Asbury Church

Our staff are anxiously waiting to welcome Asbury Church back home to Belize! We look forward to a week of reunions, welcomes, and miracles. We are expecting God to do GREAT THINGS!

We have arrived in Belize! Customs was GREAT and now we are checked in to our home for the week in OW. We're heading off to dinner with Pastor Angel and his family at church. We'll post more pictures later! Keep praying for God to do GREATER things than we can imagine!

While enjoying a delicious dinner that was clearly prepared with lots of love, we had the opportunity to connect with old friends. It was great to reunite with some of our Belizean brothers and sisters. We are so excited to see how God is going to use us this week. We are expecting miracles! Please continue to pray for humble servant hearts and for God to be glorified in all we do!

What a great kick-off to our week! Sunday School was a blast this morning, starting with an entertaining skit teaching the children about Moses and the burning bush (Ted made a great Moses while Linda loved the part of the fiery bush!). We loved reconnecting with some familiar kids as well as beginning relationships with some new faces! Almost 40 kids showed up, more than any previous year! The love of our Creator is so apparent in the smiles and hugs of the beautiful children of Orange Walk. Pray for our Bible school ministry as we kick off tomorrow, hoping to love on as many kids as possible!

The kids love coloring with Miss Emily!

Tonight we were blessed to join Pastor Angel and the El Buen Pastor congregation in their main church service of the week. After a Spirit-filled time of praise music in both Spanish and English, Linda shared an incredible testimony of God's work in a trouble young man she and a few others met earlier during the day. Please join us in praying for this young man to know and experience God's unconditional love for him, and be free from his current addictions and struggles. Pastor Harold gave an inspiring message on Moses, encouraging us all to listen to and obey God's call without fear of being inadequate or unprepared. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!

One new ministry we have gotten involved in this year is food ministry. Many families are in need of basic food ingredients and other bare essentials but don't have the income to secure these resources. Today we organized supplies for twenty families in Orange Walk. This is a crucial time for this ministry, as food prices have doubled in recent weeks due to large amounts of rainfall. Josh also shared with us that there has been a major labor dispute in the sugar cane industry, leaving large numbers of families without their primary income. We are so thankful that God is using us to bless these families and help provide for them during such a difficult time. Later in the day, we also traveled to Caledonia, a village north of Orange Walk, to distribute around thirty-four food packages there. This ministry is a HUGE blessing to so many families!

Monday evening was spent in Caledonia, a village of about 2,000 people north of Orange Walk. Words cannot express how overwhelmed we all were by the amazing hospitality and love we received upon arriving at the Full Gospel Church run by Pastor Rosara. Pastor is an incredible woman of God, and her obedience to His call for her life and for every person of Caledonia was evident in every word she spoke. She shared how God had spared her life, her vision for the church, and her love for Caledonia. Many tears were shed as she thanked God for bringing our team and showing her that God had not forgotten about their village. We felt so blessed to have made this connection with the Pastor and her church, and their humility and love will forever be imprinted in our minds. After being served one of the best meals we've ever had, we were able to visit many families and distribute the food packages we had sponsored. Our time spent in conversation and prayer was life changing. Please pray for the people of Caledonia and the hardships they face, and that God would continue to pour HIs blessings and love over them.

We are so thankful for our relationship with Pastor Rosara! God's love and glory shines through her!

VBS has definitely been a highlight of our week! The smiles and hugs of these beautiful children just melt our hearts! We have loved playing games with them, making all sorts of crafts, singing songs, and teaching them more about God. Pray that these kids will feel the love of their Heavenly Father in a real and personal way through us this week!

Our team has been pouring all of their sweat and love into our construction projects. We are helping finish the roof of the second story addition to El Buen Pastor, which will be a space for the children's ministry. We are also helping Gladys and her son and daughter with their home. This family is very dear to our hearts, and we are so eager to help them improve their living conditions. They currently live in a small shack with cardboard and sheets for walls (extremely problematic with all of the rain Belize gets). Stay tuned for updates and pictures of our progress!

What an amazing time checking out the Mayan Ruin site Altun-Ha! Anne Marie was the best tour guide we could have asked for, teaching us a lot about the ruins while always keeping us smiling!

Here you see the girls soccer (football in Belize) and basketball team from Louisiana Government primary school. We were able to bless the team and their coach with these practice shirts as well as some new soccer balls! We had a great time hearing about their recent wins and their passion for their sports!

Here is a before picture of Gladys' house (with a little start on construction). God has broken our hearts for this family.

Here is an "after" picture of Gladys' home. We worked hard to improve their living conditions and bless Gladys and her kids, Dennis and Myrka.