Ministry to Belizean Men!

Another week has gone by and this puts me at 6 full weeks of living in Belize. I'm realizing that the time is beginning to slip away, and the next 6 weeks are going to come and go faster than I think they are. So I've been trying to take in as much of the community as possible with that in mind.

This time of the month is graduation time as I'm sure it is everywhere!! I was invited to a graduation ceremony for the Independence Primary School last night. On Wednesday I received an invitation inviting me to the ceremony. I was tickled pink to go. I got myself ready showed up at the Senter, with every intention of making my way to the back to find an empty seat. To my surprise I turned out to be one of the distinguished guest for the evening, I sat among some of the Town Council Members, and Board Members. My chair even had my name on it. I was blown away, to have been thought of as a distinguished member for the ceremony. I don't think I stopped smiling last night. There were 75 graduates, graduating from Standard 6 level which is the equivilent of Grade 8, which means they will be applying to highschools next year. What a wonderful bunch of young people, so vibrant and gifted. I didn't know all of them, but was so proud of each and everyone of them. Each child that got up to speak (3 in total) first foremost thanked God for his guidance in their journey through primary school. It was so encouraging to hear them as they thank God for blessing them with this accomplishment. Inspirational!!
Because of the work that I've been doing with the St. John's Anglican School in Placencia, I will also be at their graduation next week which I'm excited about, as I know a number of the young people due to my weekly visits!!

I've been diligently following and reading my Day By Day devotional this summer. I usually start my day out by reading scripture, the reflection and then praying. It's been wonderful, as many of the sciptures and reflections have tied into my ministry down here and help me to reflect on my ministry daily, it's something that I've been finding difficult to do without a supervisor. One of the appointed readings for yesterday was that of the Transfiguration. An event where Peter, James and John go up a mountain with Jesus and experience a moment in which they get a glimpse of Jesus as they have never seen before and ultimately are given a glimpse of God's presence. I was blessed to have couple of really precious moments today in which I was given the opportunity to acnknowledge glimpses of God's presence. Glimmer #1: I was walking to the Hokey Pokey (Water Taxi) this morning (6:30) to catch the boat to lead service at Placencia. On my way down the road, one of the taxi drivers, who I have gotten to know over many games of Domino's at the water taxi shelter, offered me free ride. On our two minute ride he told me that he wanted to change the way he was living his life and he want to live a life with Jesus. I was so excited for him to be taking this step and encouraged him in his decision to give his life to God. He ended up having to run to pick up some other folks, and my taxi was about to take off, so we didn't get much of a chance to talk. I told him that I would love to talk to him about his decision, and that I would pray for him. He seemed eager to set up a time to meet again. I have a feeling our discussion will be over a few games of Dominos. Glimmer #2: As I got off of the water taxi I started down the main street of Placencia toward St. John's. I've gotten to know a man by the name of Omar who owns a resturaunt and guest house beside the rectory. We've had some great conversations over Snapper Fish and O.J. Anyway he just opened up another resturaunt on the main street of Placencia, it opened this morning. It's a bright pink and green building, you can't miss it. I was making my way down the street when all of a sudden I hear "Hey baby, you want a coffee? It's the grand opening of my shop!! Come on in, can I get you a coffee? You'll be the resturaunts second customer!" He gave me a hug and kissed my cheek as he guided me onto the patio of his new resturaunt. I ordered myself a Lime Juice. Omar was beaming, he was so excited. As I waited for my juice he turned to me and said, "Chelsy, would you please pray for my resturaunt and for me?" I was taken off guard as I was in the middle of putting down my bags. I said sure, and before I could put everything down, every man in the resturaunt stopped what they were doing, and bowed there heads to pray with me. It was AWESOME!!! Glimmer #3: I finished the service at St. Michael's, which went really well (8 people in church today YAY!!) and decided that I was going to hang out at the Triangular Park down the street from the rectory and read and hang out. So I greased myself up with Sunscreen, grabbed a book and claimed a park bench. I was starting to get extremely hot, so went to leave when I heard someone greeting me. I turned around and there were a group of 4 or 5 men sitting under a tent barbecuing chicken and hanging out listening to music. They invited me over to sit with them, I introduced myself to them and we had a great 2 hour long conversation over wicked barbecue and beer!!
I've been noticing over the last couple of weeks that ministry is arising among a lot of men in the village. I'm aware that some of them only talk to me because I'm white and figure they can convince to take them back to Canada with me. But there are a number of them who are genuinely interested in what I'm doing in Belize, and why I've decided to answer God's call to ordained ministry. It's been a really neat experience, an experience that I'm not used to. In Canada, my ministry seemed to gravitate toward women's stuff, because I'm a woman. It's been a great new experience, one that I've had to get used to mainly because men don't come to church down here, yet it's the ment that I'm having religious conversations with. There are moments where I can get pretty embarrassed, with some of the conversations. Example?!?! I was walking down the street and a guy, about 50 or so, stopped me, introduced himself to me, when he found out I was working at the Anglican Church his first response was "You work at the church? I think I might have to become a Christian!" I chuckled, told him when the services in Mango Creek were, and headed on my way. He never did show...oh well. It's been a joy getting to know the people here!!

Our plans for VBS are continuing, it's been a bit of a frustrating week for me, as we've been trying as a congregation to figure out how we can reach out to all children- anglican, non-anglican, christian, non-christian. But we need to be careful because come July 8 it's likely we could have 300 - 400 children at the church which would be a wonderful turn out - but unfortunatley we don't have the resources or the volunteers. I'm praying lots about it, and with the congregation discerning ways in which we can be hospitable to everyone who comes. I'll keep you posted!!! In the mean time, continue to pray for the VBS as it approaches. Pray for the children who are called to attend, and for the volunteers!