The away team has been meeting every two weeks since September, and we have done a lot of solid learning together on the nature of mission, God's heart in mission, and trusting God for the road ahead. This weekend will be an important time of team building. The team is going to Dayspring Ministries. This ministry centre is located outside of Saint John and they have an excellent facility for hosting groups. We have invited Ben Peterson, a trained instructor in Christian outdoor team building, to come from Quebec for this weekend. He is going to be leading our group through a wide range of challenging outdoor events to help us come together and work as a team. We will be spending the night at Dayspring and committing all of Saturday to these activities. Please pray for good weather and safety during this weekend. Also, please pray that this weekend will help us strengthen our trust in each other, and strengthen our sense of unity as a team.
Following this action packed weekend, we are having lunch and a servant auction after church this Sunday. One of the LIFE small groups in our church has generously offered to host a lunch for the Belize mission team. Following the lunch, people will have the opportunity to bid on various team members. Each team member has a list of skills and gifts that they can offer up for an afternoon to the highest bidder. For example, many of us can do yard work, household chores, babysitting, cooking and other useful activities. The money raised by this group fundraiser will be going to bless the people in Belize as well as potentially off-setting the cost for team members who are working hard and yet still need some support in their personal fundraising.
Please help spread the word about the servant auction this Sunday! Furthermore, please join us in prayer this weekend as we experience some intense team building.
Blessings!
Belize Team
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Greetings!
Thanks for checking out the Belize Mission 2013 Blog! We are excited that you are joining us on this journey as we prepare to serve God in Belize. Here's a little history of the mission trip for those who are just joining us.
When?
The Church of the Resurrection is sending 22 team members to serve in Belize from March 1st -10th, 2013
Who?The team members are a wide variety of ages and they are people who attend the parish, or take part in the weekly youth group at the church. We are very excited to have three different mother-son combo's coming with us this year, and our youngest team member just turned one a few weeks ago.
Where? We will be staying at the YWAM base in Banana Bank. YWAM (Youth with a Mission) is an organization that has bases all over the world. The YWAM in Belize will be providing us with our accomodations and meals. Furthermore, we are hoping to partner with them in some of their ministries in the area. Check out their website to learn more about our accomodations: http://www.ywambelize.com/Home.aspx
Why?This is a completely volunteer mission. Therefore, every individual will be doing personal fundraising for the trip. We are commiting our time, money and gifts because we have a passion to step out in faith and live out Jesus' command when he tells us to 'Go to all the nations' Matthew 28:19. Each member of the team would articulate this call a little differently, yet all of us are here because we want to serve God, and go deeper in our faith.
We're excited that you're joining us on this journey! We will be updating this blog roughly every 1-2 weeks, and then daily when we are in Belize. So feel free to check in, and learn about what's going on. If you feel called to pray for the mission, we really appreciate the prayer support!
When?
The Church of the Resurrection is sending 22 team members to serve in Belize from March 1st -10th, 2013
Who?The team members are a wide variety of ages and they are people who attend the parish, or take part in the weekly youth group at the church. We are very excited to have three different mother-son combo's coming with us this year, and our youngest team member just turned one a few weeks ago.
Where? We will be staying at the YWAM base in Banana Bank. YWAM (Youth with a Mission) is an organization that has bases all over the world. The YWAM in Belize will be providing us with our accomodations and meals. Furthermore, we are hoping to partner with them in some of their ministries in the area. Check out their website to learn more about our accomodations: http://www.ywambelize.com/Home.aspx
Why?This is a completely volunteer mission. Therefore, every individual will be doing personal fundraising for the trip. We are commiting our time, money and gifts because we have a passion to step out in faith and live out Jesus' command when he tells us to 'Go to all the nations' Matthew 28:19. Each member of the team would articulate this call a little differently, yet all of us are here because we want to serve God, and go deeper in our faith.
We're excited that you're joining us on this journey! We will be updating this blog roughly every 1-2 weeks, and then daily when we are in Belize. So feel free to check in, and learn about what's going on. If you feel called to pray for the mission, we really appreciate the prayer support!
