Kids, Carrots, and Cake

Hello from Belize! I cannot believe we have finally made it to our last stop on our six month adventure. We are actually going to be staying in two different areas while we are here which will make time go even faster! All of us are definitely loving it here, but it's also hard not to be excited about going home since we are so close. (May 16th marks 47 days until we get to go home.) Right now, we are in a little town called 7 Miles. You can try looking it up but you will be lucky to find anything about it. It's very small! But we are kind of enjoying isolation for a moment. A lot of the families here are farmers so our days are filled with different agricultural activities. I've become a professional peanut picker!

Currently I am living with Raymon, his wife, and 5 out of their 10 children (everyone has very big families here). From day one, I have definitely felt welcomed as family. We got to our new home on May 4th, which was a day before my birthday. So while we were talking with our family, they asked how old we were and the fact that the next day was going to be my birthday was brought up. My mom instantly got super excited and told me she was going to make a very nice dinner for me. On my birthday morning, I woke up to the sound of all my new siblings walking past my door saying "Audrey. Hey Audrey. Happy birthday!" Then later, we went carrot picking with our dad and a couple of our brothers. I have a whole new appreciation for salads. I also got a very weird sunburn on my back from bending over to pick the carrots. Just my luck! I got to eat my yummy delicious dinner and was very satisfied with how my day had been. Then, one of my older brothers came back in our truck and pulled out a birthday cake!! I was so shocked and happy! These people had only known me for a day and went out of their way to make sure I had a wonderful birthday. And our family's kindness and generosity has not stopped since then!

Our host family has a little truck so we get to go on field trips all the time. Sometimes it is to go visit family, sometimes it's to get groceries. So this last Wednesday, Rachel and I were picking peanuts and our dad came and asked if we wanted to go into town with him and his wife. We said sure thinking we were going to one of the little towns only a few minutes away. But an hour and a half and a car ferry later, we reached the town of Spanish Lookout. The first thing we did was get some food from a restaurant called "Dis da fi wi chicken". (If you figure out what that means, can you let us know?) But they had barbecue sauce! It's the little things like get us really excited. Then we went in and out of various farming necessities stores. Rachel and I would walk around in amazement at all these stores had. It's funny how small stores and little towns have become our norm. I'm just trying to imagine how overwhelming a mall is going to feel when we get back!

So since this is our third and final stop, here is a list of some things I have done in every country:

- I've had fresh coconut in every country! Belize coconuts have the best tasting coconut water but I liked the inside part of the coconut best in Haiti
- I've held baby animals (baby bunny in Haiti, puppies in Jamaica, and kittens in Belize)
- I've had a bagged drink in every place. In Haiti, all our water came in bags. Jamaica had very tasty and sugary bag juice. In Belize, they pour the soda out of the glass bottle into bags with straws so that the bottles can be recycled
-I've also had a coke in every country! They really did taste slightly different but that may have just been in my head
- Our team has celebrated a birthday in every country!
- I've had an outside shower in all but one of my host homes. It does make you feel rather vulnerable but I am going to kind of miss bathing in nature
- I've tripped and scraped my knee in every country. Those of you that really know me will not find that unbelievable at all
- I have been very spoiled by my host families :) In Haiti, I would get my own little bowl of hot dogs when she made fish because she found out I didn't really like seafood. In Jamaica, we got a deliciously big fruit plate every morning with breakfast. Here in Belize, we get cookies or a little snack every time we go on a road trip which has happened a lot

One Bible story I read recently that has really stuck out to me is found in 1 Kings 17. It begins by introducing Elijah and his message to King Ahab that it would not rain from quite a while. So first, God told Elijah he needed to go hide for a bit but not to worry because God was going to send ravens to bring Elijah food to eat. I have never been instructed by God to put my faith in a bunch of birds but I imagine that took great confidence that they would continue to come back. Then, God told Elijah to move to a town where someone would take of him. Elijah met a widow and her son with not a lot of ingredients to make bread. Definitely not enough to feed 3 people for an extended period of time. But she believed that God would continue to provide. But she must have had some doubt because God allowed her son to become sick almost to the point of death. Elijah cried out to God to heal her son and He did! Then the widow said she really believed Elijah was who he said he was. But I got to thinking, who needed God to show up the most? Did the widow need to be reminded that God will provide food even when it seems like she has nothing left? Did her son need to be tested to literally the point of death so that he would remain faithful to God for the rest of his life? Was it a test for Elijah for God to see if he was someone He could depend on to do His work? I don't think there is just one answer. I think God places people in our path because we need to learn something from each other. He pushes us so that we have unshakable evidence that even when it seems all hope is lost, He has been and will always be there.

Final Thoughts About Jamaica

We left Jamaica yesterday to begin our journey to Belize! We are all very excited for Belize and all of the newness and unknown it brings with it. But how do you leave the place that has been your home for 8 weeks? How do you say goodbye to a community that has welcomed you with open arms and treated you like one of their own? How long do you have to look outside at the scenery to guarantee you will never forget what every tree looks like? The memories I have made from Catadupa, Jamaica are ones I hope to carry with me for the rest of my life. And if God blesses me so, I have been promised a bed and meals from several new friends if I ever return to Jamaica.

One real cool thing that happened this week occurred at our last Tuesday night church service. I felt the presence of God there stronger than I had since we had been there. The church we were a part of has a Pentecostal background and they just seem to understand more about the power of the Spirit than any other church I have attended. At first it was pretty intimidating not because it was weird but because I didn't really understand it. But that last night, we all opened ourselves up to the Spirit. Our group showed a new vulnerability in our worship that we hadn't really let ourselves express yet. We were singing and praising and praying harder and more genuinely than I had seen us do so far. But my favorite part was when Pastor Gordan invited us to the front so the church could pray over us. The craziest thing was it didn't feel like we were a visiting group that they were praying for before we left. It felt like our church was sending us off. It was then I really realized. We were more than just visitors. We were truly family. A family not defined by DNA, but one designed by God.

Our last week in Jamaica was full of assisting another group with one of their projects. It was fun because it gave us a chance to interact with the other group and share our experiences with them but it also caused our last week to slip away faster than we were expecting. Our last night there, some of our host moms hosted a party for us with cake and other yummy treats! My current host mom surprised us also with a last dinner of fried chicken, french fries, and pepsi. It was a little funny how American our last dinner in Jamaica was but she really was so happy to make it for us. It was too cute!

So recently I have been reading through Psalm because let's be for real, it's a pretty awesome book of the Bible. The one that has stuck out to me most recently is Psalm 19:1-6 which I won't quote but you should totally grab your Bible and look it up. Spoiler alert: it's about creation. The way the author describes it is so beautifully poetic. The same wonder and awe he feels looking out at the world is very similar to how I am starting to feel about it. I haven't ever really been a huge outdoorsy person, but this trip is starting to change that. God didn't just give us things we need to survive. He gave us things to enjoy! He gave us a world full of mystery and wonder. And the coolest part is, we don't have to do anything to maintain it. We just get to sit back and give God praise for the beautiful world we have around us.