Welcome Northridge Mission Trippers, Family, and Friends. We will be using this website to upload all of our 2010 Mission Trip pictures from Belize. If you took photos and/or videos, please upload them here so that we can use some of your pictures for this year's Mission Trip Video.
Dear Friends at Northridge Presbyterian Church,
On behalf of the session and congregation of “Santa Trinidad” Presbyterian Church, I would like to say thank you for your wonderful support. God is good! I have included a few pictures to see how the construction has progressed.
When you were here, there was really nothing that resembled an addition to an existing building. With your help, the addition took on form, and now it has a roof and inside divisions for showers and toilets.
I suppose you remember well the rocks in the septic hole very well. I would imagine that many of you had nice blisters on the hands. The septic hole still has a long way to go.
Slowly but surely we will get done. Once again your service in our church was an incredible blessing.
I am going to attempt to keep you updated on major events of our church. We would love to keep the relationship going.
In Christ,
Albert Zantingh
On our last day we were able to sleep in. Some of us got one last walk on the beach and some more shopping in as well. Then we checked out of our hotel and took a few more group photos by the water.
Thankfully all of us made the water taxi ride back to Belize City without getting sick. We stopped at a Baptist Church for one last home cooked meal of Chicken, rice and beans, Cole slaw, and fried plantains. They certainly fed us well all week long!
Next picked up our luggage and told our PPM Staff farewell. We headed to the airport and had a safe trip home. We were greeted with applause and a banner from our family and friends in Dallas.
We were very blessed to have a safe week in Belize. We were able to experience new types of ministry, form lasting relationships, and make memories that will last a lifetime.
On Wednesday morning we actually woke up before the sun did! We had to get up at 4:15 to eat breakfast and load the buses. Only in Belize do you start sweating by 5 am! We waved goodbye to our home away from home and the Village of Patchakan and headed to Belize City.
We dropped off our luggage at a hotel in Ladyville and then we went to Belize City to catch a Water Taxi to Caye Caulker. We managed to fit all 45 of us on one boat and made the 45 minute ride to Caye Caulker.
The island was beautiful! Once we arrived, we went straight to the snorkeling shop to get fitted for our gear and then went back out on the water. The current was strong that day but we were able to see lots of coral, fish, and sting rays!
Next we headed back to the island and checked into our hotel. Then we dispersed for the afternoon to have lunch (lobster was their specialty!), explore, and do some souvenir shopping. That evening we had our final group meeting and recapped the weeks highpoints then we went out to dinner as a group. That evening we swam in the pool and relaxed enjoying our real beds and air-conditioning! Unfortunately in the middle of the night, some of the group started coming down with a nasty bug.
Tuesday was another very busy day for us. We got started early with more painting. We painted the other three sides of the community center as well as the park.
It rained at least once every day while we were in Belize. On Tuesday, there was a big storm that we could see rolling in. The painters ran for cover as we saw the sheet of rain quickly approaching, but most of us didn't make it. Thankfully it was a welcomed break from the heat!
That afternoon, we continued painting. We had to be a little creative to get to the high spots since we only had one ladder, but a few youth stayed behind during VBS to complete the process. We were also able to paint lines on the basketball/volleyball court at the park.
Our last day of VBS brought over 130 children. By this point, the kids adored the energizers and even got up on the stage and helped us lead! We played games with the parachutes and made God's Eye crafts until it started raining. We all retreated back into the sanctuary where we did some more energizers and passed out goody bags for the kids which included bubbles, pencils, stickers, tattoos, and bracelets!
After dinner, we saw a presentation from Jacob's Farm as well as another testimony from our new friend Leroy. Then we said our goodbyes to Ismael and the Church.
Next, we played more sports and some of the children met us at the community center asking if we had the boom box because they wanted to dance! We proceeded to do each of the energizers we taught them about ten more times until we were too exhausted to move! We had our final meeting, began packing up our things, and went to bed anticipating our early departure in the morning.
On Monday morning, we got to experience more of the culture of Belize. Patchakan was once a Mayan village and many of it's residents are of Mayan descent. We took a bit of a bus ride, traveled across a man powered crank bridge and made it to a Mayan Ruin site.
It was quite the adventure between waiting our turn to cross the bridge and then having to trek through Mosquito Alley, and believe me Mosquito Alley is rightfully named! But we did get to see two Mayan sites. Those who made it to the very top of the second ruin and a beautiful view, and some people even saw a monkey!
After the Ruins, we headed to lunch where we had some tasty nachos and fish and chips. Several of us also got to experience the power of a habanera pepper! Next we got to take a swim in the ocean!
