DAY 6: GOD, CHOCOLATE and AMERICANS - OH MY!

Today we visited John’s (our tour guide) uncle’s farm in San Antonio. Even though it was somewhat of a repeat of yesterday’s tour, this gentleman had a different method of growing his cacao trees. Mr. Pop was very spiritual and a perfect example of what totally surrendering your life to Christ looks like. Even though he has nothing (in American terms), he has everything because he feels blessed with the land and environment. He wholeheartedly believes there is a Creator, that we cannot see, who has given us the land, and it is our job to take care of what we’ve been blessed with. Mr. Pop was truly one of the happiest, most joyful people I have ever met. He posed the question, “Are we paying attention to the world or are we just playing with it?” Visiting Mr. Pop, the Cacao farmer, definitely had the greatest significance to me today because of the faith that he exemplifies and how much he trusts God. He is a spiritual role model and I believe my relationship with Christ should look more like his.

Today my perceptions of the Belizean government changed. We visited Lisa’s (Ohio woman) farm where she is trying to start a school so children don’t have to spend 7 hours on a bus every day traveling to a school out of town. However, the Belizean government and Ministry of Education believe the schools should be intertwined with the churches, so she is not able to open that school. Something that challenged my previous thinking today is the fact that the Belizeans have what is known as a fajina system in place, which is basically a bartering system. If someone’s house were to burn down, the community would gather together and use different items to help each other in exchange for other items later on.