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Thank You Song
Here is the "Thank You Song" we wrote for our hosts at the mission house at "In His Will Ministries". They were amazing hosts. If you could post this on the blog that would be great.
Mike
The Thank You Song
We landed in a stuffy van,
Benaiah saw his first Toucan,
You drove around both far and near
You all win "Driver-of-the-Year"
Refrain
All your driving brought us Joy
Thank you Carmen, Faye and Troy.
And every time we sat to eat
We always got a special treat,
Whether it was muffins, rice or tarts,
With "Hot Mamma's" or 'Marie Sharp's"
Refrain
All your cooking brought us Joy
Thank you Carmen, Faye and Troy.
And just before we fly away
There's one more thing we'd like to say
All your work has been the best,
And we pray you're always blest
Refrain
All your love has brought us Joy
Thank you Carmen, Fay and Troy.
Mike
The Thank You Song
We landed in a stuffy van,
Benaiah saw his first Toucan,
You drove around both far and near
You all win "Driver-of-the-Year"
Refrain
All your driving brought us Joy
Thank you Carmen, Faye and Troy.
And every time we sat to eat
We always got a special treat,
Whether it was muffins, rice or tarts,
With "Hot Mamma's" or 'Marie Sharp's"
Refrain
All your cooking brought us Joy
Thank you Carmen, Faye and Troy.
And just before we fly away
There's one more thing we'd like to say
All your work has been the best,
And we pray you're always blest
Refrain
All your love has brought us Joy
Thank you Carmen, Fay and Troy.
Final Pictures of the Trip!!
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| Team Pic at the Jungle |
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| Up on the roof finish painting |
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| Painting on a hot day |
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| Cooling off after a hot day |
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| Beautiful spot to relax |
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| Having fun on the beach |
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| Relaxin' |
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| Enjoying the Sun |
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| What a strong team! |
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| Getting ready to snorkel |
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| Belize is the second largest coral reef in the world |
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| Snorkeling |
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| Windy day |
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| Sunset on the last day |
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| Saying goodbye to Pepito |
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| The drive home |
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| Arriving at the airport |
Sunday, March 13, 2011
We Arrived!
Hi Everyone,
Well... this is likely going to be the last blog post for awhile.On Saturday, we left the mission house in Belize at 8:30am and traveled toward Belize City. We stopped at an awesome gift shop for some last minute shopping before we boarded our flight to Newark. The toughest part of the day was saying good-bye to our hosts, Carmen, Faye and Troy. They have been our hosts, cooks, drivers and most importantly, our friends over the past week. Our team wrote down a bunch of our favourite memories, and Mike was able to compose a song for our hosts. As a team, we sang for them and presented them with pewter crosses from the Cathedral. We have been blessed by their ministry over the past week, and we are hoping that we will be able to maintain a connection with their ministry now that we are back in Canada.
We flew for 4.5 hours from Belize to Newark. When we landed in Newark, we were hoping to have time for a nice leisurely supper before boarding our connecting flight. Unfortunately, our entire layover was consumed with customs, luggage retrieval, luggage drop-off and security line-ups to get to our next gate. We ended up ordering pizzas and scarfing down supper in the 10 minutes before boarding our next flight. Although this wasn't our original plan, we were all very thankful for the warm food in our bellies. On our next flight, one of our team members, Luke, got to meet the Captain... since it was his birthday :) We sang "Happy Birthday" to Luke at breakfast, on the first flight, and the second flight. Our team has become very skilled in the Happy Birthday song this trip :)
Our second flight was much shorter. We arrived in Portland around 10:30pm. Our hotel shuttle bus, and Stephanie & Maddie Logan were waiting for us when we arrived. We are very thankful that Stephanie and Maddie agreed to come down and help us drive luggage back home with us. It was wonderful to see their familiar faces when we got off the plane in Portland. At 11:30pm we arrived at the hotel and said a quick prayer of thanks before we bunked down for the night. We were a pretty sleepy group of travellers.
