There are 7.7 billion people on earth,  2.3 billion active Christians, and 3.2 billion unreached people. As a Christian, these statistics worry me. The great commission in Matthew 28 personally calls me to step out in faith and help shrink that 3.2 billion to zero. With this in mind, I was extremely excited when my youth group at Peoples Church, The Chase, announced a mission trip to

Belize for the summer of 2022. I had never been on a mission trip or even out of the country before, but I knew I was meant to go on this trip.

Our team left on July 5 from Peoples Church and drove down to the LAX airport. The first flight was uncomfortable for me because it was eight hours and I sat in a middle seat between two people I did not know. I am able to laugh about it now and know that it was just the beginning of God stretching me out of my comfort zone. We had a layover in Florida for a couple of hours and hopped on our second flight, this time only three hours, to Belize.

Once we landed in Belize, the first thing we found out was that our luggage was missing. We waited at the airport for about an hour to see if our beloved suitcases would come in, but no luck. So we hopped on a run-down bus with nothing but our carry-ons and the clothes on our backs. 

It was a beautiful two-hour drive from Belize City to Corozal. Everything was so colorful, tropical and scenic. (Contrasting from the dry, brown Central Valley I am used to!) There were a variety of tropical flowers I hadn’t known existed. Seeing all of this, it was killing me not to have my camera with me! 

When we got to Corozal, we went straight to our generous host’s home, Pastor David Vela. He and his family generously allowed us to gather for debriefs and meals three times a day. Not only this, but they home-cooked warm meals prepared for us each time we arrived at their house. They were so kind and such a blessing the whole trip. Pastor David and his wife, Lynn Vela, had two kids, D’art and Heather Vela, with whom the whole team and I connected really well. 

Soon after, we headed to our hotel, which was so much nicer than I expected. The hotel workers even took the initiative to fold towel swans for our beds and offer us free laundry the whole trip! Before coming on this trip, I was told we would be served more than we were serving, but I hadn’t realized it would be to this generous extent.

After settling in, we found our luggage would not arrive until the following night. This brought stress to our team because we were all extremely sweaty from the dense humidity and 24 hours of straining travel. Despite this, we were all just grateful to take showers and sleep in an air-conditioned room.

Our first day of service projects was very fun for me! Our large group of 52 got split into four smaller teams. I was in group one and we headed to an elderly lady’s house to help clean out her yard where I helped recover the well she drew her drinking water from.

This really opened my eyes to how simply we Americans live life. We simply walk over to our refrigerator and fill up our bottles as much as we want, with ice, all from the same source. This kind lady has to walk out to the back of her yard just to start pumping

water to go through her liquid purifier. We definitely overlook even the simplest blessings. She also had a lot of trees filled with fruits I had never seen before. They were all very delicious. 

Another thing I vividly remember is the delicious, unique Belizean food that was provided for us at each mealtime. I have never tried such delectable and authentic food in my life. Even Sprite in Belize tasted astronomically better due to the fact that they use real, raw and unprocessed ingredients to make everything. This became a struggle later on during the trip though because many people on our team got sick because they were not used to the food there.

While all my friends were struggling with this, I was doing just fine. I felt great the entire time and I wondered why the food did not affect me. Then I realized that before I left for Belize, I was sharing with my best friend back in Fresno, Trinity Cox, ‘23, that I was scared to get sick while on the trip. 

She prayed over me and I really appreciated it, but kind of forgot about it afterward. When in Belize, I remembered this and I truly believe God blessed me with health on the trip due to her kind prayer and all of the continuous prayers of my family and friends.

At the end of the second day, we all headed back to our hotels to find our luggage waiting for us! I have never been so happy to see a suitcase in my whole life!

The second week in Belize, we started VBS in a gymnasium-type building the locals called the Civic Center. The kids ranged in age from preschool to about eighth grade. I connected with a few kids but one little girl, in particular, stuck by my side most of the time. Her name was Iguetta and she was about three years old. She was so joyful all the time and loved it when I held her and made her laugh. It was such a blast to run around during the games and jump with her for our VBS dances, all the while she was laughing her heart out. I already miss her so much and it makes me sad to think that I may never see her again. Through this though, I was able to meet her mom, share a little bit of my testimony and invite her to church. I pray that her whole family will grow to know Christ.

Another memory I treasure very deeply occurred during lunch one day after our service projects. My very close friend and mentor, Frenisia Williams, had tripped during soccer on a holey field a few days previous and tore her achilles muscle. She had to be taken to the hospital where she got a cast and crutches. She debated returning to America, but she decided to stay, thank God. She was supposed to be in a cast for at least 8 weeks, but that day a group of students prayed over her for healing at the service site before coming to lunch.

When we were eating, the leaders were urgently telling everyone to come to the patio because something was happening to Frenisia and I immediately thought that something bad had happened. I rushed outside and when I rounded the corner I saw her standing by herself with no cast, in tears.

At this sight, I knew what happened and started crying. For the next few moments we rallied together and praised God for this

miracle and I think it really strengthened a lot of people’s faith in the team. I have seen healings such as this before, but it had never happened to someone I knew personally, making it that much more special to me.

Lastly, a really fun memory I treasure is learning how to dance! I’ve always wanted to learn how to salsa dance just for fun. One night during dinner, they put on traditional Belizian music and everyone started dancing! Some of my friends taught me how to dance and I just remember having so much fun, even though I know I probably looked like a headless chicken!

That night was super unique and fun, but on the last day of our trip, we were on an island called Caye Caulker and it had extremely tropical weather. At any moment it could shift from sunny skies to thunderstorms. I was out with a group of friends, going to different shops and stands when suddenly a huge thunderstorm hit and it started downpouring rain!

There was nowhere to find shelter fast enough, so we were all drenched in minutes. Instead of viewing this as unfortunate, we just accepted it and made it fun! We were speed-walking back to the hotel in the rain and passed an open-front restaurant that was playing music on speakers. We placed all our stuff inside, headed back into the rain, and began dancing! The restaurant workers and customers caught on, turned up the music, and cheered us on! A few passersby even joined us for a while.

It almost seemed like a dream; I was in Belize with my best friends, dancing in the rain. When the rain stopped, we headed back to the hotel with huge smiles on our faces.

These stories and more help communicate the impact this trip had on my team and I. I would go back to Belize in an instant to learn more about the culture and the generous community that we’ve grown to call our family. 

I would like to thank all of my family and friends who supported me prayerfully and financially throughout this journey. I would also like to thank my Belize team for picking each other up and encouraging one another to reach our financial goals together. I couldn’t have chosen a better group of people to take on Belize with.

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Below is a slideshow of Graham’s experiences in Belize.

Gallery • 7 Photos