Seasons: You better Belize it!

Gracious! It's been a long time since my last post. Well, the lecture phase ended well and we are all now on outreach. My team is currently in the Central American country of Belize. We have been here about two weeks, and have two more weeks before we head on to Guatemala for the last 6 weeks of outreach. Our time here has been amazing!

On our first day of ministry, which included prayer walking around the capitol buildings & worshiping on the lawn in front of them, we saw 3 salvations! I played guitar in public and sang with my team for the first time in a long time. I had given it up, and began to take on a fear of man regarding my playing & singing ability, but am beginning to break off the fear of doing it in front of people. Yay for breakthroughs!

Me playing guitar while the team shared the gospel with a guy who walked up to us

Leading this guy in a salvation prayer

Because of the Easter holiday, many of the ministries we were to be involved with here were on break. So each day we would ask God where we were to go and what we were to do. One day he led us to a city and hour and a half away, where we went to the biggest hotel (as He directed us) and we ended up staying for 5 hours! I talked with 3 guys for nearly two hours about the gospel, and how Jesus was the only way to have a relationship with God or get to heaven. There were no decisions made that day, but seeds were planted and they seemed really close! Pray for them if you think of it. While I was talking to them, another teammate was sharing with a woman who worked in a gift shop, and others were talking to other people or were playing guitar and worshiping, right there in the lobby.

Worshiping in the hotel lobby, me in the background evangelizing to those 3 guys

On two other days, God led us to different Mayan ruins where we also worshiped. Everywhere we go, God seems to tell us to take the guitar and worship. When we first arrived in country, I believe God told me worship would be key here, and it definitely has been! We often will arrive in a place, there will be no one there, we start worshiping, and people just show up. People seem to be drawn to the music and come to us to find out why we are there, and boom, open door to share the gospel. It's great! We have been evangelizing to tourists & Belizeans alike, and people more often than not, come up to us.

One of the ruins we climbed up to worship on

Worshiping on top of the ruins

One ministry that we have been able to be a part of from the beginning is something called Destiny House. It is a ministry connected with another YWAM base that we are partnering with. Basically, it's a safe place where youth can come and hang out, play games, buy snacks, etc. On our first night there, Nicole C. Mullen (a Christian music artist) was there and we got to hang out with her. So random! I even played a game of spoons with her. :) But while we are there, we get to talk with the kids and disciple them if they are already believers, or share the gospel with them. This last Friday, our team was able to lead one young man to the Lord, and shortly after, baptized him in the Spirit!

My co-leader, Maria, and I with Nicole C. Mullen

Praying for the young man my team led to the Lord

We have also been given an open invitation to teach in a local high school. We are allowed to go in and teach on whatever we want, so to us that means something about God. We teach in 5 different classes, covering our testimonies, hearing the voice of God, God's Nature & Character, Relationships, Modesty, Respecting others, and the straight out gospel. The kids at this school are a little difficult as they are considered the dumb kids. Here in Belize, the students get placed in certain schools based on their test scores. All the kids at this school have the lowest test scores, so they basically have the belief that they will never make it & are stupid. There is little discipline & almost no respect for each other or their teachers. Makes for challenging teaching times, but we're growing in patience & are committed to these kids learning the truth and hopefully beginning to understand their value.

Savanna sharing her testimony in one of the classes

We've also had an opportunity to get involved with a local church and are able to teach their Women's Class, the Youth Class, and the Children's Sunday School Class. And we have been visiting a local hospital praying for healings for people and sharing the gospel.

Lisa & Susanne teaching the Youth Class at church

Me working in the children's class at church

We are seeing some good fruit, for having been here such a short time. My girls are boldly going for it and talking or sharing with whoever we come across. I am also having breakthrough in areas and have been filled with boldness to be able to share with people and pray for people. For the first time in my life, I love evangelism! This is huge for me. I've never said those words before. But I so enjoy sharing the good news of Jesus with people and I want others to know the same hope, joy & love that I have been experiencing.

That about does it for now. We love being here, though it is ridiculously hot! Over 100 degrees each day and humidity of about 70-80%. We are getting little glimpses of some of the culture here, including killing your own food. We had the "fun" experience of catching roosters, killing them, plucking them, gutting them, and preparing them to eat. That was quite the experience for me. I'm so thankful for grocery stores & would be ok to never do that again! (We had to use the dullest kitchen knife to cut of their heads and it took forever!)