Sunday in Belize (Exodus 20:8-11)

Our first full day in Belize was Sunday.  That it was a "day of rest" may have meant we weren't doing construction or Vacation Bible School today, but it doesn't mean we were idle.  Far from it.

Team member the Rev. Benny Collins preached the sermon at the morning worship at Prince of Peace Church.  His sermon, taken from selected passages from Romans (especially Rom. 3:9-20), focused on understanding the consequences of being lost and of justification.

Benny was concerned because this was his first bi-lingual sermon  He preached in English as Pastor Juan translated it for the Spanish speaking members of the congregation, effectively doubling the length of time Benny needed to get his message across.  He needn't have worried--his sermon was powerful in both languages.

Members of our group participated in the music in worship leading two worship songs under the supervision of "choir and orchestra director" Teri Henley.  Okay, calling it an orchestra may be gilding the lily since our instruments consisted of Teri on guitar, a tambourine, some maracas and a couple of those shaker thingies that sound like they have pebbles in them; but they sounded pretty good.  If the internet connection here were a bit better, I'd post a video clip, but that will have to wait until we get home and we have a little more bandwidth at our disposal.

Pastor Juan closed the service by sharing the vision statement for Prince of Peace Church.  "We long to be a community of grace that glorifies God by leading others to a personal and growing relationship with Christ Jesus."  It's the perfect vision for a small church plant in a place where people need to be led that life-changing personal and growing relationship.  It's also a fitting vision for a church where the American visitors outnumbered the actual church members attending the morning service.

After lunch we visited the church in the nearby Altamira neighborhood where Evangel's Belize mission team worked last summer.  Our surprise visit resulted in a sweet reunion for the church and team members and  also turned into an impromptu sporting event with soccer balls, Frisbees and footballs flying all over the church grounds well into the mid-afternoon.

We made a quick stop at the hotel to change back into our "church clothes" and returned to the Prince of Peace Church.  Before the evening worship service, we broke into groups and wandered the "Ramirez Layout" and "Skeleton Town" neighborhoods of Corozal Town that the church serves.  We went door to door handing out VBS invitations to the children of these neighborhoods and generally attracted a lot of attention from everyone we encountered.

The reward for our labor was the second dinner feast put on by the members of the church for us in as many days.  The night's menu was highlighted by tortillas and beans, which were a wonderful treat after a rich and full day.

Pastor Juan preached from Matthew 9:35-38 in the evening's service where he focused on the preaching, teaching and healing nature of Jesus' earthly ministry.

Back at our hotel, we broke into groups for our evening devotion, a reflection on Philippians 2:3-4 and how we can substitute selfishness with a humility of mind.

It was a wonderful day, but we're all excited about getting down to work beginning bright and early tomorrow morning.