belize&guatemala!

for starters this blog is going to be very hard to write. no words can do this trip justice, but i'll try my best! man belize it was absolutly crazy and so much fun. God did wonders while we were there and there are no words to explain how wonderful he is. his majesty and power worked out some amazing things. so i'm going to give a shortened version of what w edid. i wish i could write more, but its hard to put it into words! so on thurday night we got on a plane to start out journey to belize. we flew to atlanta and decided to get some breakfast while we were there. you'd think that atlanta was warm right? wellp it wasn't. so we took marta. which is pretty much bart, but called marta in atlanta. all of us had our backbacks by our sides. in our backpacks were our passports, camera's and such. we all got off of marta and as we got off the doors closed. and we saw marta going before our eyes. and no joke a lady held up deej's backpack as it was leaving us. his backpack had his passport and a hundred other things he needed. but the passport was key. because without it, he wouldn't of been able to go to belize/guatemala. he thought that it wouldn't be that hard to get. well marta security was on it in a second. all of our stomachs were in knots. and we instantly held hands and prayed for his backpack to appear. we all thought it was the end of it when the backpack wasn't returned or foundw within a couple of hours. but to make the story short... the backpack was returned and delivered to the airport 30 minutes before our flights. we don't know who returned it, how they knew to return it to the airport or anything. TOTALLY answered prayer. it was crazy how faithful God is. what a miracle that is within its self! atlanta was a fun place to be. the restaurant we went to for breakfast was so cute. on the way back i tripped and ate the ground. probably one of the funniest things. cars stopped and laughed, pretty sad. i had a huge disgusting scar on my foot, but it was well worth it. annyways... so we returned to the atlanta airport and flew to belize city. flying into belize was so pretty. it was filled with trees and jungle. so exciting! man this is so hard to write haha. i can't give it justice. anyways we got off the plane and it felt like hell hit us in the face. hell as in heat. haha. but it was so exciting. totally different airport then we were use to. we waited in the belize city airport for our next flight to punta gorda. the plane we took was so small! it was so funny/scary! it held like 15 people. haha it was so funny. i sat infront of deej and sarah and they had such funny commentary. the whole time i couldn't believe i was in belize. it took months of preparation and we were finally there. we arrived in punta gorda. it was so hot and we were exhausted but so excited!!! we met up with Julia. Julia is a girl from our church who is 26. she has been living in punta gorda for the last 4 years. she has an amazing ministry in punta gorda called da wata fountin. we colllected our luggage and walked to the nazarene church, where we stayed in punta gorda. the church was run down and so dirty. but i loved it! we had bunks for the girls and guys. we slept on these littlle foam mattresses. jenna slept above me. the toiletes were gross but it was all good. cold showers, i loved. it would of been disgusting to even think about taking a hot shower. that night we walked around putna gorda to get the feel of it. we ate chinese food haha so random. punta gorda is filled with all different kinds of people. mayans, garafuna, and well others. but i just don't know the names haha. on saturday we did a scavenger hunt with the kids all throughout punta gorda. the scavenger hunt was to find different people that Jesus touched. the main goal was to find Jesus. also on saturday there was the market so it was supper busy on front st. for the scavenger hunt we were all divided up into teams. my team was jenna, ed, kristen... and oh man i already forget! we had the cutest little kids! its crazy what a different life style people in developing countries have. kids wonder all around teh streets. the kids we were with are called walk abouts. one of the key girls of my trip was jamika. LOVED HER. she is 5 years old and garafuna. garafuna is a mix of nigerian and costa rican people. i loved her so much. she lives in an abusive household where her mother is a prostiture and her dad is an alcholic. she has a 10 year old sister Jam, who is always at da wata fountin as well. she has a brother mikey, who is 7, whom i love just as much! her brother jermaine is always there too. hes a doll. and then she has a 16 year old sister who is always with a lot of boys. she never comes though. anyways saturday was a great time to spend with the kids and get to know them. we had to walk so much and we backed them so much. they always said back me. which meant hold me on our backs of shoulders. we loved it. but we were sooo sore. haha. i made charlie hold a ton of kids. man we got to know so many kids that i will never forget. each night there was such loud music! and they would always play don't matter by akon. haha i didn't even know that song until they played it probably 20 times during one devo. sunday was easter! we woke up at 4am to have easter service on the dock. we watched the sun rise! it was so beautiful. a girl played the guitar and we just worshipped. we had breakfast and the whole shabang. later on we went to the most beautiful caves i have ever been to in my life! we had to hike into them and it was rather hard since i wore flip flops haha but we got a lot of laughs out of it later. and let me just tell you.. i don't remember one time on the trip where we weren't laughing. there was always something to laugh about. we all had so much fun. when we got to the caves we swam in them. the more you swam into them, the darker it got. tim took some of us to swim into the dark of the cave. i felt like i was on pirates of the caribbean! i dont think i spelt that right, but oh well! haha. it blew me away to think that God created such a beautiful place. there weer waterfalls and we acted like mermaids. haha. i loved it. later that day we swam with the kids in PG. or maybe it was saturday i'm not sure. and clayton, jermaine, and some other boys put mud all over my feet and were massaging them. it felt amazing! then we sang and had worship. i cried like crazy! the kids were so pure, free, and just worshipping God. they were jumping around and it brought such joy to my heart to see them singing!
okay here is the point where i am goign to start shortening things haha because this could end up being an essay.
monday: dental clinic- steve chew, leah, conner, meghan, and i did hte dental clinic. me and meghan were in charge of flouride. keity was the only one who didn't like his flouride haha. so funny. every monday night da wata fountin has the night where all the walk abouts join together and meet. we had worship and gideon spoke. it was SOOOOOOO MUCH FUN. God worked in so many ways. we did our dramas. sin chair and that one drama that ryan pleau and lynsey macklin did a couple years ago haha i forget what is called. tuesday: we departed from PG and went to guatemala. we went to a disgusting water fall haha. it was sooo dirty in guatemala. spanish was teh fluent language now. so no more english. and not veyr many people undertstood or could speak spanish. we went to tim's brothers house. soooo coool. wednesday: went to el rico and visited a missionary there. el rico is a very ghost like town. not a lot of people. it was so cool to see him. went swimming in a river there and i met my novio. haha he was like the kid from the jungle book. his name was edmund. so cute he was haha. we went back to ronnies house. the missionary. and he spoke to us in spanish. ed translated everything for us. it was so amazing. probably the highlight of a lot of our trips (theres a ton of things we did all these days its just way to much detail!) thursday: we visited disabled kids at the pool. awesome time. very humbling and we just loved on them. then we went to an orphanage. very sad, but cool how God was present. friday: rec day. we went to some water falls before we went to the resort. i got so sick on the bus. we traveled to TI Jaks. a resort there. we slept in bungalows haha. janet lide and me had the honey moon suite. we thought that was hilarious. we went swimming and such. saturday: my sisters bday. tim, meghan, rebecca, and me woke up at 4:30 AM to kayak to an island near by. we saw howler monkies right above our heads. it was awesome! there were 2 people per kayak. so lucky for me i was with tim! that was def one of the cooles things. we took a boat to go back to PG. ate in livingston. said goodbye to some friends who were flying out of guatemala. that night when we went back to PG, it felt like we were at home again. it was such a homie feeling. i loved it. i missed it so much. the kids knew were coming back so they were there. jam was there all the time. on saturday people got baptised. rebecca, zakk, the chew kids, cait, gideon, and my mom got baptised! oh yeah just incase i forgot to say... my mom and my sister went on the trip too. it was sooooo COOOL to see my mom got baptised. theres a big story for that one. sunday: we got on the plane and flew home! it was so sad getting on the plane from PG to belize city. i cried when i saw jamike, mikey, and jam waving goodbye. i love them so much.

