It's time again for ABC Wednesday. If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday, you are missing out on a lot of fun.
This week the letter is B. My favorite place to visit is Belize. Belize is a small country in Central America. In February 2004, 17 members of my church raised 20,000 dollars and went to San Pedro, Belize in Central America to build a church. While we were there we made lots of friends. We were only in San Pedro for a short time, but by the time we left the walls of the church were finished. During the following months, the church members in San Pedro finished the church building. Below are photos of the completed church.
NEW HORIZON SDA CHAPEL
BICYCLES AT CHURCH
NEW HORIZON SDA SCHOOLROOM
During our stay in Belize we learned to love the people, the culture, and the natural beauty. We have returned three times since our first trip, and we have had friends from Belize come visit us in Arkansas. We have made so many friends while in San Pedro. You can read the story of our friendship with the Amaya family here.
ANGEL AMAYA
On our first trip to Belize, my wife and little Jeffery formed a special bond almost immediately. She held him through church. She played with him on the beach. Jeffery's Mom and Dad helped with the construction of the chapel, so we spent time together. Whenever Jeffery was where my wife was, he wanted to be with her. We stay in touch with Jeffery and his family. We recieved a phone call from them just a couple of weeks ago. The story of little Jeffery is here.
JEFFERY AND HIS MOM
During our visits to San Pedro, we have become good friends with Rigoberto Roches and his wife Shirley. They are wonderful friends who have invited us into there home. During the summer of 2008 they came to visit us in Arkansas. The story of their visit was published in our church paper. You can read it here.
MY DEAR FRIEND RIGOBERTO
One of our favorite things to do when we visit Belize is to go snorkeling. Belize has the second longest barrier reef in the world. Inside the reef, the waters are shallow and calm, and the amount of wildlife is amazing. Besides many kinds of fish and coral, there are stingrays and sharks. One of the tour guides that we made friends with was Eddie. He likes to play with the sharks, and had my wife Gina help him bring this one to the surface for a photo opp.
GINA AND EDDIE HOLD A SHARK
Belize is a beautiful and interesting place to visit. If you are a scuba diver, it is one of the premier diving locations in the world. I loved getting up every morning to photograph the sunrise. There just happened to be some fisherman out on the water as I was taking this shot. It is one of my favorite photos from Belize.
FISHERMAN SUNRISE
Every morning I was in San Pedro I would walk through the town taking photos. Here is a slideshow of San Pedro coming to life set to the song "Good Mawnin Belize".
Pretty nice! I have a friend from Belize, my former classmate in M.A. here in Taipei. I hope to visit the place someday! have a nice day!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful and fascinating post for the B Day, Richie! How wonderful to be involved in such a great project! Your photos are terrific! Thanks for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
ABC Team
Great post Richie. Going on Mission trips does change ones' life forever. I feel the same as you. Beautiful church building.
ReplyDeleteCute kid!
ReplyDeleteI remember when British Honduras became Belize, which always makes for a great trivia answer (only Central Am country w primary language as English).
ROG, ABC Wednesday team
Nice post for B day. Have you ever visited The Gutsy Writer's blog. She and her family lived a year in Belize and she is writing a book of their experience.
ReplyDeleteBelize looks like a facinating place and the people are quite handsome.
ReplyDeleteHow fortunate you were able to spend such quality time there.
Not too sure about that playing with sharks however. I am a scuba diver and that stupid movie Jaws scared me out of the water and away from a marine biology degree.
I give Gina a lot of credit.
Have been in the ministry 50 years, and supported many missionaries, and projects. This just blesses my heart, big time.
ReplyDeleteBlessing on you for your faithful work in Belize and the those happy faces is such a tribute to your work for the Lord.
funny we caught a similar shark right here in White Rock. They don't bite people and neither do the killer whales which come around once in a while. What a surprise to go fishing and then pull out something like this.
ReplyDeleteIt is beautiful there!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful tribute to Belize and her people. That sunrise is delightful.
ReplyDeleteCheryl
ABC Team
Having read your previous posts about the work you did and the wonderful relationships you formed in Belize, I'm not the least bit surprised that your "B" is for Belize. Good post.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous!
ReplyDeleteB for Broken Plate, come and see.
i guess it's a good place, hope to visit one day. Looks like the people are busy with different activities, well MY ENTRY IS HERE hope you can drop by :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your pictures from Belize. My nephew was there on a mission trip once or twice. My own children have been to El Salvador but never Belize. It is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! The photos are fantastic. Thanks for sharing your love of Belize and it's people.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures - sounds like such an interesting place to visit.
ReplyDelete