This morning we enjoyed our final meal together as a team. We somehow managed to clean-out the hotel buffet breakfast. Then we met for our final team meeting. We had asked everyone on the team to think about three things they had learned from the week, and three ways that they had seen God move. We sat in one of the hotel rooms, and shared our experiences of the week. Then we had an awesome time of affirmation for most of our team. We went around the room and took time to encourage each team member individually. It was powerful to see and hear how people have grown, and how God was able to use them during this week.
The last stage of our journey started about an hour late, we really didn't want to rush our final team meeting. We then drove from Portland to Grand Bay / Westfield in one large convoy. We were hugely blessed by the group who were waiting to welcome us at the church when we arrived. A huge thank you to all of our church family for your prayers and support. During our final meeting, the team agreed that this week felt like we were being carried along by the prayers of all of the people back home. We have been blessed with safety (both in travel and in the mission), with new friendships, and with God's annointing in the day-to-day moments. Thank you so much for journeying with us in this mission.
I hope you don't think that you're off the hook yet :)
We have a couple of prayer requests, if you're willing:
1. Please pray for a smooth transition into daily life for the team members (it is difficult to come back from an experience like this and adapt to daily routines again).
2. Please pray that team members will know how to share this experience with others.
3. Please pray for the ministry of St. Hilda's and In His Will Ministries in Belize, they are doing great work there.
Thanks again for all of your support and prayers!
God is amazing!
Anna
Well... this is likely going to be the last blog post for awhile.On Saturday, we left the mission house in Belize at 8:30am and traveled toward Belize City. We stopped at an awesome gift shop for some last minute shopping before we boarded our flight to Newark. The toughest part of the day was saying good-bye to our hosts, Carmen, Faye and Troy. They have been our hosts, cooks, drivers and most importantly, our friends over the past week. Our team wrote down a bunch of our favourite memories, and Mike was able to compose a song for our hosts. As a team, we sang for them and presented them with pewter crosses from the Cathedral. We have been blessed by their ministry over the past week, and we are hoping that we will be able to maintain a connection with their ministry now that we are back in Canada.
We flew for 4.5 hours from Belize to Newark. When we landed in Newark, we were hoping to have time for a nice leisurely supper before boarding our connecting flight. Unfortunately, our entire layover was consumed with customs, luggage retrieval, luggage drop-off and security line-ups to get to our next gate. We ended up ordering pizzas and scarfing down supper in the 10 minutes before boarding our next flight. Although this wasn't our original plan, we were all very thankful for the warm food in our bellies. On our next flight, one of our team members, Luke, got to meet the Captain... since it was his birthday :) We sang "Happy Birthday" to Luke at breakfast, on the first flight, and the second flight. Our team has become very skilled in the Happy Birthday song this trip :)
Our second flight was much shorter. We arrived in Portland around 10:30pm. Our hotel shuttle bus, and Stephanie & Maddie Logan were waiting for us when we arrived. We are very thankful that Stephanie and Maddie agreed to come down and help us drive luggage back home with us. It was wonderful to see their familiar faces when we got off the plane in Portland. At 11:30pm we arrived at the hotel and said a quick prayer of thanks before we bunked down for the night. We were a pretty sleepy group of travellers.
This morning we enjoyed our final meal together as a team. We somehow managed to clean-out the hotel buffet breakfast. Then we met for our final team meeting. We had asked everyone on the team to think about three things they had learned from the week, and three ways that they had seen God move. We sat in one of the hotel rooms, and shared our experiences of the week. Then we had an awesome time of affirmation for most of our team. We went around the room and took time to encourage each team member individually. It was powerful to see and hear how people have grown, and how God was able to use them during this week.
The last stage of our journey started about an hour late, we really didn't want to rush our final team meeting. We then drove from Portland to Grand Bay / Westfield in one large convoy. We were hugely blessed by the group who were waiting to welcome us at the church when we arrived. A huge thank you to all of our church family for your prayers and support. During our final meeting, the team agreed that this week felt like we were being carried along by the prayers of all of the people back home. We have been blessed with safety (both in travel and in the mission), with new friendships, and with God's annointing in the day-to-day moments. Thank you so much for journeying with us in this mission.
