Belize

Hey faith family! Our team is officially almost home. We can’t wait to see our families and friends so that we can tell them all about the amazing things that God did while we were away.

The last three days were so full of amazing moments. Saturday we were able to finish the painting of the civic center, where Waves of Faith meets. We also hosted another worship night in the park. It was so fun to see the growth from our first Saturday worship night to the second. Students led a full set of worship in English and Spanish, then two students shared testimonies and another preached an amazing salvation message! The rest got to pray for so many of the adults and children that we had been building relationship with all week long. 

Sunday, we had our final worship gathering with Waves of Faith. We were able to share testimonies both from the stage and around dinner tables at the potluck they hosted for us. It was amazing to worship in the space where we had painted, played with kids, taught basketball, and led VBS. It was such an amazing completion of our time with this Faith family. 

Yesterday, our students had a much needed day off and got to snorkel, shop and experience a thunderstorm! We are tired, happy and ready to be home soon! 

Thank you for praying for us! We will be ready to share everything Jesus did when we see you Sunday!

We have had such a full and amazing last couple of days here in Belize. We’ve ended each day exhausted after hosting basketball camps in the morning and then VBS lessons in the afternoons. It’s been so fun to spend our mornings with other teenagers and then the afternoons with sweet kids. It’s been amazing to see how Jesus has gifted our team of students with so many skills and abilities that have served them on this trip. We have student athletes, drama students, singers and instrumentalists and so many other amazingly gifted students. It’s been such a testimony to Gods goodness and the care he took in putting this team together. When one student is struggling another has been so faithful to jump right in!

Over the last days, all of our teams have had the chance to teach a VBS lesson and most have been able to publicly share their testimony or pray with someone. Will you pray with us in these last few days that God will solidify what he is doing here. Will you also pray that he will speak clearly about what he is calling them to when they return home. 

Hey friends and family! We are still loving our time here in Belize and the work that we have been able to do. Today we worked on painting the civic center, where our host church meets every Sunday. We’ve been spending a lot of time there playing with kids during VBS, worshipping and playing basketball with local young people. It feels like our second home, which is what Pastor David said he wanted for us. As is always the case, we’ve come to serve, but this church is serving us so graciously.

We also got to continue our VBS lessons today and talked about Jesus calling each of us! Team 2 and loco Lisha did a phenomenal job of creating a fun place for these kids to encounter Jesus and we know tomorrow will be just as fun! 

We have seven days left! Will you pray with us over each student and adult serving here? We’ve talked so much about the idea of perseverance and having a heart willing to be interrupted by what God has for us. Will you partner with us in praying that we each come in contact with an opportunity to share all that Jesus would ask of us. We know that when we say yes, miracles will be on the other side. Just like our team member, Sabriel, got to experience today. He offered to pray for a little boy who was limping and when they finished praying the boy told him he had no more pain! Later in the day the same little boy was tearing around the basketball court playing with his friends! God is so good and we want to be available for everything else he has prepared for us! Thank you for continuing to pray for our team.

Our team is doing so well! As a leadership team, we have been so proud to see how they have been so joyful and willing to give all they have. Even in climates we aren’t used to in Fresno, we are still having so much fun together.

Today, we started our morning by working on different service projects. It’s been such a joy to spend so much time in the local community doing tangible jobs. People can hear our bus coming down the streets, due to all the very loud singing, and come out to wave at the team! It’s been so amazing to see that many of these people have then come to the civic center to participate in the different gatherings we’ve been hosting.

Today we also got to launch our first day of VBS. We talked with about 30 kids about how God Sees Them! One of our teams led them in dances, worship, a Bible story and fun games. It was so cool to see how the parents and the guys playing basketball down the court from us stopped to watch! We are praying that over the next three days so many kids give their hearts to Jesus and their parents also make that life changing choice!

Jesus is working through these students, and we can’t wait to share what he does tomorrow!

This morning we had the privilege of worshipping with our host church, Waves of Faith. Our worship team was able to lead in worship, then Zion opened us by sharing a passage of scripture and encouragement. We were so blessed to spend time learning from Pastor David about having an acceptable offering for the Lord. He taught our team that the only acceptable offering is our whole lives! It was a huge encouragement for us as we go into the next week of ministry.