Once we returned to Patchakan that afternoon, over 80 children were waiting for us and ready to enjoy day 2 of VBS! We got to hear the next part of Joseph's Story and the children really started to catch on with the engergizers. For craft time, the children got to decorate two large parachutes. Both the children and the Northridge gang had lots of laughs when the children started drawing pictures of us!
That night, several of us got to watch the Patchakan youth play in a community soccer game. We enjoyed learning the youth's names and getting to know them more as we spend more time together.
Some of us were woken by the rooster yet again this morning, but we managed to squeeze in a few more minutes of sleep after our long day yesterday. We got up and got dressed for Church.
After breakfast, we joined the community for a morning service at the Church. Even though Belize's official language is English, our close proximately to Mexico resulted in a lot more Spanish speakers than we expected. Normally, the services at Holy Trinity are conducted solely in Spanish; however, one of the elders graciously translated the entire service for us!
During the morning service, the head elder preached about four key relationships--relationships with God, with oneself, with the community, and with nature. We were also able to sing along to some familiar songs: What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Holy, Holy, Holy, and the Doxology.
After the service, we were able to take a short rest, have lunch, and then head to Jacob's Farm. Jacob's Farm is Belize's one and only Drug Rehab center. Jacob's farm can hold 8-12 men at a time. It is a self-sufficient farm with no electricity. It is also Christian based. Then men here form special bonds and help each other work through their struggles and addictions to alcohol and cocaine.
On Saturday, we met Leroy and Alfred when they came to help us paint the Community Center. At the time, we did not realize that these two men actually live at Jacobs Farm. Leroy shared with us some of his personal journey. He is actually somewhat of a celebrity in Belize: musical artist, DJ, and poet. Leroy got into crack and his life took a turn for the worse; however, he was proud to announce that he would be reuniting with his two children after twelve years on Father’s Day the next week. Leroy is also graduating from the rehab program next week. We were all very touched by his story.
Next, we headed back to the Church. Holy Trinity Presbyterian cannot afford a full time pastor so every 5-6 weeks a traveling pastor comes to the Church to serve communion. We were able to be present for this special communion service that afternoon. It was very special to be able to share the Lord's Supper with Holy Trinity as well as witness a baptism of a whole family.
We finished off our evening with a fantastic performance by some of our guys singing "Don't Stop Believing(Belizin)!" on the roof of the Church as well as more sports with the local youth.
I believe it is safe to say that Northridge has a new appreciation fo daylight savings time being as the sun rises at 4:30 AM in Belize! That first morning we had a very RUDE awakening by a rooster who circled the Community Center at 4:45 am.
We headed down to eat breakfast at the Church. Then 10 youth stayed at the Church to start one of the construction projects. Originally we thought we were going to be constructing a Sunday School classroom for the Church, but instead we began constructing something that was a little more urgent--indoor bathrooms! The Church currently has 2 out houses. Thanks to the hard work of some of our youth, we were able to lay the cement floor and begin digging the hole for the septic tank. We also donated money so that the project will continue and be completed after we're gone.
The rest of the youth and adults headed back to the Community Center. The Community Center is used for village meetings as well as a hurricane shelter. We began repainting the outside of the CC a beautiful aqua blue! The rest of us began scrapping old paint and dirt off of the park across the street in preparation of painting it later in the week.
After taking a break for lunch, we played basketball and soccer with some of the local youth in Patchakan and began preparing for VBS. Later that afternoon, we lead VBS for 50 children at the Church. The Northridge drama team started VBS off with a great skit about the story of Joseph. Then our music crew taught the children energizers. The kids didn't quite know what to think of the energizers at first, but their big smiles told us that they were having a great time! Next, the children ran to the craft stations where they were very excited to make Joseph's coat of many colors. Our Recreation crew rounded off the afternoon with tag and red rover.
After dinner, we played more sports with the local youth and had our team meeting. Then it was time to fight for the two showers and get some rest after our long day!
All 35 Northridge Youth and 7 Adult Sponsors made it to DFW on Friday morning. We all got checked in, told our families goodbye, and Ben Dorr gave us a farewell blessing and prayer.
Our travel went smoothly and before we knew it we were in Belize City! We were greeted by our three Praying Pelican Staff members for the week: Jennie, Erika, and Floyd as well as the stifling heat and humidity! We loaded our things onto two buses and began our travel north. We stopped in Corazal at a restaurant for a Burrito dinner and a group picture by the Ocean. Then we finally made it to our home for the week--the Patchakan Community Center!
We were welcomed by Ismael who was our Patchakan liaison and an elder at Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church as well as some other curious locals. We unloaded our bags, blew up our air mattresses, and had our first group meeting. Much to our surprise, it does not cool off much at night in Belize but we managed to settle in and get some rest. We were very excited to see what the rest of the week would bring!