Mission Trip to Belize 2012

Sunday - Home and Worship with Our Church Family

2012-01-22T14:23:00.001-05:00

The team arrived in Charlotte Saturday evening after a 3 hour flight from Belize and cleared immigration and customs with no problems. After a short supper stop we arrived at church around 9:30 last night. We were greeted by family members and got unloaded in record time. After a long day of travel sleeping in our own beds was most welcome.

It was nice to return to church today and worship with our church family. Music and the spoken word centered on Isaiah 40.

²⁸ Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
   and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint.

We are fortunate to be a part of a church family that values missions and makes it possible for teams to go "on mission" in many places, from the local mission field here in McDowell County to distant places such as Belize. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support.

The team will be scheduling a time to report on the trip. Look for an announcement on the day and time.

Over the next few days more pictures and reflections will be posted on the blog, so keep checking back to see more!

Team Picture

2012-01-20T18:29:00.003-05:00

Team picture taken at Placencia, Belize on January 20, 2012

Day 6 - Continued - Central Farm

2012-01-20T15:53:00.003-05:00

A few pictures on Greg's breeding program with the cows at the Belize Central Farm. Ten cows were bred on Thursday morning. Greg began working with the Ministry of Agriculture last January when some 30 cows were bred, resulting in 4 to 6 calves.

A man who loves his work!

For Matt, there was definitely a learning curve

The cows that visited Greg.

They only wish they were cattlemen.

Day 6 - Thursday - Camelote, Cows and Travel to Placencia

2012-01-19T07:46:00.003-05:00

This morning the medical team will have a half-day clinic here at the BTC for the village of Camelote. This is usually a busy clinic with people of the village and the nearby school coming in.

Greg will be going to the Central Farm to breed some cows. He had hoped they would have 100 cows ready, but the number is much lower. One of the realities of working through a government ministry is that good ideas become tied up in bureaucracy and communication breaks down. Nonetheless, great things can happen through small steps.

After lunch, we will be packing up and leaving for an R&R day in Placencia on the south-central coast of the county. A stop on the way will be at the Marie Sharp's processing plant. Marie Sharp is the most popular brand of hot sauce in Belize. Habenero pepper sauce is popular and is on the tables of almost every restaurant in Belize. Steve Little arranged the tour - yes you read that right!

Friday will be our day of rest and Saturday will be our travel day back to Charlotte and then Marion.

Keep us in your prayers for safe travel and rest over the next two days. We are blessed to have been here this week and we are looking forward to returning to our families and being with our church family on Sunday.

If we have Internet access in Placencia the blog will be updated.

Day 5 - Wednesday - The Village of Armenia

2012-01-18T21:46:00.000-05:00

Today the medical team held a clinic at Armenia Baptist Church in the Village of Armenia, The village lies about 30 minutes south of Belmopan on the Hummingbird Highway. Pastor John has opened his church to our clinics since we began visiting villages in 2006. Armenia is also the first place our construction team build a small home several years ago for Ramon.

The medical team saw over 160 people at the clinic. As always the basket makers and jewelry makers spread their wares along the road leading to the church. Steve Young and Greg Anderson assisted with the the medical clinic today. Ramon came to the clinic and several went to see him at home later in the day. Greg also gave packets of tomato, cucumber, pepper, and cabbage seeds to all who came to the clinic. Hundreds of packets were given out.

Sarah, a student nurse helped register patients

Greg and Mary Jane at the pharmacy

David helping a girl with her medicine - "Down the hatch!"

Steve, Ramon and Mark

Seven members of the team broke away to scout an activity for future mission trips. They visited Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, site of ancient Mayan ceremonies. Pictures will be put on a later blog.

Day 4 - Tuesday - Medical Mission in Benque

2012-01-17T20:05:00.001-05:00

Today the entire team was involved in the medical Clinic in the town of Benque del Carmen Viejo. The town lis about an hour west of the Baptist Training Center and is only 2 miles from the Guatemala border. The New Jerusalem Baptist Church is a small church that meets in the home of the Pastor Luis and his family. The house is small and the sanctuary is part of the house.

There were people already waiting when we arrived, and Pastor Luis had put up a shelter for them to wait in the shade. Our four doctors and nurses set up in the sanctuary, the pharmacy was in a small room, and registration and vital signs were checked under a small tin roof porch.

It is eye-opening to see the numbers of families that attend the clinic. Women with small children - often 3, 4, or 5 children - wait to be called to register, then wait to be called to be weighed and have blood pressure taken, then wait to be called to see one of the doctors. From there they take their prescriptions to the pharmacy and wait again until their medicine is prepared. Most do not complain about waiting. It is hard to say how long the whole process takes, but an average of 2 to 3 hours is not uncommon.

Today at Benque, approximately 200 people were served. Everyone left with medicine to treat their ailments and vitamins.

