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 Belize Update 07/25/08
As you step off a plane or step out of your vehicle, you see palm trees, beautiful flowering plants and gorgeous sunsets. You hear birds singing, possibly some Caribbean music in the background, and lots of Creole being spoken. If it's the weekend, you smell barbeque chicken being cooked on outside grills, you smell those beautiful flowers in full bloom, and the salt air of the nearby ocean. Perhaps you're thirsty and and you taste a fruit drink, or order the local stewed chicken, rice and beans--hmmm-it's so good! And, of course you feel the heat..you feel the breeze..and all you can think is that you've arrived in paradise.
Ok....close the brochure. Belize is all of the above but it is so much more....so very much more. There is poverty, urban crisis, abuse of every kind, and corruption. There are people with jobs and alot with none. There are schools in every community but it costs to go to school and many can go no further than our equivalent of 6th grade. There are good parents that are doing a great job raising their families, and there are those families with no Dad, and Mom stretched beyond her limit and with no hope. There is the lure of drugs everywhere. Sex is on billboards, in the choice of clothing women wear, and in the eyes of males passing by. Everywhere you look you can see needs beyond what we see in southern Minnesota. It can be overwhelming.
God has called Northridge Church to be a part of His big plan here in Central America. When Pastor Doug and I arrived here in Corozal, our learning experience had just started. We feel called to help start an English speaking Assembly of God church in this community. The ground is hard. There have been numerous attempts in the past to start a church here. People come, people go. Discouragement sets in on both sides--the pastor feels the resistence, feels the oppression, and sees no results; the community sees another pastor come and leave--promises unkept, and trust destroyed. The cycle needs to be broken. What is the answer? A mighty move of God! We have His promises for here. We have His Spirit moving and changing hearts and lives. We can see the start of a mighty work beginning.
New Beginnings Church is located in an old warehouse building. An AIM team came along side recently to help and encourage. They painted the inside of the building making it an inviting place to come and worship the Lord. They ministered in schools, in parks, and at the local Civic Center. They made a difference. Pastor Doug has met, shared with, and become part of the lives of the men working on the house that we have built here. They trust and respect him, and because of that, have visited the church and come to him with the very issues that are paramount in their lives. It's the walking out of our faith before the lives of these people that makes them open to the gospel. We can only do that by yielding to the Holy Spirit and realizing it's not about us but all about HIM.
God will have His way here in Central America--He will get the glory!
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