on the school field.  Our kids are doing great at interacting with the students and learning their names, painting their faces, and playing games.  There is a great energy right now.  Soon, I will be shuttling kids in groups of 15 for pizza and ice cream at Spanish Lookout (Mennonite town).  Our students will continue to help with the Science Fair, interact with the students, play games, and build relationships throughout the afternoon.  Our construction team will also continue building, and already have set the floor and are hammering away.

Some of the science projects on site would probably require much supervision at Unity.  Chad just chopped the head off a chicken, 1 boy is creating rather large chemical explosions in the field, and I believe a 10 foot long catapult filled with potatoes just passed me (Rob Stace-Smith would be drooling).

We do have 12 kids with Theo and Colin at the YWAM Camp today. These students are working on the YWAM Kitchen that burned down in a fire 3 years ago.  They are meeting up with us for pizza and ice cream in a couple hours.

Yesterday was a relaxing day.  We had a great meal at Cheers. The students loved drinking coke in glass bottles.  We then arrived at camp around 2:00pm.  Mark and I were able to go to Cayo Christian and see the site and help with setup.  Many of the students went swimming in Roaring Creek at the YWAM Base. Several students played some soccer with the local youth.  We played a group of grade 4s.  I wanted to get a pic of us scoring a goal, but quickly found that the ball was never in our offensive end.  The kids will blame it on Dave Bron's passing, but those grade 4s can play:)  We have a more official game with the local U17 team just before dinner tonight.  Last night, we had a traditional Belize meal of chicken, beans, and rice.  Many of the kids had been awake for 36 hours, so we did devos at 7:30 so the kids could go to bed early. The director of the YWAM Base, Santi, spoke about YWAM, Belize, and experiences.  After this team Brouwer led us in a devotional on service.  It was a great devotional to help frame a context for today at Cayo Christian School.

By 10:00pm last night, literally every one of our students were fast asleep.  This made the 5:45am wake up more bearable.  It isn't too warm yet today, but I anticipate a tired group again tonight.  A full day in the sun will certainly drain them.

Tomorrow we will be working at YWAM and then staking the entire team cave-tubing and zip lining. 

I have many great pics from today. I will try to post them later if I find wifi.

Some students may buy calling cards today, but if you would like to send a message through this blog, I can happily pass it along.

Blessings

Mike