Saturday, November 4, 2017 - Day 8

Today was a full day hosting activities with the kids at LOL. I started out the morning with this entry in my journal, not knowing at the time how appropriate it would be:

Father God,
Please bless our time with the kids today.
Grant us all patience and endurance for this day.
You know what this day holds, please equip us with all that we need.
Amen

Our morning started with breakfast and devotions at home. Pastor Bruce lead devotions this morning. He shared from Isaiah and spoke of how we are called and equipped. He pointed out that it does little good to have the right tools if we don't use them.

Devotions were followed by organizing and loading a TON of supplies for the day into the back of the bus. I think we ended up hauling at least 6 huge duffle bags of supplies to LOL this morning. I am so thankful to have so many strong guys on this trip, without them it would have been a real challenge.

Today we hosted an Olympic Games style field day for the kids. The morning was filled with summer Olympics, and the afternoon with winter Olympics (yes in tropical Belize). We divided the kids into 3 teams, red, blue, and yellow. Each team was lead by a member of our team.

The morning activities were track and field, bracelet making, and building "bobsleds". Dan taught Joy, Amber, and I how to make paracord bracelets. Each team made bracelets in their team color. I was amazed at how the kids responded to making the bracelets. Many of the kids simply wanted to sit as close as possible to us while working on the bracelets. I found myself at one point helping 3 kids make bracelets while one of the younger girls pulled apart my braid and was playing with my hair.

I realized in that moment that more than any activity we could do with the kids, love was what they needed. Just being close to someone else, being shown that they matter, and spending time with them was what they really wanted.

The kids proved to be extremely competitive in the track and field competition. Each one was pushing themselves to do their best and beat the other team. One of the boys even pushed himself to the point of heat exhaustion and ended up hanging out with Rachael getting medical attention for part of the day. When I say these kids are competitive, I'm not joking.

Bobsled trial runs

Down by the sidewalk (the only sidewalk at LOL actually) the kids created their own "bobsleds" out of skateboard wheels and boards. Each team made their own bobsled to race down the sidewalk.

Following lunch Joy and I helped Rachael to organize costumes for the costume party we were hosting at the end of the Olympic games. While we were organizing the rest of the team was helping the kids decorate their bobsleds and do practice runs down the sidewalk.

It was so much fun watching the bobsled races! Everyone got involved in the races and they were a huge hit! I don't know how next years team is going to top it.

We were forced to make the decision at this point that it was going to be too hot for our costume party. With many of the costumes being made for colder weather they just were too insulated for the heat in Belize. It was decided that we would have the kids get their costumes, go home for dinner, and everyone come back that evening for a party when it was cooler.

Pastor Bruce announcing that the party was being moved to the evening

Once the races were finished we called the kids in groups up to the 3rd floor to pick out their costumes for the party. The kids had so much fun picking out costumes for the party. Each kid had to pick a partner from either our team or the staff to go through the costumes with and pick out something that would fit them.

When the costumes had been picked out we pilled into the bus to go home for a quick rest and some dinner. I had been feeling slightly dehydrated all day so I used the time to try and drink as much water as I could in order to feel better.

Even the LOL Staff got in on the fun!

The sun went down around 5:30ish and so did the temperature. Following dinner we piled back into the bus and headed back to LOL for the costume party. Each of us picked out costumes from the leftover pieces to wear for the evening.

A Jedi Ninja

Someone at LOL had pulled out a speaker and one of the older boys was acting as DJ for the evening. We had part of the team hosting a photo booth in one room, some were overseeing the fun, and myself, Kyle, Amber, and Nicole were doing face painting. Some of the younger kids spent the evening changing from costume to costume, reminding me a lot of my own kids constantly changing dress-up clothes.

Jeff as Spider Bunny

All in all, it was a very long, very fun day!