in all the trip was absolutly amazing. God was watching over us like crazy. it was so cool because there were only a few of us who got sick. God used us to love on other people because he loved us first. one of my best friends Jenna came on the trip. i've been praying for her for over 2 years now. shes been going to church with me on and off, and i've just been loving on her. she came and realized God's beauty. shes on her way to knowing him. shes on the journey of being saved. its a progress. i am so thankful for her and for her open heart. the holy spirit did so many wonderful things to her. thank you so much for everyone who kept us in there prayers. we had an amazing time. every single person who came with us was meant to be. its crazy how people dropped the trip and people were added. if someone else came on the trip it would of been so different. if someone didn't come who was part of our group it would of been different as well. we all were so encouraged by eachother and got along SO WELL. not clicky. the guys were so good to us and said it was easy to serve the girls. it was so evident that God was answering our prayers and the prayers of others. there was not one time where God felt absent. i know this blog isn't filled with detail and stories... but there are way to many to be told. if anyone would like to know more about our ministry in belize and how God used us, let me know. this experience will always stay with me. i won't let it go. for the world down in C.A. is real. the world here is fake. peoples lives were changed and God's love is never changing. i fell in love with the kids down in belize. i am praying about returning this summer for 2-3 weeks to help out at da wata fountin.
i'll put some pictures up as soon as i upload them!!

