On January 18, 2016 during the MLK breakfast at our church, I
felt my phone vibrate. I saw the call
was coming from Belize. Since I was
seated near the back, I slipped out the kitchen door and answered. “Mr. Ray!” exclaimed the voice. It was Heman, who is the director of the
Baptist Training Center in Belize.
“Didn’t you say you were going to bring a group to Belize in 2018? If you are, the camp is almost booked. The only week I have left is July 14-21.”
I told Heman to
book the camp and I would mail him a check.
Two and one-half years later on Tuesday, July 24, a weary group of
travelers finally arrived home in the wee hours of the morning after a
thrilling and dynamic mission experience.
This trip had
many challenges. The day before
departure Meagan Smith, who was in charge of Crafts, became ill and informed us
she could not travel. Ashley Phillips
and Hannah Finch quickly stepped up to the plate and took charge of
Crafts. The next morning as the group was
checking in at RDU airport. Lee Mabe saw the agent’s facial demeanor change and
she said, “Oh no.” The flight had been
cancelled. Up until this point the only
travel concern was a tight connection in Miami.
Now it looked like the group could not get to Miami at all.
The next 36 hours
became unscripted drama with the majority of the group scrambling to get through
security while the airline held a flight to Dallas. The remaining six members of the group spent
the majority of day in Raleigh before flying to Dallas in the afternoon. The first group spent all day in the Dallas
airport, riding the sky tram for entertainment!
Late in the afternoon they boarded a very big plane to fly to Miami, but
once they landed there was more drama as the agents worked to get them booked
to Belize the next morning. They finally
arrived at a hotel at 1 in the morning. They
had been up for 24 hours. The smaller
group spent the night in Dallas, but the airline would not keep the storage
containers with all our supplies, so they had to be carried to a hotel and back
the next morning.
Meanwhile in
Belize another drama was unfolding. Five
of us went to Belize two days early to prepare for the big group’s
arrival. When we were going through
Customs I was informed that a new law required me to pay a 38% tax on all the
supplies we were bringing into Belize for Bible School. We were looking at over $1,000 in taxes for
all of our supplies and some gifts for an orphanage. I tried to explain that these were all
supplies we were using for Vacation Bible School and gifts for children in an
orphanage. We were on a humanitarian
mission. We were coming to Belize to
serve the people of Belize, not to seek any profit. Finally the Customs agent said, “The only way
you can avoid this tax is to have a personal letter from the Minister of
Finance. You must have that letter when
your big group arrives on Saturday.
Since you did not know, you can only pay $100 now.”
Some of the
supplies we were bringing were cookies and snacks for Bible School. She had been eyeing some of the cookies and
added, “Next time, bring me some cookies.”
Goodness, if I had given her the cookies first, maybe she would have
been easier on me!
Relieved to only
pay $100, I carried the papers to the cashier who was in a small office behind
a glass window. He looked at the papers
and asked, “Are you teaching children the Bible?” “Yes,” I replied.
“Then it is not
right you should have to pay so much tax.”
I handed him the
$100 and he quietly slipped half of it back to me.
Then a kindly
porter named Clifford who was helping us our supplies told me that he would
help me when the big group arrived. I
also ran into a friend named Mark, who works for Tropic Air, a local
airline. He said, “You are my friend. I will do anything I can to help.”
But neither
Clifford nor Mark could get me a letter from the Minister of Finance.
Life is all about
relationships. In the 35 years I have
been doing mission work in Belize, I have developed many relationships. One is Brother Henry. Brother Henry is a Baptist pastor and is a
fellow director at the Baptist Training Center.
He also owns a number of vehicles, vans and SUVs that he rents at a very
reasonable price for mission teams. I
contacted Brother Henry 18 months before our trip and asked him to reserve two
vans and two SUVs for us. Brother Henry
only deals in cash, but it saves us thousands of dollars in rental fees.
I called Brother
Henry. At one time he was the Fire Chief
for the country of Belize. If anyone
would have any contacts with the government, it would be him. “I will see what I can do,” he said.
On Sunday morning
I drove the airport not knowing what would happen. Brother Henry met me with the vehicles, his
Bible in hand. He was on his way to
preach. I handed him the cash and he
said, “I have something for you.”