Pictures below show a few scenes from the clinic. (Taken during lunch break - while less busy)

Nurses Janis Zibelin and Debbie Baughn

Dr. Melanie Orange see a patient

People waiting to see a dcotor

Day 3 - Monday

2012-01-16T22:35:00.001-05:00

The medical team traveled over rough roads to the village of La Gracia. This is the most remote village we serve. It is a small village served by a church and a school that goes to the 6th year - equivalent to our 8th grade. The team saw around 70 people at the clinic set up in the church.

The construction/agricultural team combined efforts today first meeting with Pastor Manny at Santa Elena Baptist Church and the Director of Baptist Schools in Belize. We made arrangements for another team that will be building walls for the Santa Elena Primary School later this month. We also bought a refrigerator for the Santa Elena church's pre-school. In the afternoon we bought vegetable seeds to give to people at the medical clinic on Wednesday. Greg ended the day at the Belize Government Farm to prepare the lucky cows for breeding on Thursday. Last year's calves were at the farm, although the official number given did not match the number of calves in the field.

After dinner the medical team went to the Kings Children's Home to do well checks for the children. There are over 50 children ranging in age from infant to 19. Miss Leonie directs the home, and she is "Mom" to all the children. She is a blessing to them and her patience and love is amazing.

The weather today began with clouds and some rain, then sun. At dinner it began to rain and now at bedtime it is raining again. Temperatures have been in the 70s during the day and cooler in the evening.

Tuesday the medical team will be at Benque del Carmen Viejo - a town on the Guatemala border.

Thank you for your continued prayer support.

Day 2 - Sunday: Nature, Mayans and Worship

2012-01-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

We slept soundly through periods of heavy rain last night and awoke to threatening skies. Our plans called for us to drive two hours to the New River near Orange Walk, in the northern part of Belize. From there we would board a boat to travel 25 miles upriver to Lamanai - a Mayan Ruin accessible only by boat. We drove through heavy rain and arrived at the boat landing. After a little debate we decided to go on with the expedition. A little way upriver the sun came out. The boat ride was designed to showcase the birds and other animal life of the river as it flowed through the jungle. We lost count of the many species of birds along the way. A brief period of rain was followed by more sunshine.

We ate lunch when we arrived and then toured the ruins at Lamanai. Our guide told us about the Mayan culture and we climbed several temples and buildings. The highlight was ascending STEEP steps to the top of a temple over 100 feet above the plaza below.

Our boat took us back and we drove to dinner then returned to the Baptist Training Center. Our day ended with a worship service in the chapel led by Scott and Matt. It was a fitting end to a day enjoying God's creation.

Tomorrow the medical team travels to the village of La Gracia and Greg will begin working with the agricultural ministry and cows.

Day 1 - Travel

2012-01-14T20:01:00.001-05:00

We are in Belize safe and sound! No problems in Charlotte checking in 21 travelers and their luggage plus the 16 totes and 7 boxes of meds for the medical clinics. After a 3 hour flight we cleared immigration and customs in Belize and headed west toward Belmopan. After lunch at Cheers we settled in at the Baptist Training Center. Meds are organized for the clinics and flyers announcing the clinics were delivered to the communities where they will be held. Dinner is minutes away . . . Jane's famous fried chicken! Our beds will feel good tonight after a long day of traveling.

We have already seen many familiar faces and look forward to renewing friendships and building new relationships this week.

Thanks for your prayers.

Almost Packed and Ready to Go!

2012-01-13T10:42:00.001-05:00

Friday is packing day! Individual team members are packing their suitcase - yes we can only take one - with everything they will need for the week. We also have a number of totes at church packed with medicine and other necessities for our work in Belize. Everything will be ready to load up tomorrow morning.

We load up and leave church at 6:00 AM Saturday morning. The forecast low is 21 degrees. Our flight departs Charlotte at 10:00 AM. On our arrival in Belize City at 12:30 PM we anticipate the temperature to be 75-80 degrees. We will be eating a late lunch at an open-air restaurant on our way to the Baptist Training Center in Camelote, a village a few mile west of Belmopan, the capital of Belize.

Saturday afternoon and evening will be settling in at the BTC and sorting medicine and getting Monday's medical clinic organized. Sunday we will be traveling north to Orange Walk to visit the Mayan ruins at Lamanai. Most of us have not visited this part of Belize.

Hopefully our Internet connection will be working and daily posts will be put on the blog. We are limited on the pictures we post, but we will try to put a few up.

Thank you for your prayers for safe travel, good health, and for the people we will meet and be ministering to this week.

2012-01-08T21:19:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the 2012 Belize Mission Trip Blog. We will update this blog every day while we are in Belize January 14-21. While in Belize we will be staying at the Baptist Training Center in the Village if Camelote near Belmopan.

Check back each day for updates and if our Internet connection allows some pictures of our work in Belize.