Background Information:

On January 15 – 22, 15 students and three staff members from King’s Christian Collegiate left for a service trip with Worldwide Christian Schools to Belize.  Every year, King’s offers various trips for their students.  Typically there are two service trips and one cultural trip.  As a school, we strongly believe that these trips can be life transformational.  We want to give students an opportunity to see the world differently.  The trips are tightly related to our vision statement: “Equipping students to grow in stature and favour with God and man.”  The trips enable our students to serve another community while learning immeasurable life lessons about God, others, and themselves.  As trip leaders, we work really hard at impressing on our students that these trips are not about us “saving” others.  It’s about serving, learning, and growing.  The importance of understanding that these trips are about personal growth and spiritual significance is emphasized over “doing good” for others.  It is through serving others that we learn about who God is and what He wants to do with us individually and as a group. 

We have been able to establish and excellent relationship with a school in the Dominican Republic alongside Careforce International and every year we send a team to this location.  For our second service trip, we work with various agencies to find a good fit for our group and school.  Two years ago we sent a team to Nicaragua, also with WWCS.  This was an excellent experience and we decided to consult WWCS and see what options were available.  As we discussed various options, Belize became more and more inviting.  Originally we were supposed to work in Caye Caulker which was a sandy island area.  This attracted all sorts of attention from students.  But later on it was decided that Orange Walk would be a better fit because of the work that was necessary and appropriate to our level of abilities.

What did we do?:

The trip was quite structured overall.  Every morning we would wake up by 7:00 and students and leaders were given a devotional booklet that consisted of Bible reading, journal questions, and prayer outlines to follow.  We would all disperse and find a quiet place to connect with God.  This was an invaluable time as students responded very positively and were shocked by the amount of thoughts that were percolating in their heads as they read the passages, answered some introspective questions, and prayed.  There was also a follow up question for students to think about as they went about their day.  We would then leave for the worksite at 8:00 and first have breakfast.  By 9:00 we were all in our small groups and ready to work.  The bulk of our time there was spent painting and varnishing.  At first, our students were a bit disappointed because they were looking forward to doing some hard labour.  This was again a valuable life lesson about serving.  Serving others is about finding out what they need as oppose to doing what we want to do and assuming that it’s in their best interest.  By the end of the week we were able to step back, see the progress of our work and feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that we served in the capacity that was requested.  The principal of the school was delighted with the work we did and the interactions we had with the students.   She was choked up with tears when she testified to God’s goodness in answering prayers and how we were living proof of that.  It was such a joy for our students to be able to connect with the students of Belize.  Since Belize is an English speaking country, all the students were able to communicate with our team.  Any time there was a break, our students would rush to play with the Belizean students.  Whether it was soccer, hanging on the monkey bars, or just sitting quietly, our group was fully integrated with the school children.  We also had the opportunity to lead a chapel.  This was an incredible experience.  Our students are fairly reserved and don’t sing or dance too much at our own chapels.  However, the one we led in Belize was a whole different picture.  We led them in songs with actions and dances, we performed a skit (on the fly!) of The Good Samaritan, and had a time of Q&A led by two of our student leaders.  At the end of chapel we were all blessed by the Spirit that came full force in that room.  It was an experience that is ingrained in my mind so deeply.  After our work day, we would return to our hotel to shower and relax before dinner.  Dinner was at 6:00 and then we would meet for evening devotions at 7:30.  During evening devotions we began with some singing. The singing was like we’ve never heard a group of King’s sing before.  It was as if they actually enjoyed singing and the words of the songs carried meaning. After singing we would discuss our day and plans for the next day.  Then students took turns giving their personal testimony about how God has been at work in their lives.  This was extremely moving as students allowed themselves to become vulnerable, raw, and broken.  Tears were shed, hugs were given, and feeling of community hovered around us.  Many students felt that this was important because rarely do we share that deeply about our personal lives and who God is when we’re back home.  After testimonies we would spend time debriefing about the passage and theme of the day which the students read during their morning devotions.  We would unpack the story and then work through group discussion questions that allowed us to grow deeper in our understanding of the biblical application.  Finally, we would end the evening with small group time.  During these times, we would meet in our small group (it was the same group as our work groups) and share some of the day’s experience further, and delve in deeper to the questions from our morning devotions which were theme based.  We also spent time in prayer with each other.  Once again, there were many tears, many emotions, and many Spiritual discoveries, commitments and challenges.  By 10:00 everyone was in their rooms and it was time for bed…at least for most of us.

There were two opportunities for our group to “get away”.  On the first Sunday we rented a van and drove to a nearby lagoon…don’t be fooled by the word “lagoon” which sounds way more romantic than it actually was.  The weather wasn’t very cooperative and the site was very “simple” but we had a fun time connecting with one another, whether it was chatting in small groups, throwing the football around, or frolicking in the water.  The biggest adventure was driving in the van.  Though the ride was only nine miles long, it took over 40 minutes because of the plethora of potholes and rugged road conditions; it was a bonding experience as we landed in each other’s laps frequently and had to hold on to each other’s necks for safety.  The second outing was to the city of Belize.  We spent the morning at the market buying souvenirs and practicing our haggling skills (which btw, we weren’t very good at!).  The afternoon was spent at a place called “Old Belize” where we had lunch, did some zip lining, swam, played volleyball, rested and had a great time together.  This day was definitely a highlight for many of us.

Impressions:

Overall impressions are so hard to describe.  I think I described a great amount of these impressions throughout the first two questions.  The trip was excellent.  I’ve been and led many trips and all the trips have been equally valuable.  No trip has really been better or worst overall, but there have been aspects that change the dynamics of each trip.  This trip was characterized by the tight connection we had with each other as group and by the interactions we had with the school children in Belize.  Many students were already friends but the relationships deepened during our work periods, group devotions, and small group times.  We also had a ridiculous amount of fun.  Everyday our abdomens had a good workout.  Whether it was events that occurred during the day, or just simple exhaustion, we laughed so much. 

Our last night was the most memorable of all our evening devotions.  We spent time completely vulnerable with each other and with God.  It became apparent that so much was being revealed to each member.  The challenge is what we do with all these thoughts and revelations now that we return to our “normal life”.  Were those experiences highly emotional or were they spiritual and require of us a change in lifestyle, attitude or heart.  As the trip leader it was such an amazing experience to see students so open with their thoughts and feelings.  It was also inspiring to see how each individual student had an opportunity to shine during the week.  Whether it was through their hard work, their willingness to be vulnerable in sharing their testimony, their ability to connect with the Belizean students through games and songs, their exuberance and intense energy level during our chapel service, or through individual one on one conversations each student was an inspiring example.   During this trip God was present in all aspects.  We claimed this trip to be God’s from the very beginning and He took control of the trip and blessed us each in such powerful ways.  We are so thankful for the experience we had together.  It will always be in our hearts and minds.  It will be an anchor for many of us to look back on and to remember how God was ever-present during that week and how we saw and heard Him so vividly.   During this week in Belize, it was clearly evident that our students have grown in their favour and stature with God and each other.