Day Five

Us and the finished basketball court

July 20, 2010
Praise God! After three labor-intensive days of working at the youth hostel, and with the help of the several youth hostel kids, we completed mixing, transporting, pouring and leveling the cement. What used to be a marshy, uneven, fire ant and mosquito filled field now has something that actually looks a basketball court the youth will be able to play on. God blessed us with an additional day to spread out this work, and to spend more time with the youth. First, I’ve noticed that our team is full of energy, willing to help, and lend a hand whenever needed. One example is when some members of the lunch crew were still helping with mixing cement and unable to start preparations (unloading the food and water and making sandwiches) others who were not on duty stepped in and took over that role to prepare lunch for the rest of the group. Also, when we were shoveling the gravel to make the cement, there were people either moving the gravel so it is closer and easier to add or ready to jump in so that we could take a break. The extra day was an added bonus because of the break and being able to spread out the work, and the opportunity to be able to spend more time on site with the kids. I’ve been reminded that it is not the PROJECT but the PEOPLE that are most important. Yes, we are there to build the court, and serve the youth in that regard. However, chiefly, we are also there to share God’s love and the gospel to those who have not heard and have not seen. Taking this to heart, I had been spending a lot of effort on my duties – construction, first aid, lunch preparations, loading and unloading, etc. Today, I wanted to spend more effort talking with some of the youth hostel kids. I’ve gotten to know a few of the kids by working side by side during the construction, and also by helping to bandage and tape up some cuts and scrapes. One of the youth asked me about arm band/bracelet I had attached on my bag that I brought on this trip, and asked if he could have it. While I did bring these as an opportunity to share, I did not want to just give them away without having to chance to share the gospel and get to know where they were spiritually. He was persistent by asking for the last two days and today I had a little more time to ask about if he had heard about the gospel and about Jesus and what that what meant. He said he was a Christian or that he believed in the Bible – that he had been to church when he was at home, and that he knew about Jesus, and read the Bible each night. But I wanted to get deeper – I wanted to hear the Gospel from his mouth. I asked if he had any questions about what he read when he read the Bible, and he said he didn’t. Then I asked what he believed would happen when he died – and he talked about heaven and hell. And when I asked about how you go to heaven, he talked about doing good and being good. Then I asked about Jesus, and he said that God sent Jesus to die for us. I wasn’t sure if he understood what it means that God sent Jesus to die for us. I wanted to share about how Jesus was the only way to heaven (John 14:6). I also wanted to clarify that it was not through works, but that Christ was enough – and only by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). When I asked if he had his Bible – he said he didn’t. It felt a bit incomplete, and I wanted to take the opportunity to pray but we had to go. We will return on Saturday to spend time playing with the youth on the court and I told him I will pray for him and see him then. I hope that we can spend that time to go through the Bible verses and pray so he can have assurance of salvation.
Please continue to pray for our safety – praise that we haven’t had any major injuries, but pray for quick healing of our sore muscles, cuts, bruises, and blisters.
Please pray for the youth hostel kids which we will not see for a couple days, and that when we see them again, we will have open opportunities to share the complete gospel and enjoy the fruits of our labor (playing basketball). Also please pray for the block party that we will have tomorrow, and the VBS we will be having at the orphanage.
Praise for blessings through the trip thus far – the beauty of His creation that we’ve seen (through a river tubing trip and the zoo) as well as the blessings of completing the court. (now we just have to wait for it to dry!)

Yours Faithfully,
Edwin Lai

Day Four (English)

David Ing’s Blog post
Day Overview (The Boring Part)
- Delicious Breakfast
- Went back to Youth Hostel (Chinese Church youth joined us)
- Built basketball court
- Dinner
- Worship/Meeting
- Sleep (sort of)

Reflections (READ THIS PART :D )
I know. The day seems boring right? BUT IT’S NOT! There were a lot of cool new things today (by the Grace of God). And lucky you! You get to read about it :D

For starters, Today was the first day that the youth from the church joined us. This is especially awesome for me because I haven’t seen these guys since last year. It was both fun reuniting with some of them and sad because not all of them were still there.

That’s one of the depressing thing’s I’ve learned about Belize. A lot of the youth told me that they just want to get out.

Why? I think it’s because they feel trapped.
There are so few Chinese Youth in Belize. They live in the inner city so there’s always the possibility of crime. And one of the youth today told me that most of the time she just stays home where it’s safe.

Where does Jesus fit in all this? Well, Jesus is their ticket to true freedom. Jesus can wipe away their tears and return their wasted years. Jesus is the way for them to have a true and meaningful life even in the midst of bondage (koff Paul koff). But I’m not sure if they fully understand that yet. That’s where we come in.

