From Bleak to Bountiful a Belize Christmas Miracle

Chatting with Heather on the coconut phone this morning and I got her to send me Tim Tam’s update so I could share it with all of you. [See below] Thanks to all my blog readers who answered my call for help and everyone else who came forward and helped the Word at Work make the best of a bad situation. Not only have they managed to recover  from the set back, they have gone past all their expectations and will be able to help thousands of kids in Belize this Christmas.

Such good news……can’t wait till after the trip to report. The outpouring of generosity for our Christmas project has amazed me. I haven’t seen the likes of it since the tragic accident of the little boy Moises that God miraculously restored. God has turned this around and is moving our Christmas project beyond all our expectations. We had hoped to bring a blessing to hundreds of children as in past years, but no doubt now that this year will be in the thousands. More Children will have new shoes than ever before. And our Christian partners working in impoverished areas will have a greater scope in their Christmas outreach programs than ever before. And we are also able to take on and bring support to new partners.

On one hand I am writing to pull the plug, to ask you to stop giving. No, I haven’t lost my mind. You need to know the tragedy has been more than averted, moving from bleak to bountiful. On the other hand if you still want to pledge funds they will be gladly accepted. The needs we encounter are far beyond what we can supply and the requests we receive go beyond what we can commit to. Whatever additional gifts we receive for the Belize Christmas project will still go toward these needs…..100%,  and you will be working with us to enlarge the territory of our mission to the glory of Christ Jesus.

Ok here is a little update of what happened after the initial burglary. And keep praying because we might catch the thieves yet. Kenny, our employee down there set up an ambush with police the next night after the robbery.
the thieves came back but he said they sprung the ambush too soon. They chased the thief’s but didn’t catch them.

Next they put  new locks on all the doors and figured they were now secure.  The thieves came back the 3rd night and broke through  the metal reinforced windows.  This time they made off with 25 gallons of paint for a school we are building in the Valley of Peace.  Fortunately we had already moved out  what was left of items for the Christmas project.  All that was left in the building was paint, pianos, medical equipment. Now we have a watchman staying at the building till everything else is delivered.  Kenny thinks he’s saw some of the toys being sold on the street but can’t prove it.

But the paint is unique. Something special not found in Belize.  if we see it being used or sold we will know.
The Kings Children’s Home heard about the Break-In on the news. These are the 60 who got to pick they own shoes out on the internet

Maggie Biggs, an Amarillo volunteer serving at the home says that since the incident it is all they talk about,         but with the donations rolling in we went ahead and reordered those 60 pairs of shoes and the team I’m leading from Clovis carried them  into Belize in their luggage.

I am at this moment riding with them in a van, trying to type on a bumpy road. We arrived in Belize an hour ago. and I hope to send this when we get to our destination.

We plan on doing lots of shopping while we are here. It really is fun taking kids, especially from the government orphanage, shopping for shoes and letting them pick out just the ones they want. It takes lots of encouragement. They can’t quite grasp that they can actually pick out for themselves anything they like. Then we take them out to lunch at a real restaurant, something most of them haven’t experienced, ordering from a menu, giving  their order to a waitress.

Thanks to you all for your generosity.
Gotta stop now, this is making me carsick.
Can’t wait to tell the story when we get back.

Tim Tam