Power in the Cross

During my third week in Belize, my team was holding a Vacation Bible Study.
On one of the VBS days, they made a square with tape and then poured baby powder across the whole thing.
On one side was us, on the other side was God, and the baby powder was our sin.
Next, they told the kids to try and get to God without getting and "sin" on their shoes.

Well.
They jumped, skipped, hopping, tippee toed, and walked in others foot steps but guess what? They all had sin on their shoes.
Even the smallest amount of sin disqualified them from getting to God.
They soon realized that there was NO way they were going to get to God on their own.

The next day... my team brought in a cross to bridge the gap between us and God.
The cross was laid over our sin... and allowed the children to walk across without sin.
I found myself getting somewhat emotional as I watched every single one of the children walk across that cross.

As they were walking across, they may not have realized fully what this meant... but I know I did.

"Surely he took up our pain    and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.⁵  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." - Isaiah 53:4-5

By his wounds we are healed... by his sacrifice we are able to be with our Heavenly Father. 

We will never be able to get ACROSS with out A CROSS. 

Thank You Jesus. 

The Mayan Ruins

When I was in Belize, I was fortunate enough to go to three different Mayan Ruins!
Altun Ha, Lamani, and Xunantunich.
It was really cool to be able to see these old temples and ruins and imagine what life would have been like for these Mayan people...
of course I would never want to live like them... imagining was enough for me.

Its crazy to think that these temples are all SO far apart and yet the structures are all very similar in build.
It makes me wonder....
Aliens?
JK.

Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord

On my second week, I took my team to St Hermans Caves and the Blue Hole. Which looked more like a brown hole because of all the rain
It was super nice to relax and just cool off in the water. 
Two of the guys from this team were talking like Bear Grylls and pointing out the most obvious things like...


"look at this tree, it must have grown from the ground"
"look here at this puddle, this is the blue hole"
"be careful of the ants, they are extremely poisonous" 


It was really funny just joking around and pretending that they were my brothers. 


Once we were in the caves, we turned off all the flashlights and sang "Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord" in complete darkness. 


I really felt like this is song, in this setting, can relate to our lives as Christians. 
Sometimes, we feel like we are completely covered in the dark. 
We reach out, and we can't see or feel anything around us. 
That is when we have to sing, or pray, for God to open our eyes. Open the eyes of my heart Lord, because I want to see You. 


And as always, He is very faithful to provide and show us His light. 
Pslams 18:28 says, "You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; My God turns my darkness into Light". 
When we finished singing the song, we turned on our lights and looked around us. 
The surroundings were not scary, they were just unknown... until we turned our lights on. 


And even the dimmest light shines in the dark. 

Sarah.

On my second week in Belize, I was partnered with Sarah, a beautiful girl from North Carolina. 
This is also her first year being an Assistant Trip Leader and we hit it off right away!
God knew I needed someone to talk to... so He put Sarah on my trip. 
We are both in nursing school and we desire to do missions with that degree. So, it was awesome to see how God is working in both of our lives to mold us into godly women with a passion for Him. 


I know we will be friends forever.

God You are Beautiful

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE mountains. 
Mountains I feel, just have a sort of power and awesomeness in them that reminds me of Gods power and awesomeness. 


My second week in Belize was spent in Dangriga which is a coast town South of Belize City. 
To get there, we had to go through the mountains and over many many rivers. 
I sat in the front of the bus and was in AWE of the beauty. 
Everyone was making fun of me. Whatever. 
I see God in the mountains and that makes me happy. 


My week in Dangriga... was amazing. I will post more pictures and stories later. 
My team... had the fire and passion of God in them and I saw many lives changed because of that trip. Including my own. 
I also became very good friends with the other Assistant Trip Leader named Sarah.
She is from North Carolina and we will be friends forever. I know that for sure.  


Thank you God... for your beautiful gifts.  

Arlesha.

This little girl....is inspiring. 


Her mother gave her up when she was just a baby.
She has one little brother, no father, and a wonderfully amazing adoptive mother. 
and her heart and love for Jesus made me smile every time I saw her. 


Arlesha has hardly anything.
She shares a bed with her mom and lives in the scary part of town. But they have to sleep with their windows open so that the breeze can get in. 
They do not have a car so they have to rely on the church shuttle to get around. 


But...


She loves to dance for Jesus. 
She loves visiting orphans. 
She loves meeting new people. 
She loves going on home visits. 
and She loves her family. 


This week. She taught me how to love selflessly. I never thought a 10 year old girl could teach me so much. 

Hello Belize

I know. 

I have not blogged since I have been in Belize. 

Believe it or not... being on a mission trip is kinda busy!! haha

These pictures are from my first week here in Belize

and the first five are from when my first team held a Vacation Bible School at a School. 

It blessed by heart to see the Belizean kids falling in love with these teens from America. 

They were jumping on them

hugging them

kissing them

holding them

and smiling at them

However, the teens from America also fell in love with the Belizean children. I mean... how could they not? 

These faces are beautiful.
And they were made by God.

The last day we were there... 10th graders came to accept the Lord. 

TEN

That means ten more souls that will be in heaven with you and I. 

I love seeing the work of God first hand.... 

Our God is an Awesome God.