As fellow church-born Asians, we get to talk with them and bond with them in ways that they may have never experienced before. And what better way to bond with them than perpetual hard labor!
That’s right. We got the Chinese youth to build the basketball court with us for the youth hostel. Personally, I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to bond with the kids well, that the kids would just sit around and not work, and that the kids wouldn’t want to hang out with us anymore after working all day.
But God proved me wrong. We had a blast bonding with the kids on the bus ride over and they were actually quite willing to help out with the work. Especially considering that they are giving up their summer time to help us pour cement.

Frankly, I don’t really know what God has planned for the Chinese youth and us. I don’t know how much we will to connect with them or how much difference we will make in their lives. But I can tell you this:
In everything we do, they get to see how we act and respond. In the way we give our all for the Lord in construction work (and we really do give our all – the mission leader was impressed by our enthusiasm and lack of complaining). In the way that we talk with them and Love on them they can see the Love of Jesus through us.
And God must have something planned. Because later that evening we got a call from them asking if they could help us AGAIN with construction work TOMORROW. (What the heck? Adolescents actually OPTING for more work?)

Something must have really enticed them. And it’s not the construction work. Trust me.
Frankly I don’t know what it is that brought them back. Maybe it was our happy times on the bus rides over. Maybe we just keep them from being bored.

Either way. I know that God is using this to bless them. I know God is going to touch their hearts. I know that God is going to use this to show them sides of his beauty the world has never seen before.
And I tremble in anticipation to find out exactly what that is.

Stay tuned, folks.

David Ing, 7/19/10

Day Four (Chinese Ministry)

The Chinese STM team started visiting the Belize Chinese today. Henry, Roger, Mrs. Ma and
Ernie went out together to visit the Cantonese speaking family that Henry made contact last year;
while Pastor Hsu, Pauline, and Michael visited the Mandarin speaking Chinese.

The Cantonese team visited 4 four families just minute away from our hotel. They were all small grocery shop owners. Our drivers is a devoted sister of the Chinese church and she knew all of these family and has been preaching the gospel to some of them. All of them are working long hours and cannot afford to close the shop to go to church on Sunday. One family has not shown much interest. Another shop owner said there is no time to go to church. As we asked more about his heavy burden and pressure in his life, he became more interested and open to hear about Jesus. We encourage him to try to ask Jesus to carry him when the burden is too heavy for him. We share with him that God love us and listen to our prayer, if we accept Jesus and pray in his name. Later we learned that he was robbed and shot a few months back and the bullet is still in his shoulder. Another shop owner remembered Henry from last year and enthusiastically welcome us. She accepted Christ but his husband has not and have no interest. Her 11 years old son is lovely, courteous and also helping to manage the store. Yet we later learn her husband has mistress. This lady is even willing to accept the mistress's child into the family and yet the
husband would not forego the extra-marital relationship. Another shop owner's son accepted Christ and yet his is not coming to church anymore. The family is troubled by bad gossip and the mother allowed us to pray for her worry. In the afternoon, we went to an older district to visit shop owners Henry met last year. These shops are tiny convenient store. The size of these shops is often 10-15 feet wide stocking with merchandize, while the family lives behind the store front. All the store blocked their front with iron bar and deal with the customer through small windows. The first shop owner we visited left his 15 years old son behind tending the shop with a hired
helper to visit relatives in America. The young boys is courteous and gentle. I saw loneliness, boredom and sadness as I talked to him. He is not open to talking since he is alone. All we can say to him is God love him. We later learn that he just lost his mother several months ago. Another shop owner we visited remember Henry from last year. She happily open up her iron gate to welcome us. She is very interested in knowing about Jesus and the church and talked to Henry for a long time. In the mean time, the sister driving us and I talked to her husband. We learnd that they just arrived 3 years ago from China with the husband's father. Three of them work from 6am to 9pm. They have a 2 years old and the wife is pregnant but they don't even know when the baby is due. The grand father also has to go out to work another job. The grand
father just have a bed to sleep in, surrounded by their merchandise. Their roof is leaking and the shop was flooded when heavy rain comes. I saw the weariness and sorrow in this mans face. He does not want to talk about Jesus, though he is open for his wife to learn. We prayed with his wife and asked God's mercy for this family. The last shop keeper we visited has been coming to church but struggled in how to deal with the traditions of worshiping ancester of her in-law back in China. We took time to encourage her to take one step at a time of her faith and put all her doubt and weakness into prayer. My heart ached as I soaked in the struggle of these families . I felt so limited in what we can offer to them. There is so much barrier for them to go to church and yet they need so much of the deliverance from Jesus. Our team did empower them with the promise that God care for the weak and down-trotted and He listen to prayer from those who cry out to God. Moreover, Henry and Ernie was able to help two children of the shop owners we visited in the morning to accept Christ as their Lord. In our evening bible study, we heard sharing from a sister who lost her husband a few years ago. While trying to raise her two son, she suffered from several bad surgeries herself in Belize and need to seek medical treatment outside of the country. She was down and despair but persevered by faith that God will take care of her and her sons. Her son accepted Christ. She is devoted in sharing Jesus with others and bring people to church. She is an inspiration to several of us and it is a blessing to be her co-worker.