thanks for reading and for your prayers!

and here is the theme song of our trip. haha something we heard 20 times during devos, something we slept through, and a dear song that children sang to me over and over and made me cry when i was on the hamock in PG.

[Yes this is don't matter by akon. you better belize it haha]

Konvict Konvict
Oh
Ohoohwooe
Oooh
Ooohhwooe

Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Cause we gon' fight
Oh yes we gon' fight(We gon' fight)
Believe we gon' fight(We gon' fight)

Fight for our right to love yeah
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you

Nobody wanna see us together
Nobody thought we'd last forever
I feel I'm hopin' and prayin'
Things between us gon' get better
Men steady comin' after you
Women steady comin' after me
Seem like everybody wanna go for self
And don't wanna respect boundaries
Tellin' you all those lies
Just to get on your side
But I must admit there was a couple secrets
I held inside
But just know that I tried
To always apologize
And I'ma have you first always in my heart
To keep you satisfied

Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Cause we gon' fight
Oh yes we gon' fight(We gon' fight)
Believe we gon' fight(We gon' fight)

Fight for our right to love yeah
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you

Got every right to wanna leave
Got every right to wanna go
Got every right to hit the road
And never talk to me no more
You don't even have to call
Even check for me at all
[ these lyrics found on http://www.completealbumlyrics.com ]
Because the way I been actin' lately
Has been off the wall
Especially towards you
Puttin' girls before you
And they watchin' everything I been doin'
Just to hurt you
Most of it just ain't true(Ain't true)
And they won't show you
How much of a queen you are to me
And why I love you baby

Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Cause we gon' fight
Oh yes we gon' fight(We gon' fight)
Believe we gon' fight(We gon' fight)

Fight for our right to love yeah
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you

Oh oh oh oh oh
Cause I got you
Cause I got you
Ooooh
Cause I got you babe
Cause I got you

Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Cause we gon' fight
Oh yes we gon' fight(We gon' fight)
Believe we gon' fight(We gon' fight)

Fight for our right to love yeah
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe
Cause we gon' fight
Oh yes we gon' fight(We gon' fight)
Believe we gon' fight(We gon' fight)

Fight for our right to love yeah
Nobody wanna see us together
But it don't matter no
Cause I got you babe


this could be the worlds longest blog. but i just had to let you know all the people who went.
mark pine, becky pine, conner pine, matt pine, ed bongiorno, david youngblood, cait piekavance, cathy o'callahan, julia johnson, janet lide, cathy farrar, angela blake, christina blake, anita blake, meghan marell, jeremy fraass, jenna hahn, lea hansen, kristen ludt, rachel howde, rebecca howden, dan gillette, charlie meng, tim barley, steve chew, kim chew, lauren chew, micheal chew, stephanie chew, zakk uhler, sarah burns.
all of these people were so spectacular. we were a unit. it was clear to me that God wanted all these people to go on this trip. a tons of laughs, cries of joy, and love.