Goodbye Succotz

Why Lord? Why have we gained so much favor with you that you allowed us to spend time with these sweet children who you created? To speak your precious words into their lives.. We are so fragile and needy ourselves and most days do not feel qualified for any of it.

We do not know what the Lord has in store for our family but we do pray that whatever it is that we will be bold enough to 'go' again, wherever that may be.. Thank you Lord for the most treasured 8 months of our lives. Thank you for being faithful to us in our desperate times of need.. for holding us up spiritually during the dark days.. and practically on those days where only rice was to be found on our shelves. Thank you for teaching our children what it truly means to sacrifice and to serve. And thank you that although we are broken vessels that you allow us to serve in your kingdom. 



                                                       LAST DAY IN SUCCOTZ

A group shot of as a friend has recently dubbed them our 'distant relatives' ;)

This time grandpa was there too! He really wanted to get a photo of he and Roberta alongside our family

Uh humm.. we found Laura digging treats out of the floorboards, and EATING them!

The family had prepared us a traditional Belizean meal as a farewell thank you.. complete with rice, beans and chicken as well as coleslaw, plantains and hortchatcha which is a rice drink (and which I suppose I horribly misspelled). It was difficult to choke down this delicious meal as the rest of the family had nothing for themselves for lunch.. we were so touched by this special gift.

We had asked Anna and Rudy to find out the most needy families in Succotz so that we could hand out the last of our donated food and clothing items. What made it so special is that Rudy's family kind of took over the distribution of the items. It was so heart warming to see them serving others.

One stop we made was at Denea's mother's grave. She died just 9 months ago, leaving she and her 4 other siblings. It was heart wrenching watching she and her cousin Rudy cleaning off the cement above ground grave site. Such a heavy burden to bear for an eleven year old little girl.

Back at home, we started saying our goodbyes.. as you can imagine there were plenty of tears.

Rudy presented me with a small book of scripture verses and poems. It has been amazing to see how much he wants to serve the Lord. Please continue to pray that he finds someone to disciple him. That is one primary reason we look forward  to going  back to Belize, if it is the Lord's will.

My sweet Grant had one last gift to give. His bicycle which he had purchased from the auction in Belize and had replaced about every part which could be!  It is so special to see the Lord work in the hearts of our children. We will miss this family so much. Lord, please bring us back to Belize if it is your will..

We just want to ask you that if the Lord tells you to 'go', will you? It is worth every sacrifice. The Lord is not looking for perfect vessels. Only willing ones.