Roger

Day Three

Girls with Youth Hostel Girls

Today the Lord gave Ellie and I an awesome opportunity to witness for Him. When we arrived at the youth hostel, I was torn between watching Ethan chasing pigs around and spending time with the youth girls. I knew I couldn’t do both so I invited Ethan to join me and the girl’s for the afternoon. Of course his answer was no, so I left him with Ed doing construction work. When I got back to the girl’s ring, I saw Ellie befriended two girls already. I joined her and the girls and got to know this girl named Crystal. She was very open and shared a lot with us. Ellie initiated the spiritual conversation with them. She asked them if they believe in God. When they asked us why we’re here, she plainly told them that we’re here to tell them about Jesus. Later when Ellie left to visit the barns, I spoke with Crystal more. She told me she “tried” to believe in Jesus, but felt she was never good enough. So I tried to reaffirm her faith but as I was talking to her more, I learned that she had recently attempted suicide and that her brother, whom she had a close relationship with, died from a kayak accident. Her life is very troubled. I asked her if she would like to rededicate her life to Christ and she said “yes.” So, I prayed with her and reassured her that Jesus is with her from this day forward, and that she does not have to be afraid and lose hope because Jesus will never leave her or forsake her. She seemed more at peace after we prayed and asked which book of the bible is good for her to read. I just praised God for the unique opportunity to witness to Crystal. It is his hand at work. I never imagined that Ellie would be able to talk to any of the youth here in such a positive way.

-Nancy Wong

Today, we faced a different challenge: lack of electricity. We are aware of the lack of electricity on Sunday but did not have enough information about the exact time. We (Pastor Hsu, Henry Lo and myself) discovered there is no power as of 4:30AM. We did not have air conditioning. The front desk informed us that the power is out in the entire Belize City and scheduled to come back around noon.

Due to the outage, we cannot use the computer and cannot use the PowerPoint for song leading. Additionally, the church could not print today's program. Luckily, Sister Pauline made 60 copies of the songs that we were going to use for this week's bible study. We used that as our singspiration for the Sunday Service. Thank you, Pastor Patrick for your faithfulness and foresightedness!

After the service, we enjoyed the Love Feast prepared by the Chinese church for the entire team. When the Basketball Court Team is about to leave for the Youth Hostel we got hit by 30 minutes of rainstorm. The rainstorm caused a minor flood in some parts of the city.

After lunch, we had a meeting with Pastor Liu on their needs and how our church can assist them. They really need Cantonese speaking persons to reach out to the Cantonese community. Additionally, they need help with the youth ministry due to the family relations breakdown, they are occupied with entertainment media and helping out parents' stores. Pastor Hsu, Ernie, Henry and Pastor Liu were brainstorming on the future directions of our assistance.

This year we experienced more rain then last year. Keep your prayers on our safety and our family visits for the next 3 days.

