Thursday was a day of play for the team and I joined them in the snorkeling adventure. Once again off to Placencia, with another eventful bus ride. First we pasted an armed man check point then a few miles later a jack-knife semi hauling lumber. Our bus just squeezed by the drivable road way to the side of the semi. Ron had all of us exit the bus, just in case it went over the side into the 30 ft valley bellow. Once there, 8 of us started a game of beach volleyball (those Philly Friday night games are already coming in handy).After lunch 9 of us went snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea. Along Belize’s coast is the 2nd largest coral reef in the world, something I had to see! I’m no Michael Phelps and have done very few water sports let alone snorkeling so let’s just say there was a lot of praying involved. The boat ride was fun, a little choppy, it felt like being on a water park ride with splashes of water coming over the sides of the boat and that belly queasy feeling then we hit a wave. I sat next to Jonathan from Alaska who is no stranger to boating, his demeanor calmed my anxiety. As did Duke and Chris’ riffs and impressions. It was hard keeping the salty water out of our mouths because we were laughing so much. Yes, I was the only female on this trip. All my gear seemed to fit perfectly to snorkel around an island. This is where the prayer came in, I couldn’t get my breathing to a normal pace, that in and out of your mouth business was difficult for me. I prayed that God would calm me, give me a peace so I can enjoy His creation and this experience. Once I got the hang of it and began thinking about all the amazing things I was seeing my thoughts turned to praising Him! Praising Him for the unbelievable colors, textures, plants and animals I was saw. Such electric purples, smooth maroons, orange and yellow starfish, sea cucumbers, yellow fish, black fish and fish with shimmery teal stripes. The fashion side of my brain started taking over, thinking of all the harmonious color combinations found under the sea.
Just letting the waves carry you around and seeing fish in their natural habitat was so inspiring. One fish reminded me of Dory from Finding Nemo, just kind of didn’t seem like it had a clear path, swimming every which way, even fish have personalities! This is something I would definitely do again (unlike SD farm boy Duke, who preferred to be on a horse than underwater snorkeling).It was a long day and when we arrived at the house the women got back in the car heading to Belmopan for a presentation on human trafficking in Belize. Two women from the church gave testimonies on this subject. Seattle is 5th (I think) in the US for human trafficking, but hearing the real life stories from the mouths of God loving women just broke my heart. I learned more about the different kinds of perpetrators and how to pray for these women and kids in what seems like a hopeless situation without God. Step of Faith Church has some amazing women leaders and I praise God for them!
God Bless,
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