Monday at Cayo Christian

Hello,

   It is hard to believe that we have already been away for 5 days.  We only have 1 more day left in Belize .  Today was a day spent serving at Cayo Christian Academy.  In the morning, a group of students and chaperones stayed at the camp to finish pouring concrete for a sidewalk.    The rest of the team headed down to Cayo Christian Academy.  Here, students washed walls, moved dirt, and setup tents for a science fair.  All of our students were keen to work for the 3 hours we spent there. 

For lunch, we ventured up to Spanish Lookout.  Spanish Lookout was built by Canadian Mennonites who moved to Belize decades ago because of a school act that mandated families to send their children to public school.     Spanish Lookout houses much of the industry in Belize, including water, oil, and dairy.   It is certainly the most developed area in Belize.  We had a pizza lunch at Western Dairy.  Students were also able to purchase ice cream products featuring flavours such as sour sop, craboo, and even more mysterious, vanilla.    

We then headed back in a rainstorm to Cayo Christian to lead a chapel.  Our students really stepped up to lead this.  Steven lead worship, Sydney and Matt performed a skit on the Lord’s Prayer, Andrea, Vivienne, and Alex read scripture, and Bri and Steven shared a small part of their testimony.  I was blessed to see our students lead with such heart.  They were amazing.  The chapel also included the Belizian national anthem, the Cayo Christian Academy song,  and the Belizian prayer.  The chapel closed with a local pastor thanking Unity for their work and gifts to Cayo.  We all raised our hands towards the shed that the construction team built and prayed together.  Before we left, we spent a final 30 minutes finishing up the projects from the morning.

Students then earned a nice long swim in the river. 

Tonight, we had our biannual camp fire.  The students are tired tonight. Typically, we sit around the fire for hours. Tonight, the fire crowd scattered faster as there was much activity around the camp.  Students are currently hanging out in smaller groups.  They are reflecting, praying, stargazing, and socializing with their peers.  It has been a great trip and the students need to find time to process and pray for all that they have seen and done.  Well this isn’t a missions trip, it is a trip where we are supporting many missionaries.   It is also a transformational time for our students.  God is pulling on each of our student’s hearts in different ways.  Keep praying for all of our students.

One story I forgot to mention from yesterday.    One of the boys rooms left their door to their room open.  A friendly bat decided to bunk with them.  When 1 of our chaperones went to the room, he caught many of our boys attempting to kill the bat on the ceiling by using machetes.  Matt Luteyn was able to take the bat down with his machete and was crowned “batslayer”.   It is quite the image to picture boys with machetes on the top of bunk beds trying to get a bat.  I will try my best to ensure it doesn’t happen againJ

Tomorrow we head out early for our beach day.  This is always such a great creation treat.  Our students will be tripled screened up before they plunge into the Caribbean Sea.  We will hopefully see some rays, sharks, and a cornucopia of fish.  It will be nice to spend the afternoon at Cay Caulker and to stop at Old Belize for dinner on the way home.   I may not post tomorrow, but will certainly update you on our travel plans for Wednesday.  Please do check my facebook page for pics as well:)

Blessings