Friendships Abound

It is 9:00pm at night, and we just finished celebrating during devotions a fantastic day of being in community at Cayo Christian Academy.  The kids were eager to share about being blessed by being a blessing and were able to share about connecting deeper with God during times where we throw ourselves out there and admit our vulnerabilities.  It was a great sharing time.  I am very proud of our students and of our school today.

 It has been unseasonably (without seasons can something be unseasonable) cool at night and we have been fortunate to have day time temps that hover around 30 degrees. While humid and warm, it could easily be 7-8 degrees warmer.  At night, we have had a few students and 1 chaperone (Rauwerda)  ask for blankets.  6 weeks ago, we saw 3.5 feet of snow fall in Chilliwack and now we are asking for more blankets in an equatorial country.  #classiccanadians

Yesterday was a day to serve with our hands and today was a day to serve through relationship. Our grade 12 construction crew worked on the shelving for Cayo and 3 boys worked on the bridge at YWAM with Jeff from 10:00-1:30. Other than this, our students spent the full day at Cayo Christian Academy building friendships.

Our morning started with a drive to Spanish Lookout to pick up our hot dogs for the lunchtime feast. We arrived at camp and dove right into our chapel.  Cayo Christian School welcomed us and sang their school song and then our students led a fantastic chapel.    We sang Amazing Grace and Oceans and then two of our students prepared mini-sermons/testimonies.  Anna shared about her love for soccer but also talked about how blessed she has been when she has given up soccer to spend time with God.   She connected so well with the 147 students from Cayo and our 32. 

After Anna spoke, Luke shared his story for over 15 minutes.  Luke spoke with authenticity and vulnerability.  All eyes and ears were completely focused on him.  He had the crowd on the edge of their seats and there were many misty eyes, It was definitely one of the best messages for male youth that I have ever heard.  I don’t feel I can dive into his story through type, but I relistened to his closing from a recording and was able to type it out.  I share this with Luke’s permission.

“I love God and I am hoping that he continues to weave all of my mistakes, bad decisions, good decisions, and accomplishments into some kind of organized chaos that is His plan for me. I hope for everyone to come to know his peace and realize there is hope, Because of some crazy awesome amazing miracle, I found it.  Now I am in Belize sharing my testimony, that is pretty cool, and I hope to do some more travels and experience different cultures, but more so develop a deep loving relationship with my heavenly Father along the way, and learn even more about the everlasting joy that comes with it. Sometimes we have to brought to our knees before we understand God’s grace and before we find a genuine need to invest or all in him. That’s my story”.  sound of mic dropping and a massive applause.

Thank you Anna and Luke for your awesome messages.

From 10:00-12:00, we ran our sports camps.  This went so well; it was hard to stop at noon for hot dogs.  The kids were organized and excited to build relationship through play.  We ran stations of football, skipping, basketball, kickball, and volleyball. 

At lunch, we had the hot dog feast that our students raised funds for.  Cayo Christian Academy was excited about the feast.  Glass bottles of coke, sprite, and Fanta were readily available to quench our thirst from the Belizean sun.  It is very cool that we can feed over 200 people well or under 200 dollars. On Monday, we hope to feed 400.

After lunch, we had our biannual Unity vs Belize soccer game.  There was some trash talking before chapel as Belize wanted the championship belt back.  The game started as a defensive battle, with limited scoring chances on either side.  D. Both and Luteyn put up a wall in front of team captain, Leiper.  Unity managed to get a couple looks on counter attacks and through their flashy play on the wings, but only managed 1 early shot on the formidable Belizean keeper.  The best scoring opportunity came when wing, Visser found center-mid, Campbell, who placed an impeccable pass to striker S. Kooyman.  Kooyman narrowly missed the net to the displeasure of the Canadian fans. VanDyk was a bright spot for the Canadians, utilizing Frayn, Visser, and Koning on the wings.   Near the end of the half, the Belizean striker finally broke through the brick wall that was Canadian keeper Leiper and put one through the net in the top corner.  In the 2^nd half, the pace of play slowed down due to some strategic substitutions.  In the 58^th minute, Rauwerda subbed Campbell in an attempt to inject some energy and in an attempt to stabilize Unity’s lacking set pieces.    Unity had several opportunities to score, led by the excellent push from L. Zanberg, Luteyn, and Bruneski, but to their dismay, the 3 Canadian female strikers (Driesen, C.Kooyman, and Jongerden) were possibly distracted by the reasonably attractive defensive players from Belize.  Several scoring chances were missed because of laughter and chit chat between the 2 countries.  A late goal by the Belizeans sealed Canada’s fate as they fell 2-nill. J. Zandberg came in as a late sub and tried to rally the team through a physical style, event though he should have received 3 red cards at minimum. The loan bright spot on this cloudy game was the excellent camera work by Demian who meandered through the teams during play and picked up footage that will help the Canadians seek to win their belt back in 2019.

After the match, we closed in a small chapel with Cayo Christian Academy.  Three of our students (Charmain, Shae, and Devan) and 3 Belizean students each spoke about something they enjoyed about the day.  For the Belizean students, it was the hot dogs, sports, and laughter.  For the Canadian students, it was the recognition that students at Cayo Christian in Belize are so similar to students from Unity Christian in Chilliwack.  Granted, 90% of the students are sponsored to attend the school and most of the students likely have less than most of our students. However, our two Christian Schools merged for one day and we celebrated Christ together in sport, friendship, food, laughter, and togetherness.  It was a fantastic day.

Mark Huberts Construction crew completed 12 bookshelves.  They were appraised at 7200 US dollars when completed and only cost 2000 US dollars to build.  The students were excited to hear this and we did talk during devotions about how building would be such an employable skill in Belize.  Jeff Vermette's group did great work on the bridge into the YWAM base and still wants to find a few hours to make it even better (so awesome).

On the way home we made a quick visit to the Art Box and then a quick stop by a grocery store.  One of our chaperones exclaimed that he didn’t realize how much candy high school students eatJ At least it is Belizean/Mexican candy.

Before we had dinner, we had an hour to cool down in the creek. Some of the kids from the YWAM Camp, Javon, Zylan, Tractor, and Reed joined us. 

This leads back to my opening.  Our devotions tonight provided a chance for our students to thank Anna and Luke for their willingness to share their praises and struggles.  It was also a cogent chance to reflect on vulnerability, surprise blessings, and on relationship.  Students were challenged to keep Cayo Christian Academy in their prayers.  Cayo has seen a decline in enrolment and has asked Unity to pray for them as they continue to try to serve the Lord in Belize.  This is a fantastic prayer item.

Our students have really stepped it up on this trip.  The boys that led devos tonight led with afaith-filled confidence (as did our chapel leaders this morning). In general, all of our students have exceeded expectations in attitude, leadership, confidence, and team-building.  I overheard a couple of students talk about how they are all becoming friends when they never talk at school.  These past two days have been beyond exception.

Tomorrow, the students can sleep an hour later and we head out for our zip lining and cave tubing day. 

Please do keep sending messages, the kids love it when I read them out during our meeting timesJ