We De Goen? Me Name Da Shannon...

I AM HERE!

I already absolutely LOVE it.

And I am now learning to speak Creol.

Or “Kriol,” as they spell it in Belize. (Which explains the weird subject line of this post… “We de goen” means what’s happening/what’s up? And “Me name da Shannon” means my name is Shannon. I feel so cool.

Anyways, wow. The past four days have been soooo crazy/hectic but exciting! My travels went well and at 2:25pm Monday afternoon, I arrived in BELIZE! Some of the Belizean Thirst Missions staff, Luda and Perla, and one other intern, Elizabeth from North Carolina, were there to greet me. We waited for the last intern, Kelly from California, to arrive and then were off to Caye Caulker Island via a water taxi along the Caribbean sea!

Each day on Caye Caulker has consisted of lots of training/meetings with staff on the roof of our hotel, with a beautiful view. Want to see?

 We have a bit of free time in between meetings to explore and enjoy the Island. The weather has been HOTTTTT. The food has been so delicious. I have never consumed so much orange juice in my life. In fact here is a picture of Jose and me, one of the staff members (he's from Honduras) with my giant bottle of freshly squeeze O.J…he kept joking around and pretending to take it from me haha! 

 Well clearly, I have not had to sacrifice much yet. :) But hey I suppose we deserve a little paradise for these three days seeing as the next nine weeks are going to be very challenging and hard in many ways once we actually start the trips! Yayyyyy.

I got my schedule and it is really exciting. I will be leading seven mission trips, all in different towns/villages with one week off in between. Some of the staff and I are possibly going to take a trip to Guatemala or Mexico on that week and again on another day later in the summer because technically we “have” to leave the country and return two times this summer, since our passport is only a 30-day visa! So I suppose if I HAVE to…

_

My schedule is as follows in this order: Date ~ Church we are serving in Belize (construction, VBS, teaching @ local school, etc. ) ~ Church teaming with us from the U.S. and state they are from:

June 10-16:  Alta Mira Church ~ Corozal ~North Shore Fellowship, Tennessee.

June 17-23: MCA Church ~ San Luis Village ~ Christ Evan. Pre Church, Texas.

June 25-July 4: Libertad Church ~ Northern Belize ~ Christ Covenant Pres. Church, Texas.

July 12-19: Buen Pastor Church ~ Orange Walk ~ John Knox Presbyterian Church, Seattle. WOOOH SO EXCITED!!!  (This is my home church for those of you who don’t know!)

July 20-26: Tabernacle Bautista Church ~ Belmopan (central Belize, this is the capital) ~ Destiny Church, Virginia

July 28-Aug. 4: Yo Creek Church ~ City not on my schedule yet, oops! ~ Cornerstone Church, Missouri

Aug.3-9: Chapel School and Church ~ Near Orange Walk I think?  Also not on sched. yet ~ First Presbyterian Church, Wisconsin.

And there you have it, my summer in a nutshell. So awesome. More details will come later, there is a TON of work and planning behind the scenes that goes into each trip. I am going to be a busy busy girl. But it is worth it. Tomorrow we are leaving Caye Caulker and heading to Orange Walk to prepare for the first group arriving Sunday. No more hotels or A/C from here on out for me. Now it will be sleeping on the floors of churches, schools, host homes, etc.! (Except for one day/night in between every trip we go back to the Caye to prepare and plan for the following trip arriving that next day)… 

For now I am off to go hang out with the Spanish speaking Belizean pastors para practicar mi espanol. I am already getting so much better at it. They told me I am 99% fluent which was a major compliment for me! But my Creol on the other hand…let’s just say they laugh at everything I attempt to say.  

Wish me luck and pray for health & safety for the whole group please! Thanks so much for reading and feel free to keep leaving comments, they make me very happy. Mucho mucho mucho love to you all!

Go Slow, (the motto of this Island, you see it everywhere!)

-Shannon

p.s. Two things

1. If you want me to send you a postcard message me your address on facebook please!

2. If you would like to send me anything, which would be oh so kind of you, my address on the Caye where I end every week is:

Pasero Street

P.O. Box 80

Caye Caulker

Belize Central America (you can just put Belize, C.A.)

GRACIAS! I'll be posting again probably the 16th after my first trip. Prayers por favor.