He handed me a
letter from the Minister of Finance of Belize exempting us from the 38% tax!
Our group was
arriving on three separate flights, two from Miami and one from Dallas. I found my friends Clifford and Mark. They brought me into the Customs Hall. With their help and a letter from the
Minister of Finance, I was allowed to be in the Customs Hall for each
flight. That would not happen in the
US!
A tired but happy
group of Mission travelers arrived and by early afternoon, we were all piled
into Henry’s vehicles on our way to Cheers for a happy celebration. We were a day late, but as the group found
our Mission T-Shirts hanging in the rafters from our three previous trips, we
happily presented the new shirt with all of our signatures to Mrs. Tupper who
owns Cheers.
Monday morning we
donned our bright orange “All For Jesus” t-shirts and drove to the Belmopan
Baptist Church. We had t-shirts for all
the Belizean youth and they were thrilled.
We only had about 30 kids on Monday, but that is typical for Belize. Bible School starts slow, but then it grows.
Bible School grew
each day and by Friday the church was bursting at the seams! We were bringing children from all over the
area. One of our vans was filled with
over 30 kids. On Thursday when I
announced to the children that the next day would be the final day of Bible
School, there was a loud groan. They did
not want Bible School to end!
We had been
working with the Belmopan Baptist Youth Leaders and Pastor David Rowland for
over a year as we planned for Bible School.
We asked our friends in Belmopan to develop the theme, and they
did: “All for Jesus!”
We then developed
the Bible Stories, memory verses and themes for each day. The five stories highlighting those who gave
“All for Jesus” were: Noah’s Ark, Joshua
and the Battle of Jericho, The Four Friends who cut a hole in the roof, the
Widow’s Mite, and the little boy who shared his lunch leading to The Feeding of
the 5,000. Our four teams: Bible, Recreation, Crafts, and Music
highlighted these stories each day.
Even the
refreshments matched the stories. For
Joshua and the Battle of Jericho the children received Graham Crackers and
Peanut Butter so they could build a wall.
They had Animal Crackers for
Noah and the Ark, Goldfish for the Feeding of the 5,000, and a Gingerbread Man
for the man who was carried by the four friends to Jesus. Mrs. Hanes Cookies did a special order for us
of heart shaped sugar cookies for the Widow’s Mite with the verse to “Love God
with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” The wonderful ladies at Mrs. Hanes were
excited to be a part of our mission experience.
Friday afternoon
we invited the youth from Belmopan Baptist to join us at the camp. We had a great cookout with hamburgers and
hot dogs. The kids played games and had
a fun-filled afternoon. But the greatest
thing was to watch young people from different countries and different cultures
form lasting friendships. When it was
time to say good-bye, no one wanted to leave!
Friday night we
had an unexpected visitor at the camp.
Pastor David and several of the youth came and said to gather our group
together. Pastor David works for the US
Embassy and was not able to attend Bible School, but he did drop by a couple of
times. His wife, Martha, was there every
day and helped us in a great way. Pastor
David said she had shared what a great Bible School the church had experienced.
With our entire
mission team gathered around, Pastor David Rowland gave a heartfelt and
passionate speech expressing his sincere gratitude and the gratitude of the
entire church. He told us that we would
never know how much the Bible School meant to the church. He then called Joyce and me to the front and
presented us with a lovely gift. It was
a gift bag with a Belize plate, a Belize flag and coasters. Then he asked all the adults to come forward
and he had a gift for each one. Finally,
the youth were called and there was a Belize backpack for each of our young
people. I was overwhelmed and deeply
touched.
I told our group
later that I had been going on mission trips since I was in high school, but I
had never experienced such sincere gratitude and heart-felt thanks. And the gifts---oh my! The gifts were very nice!
The final leg of
our journey started Saturday morning, but we had yet another challenge. One of our vans would not start. It had been giving problems the day before
and we thought we had it fixed, but now it would not start at all.
We decided to
leave all of our big suitcases at the camp and take only a small carry-on or a
backpack to the island. We had 12 people
in the remaining van and 5 in each of the SUVs.
I talked to Brother Henry and he promised to send someone to fix our
van, which he did.
