Wonder Voyage 2010 Summer Blog

“The bridge is always opens” were the parting words sincerely spoken from Santiago Valencia, the director of our trip’s host. This phrase is weighted with meaning. The first is an obvious pun that plays off the 1,000 foot entrance bridge that spans the (Iguana occupied) creek surrounding the camp; an early indicator that we weren’t in Texas anymore. The second is a invitation to come back — an unspoken approval of our time and purpose in Belize. The last, is more subtle, but it’s a general invitation to be active in our faith. The bridge to serve Christ is always open, whether it’s to Belize, our nearest homeless shelter, or our next-door neighbor. Sometimes it takes seeing the mission field outside of our immediate context to see the bridge is open all around us.

When we are children, obedience generally emerges from the love and trust that we have for our parents. Things change a lot during adolescence, however, and quite often obedience during the teenage years springs more from the framework of ‘it’s the right thing to do’ than from love. Young people taking charge of their own faith journeys commonly question and challenge what they have always trusted and obeyed.  As we mature into adulthood, obedience springing forth from love generally returns.

Our St James youth are centering in on loving obedience here in Belize. As their hearts and minds focus more and more on loving, serving, and worshipping a loving God, their times of service become more fruitful. As they think and pray more deeply about God place in a purpose for their lives, their adult leaders are watching them transform…

On July 13^th, 11 pilgrims left the parking lot at 3 am from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Southington CT bound for Belize with great anticipation. The title of our pilgrimage was “If you seek Christ you will find him”.  Each day afforded us new opportunities to get closer to God and each pilgrim came home touched in different ways. The first day our trip had a diversion (Belizean term for detour) as our connecting flight from Miami to Belize was canceled. We later found out this was the first time in Wonder Voyage history that a flight was canceled on a team.  The next flight was not until the next morning.  After re booking, getting hotel and meal vouchers and connecting with Jason our director we were off to spend the afternoon in Miami.

Day 2 we arrived in Belize.  Jason shuffled our itinerary a little so we spent the day in Belize City at the Belize museum and St. John’s Cathedral.  We wanted to go into the Cathedral but there was a funeral service inside so we just walked the grounds.  The service was for an 8 year old boy that had been shot 7 times and was caught in the crossfire of a gang war.  As we approached the small but beautiful building we heard familiar comforting music, “Is it I Lord” coming out of the windows.  They had a Peace Pole just like the one in our Memorial Garden so we gathered around it for a group photo.

Our host family was wonderful and taught us about their calling to be missionaries and the work they have been doing for the 10 years they have been in Belize. They started a library for local kids and now have expanded to opening a preschool and after school program.  The Learning center was funded with monies from children’s mite box donations from a Catholic church. It is amazing how penny by penny you can change lives.  We spent a day putting on a carnival for the children from their Learning Center, knowing we made 50+ kids happy for one day meant the world to our team.  Seeing poverty at this level was eye opening for all of us.  We played bean bag toss, parachute games, relay races, slip and slide and sponge tosses. To these kids, a hot dog, bag of chips a cookie, and an afternoon playing games was such a treat.  We will keep the big smiles and memories etched in our hearts forever.

During the week we climbed to the top of Mayan ruins, learned about the Mayan culture, went tubing in a Mayan cave, tasted the local termites-(taste like mint with a carrot aftertaste) and numbed our mouths with all spice leaves.  We jumped off cliffs, and swam in a creek in the jungle. We worshiped at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church and met Episcopal priests that had just taken a J2A group on a pilgrimage to Belize and had returned for vacation.  The day that left the most lasting impression on all the pilgrims was our day at Goff’s Caye.  It is a little island off the mainland with nothing but a few picnic tables, a barbecue pit and a shelter.  We went snorkeling and swimming in the most beautifully clear water in the Caribbean.  We found so many of God’s creations under that water.  We all felt we were visitors in another world.  You could hear the coral crackling as it swayed with the water, the fish were playing and the stingrays were swimming so gracefully.

We left on this pilgrimage with a group of great teens ending one phase in their Journey to Adulthood.  This team has lived as a community before on retreats and mission trips. This journey however afforded them experiences to bond closer and help each other over their fears whether it be of heights, dark places, trying new things or just helping with a leg cramp or the effects of the climate. We returned with a group of amazing gifted teens that are full of Christ’s love.  We searched and we did find Christ.

The student ministry from St James Episcopal Church in Dallas has arrived safely in Belize this afternoon. For many members of the team, this is the first time to travel outside of the US. It will be a week of firsts for many of them… first time to use a passport, to go through customs and immigration, the first time in a tropical climate.

Day by day these students will experience new sights, sounds, smells, and tastes. Day by day they will immerse themselves more deeply into the Belizean culture. Day by day we pray they will also come to see the people of this beautiful country as fellow children of a loving God. The adventure begins!

Day 3 of our pilgrimage brought us to a river crossing where we had to board a hand-cranked ferry to continue onto our destination, Xunatunich, the ruins of a ancient Maya civilization.  When we arrived at the ruins, we came across the first building that seemed nothing more than a mere platform with a few small walls about 3 foot, and to be honest, we weren’t that impressed.  They got bigger as we went along, until we reached that main structure that sat upon a hill overlooking the city and countryside, and even aloud us a glimpes into the nearby country of Guatemala.  We had a great guide that we could tell had a passion for his job as he told us of the history and culture, he even let us try a bit of all spice leaves (which Megan referred to as Old Spice), which was used as a numbing agent for toothaches.  After the ruins, we headed to a local swimming hole to cool off from the very hot and humid Belize.

Today, our theme was “Giving Back”, so we headed to the In His Will Learnig Center for a carnival day for the local kids.  We prepped about 100 hotdogs and set up all kinds of games, including a slip-n-slide and water ballonds to help keep the kids cool. It started out with about 15 kids but once the word got out, we had nearly 50!  Once the kids were feed, we all headed out and teamed up at game stations to help run the games and try to maintain some order but it didn’t matter if the kids followed the rules or not, everyone had a great time.  It was amazing to see how all the kids were so thankful for us being there. In our eyes, what we provided did not seem like much, but to them, it meant the world.  After playing with the kids, we cleaned up and headed into town for some amazing ice cream.  Not only was the ice cream a great treat but so was the air conditioned shop it was served in (we are still not sure which was more of a treat).  We concluded the day with a great dinner and then devotions, and now it is time to head to bed because we have to be up at 6am tomorrow for an adventure that Jason, our Wonder Voyage guide, won’t tell us about.