Fellowship Hall

By Jenna Boesveld

Grade 9 - Hamilton District Christian High

Full of energy and enthusiasm, a team of 21 Hamilton District Christian High students and 3 staff members spent their March Break in the Central America nation of Belize, helping to build a classroom, paint a fence and pour a cement sidewalk.

Going to Belize, none of us really knew what to expect. We went to be a blessing to those in need and ended up being richly blessed ourselves instead!

Thursday, March 13, 3:00AM

We arrived at the school all prepared and ready to go. After our flight from Toronto to Belize City, we drove to the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) camp near Belmopan. Looking out of the bus window we enjoyed the beautiful view and the many people waving and smiling at us.

After a very long day of travel, we unpacked and went swimming at a nearby pool. Coming back from swimming we experienced the highlight of the day – having to cross a very long suspension bridge which hung about 100 feet over a river! Some were very scared, but everyone made it across!  We were all very tired, so after devotions we called it a day.

Friday, March 14

Today was a work day. Our group of 21 was divided into two groups. The group I was in went to work at the Western Christian Academy High School and prepared to start building an additional classroom. We had to scrape and paint a fence as well.  The other group got started constructing a sidewalk at the YWAM camp

In the evening, Ms. Baarda led our devotions and we talked about prayer. We sang and talked about the highlights and lowlights. Almost everyone’s highlight was to  get started at their work site.         

Saturday, March 15

Time was going by so quickly and it was only Saturday! Today we went off to work again.  Even though we all worked hard, it was a lot of fun!

We went to Spanish Look-out for dinner and had pizza and ice cream and we all laughed together.  My group consisting of Heather, Stan, Michael, David, and myself was on for devotions tonight! Our topic was adoration. We sang “Father, I Adore You” and some other songs. We also did a skit on the Good Samaritan and talked about how sometimes we can miss an opportunity to do something that seems little but which can make a big difference.  

Sunday, March 16

Today was a day of rest and fun!  We visited Mayan ruins which gave us the chance to conquer some of our fears of height and taught us something about Mayan culture. Later, we went to  “Jubilee Church”. It was a very powerful service. We sang nine or ten songs at the beginning of the service just standing praising our Lord! Later we heard the sermon by Pastor Scott; it was awesome! We could hear God speaking through him! It was wonderful to worship with the people in Belize and see how differently we all can worship our same unchanging and awesome God!

Monday, March 17

Seeing each other grow spiritually binds us closer together as a group. Yesterday’s church service brought us all closer together and showed us how much we love the Lord! We were so focused on working today and we got so much accomplished. We all had fun and Rachel, Ian, Sarah, Michelle, Alex, and Taylor’s group did devotions about confession. After singing, we prayed and then shared our highlights (getting lots accomplished) and lowlights (sunburn)!

Tuesday, March 18

Today is our last work day!  It will be sad having to leave our counselors which we have worked alongside this week; Mr. Tom, Ms. Dana and Mr. John have been a blessing to us.  We worked together with these people to complete much work. The one group which stayed at YWAM finished the sidewalk and the second group which went to WCA finished quite a bit of the classroom, plus the entire fence was scraped and re-painted. (I think we may have had just as much paint on us as the fence!)  After finishing work we went shopping and many of us bought things like hot sauce, necklaces, and bracelets for family and friends back home.

Wednesday, March 19

 Today was a day off and we all went snorkeling. Snorkeling was great fun and so was the boat ride out! It was really windy and everybody’s hair was flying all over the place! While snorkeling we saw the coral reef and many colourful fish. It was almost as interesting to watch the expressions on faces as some in our group snorkeled for the first time!  When we were done snorkeling at one site we moved on to another where we saw sharks -- fortunately they were just little sharks! On our way back to camp, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Again, we had so much fun together as a group and shared many laughs!

Thursday, March 20

There were a lot of smiles this morning even though it was raining! I think that everyone had a lot going through their minds about having to leave Belize and how that might affect friendships that were made with people who were either older or younger than them. Our group consisted of 11 grade 9’s, 1 each from grades 10 & 11, and 8 grade 12 students.  Everyone worked so well together and really enjoyed each others company.  We are bonded together as servants in the Body of Christ and have all been richly blessed by our experience in serving together.