The Pelican Beach
Resort has been a special place for our Belize Teams. I came to Dangriga and the Pelican Beach for
the first time 35 years ago. We have
dear friends who have been a part of this wonderful place for the entire
time. There is Mrs. Bowman, Joe B, Alphonso,
Jackie, Terri, Leonard, and Kevin.
When Kevin was a
child he was diagnosed with dyslexia.
Terri talked to us and wanted to know if we knew anyone who could
help. You may remember Jeanne Davis’s
brother, Dr. Roger Saunders. He
preferred that we call him “Uncle Roger.”
He was one of the leading authorities and a pioneer in the treatment of
dyslexia in our nation. We put Terri in
touch with Uncle Roger and today, you would never know Kevin ever had a
problem.
Kevin was also
critically burned in a grease fire a number of years ago. Terri asked for our prayers. Kevin not only survived, but today there is
no evidence of the accident. There were
hugs all around when we saw Terri and Kevin for the first time in three
years.
The first thing
Terri asked me was, “Did you bring church with you?” Three years before we had celebrated
communion the last night on the island and invited the staff to join us. They had not forgotten and wanted us have a
time of worship and communion again.
“Of course!” I
said. “We always bring church with us!”
I shared with our
group that this small island, I call it Gilligan’s Island, is not just a
special place, but it is a sacred place.
For here we not only close our mission with rest and relaxation, but it
is a time of reflection and spiritual renewal.
It is also a time for baptism!
Late Sunday
afternoon we gathered at the beach and I shared the story of Philip and the
Ethiopian from the 8th chapter of Acts. The Ethiopian may have been looking at the
Mediterranean when he said, “Look there is water. What prevents me from being baptized?”
We lifted up our eyes and saw the beautiful
waters of the Caribbean Sea and I asked the question, “What prevents you from
being baptized?”
I have been
privileged to stand on Holy Ground many times in my ministry. There have been weddings and funerals, moments
of spiritual decision and celebration—but no experience is more powerful than
baptisms in the Caribbean Sea or the Jordan River. I will never forget the youth and adults who
one by one confessed their faith in Jesus as Lord of their life and were baptized
beneath the warm, salty waters. And,
when I had baptized everyone, they baptized me!
Three of our
youth were baptized for the first time.
What a joy!
That night we
gathered for our final time of worship with our Belizean sisters and
brothers. I shared a Scripture and made
brief comments, then two of our youth shared what being in Belize meant to
them.
I invited any of
the Belize family to share. Terri was
the first one and shared a passionate and inspired message. And then, her son Kevin, who has been through so much in his short
life, shared what God has done for him!
Joyce and I especially were deeply moved.
I can’t describe
how powerful the communion service was.
As Lee Mabe held the chalice I dipped the individual pieces of Cassava
Bread into the wine and offered the body and blood of Christ, “Given for
you.” We asked our Belizean family to
come first. They received the gift of
communion with reverence and humility, many making the sign of the cross. Then came our wonderful mission team. One by one, the youth who had worked so hard,
the adults who guided everyone so well, came and received the sacred bread and
wine.
We formed a
circle and started to sing. Our group
shared some songs first, then our Belizean sisters and brothers sang the Lord’s
Prayer for us in Garifuna. No one
wanted it to end. We finally closed with
“Amazing Grace.” Truly the presence of
the Lord was in that place!
The next morning
we said good-bye and sailed to the mainland.
I knew that I would have to go out of the way to get the van that was
now fixed. I told Nathan Hall and
Harrison to hold on, and they did. I
drove like Richard Petty down the Hummingbird Highway! I bet Nathan was catching up with his prayer
life! Heman had the van loaded.
Lee Mabe’s
vehicle was having some problems with a tire.
He had to return to Dangriga to find air, but once the tire was pumped
up we were all praying they would make it okay, and they did! We were finally all together again at the
International Airport in Belize City.
We had one final
delay. Our flight to RDU was delayed
because they were waiting on a co-pilot.
But by this time we were not concerned at all. God had seen us through all of the other
challenges, this was a minor issue. A
co-pilot finally boarded and we headed for Raleigh, landing an hour late. We were home!
And a round 4 a.m. on Tuesday
morning, we were all finally in our beds.
The mission trip
was finally over, but our lives will never be the same. You better Belize it!
