Recess is the Best Word Ever!

What a great mission trip so far -

Belize is a beautiful country - the beauty begins with the physical surroundings and is then reflected back in the people.

We have been working in a village called Corrazal, which is 20 minutes from the Mexican border. So - the people here speak Spanish, as well as English - which makes things very interesting! Our days are spent getting up (early!), having breakfast at the hotel (delicious bacon!), and then walking about a mile down the road (right along a big, beautiful bay) to the school.

The children are all in their classrooms as we work in a new "addition" to the school - we have been doing some priming and painting of ceilings and walls....at 9:30, there is recess - and when the children have recess, so do we. We drop our tools and rush outside to play with the kids - we have soccer, football, basketball, frisbee, Duck Duck Goose, and photography sessions with our cameras.

The children are extremely outgoing and friendly - they love to run up to you and just throw their arms around you for giant bear hugs - or they sneak up behind you and do a surprise tickle attack.

Morning recess is about 30 minutes - and then darn it - the bell rings - and the kids head back to the classrooms, and we head back to work.

Lunch is at noon for us - and we head over to the Pastor's house where a delicious lunch awaits us. Yesterday, it was rice and beans, which is considered a staple of the Belizan diet. Today, it was beef and mashed potatoes - yummo!

Lunch is an hour for us - and so we eat quickly so we can join the children (again) on the playground...they have lunch from 11:30 to 1:30, as some of them go home for lunch.

In the afternoon, it's back to work - until afternoon recess at 2:30. Afternoon recess is a very short 10-minutes, which goes by in a flash.

We wrap up work around 4:00 or 4:30 each day - and then walk back to the hotel - hot, dirty, sweaty, covered in paint, and surrounded by the love of the children.

The fellow missionaries from Kearney UMC are absolutely wonderful - we couldn't ask for a better group of 14 people. I love the nightly devotions in which we sit in a circle and share our thoughts - it has brought our group so close....

I hope to post more later - our days are so full, and time is short...pictures will follow....!

Posted by Sherri Odell