Mission Team Thriving in Belize!

It's Thursday afternoon, and I am just getting around to posting our
first "weblog" from this the second in a series of St. Michael's Mission
trips to Holy Cross Anglican School in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, BZE. I guess that's no wonder, as the daily schedule has been packed full with new challenges -- and new rewards -- ever since we arrived late Sunday afternoon.

That morning, we had attended services at the famous (oldest
Anglican Cathedral in Central America) Cathedral of Belize City.
Fr. Neal, Dean of the Cathedral, led the processional, but we soon noticed that his voice was weak and scratchy. Further, the Sunday bulletin stated that he was just returning after a seven week medical absence in the United States. I knew this meant he had been diagnosed with something serious.

As he stood in the pulpit, looking out over about 200 black faces and
13 white ones, he welcomed the team from North Carolina warmly. He explained how we were there to help the Anglican Diocese and the school in San Pedro, with which many in the congregration were familiar. He preached about how important the story of the apostle Thomas is to the post-Easter witness, and then gazed out at his congregation and proclaimed, "this team from North Carolina -- they too are a part of the resurrection story."

Almost immediately, it became clear that Fr. Neal was trying to help his own congregation reach out and accept us -- and I also realized that I had never heard a preacher do that when *I* was a part of the minority group! Indeed, it was a very powerful moment, one that many of us from St. Michael's experienced the same way: while we were familiar with welcoming culturally different persons to our parish, we were not so familiar with being the culturally different persons--and that is why Dean Neal's description of us as "part of the resurrection story" held such meaning in that moment.

As it turned out, Dean Neal's voice was so hoarse he had only reluctantly agreed to return to his role as Celebrant. However, when he realized that our priest Fr. John Gibson was with us, he gladly turned the Celebrant's role over to John, who read the Eucharistic prayer from the Prayer Book of the Church of the West Indies beautifully. After service, we learned that Dean Neal is suffering from prostate cancer (he is in his 40's) and had been in the US for treatments. We promised to keep him in our prayers -- and I know that all who read this indeed will.

As we started the day on Monday, it quickly became obvious that to fulfill our role as part of the resurrection story, we were going to have to adapt to a very different situation than the one we left just one year ago ... most importantly, the school has grown from 180 children to nearly 450 in that timespan. It has added 8 new classrooms, all the way up to 8th grade. Holy Cross Anglican School, which is a miracle in itself, is now the size of many elementary schools in Wake County, but it is packed into about 1/5th the physical space.

Because of this, student learning conditions are not ideal--the classrooms are noisy and hot, and some have more than 30 students per teacher. With all 450 kids there at the same time, it is often hotter on the inside than outside at the construction site. And despite the dedication of the teachers, they are mainly young (some just out of high school) and untrained (no formal teacher education): they are learning on the job. Fortunately, they have a warm, experienced and caring principal, and most importantly they are bathed in the love, commitment, skill, and determination of our missionary hosts Francis and Vernon Wilson.

Monday morning, as I was tending to helping our team get acquainted with the "newness" that every Monday morning on a mission trip brings, Francis mentioned that the eighth grade teacher was out sick, and they needed a substitute. Although I readily agreed, I wasn't so sure I was ready for this challenge--something that my pre-trip mental picture had not included!!

But when I walked into the classroom and sat down at the teacher's desk, I looked up at the colorful posters along the wall only to see the following sign: "It's a great day to learn something new!!" At that moment, I knew that God was standing ready -- not for me to "teach" these wonderful children, but for me to open myself up to this challenge--one that would allow me to become more deeply a part of God's worldwide resurrection story.
JohnnyMac