[wrote this update last month]
[am very bad at actually updating]
[clearly]
Here I am, all the way in month 8. I cannot believe we have reached this point as fast as we have. After five months, we have left the continent of Asia and moved on to Central America, where we shall be for the remainder of the Race. I hardly like to say it, but it is the beginning of the end. As time goes by, I am becoming exceedingly ecstatic to return home to all that I love, yet I have fallen for Belize.
How can it be that all of me wishes to go home, and all that is in me also wants nothing more than to stay, to continue on with this nomadic life.
Whatever. We shall discuss my fickle heart later. I’ve no patience for it now.
It took F Squad four airplanes to arrive onto this luscious jungle dreamland. We flew first to Abu Dhabi, then to the Promise Land—Chicago, Houston, and finally to our destination: Belize.
The fact that I am only an hours time difference from California just soothes my heart.
Belize makes me feel more at home BECAUSE:
- Tacos
- Takis
- Mexican candy
- frijoles
- Green land under ocean blue skies
The Caribbean Sea is a beautiful blue and essentially a giant bathtub [with little creatures also bathing with you]. On our day off, we swam for hours and lounged in hammocks by the sea, ate at the edge of the ocean, and became mermaids.
The camp we are staying at is connected with different ministries, and we each had a choice as to where we’d like to serve.
My ministry is with a foster family who are sort of the underground glue to Belize’s foster/adoption system. They have connections everywhere, take in anyone for however long, and are a huge support to families fostering—providing training, help, and incredible encouragement.
Really what I have been doing is helping in whatever is needed at their house/farm. I babysit, meet lots of different families and children, learn all about family dynamics and the system in this country, ride horses, help with farm animals. It varies greatly: one day I’m slitting chicken throats on Slaughter Day, the next I’m homeschooling their children. You read correctly..I am a chicken murderer, which has caused either extreme disappointment in me or awe to arise in my other teammates. I killed three, gutted one [with no gloves, bloody hands], and plucked the feathers from probably roughly a trillion. I think I am a real farmer now, I definitely yelled in victory as tears filled my eyes. [Victory that I could survive in the wilderness now if I needed to, not in taking lives]. I think I have ptsd. Sometimes when someone is speaking to me, I randomly see chicken heads in my mind. Just floatin around. Yikes.
Anyway, it was for a good cause—to feed families and provide funds.
I’ve also bonded with a little chick—we watched Fox and the Hound together as the little guy snuggled in my armpit and fell asleep. Then he pooped on me…
Ive gone to sapphire rivers and a blue lagoon—crouching through water caves as bats circled above me, or flying off the edge of a giant rock and into the pool of water underneath me. You know you jumped from a great height when you have too much time to think on your way down.
I quite like this life I live, and weaving through the lives of each of the people I meet.
Overall, I hope and pray we have in any way provided relief for hard-working missionaries in Belize.
This is just a quick update for friends and family.
I am living my life sun-kissed and free
Roaming about with farm animals and children.
