Belize Update 7/4

Happy 4th of July from Belize! It has been a whirlwind thus far as our trip began Friday and we arrived here in Belize on Saturday. After being a part of two previous trips to Belize with Grace, this one is again so very different. This trip has focused on serving alongside our ministry partners, the Cosners, in Belize City as opposed to the rural village of Patchakan. There has already been so much evidence of the Spirit working here as we were a part of a church service on Sunday where the church welcomed 18 new members and had two baptisms! Next Sunday St. Andrews Presbyterian Church will ordain the first Creole pastor in the denomination’s history, Pastor Ernest, whom our team met during the vision trip in February. (And yes, he is a hugger and such a joyful man!)

The vision for the church and a portion of our time here has been spent preparing the church for the ordination as well as serving alongside the church members through a feeding program to the homeless in the city. With such a central location this church is ideally situated to reach numerous people and this feeding program has been a great way to reintroduce this church to its community.

We were reminded of the role we are playing here on this trip tonight through the interaction of Jesus with the leper in Mark 1:40-42. We are not here to serve in the role as Jesus, as there is only one Jesus, but to serve as a fellow leper to this community and our community at home. We are all broken and only through God’s grace can we be cleansed. So please pray that our interactions throughout the week, with multiple opportunities to feed the homeless and neglected, will be fruitful in terms of conversation and relationship as we relate to them as brothers and sisters and not as have and have-nots! We truly appreciate all the prayers on our trip! God bless

Christian