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Mission Trips - Our 7th Trip to Belize (and Mexico) Trip Report Sometimes you just go without thinking about the details. It is often those missions that are most blessed. The first of January, Duane and I decided we would go to Mexico to visit some of his friends. These brothers, who work in the states for part of the year, had been asking him for several years to come visit their homes and meet their families in Mexico. The time never seemed right until this year. We always go to Belize around January to visit our friends there and Share Hope Around, so we thought we would just combine the two trips. On January 26, 2015, we flew into Mexico City, hoping that Bernie would be waiting for us. And he was, grinning from ear to ear, alongside his son, Sammie. After hugs and welcomes, we trudged through the airport to the bus terminal. After a 1 ½ hour comfortable bus ride, we arrived in Pachuca, Mexico, where Bernie's sister -in-law, Marta, awaited us. She greeted us warmly and we loaded our bags into her car and travelled another 45 minutes to Bernie's home in Atotonilco el Grande, in the state of Hidalgo. Bernie's wife, Alejandra, her sister, Jessica, and her parents warmly welcomed us and quickly went about making us comfortable. Everyone needs to visit this wonderful family to understand how to love and make strangers welcome. They were incredible hosts. For five days we were pampered and loved on. I have never felt so welcomed and at ease. Fear of imposing on others has always been so difficult for me to overcome. As I spent the week meeting and living with complete strangers in a foreign land I thought how awesome God is and how He will help us grow if we yield to Him. Five years ago, I do not think I would have traveled so far from home to live with people I did not know. What a blessing I would have missed! The first few days of our visit, God allowed others to Share Hope with us. He used this time to teach me more about how to share unselfishly with His people through allowing me to be on the receiving end. Bernie's daughter, Raquel, unassumingly gave up her bedroom during our visit and stayed with her grandparents next door. Sammie gave up his free time to go with us and help translate. Allie cooked wonderful meals and cleaned up after us daily. Jessica, spent each day with us, explaining, in her limited English, their culture to us. Marta, transported us from place to place. Bernie interrupted his daily routine to be our guide and translator, as well as to show us his beautiful native land. Allie's parents greeted us each morning with a sincere smile and tried to teach us a few words in Spanish. Allie's nieces and nephews opened their homes and hearts to us. Each one made sacrifices for us and was never too busy to show us something or take us somewhere. I have truly never experienced such warmth and unselfishness. One day we were blessed to spend with Bernie's brothers and their families along with Bernie's mom at the annual St. Martin's festival and a real rodeo. I sat and watched people laugh and love one another all day. It was a heartwarming experience. After a few days of being loved, God allowed us to Share Hope Around. Marta drove us to Pachuca to purchase bags of clothes to take to children that lived in the surrounding area. We arose early the next day, loaded down Bernie's small pick-up truck with clothes, soccer balls, and candy, and began our quest. Bernie, Jessica, Sammie, Duane, and I spent a beautiful, emotional day following a narrow rocky, dirt road leading high into the mountains of Vaquerias, Hildaga, which borders with the state of Veracruz ,Mexico. to visit schools. At each stop, the teacher warmly greeted us. With Jessica, Bernie, and Sammie interpreting for us, we were able to let them know we were here to Share God's love and what material goods we had with the children. Each teacher was most thankful and graciously stopped their activities to allow us to share with the timid children. I am always overwhelmed with emotion at how happy and grateful children and adults, who seemingly have little material wealth, are. As I rode in the back of that little pickup truck, surrounded by mesas and cacti, I was in awe of the grandeur of God's handiwork and at the same time was reminded of the difficult life these people lived in the sparsely populated poor countryside. Occasionally, we passed a couple of men herding cows down the dusty trail or a mama walking with her young children. A few times we had the privilege of providing them with a ride and were able to enjoy their sweet company for a few miles. After we left each small school, I shed tears of helplessness and feeling overwhelmed by all of the needs, but at the same time, my belief that it is our relationship to Jesus and to others that