Trinity Baptist Church Mission Team In Cooperation with Lagoon Road Baptist Church, Belize, C.A. January 31 February 7, 2008 Neil Loyd, Boyd Dimmock, Ben Kaufman, Roger Crowder, John Cook, Tom Dimmock, Hal Melton
Mission Trip to Belize Caye Caulker Snorkeling Baptist Training Center Xunantunich Mayan Ruins Lagoon Road Baptist Church
Baptist Training Center Entrance Grounds While in Belize the TBC team stayed at the Baptist Training Center that is located in the Western Region, Cayo District, of Belize. The 10 acre center and the buildings were purchased and built by volunteer men and women from Southern Baptist Churches in the United States. About 14 years ago Hal Melton took a group to Belize to help construct a dorm building at the training center. This center is used by fellow brothers and sisters in the Belizean churches for growth in the knowledge of our Lord. The center has been staffed since it s inception by Baptist Missionaries. Julie and Erick Maas are the current resident missionary couple. Julie grew up in Raleigh and Erick is from Greenville, NC. They left a successful construction business in Greenville to become missionaries. They have two small children, a daughter and son. While we were staying at the training center, a group of Mennonites from Belize were having a bible school. About 200 people attended. In the evenings, they would sing gospel hymns without accompaniment. The music sounded angelic. Jane cooked our dinner at the training center. She is the wife of care taker of center. They have a little girl named Hannah.
The Work The project was to install doors and windows in Sunday school rooms that were recently added to the church. Some of the window and door openings were not the right size. Some window openings were enlarged by cutting and removing the concrete. We wrecked our circular saws in the process. Some of the window openings were too big so we had to build wood frames and pour mortar mix to fill in the area at the bottom after the windows were hung. We constructed door frames, fitted the doors with hinges and door knob assembles, hung the doors and then attached stops and trim. We also installed a water line and wired the new rooms with temporary lights. We fabricated and attached bulletin boards in the new SS rooms.
Project Completed
The Church Lagoon Road Baptist Church is located in the village of St. Margaret. The road where the church is located goes to Blues Lake. This a large natural lake with a surface that appears to have many shades of blue. Church from road Church bus and arbor classroom Sunday morning worship The church building that is now Lagoon Road Baptist Church was essentially not being used. Some far sighted individuals decided to use the church building to begin an English speaking church in the village. Prior to that time, there were four Spanish speaking churches and no English speaking churches in St. Margaret. Awhile back, the church decided to build Sunday School rooms, but they did not have the money for the construction. Pastor Ed s wife, Jean, took leap of faith. She borrowed money against her retirement fund to pay for the construction. Sometime later, an American church learned of this sacrifice and paid off the note so that Jean s retirement fund was restored. The church was planted with the intention of its being an English speaking congregation, but with Latinos coming, a Sunday School class was begun for Spanish speakers. The Spanish class met in a school bus parked next to the church. The young adults met in a thatched-roof arbor made in the traditional Mayan style. On the Sunday morning of our visit the church was almost full with 97 people attending. After much singing and reports to the church from each Sunday School class, Hal Melton gave a message on keeping God s Song alive in our hearts. We also attended the Wednesday night service. About 50-60 attended. Highlights included Tom and Boyd performing a duet. Boyd sang and Tom accompanied her by whistling the tune. Ben gave a message on What Is Important?. The church presented each member of our team with a mug showing the beauty of Belize. Boyd allowed each child to select books that the team had brought to the church. The children were very excited about the books.
Lagoon Road Baptist Church Sunday Morning Children s Sunday school classes Hal speaks to the congregation Taking chairs from SS room to sanctuary TBC team
Lagoon Road Baptist Church Wednesday Evening Ben presents message Tom and Boyd Perform Lagoon Road Singers Children enjoy books
The People Elders of Lagoon Road Baptist Church and TBC Team at the completion of work Pastor Modesto and Pastor Ed Mohabir cooperate to minister to the church. Pastor Modesto is of Mayan heritage and lives in St. Margaret. He works at a sawmill during the week. Pastor Ed and his wife Jean are originally from the country of Guyana in South America. Both are of Indian (country of India) decent. They live 45 minutes away near Dangriga. Both Ed and Jean are well educated. Ed is a college teacher and campus minister. Jean works as an accountant for an orange juice processing facility. Both ministers are bi-vocational and receive no compensation from the church. There are several people referred to as elders who are very involved in the church. Oswald Gillette is a retired military officer. He is a well spoken man who has much influence at the church. His wife Deborah is a teacher for the children. Santos is an older gentleman who worked with us every day. Santo lives with his wife Clair near the church. They live in a traditional Mayan house with a thatched roof made of palm leaves. Clair was ill while we were in Belize, but we did visit her at home and prayed for her recovery. Peter is a successful businessman who runs a trucking company. He also drives the bus that picks up church members and brings them to church services. Peter and his wife Phyllis are also teachers. Paulette and some other ladies at the church prepared lunch for us each day we worked. We also met Henry Baizar, the Exec. Dir. of the Baptist Association of Belize. Henry was formerly the chief of the National Fire Service of Belize. He is known as Chief and everyone seems to know him. Henry helped us secure a rental van and also helped us when the van broke down. Most of the people spoke very good English. So, we had little language barrier to our communication.
Pastor Ed and wife Jean Hal and Pastor Ed Santos home Visit with Santos wife Clair Hal having fun with the kids Playing with the children
Fun In Belize Xunantunich Mayan ruins Hand operated ferry Restaurant in orange grove Snorkeling trip at Caye Caulker
Other shots Jane our Cook & her daughter Hannah Orange grove with mountains in background Roadside produce stand Trouble with water pump. Sign at Belize Zoo Inside cage with Jaguar
The Future Trinity Baptist Church has entered into a three year partnership with Lagoon Road Baptist Church in the village of St. Margaret, Belize, Central America. We are planning to take mission teams back to Belize for at least the next two years. Lagoon Road Baptist Church wants to build more Sunday school space and we have agreed to assist them in that construction project. That will likely happen in early 2010. In addition, we have an opportunity to do a Bible school for the children of the village and an evangelistic revival as a separate trip (summer 2010). Another opportunity is a dental/medical mission trip. A non-profit group called Fishers of Men has outfitted an enclosed trailer with all the equipment needed for a self-contained dental clinic. This trailer is stationed at the Baptist Training Center and would be available for a dental team, should we decide to send one.