Belize Mission Trip: Introduction

Since I'm sick today, I finally have no excuse not to take the time and write about our trip to Belize. Elizabeth started coming down with something the day before we left, and when we got home, it turned out to be the flu, from which, after about a week, she is almost finished recovering, and with which I have come down. But I digress. We had never been on an organized medical missions trip before. Elizabeth has spent some time working as a nurse in a clinic in the Yucatan, but that was just by herself. My mission trip experience, organized and otherwise, is rather limited, so I came not knowing what to expect. When Elizabeth heard about the trip through a co-worker, she was very excited, and after prayer and consideration, we decided that we would go. Learning that Elizabeth was pregnant threw a bit of a wrench in the works, because one of the recommendations for this trip was anti-malarial medications, and we didn't want Elizabeth to be taking any of those while pregnant. After considering our options and gathering more information, we decided to go ahead with the trip, but not travel inland (to see the ruins) on our free day, as the coastal areas have a significantly reduced risk of malaria. Besides, both of us wanted to go snorkeling. The trip lasted from Friday night, January 16th to Sunday evening, January 25th. We caught a red-eye flight on Friday night from Seattle to Houston, and then in the morning took a flight from there to Belize City. In writing about the trip, I realized that there is a lot to say, so I decided that I'm going to break it up into topical/temporal sections, with the hope that it will be more easily digestible to the reader in smaller portions. Enjoy, and please, be encouraged to leave comments and/or questions.

My photos from the trip | Other people's photos from the trip

Fr. Peter performs the stick dance