brings us peace, joy, and contentment, not material goods or ease of everyday life is confirmed. In Mexico, Belize, and at home in Georgia, while material needs are many, for those who have the Love of Christ, there is joy. It is Christ's love that is needed to be Shared Around. During one of our scrumptious, relaxing meals at the kitchen bar in Bernie's home, we talked about possible future mission work in the local community. Bernie, Allie, and Jessica eagerly offered to help us bring a team to Mexico. Here was God giving us a foot hole in another country, another opportunity to Share Hope Around. All too soon, our work in Mexico came to an end, and it was time to move on to Belize. Sammie helped us book a flight to Chetumal, a city located on the border of Mexico and Belize. Marta, Jessica, and Bernie took us to Pachuca to catch a bus to Mexico City for our flight. We fumbled through the airport and found just enough people who spoke some English to help us board the correct flight. I am praying God will speed up my slow speaking South Georgia tongue so I may learn Spanish soon! We arrived in Chetumal, MX 1 ½ hours later, managed to get someone to hail us a cab, and found a local hotel. The next morning we tried to order breakfast, but again, not speaking or reading any Spanish posed to be a bit of a problem. Thankfully, a woman sitting behind us, was bilingual and helped us order breakfast. After refueling our bodies, we got a cab and headed to the local bus station to catch a comfortable bus to Belize City. Unfortunately we missed the bus. However, a woman from Corazol, Belize, was standing there. She spoke English and offered to split a cab with us to the border. When we arrived at the border crossing, I realized I had left my jacket with my passport in it at the hotel. I was a little panic stricken and could not believe I had been so careless. Our angel that was now traveling with us said she would go with us back to the hotel to find my jacket. When I walked into the lobby of the hotel, the young girl at the desk smiled. She knew why I was back. There was my jacket with my passport tucked safely inside. We hopped in the cab and went back to the border where we easily went through customs and crossed into Belize. The lady, that was now our traveling companion, took us to her local restaurant in Corozal where we enjoyed a fresh glass of juice and rested before walking to the bus terminal to catch the Express Bus. God sends us the most interesting and happy people when we are Sharing Hope Around. This lady was no exception and we are convinced God placed her in our path to take care of us. He is so good. We were no longer traveling in the nice air conditioned bus we had been used to in Mexico. This was an old American Bluebird school bus with no air condition and we were now in 85 degree weather. But, oh what a wonderful experience it was. The bus stopped every 10-15 minutes, it seemed, to pick up people. This mode of transportation is common in Belize. People stand by the road, waiting on a bus to come by. People get on and get off continuously. The 85 mile ride took 3 hours to accommodate all of the stops. But it was worth it, for once more, we were allowed to get a glimpse of a culture different than our own. A beautiful 9 year old shy girl sat beside us for most of the way. She spoke English but was clearly not comfortable talking to strangers. We gave her a few gifts and she timidly took them. When I was not talking to the little girl, Sharon, I gazed out the window seeing a repeated landscape of poor people scratching out a living, the best way they could. We finally arrived in Belize City where we needed to get a cab to take us to a car rental business. I had been told to only hire a cab driver wearing a blue shirt. I am a rule follower, so I was looking for a blue shirt. Duane is not one to follow rules or advice, so he struck up a conversation with a burley Bob Marley character, which also drove a cab. Against my protests, Duane grabbed our bags and went with the man to his car- a terribly beaten up car that I wasn't sure would make it to the car rental business. I was extremely nervous, but then God revealed Himself again. Duane sat in the front with the cab driver. He started sharing his story of redemption; how He had been raised in church, strayed from God, did time in prison, and found His way back to Christ. We arrived at our destination feeling as though we had been in a prayer meeting. Dune's spontaneity provided us with another blessing. God wasn't through showing us His interest in our lives. We spent the day driving south through Belize to explore a new area. We drove down a path in the jungle growth, thinking we were going to see an old bridge. It was someone's house. Good "mistake "as we met some interesting people that loved God and who shared