Belize Mission – Day 6

Thursday, June 12, 2014

We began the day, as usual, at 6:30 a.m. with worshiping God, giving thanks to Him for His wonderful blessings of the past day and looking forward to His guidance and strength for yet another day of hard but rewarding work.

The team journeyed to the Dorothy Menzies Child Care Center to present two computers to the Director, Mrs. Hortence Kelly-Augustin, and to meet Dorothy Menzies herself. We had received a call the previous day that she wanted to meet us. Mrs. Menzies is also the Chair of the Board of the Child Care Center. It was a pleasure meeting her and she expressed her appreciation and thanks for all that we were doing for the Center and the gifts we had presented the previous day and for the computers.

Then, we were on our way to the Anglican School at Queen’s Square, to present gifts to the children and teachers. Children received over 700 brightly orange-colored bags bearing school supplies and goodies while the teachers received black bags with gifts, donations from members and friends of Holy Sacrament. As bags were distributed to the classrooms by members of the team, Father Jon and I went from room to room, telling the children and teachers that the bags were gifts of love from friends in the United States. I urged them to make good use of the supplies and to take care of their bags, mentioning that we would like to see them with their bags when we return next year. We also presented the Principal, Myrna Smith, with a lap top for the school.

At the Anglican School, missionaries began painting the outside of the restroom building and installing the sinks, while at Dorothy Menzies, the team continued to paint the female dorms and started painting the storage units. The last session of Vacation Bible School took place at the Dorothy Menzies Center. VBS participants received their certificates. At the Anglican School, they continued their teaching and craft sessions. The Medical team treated 115 children during the day at the Anglican School. Again, the children were in remarkably good health. We believe that part of the reason for this is the access that people, including children, have to free medical clinics in Belize. Nevertheless, the health condition of the children is far better than we have seen in earlier mission trips.

During lunch time at the school, one of our younger missionaries, Rosemary Robbins, engaged a group of children in singing. They had a glorious time and it was a joy to watch Rosie taking time our to intermingle and share with the children.

In the evening, the missionaries hosted our Belizean friends who were instrumental in the organizing and preparation of our mission trip to Belize. These persons include Father Eric & Verolyn Richards and their grandson, Sehon, one of our drivers, Deborah Domingo, General Manager of the Anglican Schools, and her husband, Gilbert, Myrna Smith, Principal of the Anglican School at Queen’s Square, Althea Young, who hosted a dinner in our honor at her home the previous evening, and Sandra Arnold, the Priest’s Warden at the Cathedral, and her husband Raymond. It was truly a wonderful evening with introductions and presentations made to the our guests.

After team meeting, some of us went to listen to the Karaoke that was taking place at the hotel. However, we all eventually retired for the night.