When I send teams to Belize, one of the big things I tell the groups is to not get too worked up when things don’t go according to schedule. Things work on a different schedule and at a different pace in Belize. If you are hoping to have materials delivered at 11:30, then don’t be surprised if they show up around noon or later. This can drive taskmasters up a wall, but that is why I always tell the groups to be flexible and take advantage of your environment while you are there. Yesterday, my problem was that I had to take my own advice, and I wasn’t even in Belize.

My flight from Chicago was delayed enough by morning thunderstorms that I arrived in Dallas with only 5 minutes to make my connecting flight to Belize. To say the least, I missed my flight. To make matters worse, that was the last flight of the day to Belize. I was then sent to the front desk to rebook my ticket for the following day. The only problem with my flying the next day, and the reason at this point I could not adopt the Belize mindset of taking it as it comes, was that the following morning I needed to be starting the bike ride IN Belize. So I started talking with the customer service worker, and we managed to come up with a unique solution.

The solution was that I had 25 minutes to get through DFW’s security, travel to another terminal, and see if I could get to the desk of a flight traveling to Mexico City, and then beg for a ticket. With about 2 minutes to spare I made it to the desk and was able to get a flight to Mexico City as well as a connecting flight to the town of Chetumal, a town 15 minutes from the border of Belize.

This whirlwind trip finally ended with me being able to meet up with Brainard and Scott, and all it took was a flight from Dallas to Mexico City, a run in with security officers in Mexico City that wanted to keep my electronics, a flight on to Chetumal, a taxi ride to the border, a walk across the border into Belize, a short ride, and then the final rendezvous with my ride. I was tired from the long trip, but I was so pumped to be in Belize that it didn’t matter that in a few hours we were going to get up and return to the border to begin the long bike ride across Belize.

It has been great to get comments! Keep them coming, and we will be sure to keep you updated!

In Christ,

~Nick