In less than a month 28 short-term missionaries will be leaving for Belize on mission. Over the past few months the mission team was formed and plans for our work were begun. The 28 going are listed at the top of this blog page. Many are members of FBC Marion, but several are members of other churches. Over the years our mission teams have been made up of our home church and many from sister churches in McDowell County and beyond.
First Baptist Church of Marion's first Belize mission trip was in 2005. A medical team and a construction team spent a week working at a medical clinic in Roaring Creek and a construction project at a small church in Belmopan. After that trip we knew we wanted to return and we committed to a five-year partnership with the Baptist Association of Belize. From 2006 to the present we have organized an annual medical and construction adult mission trip, as well as two youth mission trips and two college mission trips. Our Belize partnership has run well past its original five year commitment.
Our home while in Belize is the Baptist Training Center located in the village of Camelote, a few miles west of Belmopan, the capital of Belize. The BTC is directed by Eric and Julie Maas, missionaries from North Carolina. The facilities are neat and clean with a lodge, kitchen and dining hall, a chapel and spacious grounds. Our meals are prepared by Jane and Laticia, dear friends we have known since the first trip in 2005. We are blessed to have the BTC as home while in Belize.
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| The Chapel at the BTC |
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| The Green Lodge at the BTC |
Every year a dedicated group of doctors, nurses and support staff plans a week of daily medical clinics. Funds for medicines are raised and medical equipment is packed and readied for transit to Belize. Clinics are held in villages in the surrounding area, usually set up in a church. We have held clinics in the same villages from year to year, and we have added new villages to the rotation. Often our doctors and medical staff see 100 or more people in a day. A pharmacy is set up at each clinic to dispense prescription medicines. Some years people are fitted with reading glasses.
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| Patients waiting at a medical clinic |
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| A family visit with Dr. Burton |
Our construction teams have worked in churches, rehabbed or built houses, and worked in orphanages at at a school. The last project was building the foundation and floor of a building that will serve a new ministry to provide shelter for women rescued from human trafficking. Money is raised before each trip to pay for construction materials used.
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| A exterior wall before rehab by the construction team |
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| Exterior wall after rehab |
More recently an agricultural ministry has been added. Our first project was working with the Ministry of Agriculture at the Central Farm to improve the genetics of the cattle herd on the farm. We also distributed vegetable seeds to people who came to the medical clinics. The latest effort is the establishment of a livestock program at a high school in Belmopan. We are working with the agriculture teacher at the school to provide small livestock - sheep and chickens - for students to learn to raise and care for. Our goal is to establish a self-sustaining program that will give students animal husbandry skills and potentially a future food source.
In preparing for the 2016 trip, the team has raised the funds it needs for medicine and supplies for the clinics, construction materials for a barn and fencing for the livestock project at the high school, and funds for livestock at the school. We thank all those who have supported this year's trip through donations and buying wreaths and supporting our soup lunch last November. All money raised fund the ministry areas of the trip. Each participant pays for his or her own individual travel expenses including air fare, lodging, and food.
There are a few important dates prior to the trip:
- A team meeting on Sunday, January 31 at 2:00 PM in the Lower Room of the church. Medical, construction, and agricultural teams will meet and make final preparations for their work in Belize.
- Mission Team Commissioning will be part of our worship service at 11:00 AM Sunday, February 14 at FBC Marion. All team members are invited to attend.
- A final team meeting will be at 2:00 PM on Sunday, February 14 in the Lower Room of the church.
- Departure for Belize will be in the early morning hours (time to be announced) on Saturday, February 20, 2016 at church.
This blog will be updated in the days before the trip and, internet willing, daily during our time in Belize. Please keep the mission team in your pryers as were prepare for this year's trip.
