Belize 2008
Well, I returned late last night from a simply amazing and wonderful trip to Belize! God certainly blew us away with all that He brought forth. I want to thank all of you who prayed for me and have supported us in our ministry! It is always so evident to me that I am just one small part of the Body and that always makes me feel humbled, blessed and confident in the part that I am called to do, knowing others are faithful to do their parts as well!

We arrived to Belize with no problems and got settled in and then headed off to the church where we would be sharing with what we thought was going to be a small group of women. As it turned out, God brought 150 women to the meeting! After about 45 minutes of outstanding worship in Spanish and English (by their own worship team) Christy got up to say hello and share a short testimony of how God has been working in her life. I then got up and preached for about an hour with a translator on how God was restoring HOPE tonight and the amazing plans and purposes He has for each woman there. I also prophesied about several pictures the Lord had given me for them and the pastor got up to confirm all these things when I was done. The response was incredible and the night ended with a very emotional and Spirit filled time of prayer. As for me and Christy- all we could do is laugh and shake our heads in amazement! God is so good! Here we were expecting maybe 10-15 women...but God had other plans!

The next day we headed down to Gales Point Village and to the mission base to prepare for the women’s retreat. For perhaps the first time ever, we got down there relatively obstacle free and then loaded up the boat to cross over to the base. Once at the base we settled in and began to go over the details of the next few days’ conference.

The women arrived to the base on Friday. Vera had already prepared all the cabanas and bunks for them and had placed gift baskets (that were prepared by Dr. Gerhaldine whom we stayed with in Belize City) on each ladies bed. She also had folders for each woman with all the song lyrics and notes for each session along with other little goodies. These special touches helped to show the women that God really loves them and that they are valuable and worthy of His love. The mood was friendly and united from the start although the women all seemed to still have a certain “mask” they were hiding behind. (This is typical of all the villagers- they almost seem to have this straight kind of glazed face no matter what you are talking about, etc) Our goal was that God would remove this mask, reveal His love to them and that the “switch” inside of them would be flipped and we would see life and light in their eyes! Praise be to God this was accomplished in Christ over the next few days!!!!!

The theme of the conference was Faithful Father and we specifically only invited those women that had been coming to Vera’s Bible study regularly. We knew this would be a small group of women but felt these were the women God was wanting to gather, break free, empower with the Holy Spirit and train up. I think we ended up with somewhere between 12-15 village women, young and old.

Christy led worship each day, sometimes several times a day. Vera took care of all the administrative and audiovisual components as well as general “hosting”, another woman Carol who is a gifted intercessor surrounded the whole weekend in continual prayer and I just sat back and did nothing- HAHA- not quite. Actually, Christy also taught and danced and shared her testimony and prayed for women and prophesied over some. Vera also taught, and shared her testimony and prayed for the women and prophesied as well! I myself taught a lot of the sessions and led the women on the last night in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I went to great lengths to really seek God’s heart on this and how to present it. I knew I would need a unique yet Biblically solid delivery in order to reach these women and also make it clear what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit. A couple hours before I was to teach, I still did not feel I had “the word of the Lord”. But then minutes later, as we were back in the chapel, something just clicked and I knew exactly how to proceed. By the end of the teaching I asked whoever wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit to just come up and ALL TOGETHER at the same time, everyone stood up and walked forward! THIS WAS TRULY AMAZING AND ONLY GOD! We then prayed and the Spirit fell upon us all, all but 2-3 of the women began to pray in tongues almost immediately, some reported feeling like they were going to float away or fall over, others had a cool refreshing from their head to their toes, others felt warmth and heat thru their body, others felt strengthening...many were crying with tears that you knew came from being able to receive God’s love.

The switch was flipped! These women were CHANGED! I ended up on the floor and pretty “drunk” to be honest. I was just so blessed, so honored to be used by God in this way...to be the one who He chose to play this small little role in all the other things that He has been working together in this village. I felt a “well done” from Him to us and all I could do was just lay in His presence and “be”. That night when we left the chapel (well, everyone else had left, I was still on the floor and Christy was kneeling down too), Vera came and told us that we have to come see the sky. The whole sky was lit up with a symphony of lightening. It was their first “electrical sky show” of the year. We couldn’t help but feel the wonder and hand of God in it all. HE was confirming and revealing Himself even more.

