St. Luke's Youth Have Arrived

Right on time on the 3:00 water taxi, the St.Luke's youth mission team arrived in San Pedro. They had smooth travel and were very excited to be here. They were a wonderful and welcome sight as they stepped off that boat!

The kids were real troopers as we lugged and dragged suitcases up the beach to The Tides. They checked in, and then we went on to Holy Cross to drop off the suitcases of donations. MANY thanks to all of you who responded to our call for much needed shoes, school supplies, and other items (balloons and ribbon for graduation!). Without suitcases like those, the school could not continue to meet the needs of its students.

I joined the kids, Joe and Amy for a fun dinner at Carumba's. I caught up on some of the "news" and enjoyed once again the sound of their laughter. They were snapping pictures -- of the food, of each other, of the street -- left and right so their blog entries should be full of great visuals for their readers. We finished off the evening with the world's best ice cream at DandE's. They now know one of my favorite spots on the island!

Since they met at RDU at 5:00 a.m., most of the kids were weary and ready to try out their new beds. They had to be on the dock at 7:00 this morning for a day trip to Lamanai. I will join them this evening for worship. It's been a long time since I worshipped with St. Luker's -- since the adult team left in early February!

Today is cooking day for me. The group is coming here for dinner on Tuesday night, and I wanted to prepare some true Belizean fare. I am fixing stewed chicken, rice and beans (no meal is complete without it), and fresh fruit. This is the peak of mango and papaya season, so we can have some sweet treats. I decided to cook today for a couple of reasons: after a day at school, there wouldn't be time to prepare everthing for dinner by the time everyone arrived. More importantly, if this meal is a flop, I have time to try Plan B! Stay tuned.

Have a good week. This will be my last full week at Holy Cross. Having the group from St. Luke's here this week is turning out to be a great way to ease back into life in Durham.