Belize part 3

On Tuesday night our team put together an outreach event on the local basketball court. Two of our team members are skilled musicians so they played some music for awhile while people came. It turned out that the basketball court was actually the local gang hangout. However, because we were the there, many children came to hangout with us on the court. It was really cool to bring the community together in a place they normally feared. That night I sat with one of the local gang members and just got to talk to him for awhile during the service. The gang members were quite welcoming of us and open to talking about whatever. I got to share the gospel with the young man I was talking to and I am glad God opened up the conversation to go that way. Well Wednesday rolled around and in the morning we did VBS again for the kids. It went quite well that morning. Then, that afternoon, instead of doing our usual games and bible study we got to take a break from ministry and our team traveled to the Mayan ruins of Xuantunich. It was a relaxing even if we were walking around the whole time. That night we had another outreach event very similar to the previous night. It was a much bigger turn out from both the community and the gang community. Just like the previous night I spent some time with the gang members. I talked to a guy named Richard. We talked for at least an hour and he did most of the talk which was fine because he was just sharing the story of his life. I loved that he was so open with me about his struggles and fears and everything else. It was probably the best ministry conversation I had the whole trip and it was one of the biggest highlights of the trip for me. I got to share a little of my story and a little about Jesus but what really mattered what I felt like we really connected and I got to know who he really was. It was the first time I got to learn how gang member's think and it showed me how human and like us they really are. A lot of the "bad" things he has done are things I could see myself doing in his situation. Then we went back to the hotel and to bed, knowing that the next day would be our last day with the children and that community.