It’s 4am. I have given up on the prospect of sleeping and am sitting on the beach in Hopkins, watching the silent lightning and attempting to collect my thoughts. I am in Belize. It’s still a hard concept to fully wrap my head around. Sometimes people ask me what brought me to Belize and I’m realizing that I never really have a conclusive answer. The truth is that I don’t exactly know how or why I ended up here, but after three months, here’s a few things I DO know:
-After a summer at Kadesh and deciding not to go back to school, everything just sort of led me in this direction and practically jumped into place.
- I feel at home here, and Belize will always be a part of me. There is no point in my future where I see the absence of Belize and what it has come to mean to me.
-I suppose in some ways I am, but I don’t really feel like a missionary. To me, mission work is sacrificing your time to help those in need. I feel so fortunate to be in this gorgeous country with awe-inspiring children that being here is hardly a sacrifice. Also, I am not needed here. Appreciated, yes. Needed, no. I have grown and learned so much in the past three months that I am definitely the beneficiary in my relationship with Belize.
-I am so excited to be joined by good friends for the last couple months of my stay, but I am also really glad I got to learn and experience Belize for myself first. It was challenging, of course, but I have proved to myself that I am capable of exploring new possibilities outside my comfort zone.
-I am in love with these kids. EVERY single girl, boy, baby, young woman, and young man in the home has irrevocably woven themselves into my heart in some way or other and no matter how devastating it will be for me to leave come June, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to pinpoint exactly how or why I ended up here… but I definitely know that this is precisely where I am supposed to be.
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