My First Trip to Belize, Part 1

Ah!  Where to even begin?  It was only one week, but I feel like I aged a lifetime in just a few short days!  It's interesting to me that one of the most defining moments of our trip happened on Sunday morning, when we were already back in Texas & driving to Beaumont to go pick up our children.   But, I will go in order so that you can experience the trip along with me!

I've shared with you guys before that I struggle with a lot of anxieties.  I have always struggled with occasional nervousness, even when I was younger.  Mainly before a band concert, or giving a speech in front of a class, etc.  But as I've gotten older and as certain life-issues have come up for me, I have struggled with anxiety to a level I didn't think I ever would.   So, Sunday night, after we dropped off the kids at Nana's house and we were driving back separately to Houston, I was a nervous wreck.   I am still nursing Baby Z, so that added to my stress of leaving him for a week.  But, I was really letting my fear take control of my thoughts, instead of letting God have the reins.  I think I cried and prayed almost the entire hour and a half back to our apartment.    God really revealed a lot to me concerning this area this week! 

The next morning, as Hubby and I were at the airport, I was really on-edge.  My stomach was a ball of nerves and I was rehearsing every worst case scenario in my mind.   Poor Hubby.  He did a good job keeping me calm while we boarded the plane and got in the air.  At one time, he even laughed, "Man, it was easier bringing Xav overseas than bringing you!"  

Our flight was quick and uneventful; the whole flight only takes 2 1/2 hrs from Houston.  So before I knew it, we were looking down at the prettiest coastline I have ever seen!   I could see the mountain ranges and the jungles below us as we came in for a landing, and it was so beautiful!  At that point, I relaxed a lot, knowing that we were finally there and that God had a plan for our week.

We got our rental car, our rental cell phone and hubby drove us out of the airport parking lot.  At that point, I had to trust that he knew which way to go and could drive us all over this foreign country.  Lol.   He kept reminding me, "Honey, there are only FOUR highways here, it's not that hard to find our way."  All I could think about was all that jungle growing right beside those highways, ha!    We stopped for lunch at a little Chinese restaurant (yes, Chinese), right outside of the airport before we got going on the road.  

And then, we were off! About 2 1/2 hours later, we were passing through a (very) small town and Dan saw the church building that the Glasgow Missions leaders have been building.   Let's call them Mr. J and Mrs. D.   J & D run the Baptist Camp that our church members stayed at last year.  He also pastors this small church and they have been working to get a building up and running.  Their vehicles were there, so we quickly u-turned and went back to say hello & let them know we were in the country for the week.   They were very excited to see us and even had an envelope of donated money for us to deliver to our friend Pastor Marcus.  It was a God-thing that we stopped, because they weren't going to be at their camp that day, and really had no way of getting in touch with us to let us know about the money!  They had a lot of good advice and words of encouragement for us about living in Belize.  I felt refreshed after seeing them and was glad to finally meet them.

We still had about 2 1/2 hours left to get to our village, so after about 1/2 an hour, we got back on the road, donation money in pocket.   Dan was so excited,because this money was what Pastor Marcus needed to finish building his church in the village of San Antonio.   The enormity of carrying around about $3000BZ wouldn't really hit me until we arrived in the village and I saw how much money that truly was to these families.

To be continued....