Anointed Tabernacle Church

Everyone made it!!!! Well Vincent came in a little late but we waited for him:) Today was an incredible day, I mean everyone is completely exhausted, but it has been amazing! As everyone arrived today we had 2 buses that were awaiting the arrival. We had one bus for the guys (driven by ours truly...Burt) and another bus to take the ladies to camp. So we split up our luggage, said our goodbyes and headed in our separate directions. The ladies were welcomed by a ton of the ladies from King's Park Church for the ride up to camp. They took about a 1 1/2 hour drive and arrived where they unloaded all their belongings, got in their rooms and all the while building amazing relationships with the ladies of the church. This is such an amazing opportunity that the Lord has crafted...He is so intentional! And for the guys, we headed into the city, got us some famous PEPPER'S PIZZA while we waited for Vincent:) Don't worry though, when he arrived he took care of his fair share! Then we headed over to Dorthy Menzies for a little while to see what exactly the projects were going to be. So listen to this...we are going to: Re-due the basketball court, make a volleyball court, but in 6 swings, repaint their play area they have, repaint the picnic tables, redesign their clothes hanging area, remove a huge tree stump, build a tree house (this is not small tree house either!!! This is the real deal), lay sand under the swings, put in a cricket area (game not the animal), and create a drainage area to prevent flooding in their activity building! So you can say we are going to be a little busy!!!! But busy for the LORD!!! All this to say, when we arrived at the orphanage, it was just overwhelming, seeing little faces that were familiar, and yes....a shout out to a couple people. Someone met Phillip! It really is love at first sight! It makes everything, all the hard work, all that has to happen to fundraise, all the prayers, it all comes together right in that moment when you see these little children. It comes down to wanting them to feel the Lord's love and giving them hope! So we actually played for a little while and left saying that we would see them tomorrow, bright and early! ***And if you can all pray tonight, we are hoping that some of the gifts that were brought will keep the kids inside for the most part so that we can do some intense work tomorrow....lol...you know, just so there is not little feet in the basketball court and we have to pull a child out*** And to top off the night, we went over to the church, and was able to be greeted by Pastor! Please also pray for Mrs. Maganya, she is in the hospital sick. We unloaded all of our bags, and gave a special gift to Pastor! And let me tell you, he was overwhelmed!!! The sound system sure took him back! Praise the Lord! Now...everyone...is...SLEEPING! The ladies probably are not, they are probably having their lady time...but the guys are for sure tucked away in their beds! Hope you all have a great night, keep the prayers coming, everyone says hi! They love you! And are excited for tomorrow!

I hope you can all see the pictures that were posted here... So I do not have as many updates from the camp with the women, because they do not have as many connections to us...but you can count on getting some full stories once they get back here!!! Everyone is doing well though, they actually and a pretty intense worship night by the campfire. They had some sessions this afternoon and just really have had an opportunity to build relationships with the women of Belize. The guys worked it hard today! We left for the orphanage this morning, and as we pulled up, the same question came to everyone...where are all the kids???!!!! Answer: They had all the kids inside awaiting our arrival so we could go to work and not have them out and about (for our safety and theirs). We had a couple trips around, but the Belize crew that came to work with us, brought huge tools, a cement mixer, welder, trucks of everything we needed over the course of the day! It was such a blessing to all work together and really accomplish! We got going hard with the swings, prep with the playground, sanding, and so much more. Everyone found their place and really took ownership giving all they had. It was really incredible to see transformations taking place, and all the while...children just sat by the door watching every move that was taking place outside that they could see. Eyes truly fixated on every pound of the hammer, every screw that went into wood, all the cement being mixed...just picturing themselves outside being able to use everything! I personally just want to say, for all of you that donated for this project (shout out to the youth as well) all the prayer that is behind this project, THIS PLACE IS GETTING BLESSED THIS WEEK....THESE KIDS ARE GETTING BLESSED THIS WEEK....AND IT IS ALL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!!!!! But that was the day, we WORKED...of course stopped for a short while to have some amazing lunch prepared by Ms. Maria...but then went right back to work. Tomorrow we will be having Sunday School, Church and then going back to the orphanage. We plan to finish the volleyball, do some painting, dig the trench, and build the tree house! Then we are going to come back for church at night. Please continue praying! Please pray for the words that will be spoken, for the worship that will will happen, for all who will be coming (including some of the kids from the orphanage). Please continue to pray for rewed strength and energy tonight, continued safety and the Lord's truth to be spoken. Love ya'll!!!!!!!! And miss you all!!!!!

Playground

Swings

Gifting the new sound system for the church!!!!

Starting to build the new swings

Everyone is help'n

On the new swings!