-Micheal Chao

Prayer Items

1. Chinese Ministry Visitations/ Outreach event, starting tomorrow.

2. Crystal and her new commitment.

3. Weather will be better for tomorrow

4. So we can finish the basketball court tomorrow.

5. Joyce and Steve's safety on flight.

Day Two

Kids climbing a tree while watching us work

Today we went to visit the youth hostel. Luckily, weather was endurable when we arrived despite the pouring rain on the bus ride over. At first, it was somewhat awkward between our Belize team and the youth there; the kids kept to themselves, lounging on the porch or playing basketball while we stood quietly by the bus waiting for David, our missionary leader, to arrive. During our wait, “we experienced one of the great ten plagues,” comments Priscilla Shen, as we personally met and embraced one of Belize’s greatest creatures, the locust.
We started off a bit slow as our first work period held little progress as the dimensions for the basketball court were laid out and little grass was tilled. We stopped for a water break and went to meet and greet all the youth at the hostel. The girls came out slowly and shyly, timid at first but after introducing ourselves, they opened up a bit more telling us about where they were from or laughing at my lack of Spanish skills. They continued to share about how long they had been there and I was surprised to find out one girl had only arrived three days ago.
As we slowly trickled back to the field, I think, after watching us work, the guys from the hostel pitied our progress and briskly came to assist us- our star player named Victor, or more commonly known as Mictor aka “the BEAST”. As the day progressed, more of the guys came to help out or watch as their work skills doubled the pace of many of us.
After a few hours of much sweat, toil, and fire ant bites, we stopped for lunch after leveling and clearing out much of the wild untamed grass. Walking into the dining hall, we watched as the guys finished eating and were ordered out- standing up in somewhat unison, folding their arms, and reciting the phrase that I later discovered was written above the door:
“Stand tall, fold arms
Girls, boys proceed out
to the ablution block. Thanks mom.
Thanks, sir.”
The discipline and respect between their warden and themselves was an interesting experience to witness. Up until that point, it hadn’t entirely struck me that the youth hostel was supposed to be a disciplinary area for kids who had committed minor crimes.
God’s protection over us was evident as the day came to an end as we left the kids having made new friendships, suffered from little injuries, and kept well hydrated- although swamped in mud. Coming back to the hotel, we all rushed to shower before meeting for a dinner of spaghetti and worship.
29 alive, 0 lost.

Michelle Lo, Priscilla Shen, and Isaac Auyeng

Thanks Lily Hao for the letter from Home.

Prayer Items:
1. Finish basketball court
2. Stay Hyrdated
3. Chinese Church Service, when Henry will talk, Roger and P. Hsu will lead worship
4. Health of Team
5. Energy for rest of week after long hours of construction
6. Bonding with youth hostel kids and team.

Day One

While most trips start out uneventful, God likes to keep us on our toes. Seen as a long assembly line, our team can be spotted outside the Continental check-in at SFO. After collecting all the donation bags, Pastor Brian's inspiration words of advice, and slowly falling asleep on the dimmed charter bus, all 27 of us wait in the group check-in line, not for our turn to come, but for the airport to just open. Not even three hours into our adventure and the first need of a miracle arrives. While checking in our bags and receiving our boarding passes, Pastor Brian is informed that, with lack of a notarized and signed letter by both her parents, Valentia was not allowed to come aboard the plane to Belize. Due to the fact that Valentia is not 16 years of age, a notarized letter signed by her parents was required. Since no one knew about this rule, Pastor Brian planned on sending Valentia on the Monday flight with Steve and Joyce. Upset and confused, some of our team argues that both her sisters are legal adults who are accompanying her. (Our team discussed and concluded that the airline thought we were kidnapping Valentia.) When all was thought to be lost, the very kind airline employee, Elsa, let us know that there was a notarizing agent that was coming in at 5:15am. Immediately, Rachael called her mom to ask if they could drive up to SFO and sign the letter. Right after, Valentia's parents rushed up to San Francisco from south San Jose (without being pulled over.) After all the suspense (and Valentia imagining herself running in slow motion through the plane, like in the movies), with perfect timing, Valentia's parents pull over at the drop-off zone, where Priscilla is waiting for them. Valentia's parents run in as fast as they can to sign the letter put out for them by the extremely nice agent, Debbie. Minutes later, the letter is signed. Valentia is allowed to fly to Belize. Then, Elsa rapidly checks Valentia's bags in and gives her the boarding pass. At this point, we are all thanking God for answering prayers and fulfilling miracles. Before getting to our gate, we were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of going through the special security check, where the flight crew get to go through. Finally, we arrive at our gate and start to board our plane. Here, we are starting to calm down and are relieved.

After two three hour flights, where we all slept and wrote in our journals, we arrived in Belize. We went to our hotel, got dinner, had a worship session, and here we are now.

Thanks Mike Chen PhD

Valentia Shen

Here we go!

It's 1:30am here at church and the rest of the team is going to be slowly arriving for our 3:15am departure for the San Francisco airport. In about 12 hours we'll go from hot and dry Silicon Valley to hot and wet Belize City.

I'm sure everyone has mixed feelings as they get ready to go. There's the eager anticipation of wondering what God has in store for us. But there's also that little tinge of fear that is pretty unavoidable when you venture into the unknown. We say goodbye to family (I'm missing my 11th wedding anniversary!), friends and the comforts of home. And we hope that we can handle whatever comes our way in the next ten days.

This is my third trip to Belize and it has been a privilege to see how the Lord has guided LGCC to a special ministry. We're doing our first construction project--building a basketball court at a youth detention facility. And we're following up on the Chinese families who were introduced to Christ last year. Most importantly, we're trusting that God will open our eyes to how He's working and then allow us to be a part of it, even if for a short time.

Keep checking in to see how our trip is going...

Pastor Brian