Today was a day of worship and rest. Most of us were up by 7, sitting out on the breezy front porch and living room, appreciating the sunrise over the ocean. We had a cereal breakfast much later than usual, since church didn’t start until 11am. New Life Presbyterian church is just down the street from Pastor Betson and Carolyn’s. It’s an historic building right downtown. The church was started over 150 years ago and Pastor Betson is the first Belizean pastor to serve there. Actually it’s technically without a pastor, but Pastor Betson serves both it and the Unity church plant he started 8 years ago.
Daryl left early for the service and along the way met some guys hanging out in the shade near the church. One guy Alex hadn’t been to church in years, and said he was eager for blessing, so he joined us. Like many, he is searching for work, and he and Pastor Betson exchanged numbers since his trade is construction. We joined about 30 others, many of them kids picked up with the bus. Pastor Daryl preached from Luke 2:40, “And the child (Jesus) grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” We thank God that the grace that was on him is now on us who are in Christ!
Through the afternoon most of us played cards, read, or napped. Paul and Daryl walked over to give Alex and his friend a serving of our lunch, and they chatted it up for a while with them and others. At 6:30 we loaded onto the bus with Pastor Betson to the church plant beside the school, where he led the service. It was good to worship with families we had come to know through the week. Many of the songs were familiar, like Shout to the Lord, Come Now is the Time to Worship, and Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow. One delight was some classic praise songs like Welcome to the Family, and I Will Call Upon the Lord (Who Is Worthy to Be Praised!).
This afternoon we met another team from the US who will be joining us on the job tomorrow. We worshipped with them tonight as well. There are nine of them from four churches, most Presbyterian, but two of them are from a CRC in St. Joseph, Michigan. They are splitting their time between prison ministry with Pastor Betson and helping with the construction. Tonight Carolyn helped us understand again what a blessing Unity school is. All citizens of Belize (and immigrants) pay tuition for education at all levels. Unity offers quality Christian education at low to no cost for the people in the neighbourhood.
We’re looking forward to putting our hearts and hands to work for the cause of Christ tomorrow. Please pray for safety again, as well as continued health and quality relationships between us, as well as with the new team arriving. The comments you write are a great encouragement to us. Thank-you! We are praying for you too, especially as many of you get up and off to school again. As Pastor Betson says to us frequently with a big hug, “I love you, you are special!”
Comments