Our hearts were racing with anticipation for what God had planned next as our team arrived in the Belize coastal town of Dangriga. We had no contacts or agenda. We just had our map, Lonely Planet book, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. We had heard stories of this area of the country and the Garifuni people group, the deep voodoo they practiced here and horror stories as the results of it. We arrived after dark and pulled up to a carnival full of people and noise where we were told that we could camp. It was right on the coast but we recognized that it would not be safe nor have any privacy if we set up camp right there. Many of these dark Carribean people were coming and gathering around us and our vehicles to see what we were there for and if we needed help. We stayed there and visited with the people until a couple helpful men had arranged a more convenient place for our team to set up camp which was a definite gift from God.

The next morning we told one of our new friends that we would like to pray for the sick and he came with a list his Aunty had made him of where many sick people were staying around town. Before going and praying for them we all walked to the beach together to baptize Godfrey. Godfrey is the man we brought with us from northern Belize who gave his life to the Lord and the Lord spoke to us to bring him with us to disciple him and help him get away from his drug and drinking buddies for the time being. Of his own accord he had been asking to be baptized and as we walked to the beach we met another young man and we witnessed to him. He watched Godfrey be baptized and then gave His life to Jesus and went in next to also be baptized. After the baptisms Tanya, I and one of our new Garifuni friends went and found the Mayor of the town and he warmly welcomed us and gave us permission to do an evangelistic event at a central park in the community that night. During the rest of the afternoon we went from house to house of the sick people on the list we were given and sat in their homes with them, prayed for them, and ministered to them. Many were touched, cried and experienced healing in their bodies. That evening at the park we set up our sound system, played music, performed drama, had fun with the kids and led a group of them to receive Jesus for the first time.

We planned a trip to one of the nearby islands to minister to the island people and the coral reef the next morning but because of a hurricane warning we shifted our plans and drove about 2 hours south to the most southern town of Belize where many Mayan villages are. I personally had not even know that Mayan people were still around, but thought they were only ancient like the aztecs and Inca's, and I was excited to get to meet them and see their culture, and I even had the opportunity to ask them about their calendar ending in a few months. When we first arrived in this town called P.G. we stopped at a small food shack to eat some rice and beans for lunch. There was a woman there who had very poor eyesight especially in her right eye being very blurred. We prayed for her healing and her eyes were healed and the blurred vision became clear! She and her family around were so blessed by the power and love of God that they took a few of us to go and pray for her mom who could not walk because of arthritis in her knees and others of us went to pray for an elderly woman down the street who was blind. When we came into this blind woman’s house she explained how she could only barely see the shadows of people. We prayed for her and her sight improved so that she could begin to see colors but her eyes were still very blurred and unfocused and she could not tell me how many fingers I was holding up no matter where I held my hand. So we prayed for her again asking Jesus to restore and heal more and bring her eyes back into focus. After this prayer we asked again to see if she could count how many fingers I was holding and she could see and was able to answer correctly. Praise Jesus for His healing power! When we got back to where we had eaten lunch we heard from the others that the woman they prayed for who could not walk was healed and got up and walked. And in the little kitchen was a man who had been struggling with drinking for a long time so that his family had kicked him out and he often slept right in that shack where the cooks gave him food out of mercy because he had nowhere else to go. After sitting and ministering to this man for some time he gave his heart and committed his life to the Lord. Godfrey was one of the main people involved in ministering to this man and led him down to the ocean to be baptized. He was baptized and everyone on shore and from the kitchen cheered as they saw him making the decision to change his life and follow Jesus.

We then went to a Mayan village and found a large school there with a couple hundred Mayan children. We went and found the principal and share some stories with him of what God had done already earlier that day. Although our arrival there was random and unplanned, the principal gave us the open door to go into all of the classrooms and speak to the children who had about 25 minutes left of their school day. So we dispersed to see how God would use to pour His love into these kids. Christian, Ben, Victor and I went to a classroom of the older kids with about twenty-five boys and girls. It was kind of Awkward just walking in and telling the teacher the principal had invited us but they welcomed us and we began speaking out words of knowledge over some of them and share some testimonies and the Gospel. Five boys and one girl raised their hands and stood up in front of their classmates to receive Jesus and commit their lives to Him. We then prayed for all of them. These were all the most precious children! On the way home we stopped and visited some of the Mayan ruins as the sun was setting. What a beautiful day!