The sweetest fruits of the mission
were spiritual
By Anna Caines
During March break this spring seven adults and nine teenagers from the Church of the Resurrection in Grand Bay-Westfield (Parish of the Nerepis and St. John) spent the week as planned — in Belize, painting St. Hilda’s school and running a Vacation Bible School style program. That was our mission. Christ’s larger mission was to have us spread gospel love. It was made manifest in the loving relationships we formed with the people we met there and by what we received in return. We saw God move and answer prayers moment by moment. God became real to many of us as we worked and worshiped. Others took the next step in their personal faith. As one team member put it: “This trip taught me to trust Jesus in more areas of my life.” We saw amazing fruit in the spiritual growth of our team members.
Our hosts for the week were Carman and Faye McBride and their son Troy of In His Will Ministries. These wonderful Canadians have served the Lord in this way for many years. They cooked all of our food, drove us everywhere we needed to go and were our official guides for every major outing. They have become our friends and we hope to find ways to support their ministry in the future.
Our mornings in Belize were spent painting the outside of St. Hilada’s school buildings. It was a lot of hard work in the hot sun, but we were instantly rewarded by the transforming effect of a fresh coat of paint. We were also able to spend time with the students during their breaks and at lunchtime — a blessing indeed. In the afternoon we ran a VBS for the local kids in near-by Unitedville. Our three-day program included crafts, songs, puppets and games. It was a blessing to connect with these children too through sharing the message of Jesus.
As you will see from some of our photos, we also found a bit of time to play in Belize. What awesome beaches and great snorkeling!
Our leadership team prayerfully began this journey last September. We spread the word of a possible trip to Belize throughout the parish. We chose Belize because this diocese already has a relationship with St. Hilda’s school through Christ Church Cathedral. Our church was interested in continuing a relationship rather than starting from scratch and the cathedral people were a great support. They provided us with contacts in Belize and several of them came to speak to us before our mission. Their team blessed our team with money purses for our travel and sent money with our team to bless St. Hilda’s school. They also presented us with pewter crosses during our commissioning service. We sincerely thank the people of the cathedral for their incredible support.
Our team met every two weeks from the first of October until we left home on March 4 and there were extra meetings for group fundraising events along the way. One of our biggest answered prayers was the financial provision for this mission trip. Each of our team members was tasked with individual fundraising. For some it was daunting. However, we were hugely blessed by the financial support of ACWs and parishes across the diocese, as well as that of our own parish family. Not only did it offset the cost for individual team members, it blessed the people we served in Belize. Praise the Lord for the way that he works through his church!
One important lesson we learned from the cathedral mission team was the importance of having two teams — one home and one away. Our home team consisted of prayerful people in our parish and it was an incredible support to know that more than 50 people prayed for our mission and us each day. In Belize we had the strong sense of being carried along by their prayers. It was a part of what made the week so powerful.
This trip took enormous amounts of planning and preparation, but it was also a huge blessing to those of us on the team, our larger church family and, we pray, to the people in Belize.
