Day 3 – Saturday – Local School, Pastor’s Meeting, & Boys Country Club

Each day we drive past the school in Camalote Village going to and from our camp. We could tell from the road that the learning conditions at the school were less than optimal and definitely were not a priority during Covid lockdown. We were able to get in touch with the principal of the school and get a tour of the facilities. Our pastor was able to have a discussion and make plans for ministering to these children when we return in the future.

While we were in the area, we arranged to have someone come and mow the grounds of the school. The grass was over a foot tall in most places, but groundskeeping certainly doesn’t make it into the nearly non-existent budget. The principal and locals were so grateful for what seemed to us to be a small gesture of goodwill.

Pastor Association Meeting

The three men in our group were able to attend the local pastor association meeting with Pastor Floyd (pastor of Camalote Baptist Church). In this small meeting of pastors, it was evident that they have been longing for someone to encourage and renew their spirit of leadership.

These pastors have not been able to meet with their congregations until just recently and they do not have the resources to provide virtual church in the ways that we have known. For two years, these pastors have been navigating how to pour into their communities spiritually as well as trying to find ways to teach others the Gospel of Christ.

With this information, we were able to plan for our next trip to include a team of pastors to come and share resources, insight, and encouragement with the local pastors of Belize. Some of these pastors worry about how they will be able to provide for their families from week to week as well as trying to make sure the funds of the church will at least cover the utility bills each month.

While the men were out, the kids and I spent some quality time with Ms. Ethel at the camp and in the community.

We were able to bless a local family with some new clothes for their children. We looked at some needs in homes around the community. We visited a local man whose house had burned the day before. Our church was blessed and able to provide the funds to help some of these situations and arrange plans for the work to be done.

Boy’s Country Club Fellowship

The guys ordered pizzas for lunch and took them back to Derrick and Esther’s house to have lunch with the boys and girls of The Boy’s Country Club. They were able to fellowship and hang out with the guys.

Justin had to prove his basketball skills to the boys in the 100-degree temperatures!

The kids and I stayed at camp so I could make them rest for a little while. All of the running around began to catch up with Joanna! I basically had to force her to take a nap. When she finally fell asleep, she slept for three hours!

Visiting with Andre

In the evening, we drove to visit our friend, Andre. We had already visited with him nearly every day since we arrived, but we wanted to go to see him before we left the next day. Andre has a servant’s heart and is an instrumental part of how our church is able to make a difference in Belize. For any building projects that we have done in the community, Andre is there leading the way. He sees the needs on a daily basis. He knows he can call on us and we know that we can call on him.

We walked just a little piece from Andre’s house to visit the site where another Georgia pastor friend of ours has plans to build a missions camp. I look forward to watching this opportunity grow as well!

This is the future home of Tree By The Water Ministries led by Pastor Dudley Cook.

Andre’s son chopped open a fresh coconut for Judah to try the milk. He wasn’t really a fan, but at least he can say he tried!

Read about day 4 of our trip to Belize!

SIGN UP WITH YOUR EMAIL SO I CAN MAKE SURE YOU NEVER MISS A POST!