by Tiffany Coker
Last month, twenty-one LCC members traveled to Belize for a week long family mission trip with the organization ROWKIDS, founded by LCC members John and Sue Eve. John and Sue have a real passion to help children and through ROWKIDS they are extending God’s love and educational access to families who would otherwise have no hope.
Our team worked at the school in a village called Billy White. Each morning, we would have breakfast at the hotel, and then drive the 45 minutes to Billy White. Each day when we arrived, the students were waiting on us with big smiles on their faces. They were so excited that we were there! Our guide each day was Juan Chuc. He was a wealth of information and taught us so much about the country of Belize.
Our construction goal for the week was to add three courses of block to finish the walls of a new building for the school. Ramon, our construction leader, instructed us in how to sift sand, mix concrete, lay block, and then fill in the block with concrete mix. Everything was done by hand! It was hard work in incredible heat, but we accomplished our goal! We took a break each day to eat lunch and share with the kids.
In the afternoon, we divided the kids into different age groups and they rotated through different stations. They played soccer and American football, made crafts, and heard Bible stories. The kids of Billy White absolutely loved to sing, so each day they would sing to us before we started the rotations. We also taught them a few more songs which they loved!
On Wednesday, we had a day of fun, traveling to Barton Creek and Five Sisters Waterfall. At Barton Creek , we cave canoed and explored ancient Mayan remains. At Five Sisters, we were able to swim in the river and cliff jump. Of course, none of the jumps were high enough for Jeremy! Friday afternoon, we went to Xunantunich and were able to climb and explore Mayan Ruins. It is amazing that the Maya people were able to construct such amazing buildings so long ago.
Our trip to Belize was very challenging and so much fun! ROWKIDS is an amazing organization and I would certainly encourage anyone to take this trip.
