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Belize

Jaguar Creek Honored by TripAdvisor

Jaguar Creek has received the Certificate of Excellence award from Trip Advisor! Very, very cool for Jaguar Creek to receive this award. It’s a testament to the amazing team in Belize and all their hard work. I’m proud of them and honored to work with them!

Here’s more from the Jaguar Creek website:

We’re very excited to have earned, for the first time ever, a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor. We could say a lot more about this – like how awesome our staff is, and how they work to make sure every guest feels at home and well taken …

Belize, Jaguar Creek, Junkyard Wisdom Book,

Junkyard Wisdom Belize 2018

Did you miss the first Junkyard Wisdom Belize event and want a second chance? Interested in exploring the issues of my book with some amazingly bright people who will become lifelong friends? Want to spend five days with Ken Wytsma to better understand the theology of justice and how it relates to wealth, poverty, generosity, and faith?

Well, great news! The second Junkyard Wisdom Belize event is scheduled for February 15-19, 2018. We will again stay at the amazing Jaguar Creek, from which we will visit Mayan ruins, rainforest villages, and even a local chocolate producer.

If you are …

Belize, Jaguar Creek, Junkyard Wisdom Book,

Junkyard Wisdom Belize – the Recap

My goodness. Junkyard Wisdom Belize was … well, I don’t know how to put it into words! Wonderful. Amazing. Thoughtful. Deep. Fun. All of the above!

Twenty people gathered in Belize for five days to talk, think, reflect, and share. Each day, Ken Wytsma shared about the theology of wealth, the need for holy discontent, the importance of doing things right, and feasting in celebration of God. His wife Tamara led an early morning workshop about the challenges and hardships of obedience. My wife D’Aun led another early morning session on the embarrassment of wealth. Each day I weaved the …

Belize, Jaguar Creek,

The Founding of Jaguar Creek

The folks at Jaguar Creek recently asked for my reflections on the early days, so I drafted this for their blog. Seems worthwhile to share it here as well.

It was nearly 25-years ago when the phone call came. I answered with a simple, “Hello?” and the crackly voice on the other side said without any preamble, “I found it.” The voice was my friend Kirk calling from Belize. He and his wife had been searching for a unique property in the Belize rainforest so we could build an environmentally friendly research and education center. The goal was to have …

Belize, Junkyard Wisdom Book,

JW Belize

Tomorrow I fly to Belize and the amazing Junkyard Wisdom: Belize begins. There are twenty-two brave and adventurous folks on the trip! It’s going to be an incredible time of discovery, conversation, and (hopefully) spiritual growth.

We will be staying at Jaguar Creek, one of my favorite places on the planet (picture below). It has fully recovered from last summer’s hurricane and looks amazing. You really should visit someday!

D’Aun and I would appreciate your prayers. The book Junkyard Wisdom has opened so many doors of possibilities. Just today I received an email from somebody who read the book …

Belize, PathLight,

Poverty Does Not Surrender

It was a calm Friday morning at the PathLight office in Belize – well, as calm as could be expected when dozens of students were coming by to pick up their textbooks. Orderly and focused, the students were full of smiles as the PathLight mentors guided them through the process. I was with my wife D’Aun and a group of friends who joined us so they could see what PathLight was doing to help students like these.

Dennis Thomas, PathLight’s Belize Field Director, gathered my friends into a private room to share a few thoughts. He told us about the …

Belize, PathLight,

PathLight Leadership

It’s hard to believe that this will be PathLight’s tenth year. It was 2006 when Mark and Adrienne Parcher partnered with D’Aun and me to begin this wonderful journey. Joined by my assistant, Anne Stoneberger, we started a nonprofit and got to work. We had no idea we were launching a ministry that could impact an entire nation!

It started with the humble desire to serve. We were not sure in what capacity to serve, but we clearly felt God’s calling on our hearts. In time we saw the opportunity to impact the education system in Belize through personalized programs …

Belize, PathLight,

PathLight Catalog

Tired of buying gifts nobody wants? Me too. So here’s a great alternative from PathLight. Gifts that truly matter and give back to those who need it most.

Here’s how it works:

(1) Choose a gift in honor of somebody on your list.

(2) After checkout PathLight will provide a beautiful, downloadable card to share.

(3) You make a big difference for students, teachers, and communities in Belize.

Super easy, super cool, and frankly it gets at the heart of Christmas. Sponsor a student, train a teacher, provide tutoring, buy a meal…simple, easy, meaningful gifts that whoever you honor …