the bell family: belize day 7

We woke up at 4:30am (after a day of cement work, that wasn't easy), finished packing, and cleaned the school (note: most teens don't function let alone clean at that hour). At 5am we were on the bus to Caye Caulker passing around "doughnuts" and juice. We checked our luggage at the water taxi place (the water taxi's are small boats and luggage doesn't fit on it, so we each took one carry-on backpack with a days worth of stuff. At 8am we were off in the taxiis and by 8:45am we were on the gorgeous island of Caye Caulker. The island is so small that there are only golf cards on it (you only have to be 16 to drive them so the kids were pretty excited to rent them). There are three main streets front street, middle street, and back street. We basically had the entire day free.

I spent the day eating breakfast at Cafe Amor, walking around, shopping, swimming in the split (where the island was divided years ago), eating pizza, and drinking juice. The juices there are delicious; they are freshly squeezed and cold. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

At 5:30pm we met on the rooftop of the yellow hotel. This is a long, emotional meeting. Kids open up and share about their lives, the trip, and their relationship with God. It's a very special night, made sweeter by watching the sun set on the ocean.

After our sharing time on the rooftop, we all went down to Fantasy Dining for dinner. It's shocking that a restaurant in Caye Caulker is large enough for our entire group.

Before I went on the trip, I was confused that there was a "vacation day" built into the mission trip. After going on the trip, I learned a few things. It is offered by Thirst Missions (the group we use to organize everything on our trip), it wasn't something we sought out. Also it creates a really nice bounding time for our kids to continue friendships that sprouted in Orange Walk. Plus it is a nice transition from missional work to real world and how to bring your new experiences back with you and do something with them instead of leaving the moment behind.