CCSP BELIZE FALL 2013: God's earth and Michaela's birth!

What have we been up to lately at CCSP Belize? Lots of great stuff, as usual. The students recently completed their first week of classes with a course called God & Nature (part 1). We welcomed professor Uko Zylstra (Calvin College) to our campus as he led us through scriptural views of the earth and humans' relationship to it; the significance of how our food is grown and where it comes from; and many other complicated but important questions. Also, it certainly doesn't hurt to be living in such a beautiful place while learning about the beauty of God's earth.

Just one of the amazing Lepidoptera we encounter on a daily basis

Apart from class time, we have also had some celebration time. One of our youngest community members, Michaela (Messiah College), turned 20 years old while in Belize! Since Michaela loves soccer, we hosted a tournament in her honor: the Horst Cup. With two teams competing fiercely in three different versions of soccer throughout the day, we had a blast celebrating Michaela, and even discovered some hidden talents (for example, Lindsay [Redeemer University] claimed to be a "weaker" player, and then proceeded to blow everyone away with her mad defensive skills. Well played, Lindsay. Well played...). We also got a good, sweaty workout.

A blurry representation of the fast-paced Mini Soccer

Alex (Messiah College) tangled up during Crab Soccer

Most recently, we made some new friends at Sacred Heart College, a local school in our district. They have a program that allows some of their students to receive lunch at a discounted price if they need assistance; but unfortunately they've been a little too busy lately to keep up the garden that helps source that program. We offered a few hours of our time one morning to help weed,