So as we looked back on all that happened the next evening, we couldn’t really even think of how we could possibly improve upon it. God was ever present and He truly had gone before us preparing the way. Basil and Vera have been ministering in this village for 6 plus years. They have sown many seeds and opened many doors. This past 9 months, two young couples came to village and transformed many of the young people’s lives by beginning Bible studies and doing youth groups and really just preaching Christ in a relevant way. They planted many seeds too which they never could have done without Vera and Basil going before them. Then we had the privilege to come down and do the first women’s retreat and see all the women baptized and empowered with the Holy Spirit and have a new level of understanding of God’s love and that they are valued. We never would have been able to do that without all the preparation that the young couples had recently done. So it was just so neat to see ALL THINGS working together for the good of those who love God. I felt like we were just a small, but important part, of all that He is wanting to do.

I’m glad that we waited on the Lord for when we should return and I’m glad we obeyed when we heard His call now! Thanks again for sending us!

To God be the glory- forever and ever- AMEN!

Please check out our blog at www.thetruthministry.blogspot.com for more trip report details and photos.

Belize 2006
One of the things I try to do (usually with KC) each time I go down is to teach the girls a praise dance. This year, I brought down a dance that was actually choreographed by Lindsay Knapp (a friend of ours) and KC. It was to "O come all Ye faithful" and was much more in a classic ballet style than high energy urban praise (like I've taught these girls before). They picked it up really well and will perform it for the village at their Christmas service.

I also brought down some dance outfits for two of the girls who are the main ones that I have worked with before. One of the girls Una ("yuna") modeled her new outfit. The shirts say "Live Free" and have a butterfly on them as well! Very cool! Una and I are standing in front of one of the 6 banners that I brought down to bring some life and color into the village church! The villagers loved them.

Last May we found Rodwell walking thru the village with a walker and after examining him realized there was definitely a problem with his hip. Vera and Basil got him to the doctor and found out he needed surgery for a fractured hip (full break straight thru the bone). Our church paid for Rodwell's surgery and he is doing phenomenally well! I saw him riding his bike and running and carrying lumber! He told me to say Thank You to everyone who helped him! Rodwell needs to go in this Friday now for another surgery just to have the pins, etc removed. We don't know the cost of this yet but we were able to leave $600 towards the expenses and know that God will cover the rest (if it cost more than that). By the way, Rodwell's mom Grace is one of the women who attend the Bible study and is a believer!

We also attended a womens' Bible study that Vera and Carole (who also works with the mission) have been holding in the village. When the class was over I asked them to gather around and lay hands on Vera and to pray for her. I did a quick little teaching on this and told them that this is one of the things God uses me to do- to release the giftings in others. SO they laid hands on her and started praying. Vera was crying almost non stop as they prayed over her. Many of the women were also moved to tears. It was truly beautiful and was a major beakthrough.

Didi is one young man that I would ask everyone to pray for if you are led to. Didi is a definite "Strong hopeful" for the village and "future leader". There is so much opposition to his living rightly though so we want to keep praying for him. He was a great joy to be around, is a hard worker, has a really great sense of humor and has a desire to work and earn money and better himself. He has a desire to become a certified tour guide (which he would be great at) and so we are working with him to make that happen. We have told him (and Vera and Basil) that if he earns and saves half the money needed for the school, then we will provide the other half. This was wisdom from God becasue everyone in Gales Point is used to just expecting a handout. Didi actually WANTS to work and so we want him to earn this himself...but still help him in the process. I am so hopeful that this will come to fruition but it will take prayer and time.

Please check out our blog at www.thetruthministry.blogspot.com for more trip report details and photos.

Previous Belize trips

Please check out the archives on our blog for past trip reports. Visit www.thetruthministry.blogspot.com.