After the gathering, their faith family blessed us with a home cooked pot-luck. We got to try traditional dishes like rice and beans, stewed chicken, and chicken feet ceviche. It was so fun to look around the Civic Center, where their church meets, and see tables of Chase Students mingled together with their faith family. This is such an amazing community with a huge heart of hospitality.

The greatest testimony of the day, was so many of the people who attended the church worship gathering last night, attended this morning! One of our students, Ryan, noticed a homeless man he had invited from the night before. He shared a meal with him and ultimately led him to the Lord!

Tomorrow, we are excited to be back at work sites in the morning, blessing the community and church members. Then in the afternoon, we will launch our first day of VBS. Pray with us that God uses us to touch the hearts of kids and in turn their parents! Thank you for continuing to pray for us to stay healthy and get good rest so that we can continue to have an amazing rest of the trip.

Our Belize team had such a full and amazing day! We started the day by visiting the Mayan Ruins and learning more about the culture and history of Belize. There may have been monkeys, and more mosquitos than any of us have ever encountered, but we still had the best time!

This evening we got to go back to the main park where our teams have been sharing stories and praying with people for a worship night. Our students led worship, prayed for people, and ministered to kids. Kayla and Joseph both shared their testimonies and talked about how God has been their comfort and healer. After sharing the whole evening shifted and so many doors were opened for them to begin praying specifically with those in the park. They were challenged and taken outside of their comfort zones, but God is using them and giving them boldness to be obedient to the call Jesus has placed on them! 

We are excited to worship tomorrow at Waves Of Faith and are praying for gatherings back at home!

Today was another amazing day as a team. We are so proud of how each student is rising to new levels of boldness and confidence. They served wholeheartedly today at each task they were given. We started our day by doing service projects again. We were able to clean and paint at two different community locations. Then we also had a team who built stairs for an elderly gentleman who was having a hard time moving in and out of his home. We were so proud of this team because they got so close with the man that they asked to go back after lunch so they could finish the job. While there they learned that he could really use a wheelchair and took it upon themselves to find one and bless him with it!

Later in the afternoon we had the opportunity to go back to the main park area and pray for people and invite them to a worship gathering tomorrow night. Many of our students were bold and prayed with people out loud for the very first time! 

After dinner, we were able to have men’s and women’s gatherings at the pastors home and many of our students shared their testimonies of how Jesus has been their hope, healer, rescuer and provider! We then got to hear from a few of the church families stories. God is unifying our two churches to see lives changed in this city! Will you pray with us that he moves in mighty ways tomorrow?

Today was the first full day on the ground in Belize and we had so much fun! After having the best breakfast, prepared by some of the amazing church ladies, our teams split up and got to work. Each team had the opportunity to serve at a different location. We had a team doing yard work for a single, elderly woman. Another team poured concrete and two teams cleaned and painted at separate locations. We loved talking about how we can be doing something physical, like cleaning, but also something spiritual at the same time! Our students were so intentional to pray as they worked and it showed in the fruit of relationships that they made with those we were serving.

After lunch, we split our team in half. One team went to a large park and did street evangelism. They talked with people, shared words of encouragement and prayed for so many! The other half of our team went to the grocery store and bought items for blessing bags that we will deliver to families in need later on in the week.

God is moving in our students lives and we know he will do even more tomorrow!

Faith Family, we made it safely to Belize! Thank you so much for praying for smooth travels. We are tired, but all made it to Belize and are so happy to be off an airplane and ready to start! As a team, our first experiences in this country has been such amazing hospitality.

After leaving the airport, we got to drive through this beautiful country and see where we will be ministering for the next days. We also got to meet the church we will be partnering with while we are here, Waves of Faith. Their Pastor welcomed our giant team to his home and fed us the most delicious meal prepared by the members of the church. We are now all set up in our rooms and ready for some much needed rest before we begin ministry tomorrow morning. 

Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus by participating in four service projects for families in the church. We will be painting, putting in wheelchair ramps and practicing  all of our vacation Bible school lessons in preparation for four days of kids camp! Pray that we would begin with energy and the heart of Jesus!

Team Belize made it to the airport and we can’t wait to get on our flight to begin our journey. After making it safely to LA we are all ready to begin our journey to Miami and then Belize. Pray for continued traveling mercies! So far each portion has gone so smoothly and we are so thankful. Will you also pray that we get some good rest on our flights because we will hit the ground running when we land!

We love you, Peoples Church! Can’t wait to share all God does in and through this team.