Day One: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

The 2012 Belize Mission Trip started bright and early this morning (a 5:30 AM meeting time to be exact). Twenty-two people with bags packed for a week's stay in a foreign country and we were all on time. Pretty impressive, I'd say! Before we even left the church parking lot, it began raining and it rained all the way to Houston. Thanks to Bill & Linda Marr for braving the early start time and the weather to safely deliver us to Intercontinental Airport. When we got to the airport, the number of people who were trying to leave for international flights was insane. The ENTIRE check in area of Terminal E was completely full and airport personnel were trying to organize all of the people waiting outside be allowed to enter the terminal. Luckily, because we were using Group Check In, we were able to maneuver past the hordes of people and go to the front of the line. That made our group happy, though a number of the people we bypassed were not as thrilled. We were able to use our group status to make it through security much faster, as well. It was chaotic, but at least we were not stuck in the 3 hour security
clearance wait that other people had to endure. Once the group (now at 25 because 3 people joined us at the airport) checked in, we discovered that 4 members did not have assigned seats on the plane. There were some tense moments when we thought those 4 people would not be able to make the flight as we began hearing stories of how oversold all of the Belize flights were and how one group had already been waiting in the airport on standby for 25 hours. In the end, everything worked out and we were all able to board the flight. Whew!

Once we took off and cleared all of the rain clouds, the trip smoothed out. We landed in Belize City with no problems, easily cleared Customs, met our drivers, and traveled to our delicious lunch in Old Belize.





As I am writing this, we are settling in at Camalote Camp. Every hammock is filled (one hammock has already dumped 8 people and been named "The Devil"),





Michael is serenading a group with his harmonica,


and Jeremy is taking photos of plants.







All is right in our world.

You better Belize it!





- Julie W.