To reap and not grow weary

Jeff Lowman speaks to youth from the neighborhood

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary
-Galatians 6:9

Supposedly the heat index was 107 here today.  It sure felt like it.  We think we're used to hot summers in Alabama, but the heat and humidity of Belize can sap your strength and wear you down in a way it doesn't back home. After three days of construction work in the tropical heat, we are scraped, tired and sore. If it weren't for our twin primary fuel sources of Gatorade and tortillas, we'd be running on empty already.

We're a happy team, though--smiling and singing through our work.  There's been a lot of joy on our team and not a bit of whining or grumbling.

We've been working hard and putting in long hours since we arrived in Belize.  So, what is it we are accomplishing exactly?  Well, we've been putting on a Vacation Bible School that has been growing each day.  Today we had around 50 children in attendance who learned about Heaven.

We've gotten a lot done on the construction front at Prince of Peace Church.  We've worked to repair roof damage from a hurricane, we've added walls and rooms to an extension to the church building that will eventually serve as the home for Pastor Juan Patt and his growing family.

We've painted and cleaned and weeded.  We've been giving guitar lessons and even put on a modest medical clinic with fluoride treatments for the kids and blood pressure and blood glucose measurements for the adults.

We think we're doing good things here, and we all feel strongly that we're in Belize for a good reason. But it's impossible to know which of the seeds we've planted here this week will germinate and ultimately bear spiritual fruit.  After all, we've dropped in out of the sky into this tiny church community, and we will be gone in another day or so.

Prince of Peace Church and the people in the surrounding neighborhoods face a lot of challenges.  The church is tiny--perhaps a dozen or so members--and it currently doesn't have a single elder or deacon to help Pastor Juan with the burden of running the church and ministering to its people.  Belize is a poor country relative to the U.S., so there's not much money for programs or supplies or much of anything, really.

There's so much to be done here in Belize, and so few people to do it, the job seems overwhelming.

The children coming to VBS, are very used to short term mission teams coming in from the United States, and the kids know that VBS means a few days of candy, love and attention--things that are in short supply for many of them at home. Other mission teams have been here before us, and the next VBS at Prince of Peace Church will be conducted by another mission team from another church in just a couple of weeks.

As much has we'd all like to look into the future and see what our work here this week will lead to, that isn't going to happen.  No one likes to leave a book unfinished, and we may not learn the end of the story here, but we can take joy in knowing that our part in the story was for good.

Yes, on a sweltering summer day in Belize, when our muscles hurt and we are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the job to be done at Prince of Peace and the meager resources we can bring to bear on it,  we can take comfort in God's promise that in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.