I hope you don't think that you're off the hook yet :)
We have a couple of prayer requests, if you're willing:
1. Please pray for a smooth transition into daily life for the team members (it is difficult to come back from an experience like this and adapt to daily routines again).
2. Please pray that team members will know how to share this experience with others.
3. Please pray for the ministry of St. Hilda's and In His Will Ministries in Belize, they are doing great work there.
Thanks again for all of your support and prayers!
God is amazing!
Anna
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Friday Update!
It was a fantastic day of firsts for most of us on the team. For many, it was their first time in the Carribean Ocean. For others, it was their first time exploring coral reefs. We felt incredibly blessed to be able to end our trip with a day like this. To cap the day off, there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky for our entire boatride back to the main land.
Supper was fried chicken and then we had a team meeting back at the mission house to debrief the day. The only low from the day is that several people on the team got sunburns while snorkeling. It was almost impossible to keep sunscreen on for the hours that we were exploring the reefs. Thankfully we came stocked with a ton of aloe vera, so we will be able to slather up for the plane rides tomorrow.
It's hard to believe that we are leaving already. Right at this moment, the teams are packing their suitcases. We will be leaving the mission house at 8am tomorrow. It will be a full day of travel. We expect to arrive in Portland, Maine at around 11:30pm tomorrow night. We will probably be a little late with the final blog post and pictures, but they will happen. We are expecting to arrive back in Grand Bay around 6-6:30pm Sunday evening. A huge thank you to everyone for all of your prayer support. We continue to see prayers answered on a daily basis. This entire week has felt like God has gone before us and prepared a path for our team. We ask for your continued prayer support for traveling tomorrow. Please pray that we make our flight, and connection. Also, please pray that our luggage arrives safely in Portland when we do :)
Also, please pray that God would continue to work in the hearts of all of the team members. There have definitely been some seeds planted during this week. Please pray that God will nurture these seeds, and help the team return to their daily routines with a fresh perspective and a vision for God's will in their lives.
We look forward to seeing all of you soon!
Blessings!
Anna Caines
*There will be no pictures today.
Supper was fried chicken and then we had a team meeting back at the mission house to debrief the day. The only low from the day is that several people on the team got sunburns while snorkeling. It was almost impossible to keep sunscreen on for the hours that we were exploring the reefs. Thankfully we came stocked with a ton of aloe vera, so we will be able to slather up for the plane rides tomorrow.
It's hard to believe that we are leaving already. Right at this moment, the teams are packing their suitcases. We will be leaving the mission house at 8am tomorrow. It will be a full day of travel. We expect to arrive in Portland, Maine at around 11:30pm tomorrow night. We will probably be a little late with the final blog post and pictures, but they will happen. We are expecting to arrive back in Grand Bay around 6-6:30pm Sunday evening. A huge thank you to everyone for all of your prayer support. We continue to see prayers answered on a daily basis. This entire week has felt like God has gone before us and prepared a path for our team. We ask for your continued prayer support for traveling tomorrow. Please pray that we make our flight, and connection. Also, please pray that our luggage arrives safely in Portland when we do :)
Also, please pray that God would continue to work in the hearts of all of the team members. There have definitely been some seeds planted during this week. Please pray that God will nurture these seeds, and help the team return to their daily routines with a fresh perspective and a vision for God's will in their lives.
We look forward to seeing all of you soon!
Blessings!
Anna Caines
*There will be no pictures today.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Here are the Pictures from the last few days!!
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| A big turnout - almost 100 kids |
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| A thank you from Mrs. Bennett the school principal |
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| Craft Time! |
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| Having fun at the Mayan Ruins |
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| Meeting some new friends at the VBS |
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| Saying goodbye after the VBS |
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| Some students we met at St. Hilda's |
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| The finished product - a freshly painted school |
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| The team at the top of the ruins... we made it! |
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