Rebuilding the basketball court/ volleyball court

I dont even think this picture needs words:)

First...want to apologize...I do not know why the pictures are not showing up...we are working on that though, and should be up soon! DAY 3!!!! It is hard to believe that it is only Day 3, glad it is because that means there are a lot more days left...but there has just been so much that has been accomplished, it seems like so much longer that we must have been here:) So being Sunday....we arrived for church and started getting set up for Sunday School. As everyone arrived, it was bitter sweet. We missed all of the women, but it was still a great morning at church. We had great morning of worship, was able to see a baptism, heard the message from Brother Lane, in addition to a couple testimonies. It was so exciting to see Pastor Maganya's excitement about everything! Oh, and I cant forget that we celebrated a couple birthdays with the famous birthday song...including Ryan's! After church Ms. Maria cooked us another tasty meal and we changed so we could go back to work! When we arrived, the crew had been going hard all morning getting projects done to help us. The basketball court had finished hardening, we got to put the volleyball posts in, the drain is being dug, we accomplished the new clothes line, painted the playground, and so much more! And you should have seen it....the kids were supposed to, very carefully, walk over to the activity building....well that was funny. As soon as the door opened the kids flung their little bodies out to the door and started jumping on the swings! It was crazy!!!! But really...crazy amazing and very exciting! After a busy afternoon, we went back for a quick shower before church that night. We heard from Brother Mickey and a few other's giving their testimonies. AND we did the game again, where we come up with facts about either Texas or Belize...then have the other team try to guess what is true and false. They LOVED this!!! And i believe we all learned a little that we did not know. As church ended and everyone was going home, we pulled Ryan in the back and was able to sing happy birthday to him again and he blew out the candles on his cake that everyone got him. Ok...and Ryan...he took care of the cake (lol, it was really good!) More updates to come with the women later today, want to hear from them and have them all share with you. The team is at the Youth Hostel right now, and we plan to all meet up with the women in about an hour!!!!! Love you all bundles!!!!

So all of our women game back today!!! All the women from Lakeside and Anointed as well as the women from King's Park. But before the women met us, all the men went over to the Youth Hostel and was able to spend time with the young men and women there. There were some familiar faces that we saw and had a really good time talking one-on-one. It was really hard being there though. Just seeing the young adults there...I believe the way they put it was..."the kids just do not have any hope." They did a program called "If I were 16 again," which had them talk to the kids about if they were 16 again, what they would do differently. It was really powerful and we pray that the seeds that were planted, for the seeds that were watered, that they would continue to grow and that God would be real to them. As we arrived to the orphanage for our teaching there on Anger Management, we were greeted by all the women from camp! And I will mention that one of our ladies was queened...royalty on behalf of Kings Park Church!!!! The women had a great time, but were also happy to be back:) The afternoon was quite the adventure, as we headed off to the Mayan Ruins. But we cant go to the Mayan Ruins without first stopping at Mayan Wells. We enjoyed the tasty, traditional Belize meal of stew chicken...we saw our long time friends (the monkey and croc). We climbed to the top of the ruins, we saw a tarantula, went to the pond and just really got the opportunity to see a lot of history and admire a different part of Belize of very incarnate design. On our way back to church that night we stopped for a quick shower (and I am telling you, those ladies were off that bus so fast!!!!!!) Off to the church we went, where Brother David talked to everyone about evangelism and went through a way to do it, why we do it and scripture to reference to. The church was full again with the ladies back, and even more men had shown up with the ladies back...lol. But it was a great time and it very much showed how much Pastor Maganya enjoyed it as well. He spent about 10 minutes stressing how important it was for us to use this, and to study it!

Waking up super early this morning, we got our coffee...and let me tell you...this crew is HARD CORE! Just picture this...coming out of the room, and women...with water bottles....filled full with coffee...it was so funny! At least I thought it was hysterical! But we got going and ran into traffic on the way to church this morning, where we were supposed to lead the assembly at the High School, but God be so faithful pretty much picked up our bus and placed it at the church exactly when it needed to get there. Praise the LORD! The assembly was great, and we cant start off without the SHAME OF THE WEEK! I will leave that detail out, so you can ask everyone what it was when they come back:) But we had a couple special presentations in addition to our program. We did "If I were 16 again" and these kids were truly captivated. Everyone who spoke just did an incredible job! And to close us off, we had a man come who was a friend of the principals. Ok, so you imagine a guy getting up to sing and puts on a guitar...you might imagine what he might sound like...BUT when you hear country...I MEAN HARD CORE COUNTRY come out...lol!!!! Our team, from Texas, their jaws dropped! They were HOME!!!! It was great, loved every minute. The afternoon, we had a crew go over and work at the orphanage, some go out prayer walking, checked out the art gallery, and divided up donations. And now everyone is at the nursing home. More, to come in a short while, including more pictures!!!

Construction

Cake!

Youth Hostel

So graceful...and you should have seen the one-on-one

Orphanage

The Team

Look at that pose

Getting ready for the night

Lets see you swing!

Control them Judith:)

School Assembly

It is incredibly hard having to say so many goodbyes. We woke up early yesterday to have the kids from Buttonwood Elementary come on over to the church for an assembly. There were over 200 little dumplings inside that we got to love on, sing with and talk with. Later in the day we went to a different nursing home in the city were we split up, got to talk with the adults and sung hymns withe adults there. It is really hard to be there, knowing that they do not get people coming to spend time with them very often. But praise God for the time that were able to have. We went back to the orphanage for one final time. I don't even know if I can attempt to put that into words. We did say our goodbyes though, and had our last final conversations with our specific children. We tried to pour as much love and encouragement into them that them would have! And to finish off the night we had a concert with the Heavenlies and had our final goodbyes with everyone at church. But it is different, since it is not goodbye but rather see you a little bit later. Snorkeling was great today, however we have a few lobsters with us now, but none the less, God is good and we are so thankful to see yet another part of God's splendor.