|
What do an eighty year old retired insurance executive and a forty year old wife and mother have in common? They were the oldest and youngest members of the fifteen person mission team that traveled to Belize on Saturday, November 10, 2007 to help build a Presbyterian Church in the village of Calcutta, Belize. After arriving in Belize City the group traveled by van to Corozal, Belize located just south of the Mexican border on a bay in the Caribbean Sea.
The next day the group traveled by boat on the New River to the Mayan Ruins at Lamanai (Mayan for submerged crocodile). Located in the Orange Walk District, Lamanai was a vital Mayan ceremonial center from as early as 1500 B.C. Sounds and sightings of howler monkeys and roseate spoonbills, egrets and other tropical birds were part of the ambience. Climbing to the top of one of the steep limestone Mayan temples was an exercise in team building. The sense of accomplishment was enormous when you were standing on top and viewing the lush tropical forest and river from above.
|
| |
After exploring the ruins, the group returned in time to attend a church service at the unfinished church in Calcutta led by the minister, Arturo, and his wife, Esther. First Presbyterian members sang "Shout to the Lord" and other hymns with the citizens of Belize in the midst of concrete dust, rubble, and an unpainted and unfinished room. The half-finished building gave meaning to the definition of a church as any place where two or more are gathered in His name. Stuart Gordon was the guest preacher Sunday night and assured everyone that God knew all of us by our names. It was Stuart's prayer that we would know each other by name at the end of the week. And we did.
|
| |
On Monday each member of our group delivered a banker's box full of school supplies to the Presbyterian School where Esther is a principal. The children each wrote us a thank you note as part of their unit on writing letters.
From Monday through Friday, we worked along side Cristiano, Gordo, Carlos, Antonio and others helping to build the church in Calcutta, or pour a foundation for a local church widow, or finish the home of a local church family whose home had been destroyed by Hurricane Dean. By the end of the week David Cole, Bill Arrants, John Wimberly, Mark and Emily Eberle, Kathryn Peffen, Glynn and Brenda Dowdle, Susan Doughty, Corrine Ward, Pam Reed, Stuart Gordon, Tom Hannon, or Bruce Ramsden had either mixed concrete, poured concrete, laid block, painted, installed shutters, cleaned the Church, or poured a foundation or installed a roof on the home of one of the church members in need. Everyone worked hard under the leadership of Danny Dotson from Son Servants and each day everyone was rewarded with a special dessert cooked by Alice Christian who had been to Belize in previous years.
|
| |
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights we worshiped with Reina, Yara, Christiano and others along with their minister, Arturo, and his wife, Esther, at the church in Corozal while we held their young children, Dorothy or Donna in our laps. The men studied servant leadership and heard the moving testimony of Javier. Javier had strayed from the teaching of Christ and had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong crowd. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. With the help of Arturo and others he had been released from prison after serving a year of his sentence and had rededicated his life to God.
The women studied Philippians, the "Joy Book", written by Paul to the Church while he was in prison. Paul says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. For I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me." Phil 4: 6-7 and 12-13.
A young woman from Belize, speaking in Spanish with her face glowing told us, "If Paul can write these words while in prison, we can be content and happy with our blessings too." We were humbled by her words knowing that she more than likely lived in a wooden shack with a dirt floor or cooked her family's meals on an open fire.
Our group witnessed poverty of material possessions but not of the heart. The stick huts or concrete homes were surrounded by beautiful tropical flowers full of butterflies. As Pam Reed said, "I feel like I am looking at the face of God when I see Arturo and his ministry to the people of Belize."
Personally, I took this trip not to help the people of Belize, but to find meaning for my life in the midst of Glynn and my new empty nest after our twin daughters and only children left for college this past fall. John Wimberly said he came to Belize because his daughter had been to Belize on a youth mission trip and had told him how much it meant to her. He felt closer to his daughter as a result of their shared experience. Another member of the group said that her trip was her way of leaving her mark upon the world.... that in addition to her children she thought building a church in Belize was something of value that would be her legacy.
So what do the retired insurance executive and the housewife and mother have in common? They, along with other members of the team, each shared the love of Christ with and received the love of Christ from fellow Christians in Belize.
In His Name,
Brenda Dowdle
To see more pictures from the 2007 Belize trip, click here. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
