Travel Day!

June 13, 2013

Thought a lot about the responsibilities I left behind, the biggest being the beginning of the Flea Market collection for our festival.  I left it in my co-chair's hands knowing full well she (and the other's who signed up) could handle it.

We left our hotel on the 4:30am shuttle, thankfully. (although David thought we shouldn't leave until the 5am shuttle...) The line to get our luggage checked wasn't too bad, but the security line was very long.  We stopped to grab breakfast and before we knew it we were boarding the first leg of our flight to Belize.  It was a very fast flight to Miami.  In Miami, we had time for a short sit-down lunch and then loaded up for the second leg to Belize.

I had the opportunity to sit next to the window on the second leg.  The views were awesome!  The couple sitting next to me were from the Waco, Texas area.  I enjoyed listening and talking with them.  They were there vacationing and told me that the next 7 days were the "lobster" season of Belize.  They were excited for us and prayed that we would have a fantastic trip.

After getting off the flight on the tarmac, we were greeted to the sun and humidity.  Honestly, it made me homesick for my home and family in Oklahoma.  The airport was recently "air-conditioned", but wow, not much difference inside than out.  Going through customs was pretty easy for Pat, Barb and I, but David had a whole adventure trying to get some walkie-talkies and an Ipad mini through.  I was asked why I had microscopes in my bag and when I explained they were for a school the reply from the guard was, "thank you for taking care of our students".  That was a great way to start the trip!  :)  David had the walkies confiscated and the Ipad was literally written about in his passport.  It had to come out the same way in went in... unopened.  We could pick up the walkies on the way back through customs when we returned in the airport.  The Ipad was for Fr. Leo and we were concerned about not being able to leave it with him.  (more to come on that story)

After all of that we left through a big swinging door to the country of BELIZE.  Ted (or Teddy as was his nickname) picked us up on the other side of the doors.  He had a sign that read "Deacon David and guests" or something like that.  We loaded into his minivan and were off.  We made a couple quick stops to pick up a lunch for him (he offered to us, but we gratefully declined) and some water (which we realized had been opened so we didn't drink it).  The water bottle most likely had been reused, so although we bought it at a store, we thought better of drinking it.

Ted was amazing.  He was full of historical facts.  I wish our students (including myself) were able to share our history like that....  He was also a very faithfilled man.  He desired nothing but to do the will of God.  He attended an Evangelical Church and was so happy to hear we were doing mission work in his home country.

The poverty there was incredible, but the happiness was even more amazing!!!

We arrived at Windy Hill Resort to a refreshing glass of fruit punch and a coconut with a straw.  Both were very good and appreciated.  We moved our stuff to our cabanas (Barb and I to 17 and David and Pat to 16).  We had dinner, swam, relaxed and formed a plan of attack for the next day.  Barb and I tried to sleep without the AC on, but decided that we should not do that again.  Just too humid....