Called to Serve

 July 26, 2024

All thirteen of our team members showed up at 3:30 a.m., Friday morning. As is usual, since we’re all on one travel confirmation, we had our own American Airlines desk agent to check in our bags and give us boarding passes. We had to do some movement of items from over-weight bags to carry-ons and backpacks, but managed to get every bag within the 50# limit, well, except for the over-size duffle carrying boxes of supplies.



A five-hour layover in Dallas made for some good card games!

We arrived Belize City about 2:30, and after haggling with customs about all the weird items in our bags (well, weird to them), we were permitted to enter the country and pack all 26 bags into the waiting van and SUV that had come for us from San Ignacio.

Our host, Eliu, is no stranger to short-term mission groups. He hosts several each year, and his return customers include several universities from Michigan and Illinois. He is a great tour guide, telling us all about the climate, the economy, the habits, the various languages (Spanish, English, Creole, Maya dialects, and Mennonite German) and scratching the surface about healthcare delivery in the country. We’ll no doubt hear much more in the coming days!

A delicious meal of chicken fajitas with the fixings, plus ice cream for dessert, and we’re off to organize our bags for tomorrow, and then to bed at 8:00 p.m. (10:00 EDT), exhausted from the long day. We’re told coffee will be ready at 6:00 and breakfast at 8:00, and we’ll head for our first clinic in downtown San Ignacio at 9:00.


“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”  Acts 13:2-3


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