Belize Mission Trip - August 2005
Here is a quick report on the mission trip to Belize.
|
Twenty-five of us went on the trip. Seven from our church and eighteen from five churches in Illinois. The seven from our church had all been to the mission field before, none of the ones from Illinois had. They arrived on Saturday and we gathered to meet them and pray. We then split up into various houses to sleep. We left Sunday morning and arrived in Belize by that afternoon. Our host in Belize was Pastor Lloyd Welch, a Belizean who is pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Belize City. He is a dear friend of ours and has stayed in our home several times while visiting our country. |
| Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday evenings we held services
in his church. We sang, praised God, testified, prayed and preached the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Each night there were people who responded to the
invitation to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. |
 |
 |
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, we taught the Bible to the children from the neighborhood around the church. Half of our group went to an orphanage one day, and the other half went to a senior adult home another day. We used singing, coloring, crafts, drama, teaching and of course - love - to reach out to the children. Again, each day some of the children responded to the gospel invitation. |
| During the afternoons, we spent time in the city park and on the streets talking to people one-on-one about Jesus. Our hearts were overjoyed to see the Illinois team members reach out with love to all the people they met. Many of these slept in the park or in doorways because they have no home. They were dirty and smelled from lack of bathing, yet the love of Christ in our hearts overcame all obstacles and was able to reach them through us. |  |
 |
On Wednesday afternoon, we left Belize City and took a boat
to San Pedro, a resort town on an island about 1 1/2 hours from Belize City.
We spent one night there. While there, we talked with many people on the
streets and in the shops and had several respond to the gospel. The people
from Illinois really have a heart for street ministry and loved the opportunity
to go through the streets preaching Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen.
We had some very significant encounters that were obviously God ordained
including one where our pastor was able to lead a prostitute to saving faith
in Jesus. That evening we gathered together at a restaurant and shared what
God had been doing in our lives since arriving in Belize. The testimonies
showed that not only was God using us to lead others to Christ, but that
the hearts of the mission team were being changed by the experience. This
is exactly why we take groups to Belize. |
| The next morning, refreshed and ready to work again, we road the boat back to Belize City where we loaded on Pastor Lloyd's bus and headed for a remote community called Gale's Point. It is a poor community on a very narrow peninsula in a lagoon about 2 hours from Belize City. Pastor Lloyd is from this village. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. While standing on the end of the peninsula, looking across the lagoon at the mountains, I can feel the presence of God. We held a service that night in their small church. After presenting the gospel, we had the children come forward and each was given a small gift bag. The bags contained small toys, pencils and candy. The children were overjoyed to receive even so small a gift. We spent the night split up into several homes and then left again for Belize City. On the way back, we stopped at a Mayan excavation site. The Mayans, who lived in this area for thousands of years, mysteriously abandoned all of their cities more than 500 years ago. They built temples that rival the pyramids in Egypt. |  |
 |
That night in Belize City, we had a youth emphasis service at Pastor Lloyd's church. The next morning, Saturday, we boarded the plane and returned home. |
Click here to see the photo
gallery of our trip.