MISSION CHRONICALS – BELIZE 08’

Dear Friends & Family,
What an exciting time we had in Belize early this month. While most people travel to this small central American country on the edge of the Caribbean for fun & recreation our team of 5 came for a different purpose. To work with a local church and see the lost saved, congregates trained in soul winning & revival fires lit in the hearts of God’s people.

As our flight approached Belize City we could see the results of a week of heavy rain; flooding everywhere. We later realized God’s hand in our timing, had we come the week before as originally planned our time would have been a soggy mess. Though flooding had closed some of the roads around the city & made others slow going we were able to travel to our destination city of San Ignacio near the Guatemala border.

As planned the next day we hit the streets surrounding our host Church and began campusing the area using the “Great Awaking” evangelism script, (http://www.revival.com/www/r.aspx?p=24) and began training church members in their use. The script is extremely easy to use and direct to the point…”do you know God loves you and has a plan for your life? If you were to die today do you know for sure if you would go to heaven?” are the introduction question. Again & again people readily accepted the simplicity of the Gospel. The local church will follow up conversions as much as possible.

Saturday found us at the very busy Market place of San Ignacio where hundreds of locals shop for the best deals of the local fare. Mr. Greenbody made an impromptu radio “appearance” and got “saved” as Pastor Janet Sheets lead him in the “sinner’s prayer” Since Belize is a predominately English speaking country communication was never much of a problem. My job that day was putting on puppet shows after Mr. G roamed around inviting children & adults. We found folks quite receptive & dozens indicating a first time decision for Christ. Later a puppet show & skits at the church found us ministering the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as well.

Though there were many adventures to share, my favorite was ministering at a local Nazarene school where the entire body of nearly 500 students gathered in the courtyard to watch Peter “walk on water” and us “operate” on one of their teachers. After praying with the students, over 80 students acknowledge that was the first time they asked Christ into their hearts

Pastor Joe Sheets ministered nightly building faith in the hearts of the people and praying for individual needs. In one week’s time we saw over 200 decisions for Christ. Not bad for a handful of people & a few silly puppets!

Lord willing in 2009 we will see new mission adventures in the Philippines, Viet Nam Kenya and…and maybe a surprise or two.

Prelude to a Short Term Mission

It has been over a year now since I last made an entry on this Blog. Since I made this predominately a mission blog I had nothing noteworthy to report. That last trip to the PI in 2007, with the broken ankle incident and all, left me wondering about my place on a foreign field. After much thought and waiting on God for clarity I have come back to the conclusion that a foreign field is where I need to spend a majority of my time left here on Earth. It is where I feel the most fulfilled & useful. Exactly which country or countries, I am not sure. But the Far East holds the most attention in my heart.

The past year has hardly been uneventful. The passing of my mother in March 08’, though at 96yrs of age & in poor health, was not too much of a surprise, it was still a shock to my emotions. It was one of those events that signals a new phase of ones life. I continue to stay busy with my home repair/improvement business. I really enjoy building things but it does not satisfy inner longings of my heart. I continue to live here in Gainesville with my stepdaughter Lori, her husband Andres & 2 sons Samuel & Ian. And oh, yes I am still single, (sigh).

Pastor Danden Sales from the PI was also here with us in Aug/Sept. I was very happy for him as he was able to visit with several new churches here in Florida. Not just to raise additional support for Faith Island Missions but to create new links of fellowship and ministry. (shown here with Pastors Joe & Janet Sheets)

For right now I’m preparing for a trip to the Central American country of Belize on a one week adventure of Evangelism and ministry. My current Pastors Joe and Janet Sheets of Living Water Church, Gainesville, http://lwcflorida.com/index.htm (also old friends from my Virginia days of the 1980s) will be heading up our team of 5. We plan to use the “Great Awaking Tour” of Rodney Howard Brown as a pattern. Our goals are 3 fold; 1)Win the lost, 2) train soul winners & 3) light a fire. The tickets are purchased & the departure date set for Oct.30.

One of our team, Amelia, is from that country and has made contacts with a local church in San Ignacio (near the Guatemala border) with whom we will be working with. Door to door, street evangelism, puppets and crusades will be some of the methods to be used in bringing in a harvest. My Spanish is a little rusty so I have started refreshing myself via CDs . We will have to also dust off “Saul” the puppet, who also will transform in to “Peter” the apostle depending on situation & need.