This is officially the last week of the World Race! I am slightly in denial that this incredible opportunity is coming to a close, but our last month has been incredible and a super cool way to finish. For month eleven, we technically have two hosts. The first is the family that runs the camp where we’re living, the Barrs. The second host is the family whose property we are working on, the Dewburys. The Barrs have a massive property with cabins, a soccer field, a basketball court, and a chapel. They host as many teams as they can for various projects around the city. The Dewburys put us to work getting their new house up and running as support for foster families. The Belizean government does not provide any subsidies or assistance to families that agree to take in children, so there is often a high turnover rate as people quickly tire of the extra expenses and seemingly thankless response from the tragically overcommitted social workers. Another big problem for foster care is abuse, both physical and sexual, as individual case attention is minimal. The Dewburys have four foster kids of their own in addition to their four biological children. They are turning their property into a source of food for other foster families by gardening and raising fish and chickens.
So far we have started a fish pond, prepped the guest house for paint, tiled the master bedroom, and torn down the old roofing over the carport. Also, every day we have teammates that prepare meals for the family. I am so thankful for the ministry this month because it has so many opportunities for us to serve with creativity and to have immediate impact. Also, the vision behind this family’s ministry is contagious and directly effects the community around them; it has been an honor to partner with both families. Dylan and I tackled the project of prepping the casita for paint, which meant scraping off mold. It was an oddly satisfying job, and by the end, we would be speckled in black with lines of sweat running down our necks. I also helped Mr. Dewbury put up all new slats of metal on his carport. We spend each morning at the Dewburys’, but then in the afternoons on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we go to a school down the street and help with a program called Emerge. At Emerge, kids can come after school is finished and we read Bible stories to discuss. We’ve had incredible conversations with the kids about how the story of Jesus changes how we live with the hope of encouraging grace and forgiveness.
Both families have told us about how they are praying into an atmosphere of violence here in Belize. The Dewburys host classes for conflict resolution and they told us a story about when they posed a hypothetical scenario to a class of nine-year-olds. They said, “Suppose your next electrical bill is fifty dollars higher than last month’s and you discover that your neighbor has plugged an extension cord into your house and has been using your electricity. How do you respond?” The entire class of children raged at the hypothetical slight and their solution was to “chop” their neighbor, which means to kill them with a machete. Our host calmed them down and asked if there might be a less violent answer. They thought for a minute before suggesting maybe just chop one of their hands. Seems fair. It’s pretty hilarious in a black comedy kind of way, but our host has a lot of aggression to combat in prayer. Fortunately, both the Dewbury and Barrs families have been working here full time and continue to invest in their community with love and generosity.
While working with the families, they have taught us a lot about what it means to live selflessly and how they feel called to do that in Belize. They said that in Belize, there is too much evangelizing and not enough discipling, so living here gives them a unique opportunity for relationships that many locals have not experienced. Mission teams from the U.S. come and go with lots of gifts and pamphlets about Jesus, and then they leave without having discussions about how to walk with Him. For many people over the years, this has led to a very jaded perspective of Jesus. They need to see more of living with the Lord than white people bringing presents.
Funny Stories:
- When my team found out we would be tenting for the hottest month of the race, we all had a big groan and a good laugh, remembering how we started thew Race in hot tents last summer at training camp. The first week we were here, I had a rough time sleeping through the night as I often woke up covered in sweat. Our first weekend, we jumped at the opportunity to babysit in a room with air conditioning, only to return to camp to find our tents in water. The field where we had staked down all of our things is the lowest point on the property and so all of the rain drained into our portable homes. After lots of laundry, damage assessments and two nights of sleeping on porches, we were moved into air conditioned crates that store medical supplies. We all gladly greeted this change. We cozied up together on sleeping mats and I could not have asked for a better send off from my team.
- The climate here is really good at making you sweat. The air is so humid that even standing in front of a fan, your skin is sticky and your clothes feel damp. You can only imagine what happens to the body when it tries to sweat and cool down, but the sweat won’t evaporate because it you’re practically sitting in tepid pool water. Last week, in addition to the humidity, the heat broke the 100s. I have never sweated this much in my life and shortly found heat rash all over my body. The heat rash that had developed in my armpit took a disliking to some bacteria on my re-worn shirt and inflamed with a gnarly infection. I couldn’t wear deodorant under that arm for several days and I was amazed at the potency one single armpit could produce. I think ultimately my stench became a special team bonding experience.
Things to pray for:
Please pray for the Dewbury and Barrs families, that God would provide funding for their missions and that they would continue to feel encouraged and see breakthroughs in the community around them.
Pray against violence that has seeped into Belizean culture and spreads into the foster system
And lastly please pray for foster for the protection and love of foster children
Thank you so much for taking time to read this. Much love and many blessings! I’ll be posting again soon to wrap up the journey.