their story with us. They walked with us down an overgrown path to see the old bridge- not much to look at, but the fellowship with God's people was wonderful. Never did fear come over us. We truly could have been robbed and killed right then and there and no one would have ever found us as no one in the world knew where we were. A little while later, we drove down a path to see a resort nestled deep in the jungle that I had heard about. I took a wrong turn and wound up at a retreat for mission groups. It was such a peaceful, reverent place-a place of worship. A young man greeted us and showed us around. He was a local that worked there. After our tour of Jaguar Creek,, we met Ben, the manager. We talked and he gave us a brochure of their parent company, PathLight. We talked about a future partnership with them and left. Another door had opened. The next day was Sunday. We made our way to our Pastor Mark and Shari's home. They are precious friends that we made on our first trip to Belize. We visited with them and asked Shari if she could help us find an airline ticket home, as we had been gone for 9 days and were hoping to return home in a few days. She works for American Airlines so we thought she might be able to find us a standby ticket. She not only helped us but gave us two family discount tickets and saved us $1100.00. You just cannot out think God! We spent a wonderful worship service with all of our friends at Hattieville Baptist Church. They always welcome us with open arms and restore our souls.
The day I had been waiting for finally arrived. We began the day taking the daughter of another dear friend of Belize to register at the University of Belize. SHA Missions is so excited to help this young lady obtain an education that will enable her to take care of her family. We then drove to visit our children at More Tomorrow Government School. They were not expecting us and were so surprised to see us. The teacher said, "Look, boys and girls who has come to see us." The children gleefully responded, "Mrs. Jeanine!" I had the privilege of sharing some new books we brought them and giving them some art supplies that the students at the GEAR program in the Colquitt County School System had collected. We spent the afternoon loving and being loved. And then, God appeared again. While I was sharing a book, a lady came in and talked to Duane. After I finished reading, she came up to me to talk. She was with Path Light. She said one of their programs was in training the teachers of Belize in good teaching practices through Christian principals. She was the director for Belize. She was excited to hear that I was a teacher with experience in training teachers and was a Christian, too. I told her that I had just learned of their program two days ago while visiting Jaguar Creek Retreat. Another door God may be opening for SHA Missions! That afternoon, we headed back to Belize City to visit the children at Dorothy Menzies' Childcare Center. We stopped at a grocery store to buy them some candy. Last year, when our mission team came to Belize, we were unable to bring the children outside food and were somewhat restricted on what we could do at the Center. I had tried to prepare Duane as he was used to bringing them whatever he wanted and staying as long as he wanted. He went into the store to get the candy while I waited in the car. He came out with peanut butter, jelly, bread, and candy. He said, "God just told me to bring them something to eat." Once again, my free spirited husband chose not to follow someone's rules. But, was I ever glad he did not listen to me, as usual. The evening meal was just before being served when we got to the orphanage. On each plate was 1 ½ pieces of Vienna sausages and one-two pieces of bread, depending on the children's age. Duane asked the caretakers if we could fix the children some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They said yes. So, we quickly made each child a sandwich. As they filed by to get their treat, several of the kids came by us holding their sandwich in the air and said, "Nice" or "thank you" with a big smile. It's so rewarding when we listen to the Holy Spirit's gentle voice. And Duane got to see that Lucy, his special little angel, was doing well and was happy. Our work for now was finished and we were now ready to go home to our six little angels and four sweet children. Allowing God to lead is so gratifying, so much easier, and much more fun. Why is it so hard for us to do? Blindly following him on this incredible journey was an experience that brings a flood of emotions each time I think back on it. I shall forever be grateful to Him and simply cannot wait until He leads us once again through another unknown door. Written by Jeanine Wetherington,
Sha's Mom |
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