It Just Gets Better

This past weekend I had the opportunity to make a whirl-wind trip to Minneapolis to pick up one team member (Kandace) from the airport and drop off two others (Kyle and Chris) to head down to Belize. It was a good time... I love road trips...

The road trip was especially good because it gave me opportunity to hear someone else's take on the Belizean project and hear a little bit about the camps from another insider. Primarily between the wee hours of 2:00 & 4:30 a.m. I was excited to get the low down from Kandace (which was particularly appreciated by me as it made driving that last stretch a lot easier). I, myself, have not had a lot of opportunity to see many of the camps first hand as my time in Belize is usually spent with training and meetings but Kandace stayed a couple weeks after the training and could tell me a little about her perspectives on the camping programs. I'll highlight some of the things she shared:

Reception - One of the things Kandace remarked on was the positive reception the camping programs received. Following the camps in Duck Run 1 & 3 they held a short service for the parents of the children who attended. At this program the children had an opportunity to share about their experience at camp and what they had learned. Kandace told me the response of the parents was overwhelmingly positive. I get real excited about this because again we see a door open to a much broader and now receptive mission field because of the simple kindness that's shown to children. Maybe Jesus was on to something when he welcomed and blessed the little children... maybe that's the effective way to a parent's heart!

Excitement - Kandace also told me about the incredible excitement of the counselors as they saw and then shared the fruit of their efforts. I can vouch for these young people (just like our young people who are working at camp) they are working HARD. What's so neat to see is how excited they are to serve God and to share that with others. Kandace told me about an evening service that they had in Spanish Lookout where the counselors had opportunity to share with the community how they saw God at work in the previous week. She said the excitement was contagious.

Leadership - My prayer is that these young people are realizing the incredible influence they are having on the future of Belize. One thing that is so encouraging is to see young people take leadership and initiative to reach out to their community. We're seeing a number of very ordinary people do extraordinary things as they are obedient to God... I really hope they are seeing it. The one problem with us as people is that we often under-estimate how God can really use us. We think, "Oh, that was no big deal..." or, "Someone else could have done it..." I want to yell in some people's ear, "IT IS A BIG DEAL!" "YOU DID AWESOME!" or "LOOK AROUND, YEAH MAYBE SOMEONE ELSE COULD HAVE DONE IT BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THEY'RE NOT AND YOU ARE!" We work so hard not to be boastful and really we're just letting Satan get a strong hold in our lives. What we think is "humility" is very cleverly disguised insecurity. We think that what we did was nothing special but obedience to God IS SPECIAL. It's special because that's when we see miracles! I hope these young leaders see the miracles happening all around them (like dozens of kids coming to know Christ) and that they recognize that a lot of this is happening because they were obedience to respond to God's calling and He is rewarding them with fruit!

My next prayer is that when these young leaders see their potential they will keep using it in Belize. It seems anyone on the way up in Belize is also on the way out. I've shared it before that one of the things I admire most about Alex is that he chose to run counter to his culture. He had achieved what most Belizeans dream of... leaving Belize for a more prosperous life in North America. In fact many of those he looked up to as spiritual mentors and guides told him to not return but to make a comfortable life for himself in Canada. Alex couldn't do that though... he was called to return as a "missionary" to his home country of Belize. My prayer is that as these young people realize their potential they will see it as a tool to change Belize and not just a tool to leave Belize.

I've got a talk date with Alex for Thursday. Hopefully this one will work out with the whole technological situation down there. So check back later for updates on the last couple weeks of camps.