Belize
My last post was about a trip I was about to take to Belize. 15 of us from FPCA traveled to Belize on Saturday, March 12 and had a life changing experience. We once again partnered with the Word at Work, a missions organization based in Amarillo.
On our first full day in Belize, we made the drive from Belize City to Corozal to visit Moises and his family. If you don't remember me talking about Moises before, he's a little boy we first met in 2009 when he was literally fighting for his life. Only through a miracle were we able to find a hospital in the States that would take him on as a pro-bono case, someone with a private jet willing to pick him up, and a loving community willing to support him. Now Moises his a totally normal boy, back with his family in Belize.
We had the treat of spending Sunday, March 13 with them, taking them to lunch, and then taking them to explore some local Mayan ruins. We had a blast!
Here's one picture. There are plenty more if you go to the FPCA missions blog, and i have literally hundreds more if you ever want to see them!
The rest of the week, we worked at YES (Youth Enhancement Services), a school for girls who do not fit in the traditional school system for one reason or another. All schools in Belize cost money - "public" schools are just simply cheaper than private schools. The girls who attend YES often can't afford the normal tuition. Many of the girls come from abused or broken homes. Two of the fourteen girls who were there when we were there were pregnant. One of those girls was pregnant because she had been raped twice, once by a stranger and once by her uncle.
We had an opportunity to do construction around the school. We building an awning on a building we had constructed last year (and we painted that building). More importantly though, we got to spend time with those girls. Members of our team taught sewing and computer classes. In between classes we had the chance to talk, relax, and play soccer with them. We were able to pray with them and for them (and they prayed for us). It was a great week of building relationships as we were on their campus to teach and build. We have been invited to come back next year to YES, and I hope that's where our group will be next year.
Every time I leave Belize, I leave a little piece of my heart there. I love the people, I love the culture. I love leading a team and watching the team members grow. There's nothing like the experience.
Half-Marathons
Despite the travel I have been doing, I have still been running. My times haven't been overly impressive by any means. But I found two half marathons to do this Spring to help me stay in shape that were a little different than the normal race.
The first was the Zooma Women's Race. I had never done an all women's run, and I thought it seemed like a laid back, fun race (which was what I needed post Belize).
Things I learned from this race.
- just because it says women's race, a few men will sign up. Awkward? or no?
- cool thing about doing an all women's race, they gave up fun necklaces instead of medals. I have already worn the necklace way more than I'd wear the medal.
Definitely not a PR for me. Was a really hilly course, i did more walking than I normally do, but I had fun. Michelle came along as support, and that made it even more fun.
The second race was the Tulsa Oklahoma Aquarium Run. Why would any runner not want to sign up for a race that describes itself as mostly flat, with a cool shark medal to all finishers, and a free ticket to the Aquarium?
Michelle and I were pretty stoked about the event. I still wasn't sure if I was in good enough shape to get a PR, but i knew I'd have a fun time trying.
I took off on the half mile course, Michelle took of on the 5k course and we both quickly realized there was a problem. There were no mile markers anywhere. Longer races almost always mark off the miles so runners know where they are, when to start kicking, etc.
I was a little lost without my milemarkers....
This confusion only got worse when someone said we had 5.5 miles to go, and then a half mile later someone said we were only a the 5.8 mark. Then I heard you're at mile 8, quickly followed by you're at mile 10. I wasn't quite sure where I was, when to kick. boo.
I learned two things - I need to run with a Garmin and keep track of my own miles.
And I learned to just have fun. Once I realized I had totally psyched myself out, I noticed the 60+ people there from the YMCA, including a lot of underprivileged teens. I started running with some of them, trying to encourage them. That made the race special.
Pre-race
Mid-race
Post- race
I would still love to run a sub 2 half marathon, but this wasn't the Spring for that. I'll have a race this Fall in South Carolina that I'm super excited about (for lots of reasons). Mostly, I'm just enjoying people about to run. And it's fun to see new areas and new terrains, meet some random people while doing it.
Retreats:
Spring is always a good time for retreats. And this year I got to participate in two of FPCA's retreats - the Women's retreat and the Youth Retreat.
Skiing
Spring means the start of ski season. I am not a phenomenal skier by any stretch of the imagination, but there's something fun about spending a few hours on the river/lake skiing. Maybe one day I'll be able to get up on one ski, maybe not - for now I'm good with getting up on two and dropping one. I just enjoy being on the water and trying a sport I don't do a lot. There's also something fun about taking friends to the lake who are new to skiing.
Baseball
One of the benefits of living in Arlington is being so close to Rangers stadium. I've made to a few games so far this season - including opening day, a Yankees game, and a handful of others.
Mission Trip to New Orleans
I last wrote when we were about to leave on our Belize mission trip, and I just returned from FPCA's New Orleans Mission Trip. I had never spent much time in New Orleans, and really I knew little about the city. I definitely didn't realize how much work still needed to be done from Hurricane Katrina.
We went and partnered with an EFCA (the same organization we have worked with in Galveston the last two years). I am a big fan of EFCA, how organized they are, their staff, and how they run their organization.
While we were there, we split our group into two teams. Half of our group went to a house, owned by a woman named Ms. Ruby who lives in the 9th Ward. They went to her house daily to help with some drywall finishing. The rest of our spent time at various different sites. Monday and Tuesday they actually went to Bush, LA, to an area that was recently impacted by a tornado. Wednesday and Thursday they went to a neighborhood near the Superdome to help a woman named Ms. Cammie. Ms. Cammie is in her 70s and had paid a contractor $105,000 after the storm to work on her house. The contractor actually damaged her house and left with her money (he's now in jail, but unfortunately he's bankrupt, so there's no way to recover her money). We spent a couple of days helping mainly with the exterior painting.
Besides working, we were able to have some great conversations with the residents of New Orleans and spend some time praying with them. We had a "block party" one evening and served hot dogs.
New Orleans may be one hot and humid climate, but I was very glad we went down there.
Visitor!
My mom decided to come for a visit this May! It was a busy 3 days while she was here, but we had a ton of fun! We did everything from a 10K Fun Run/Walk (where my mom won her age group) to shopping to dinner with church members.
Next up: The Great Escape Junior High Conference in Gunnison, Colorado!!!
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