It was a day like any other when our team of eight boarded the plane for Belize; Eight ordinary American church members: Pastor Pete, Tracy and Barbara, David and Dorothy, Dave, Tammie, and Dawn, (and Jen, who had gone earlier to Belize to prepare things) had spent time praying, along with the Antioch Church, and preparing over a mission project for the Belize people under the guidance of Hearts of Christ Ministries.
Our one week mission project was to share boxes of food, (heavy bags of beans and bags of rice) with 3 different villages (about 50 homes per village), build 10 sets of bunk beds, be a part of the ground work for a church plant, and share Christ with the people of Belize. We also brought gift packages to the children sponsored by Antioch church members.
Our mornings started with devotions and precious times together to focus on the Lord. A key word from our leader, “flexible”, would prove invaluable.
Next, we would set out for our first village, Georgetown, a future church plant. We were informed prior to setting out that this area was known for witchcraft. We would be going door to door to give food to families, and invite the children to a small program where we would serve peanut butter sandwiches and Kool-Aid (for many of the children, they had never tasted peanut butter).
We pulled on to the grass near a small shelter in Georgetown and the vehicles were barely shut off when Mama’s, Daddy’s, and children came scurrying, barefooted, or riding bikes through the rain, on dirt roads with deep potholes, or took short cuts through the trees and tall grass to get the rice and beans we offered. The children swarmed around team members who had “cross” chains or multi-colored beaded bracelets which told the gospel story by using the different colors, and baseball caps to give out. Within minutes of our arrival, over 25 children had already come to the shelter, and over 100 would attend the small program that took place within the hour. One man was led to the Lord. Many villagers told us they had Jesus in their hearts.
We went into the villages to give and to share. We were seen by the villagers as “rich Americans”. In each village we saw similarities. In villages 60 minutes from the capital city we found homes that Americans would call “primitive huts”, with coconut branches or tin for roof tops, no physical windows or doors, just a hole cut out, thin wood or bamboo siding, most less than 300 sq feet. Some homes sat on stilts while others sat on the ground and had dirt for floors and rain often ran through those homes, many with no electricity nor indoor plumbing: rain water was captured in barrels for dish cleaning, laundry and bathing (and it rained hard, and a lot!); very few homes had furniture, and some huts had 14 family members living together and no beds to get them out of the rain flowing though the floor. We were able to deliver 9 sets of bunk beds to homes that were truly grateful; the 10th set of bunk beds would have to wait for the rain to let up, as we found it was easy to get stuck in the muddy roadways.
Things change in your heart and mind when you receive a hug or look into the eyes of these villagers. Many villagers told us they had Jesus in their hearts …beautiful smiles twinkled in their eyes that said “hope, not despair”, they were sincerely grateful for the small gifts we could give, and their respectfulness and caring was evident and truly humbling; It caused me to pause and ask, who was really “rich”, and who were the truly needy?
A special thank you to the Hearts of Christ Ministry team that worked with us, Carla, Korie, Alicia, and Jen, for all the work behind the scenes; for providing us with the opportunity to be a part of sharing in the work of Christ with the people of Belize.
If God is tugging at your heart to be involved in ministry, pray diligently; consider sponsoring a child in Belize to be able to go to school, or to learn a trade, and commit to meeting that child face to face; it will change your life and melt your heart and show you true needs.
Thank you
Dawn
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