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October 2003

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Who: Everyone is Invited

What: To Celebrate the 175th Anniversary of the Founding of the Methodist Protestant Church----Lunch will be served

When: Saturday, November 15, 2003 beginning at 10:15 a.m. until about 2:30 p.m.

Where: Divide Memorial Methodist Protestant Church located 10 miles south of Monticello, Mississippi on Highway 27. The Church is on the left side of the road as you go south.

Why: “…even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5: 25-27

The Missionary Report
Dianne Reid, Editor

Report from Belize
By Rev. Charlie Joe Green

(September 1, 2003)

We have had an active slate of summer ministries here in Belize. Youth Camp at Kings College the first week of July set the pace for us. The mosquitoes were very bad this year and that kept some of our youth away, however; God’s blessings removed the sting of discomfort well before the week was over. Many said this year was a good spiritual camp that was really needed for our youth. On Wednesday night the altar response proved that to be true. Commitments were made and calls were confirmed by youth and adults alike. Bro. Santiago Shol’s challenging and convincing messages stirred the hearts of everyone. I was very thankful for the overall conduct of the youth. This helped create a spiritual atmosphere that produced fruits of repentance and of joy.

Next was the VBS team in the third week of July. Bro. LaDon’s team responded to the salvation call. The work around the altar particularly caught my attention at the services I attended during the week. I am very thankful that our ministry teams make the altar a focal point of the services. Also, it is always a joy for me to see the zeal of short-term volunteers as they labor on the field. I really appreciate what each volunteer puts into their position and task. These VBS efforts always provide encouragement for our churches. I am very thankful for each volunteer. Not only for your sacrifice in coming, but also for your willingness to overcome the obstacles you faced while here. I know each of you will also be richly blessed.

In January youth fellowship meetings were set up on a bi-monthly schedule conference wide. These meetings have proved to be a great success for the youth. Each church hosts a fellowship meeting through the course of a year. Each meeting consists of Bible drills, skits, group singing, and recreation time. Also, the host youth group provides food as a fund-raiser for their group. The August fellowship was at Guinea Grass Church. There were over 100 in attendance and all of our churches were represented. Pray for our youth to become active in these meetings. Our prayer is to win our youth for Christ and then give them a reason to serve.

The new classroom addition and bathroom building at Sand Hill are taking shape. It has been a slow project due to the rains this summer, but with God’s help the classroom was ready for students by the September lst start of school. I am thankful for the support of the Board of Missions and the many supporters who made this project a reality. There were many volunteers who not only gave an offering but also sacrificed of their time for this project. For instance, we had a group of 28 teenagers from a Texas church that helped with the painting of the existing school buildings. However, Tony Russell and Kenny Southerland of Monticello were two key volunteers that made the project a reality. Tony, by the way, made two trips to Belize to make sure the building was ready for classes to start on time. Then, there were men from Sand Hill Church that helped tear down the old classroom and volunteered Saturday work. All of you played a part in making the Pancotto School Project one that the Methodist Protestant Church can be proud of. We now have only to finish the bathrooms. We have the foundation already poured, and it is ready for the blocks, roof, and septic. We are praying to be able to complete the bathrooms by the first quarter of 2004. In fact, we have set February for another work team to finish construction of the bathroom building.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AT SAN LAZARO:

Belize Annual Conference was held at San Lazaro this year. All seven churches were represented at the conference. The theme for this year was “Broadening our Borders”. My prayer has been for God to raise up leaders within this conference. I have felt my specific calling here to train and equip leaders for the work of the church. Therefore, I was particularly impressed with the delegates and participants of this conference who were under 25 years of age. God is surely raising up young people of Belize for our Church, and it was refreshing to see their interest in God’s work. The two new pastors, Pastor Donovan Grinage (Hattieville) and Pastor Guillermo Maaz (Progresso) gave inspiring messages along with Glenford Davis (Sand Hill), who just answered the call to ministry.

My vision and prayer for our Belize Conference is outlined under three headings:

Institutional maturity - through real governmental authority

Pastoral responsibility - through basic ministry activities

Congregational commitment - through tithing, discipleship, and worship

At this conference, this vision began to take shape. We awarded two exhorters license and six licenses to administer the ordinances. I might add that all of these licenses were given to pastor / students of Emmanuel Bible College. The highlight of the conference was the new Belizean President that was elected. Claudio Leal is now the Conference President and has readily accepted the challenge of leading Belize Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church. Focus was given to Progresso and Hattieville Churches to revitalize, and with their new pastors in place this prayer is now being answered. There was a renewed call to grow our churches spiritually and numerically. With pastors taking their charge seriously and with a renewed commitment to carry out the commands of the Great Commission we believe this call will be fruitful.

The work of past missionaries with our students and pastors is now really beginning to make an impact. With the help of the Congregational missionaries, Santiago and Candice Shol, we can now offer 3 -- 4 classes simultaneously in a semester. Ms. Sally Sampson has also taught classes every semester at both San Lazaro and Sand Hill. We will be offering classes two nights a week and the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month. We are also praying for opportunities of outreach with these classes. To make classes accessible to as many people as we can. This will demand mobility for teachers and students alike. Pray that God will use these classes to attract and grow the young leaders we need for the conference of Belize. We had an enrollment of approximately 25 last year, and I am praying for that number to increase this year.

2003 BLITZ REPORTS

The group that served in Sand Hill this summer consisted of Bro. Ladon Dawson, Darlene Dawson, Jessica Boyd, Harold Caul, Zach Thomas, Jo Betty Thomas, and myself. We stayed at the mission house in Sand Hill with Bro. Charlie Joe.

There were between 100 and 125 children who attended the Bible School in Sand Hill. We found the children there to have a great deal of Bible knowledge. They loved to sing! We went expecting to bless them, but we were the ones who came away blessed.

Ms. Sally Sampson headed up the team that led the Bible School in Hattieville. She and the other workers there had between 50 and 75 children each day. They had to deal with the mess left by the pigeons the first day, a couple of bats the second day, and a tarantula the last day. Even with all of this additional excitement, the children were able to learn a lot.

Bro. LaDon preached Sunday in Sand Hill and Monday through Wednesday evening in Hattieville. Darlene, Jessica, and I taught classes at the Sand Hill Bible School. Harold and Zach helped to make Kool-aid and serve cookies, chips, and candy to the children at Bible School. Mrs. Jo Betty, as usual, provided us with good meals. We were also able to enjoy the good cooking of some of the neighboring ladies.

It was an experience that I will never forget and certainly hope to be able to experience again very soon.

We would like to thank Bro. Charlie Joe for “putting up with us” for the week. Those of us who did not know him well grew to love and respect him for the work that he does there in Belize. We also grew to love the people there and left a little bit of our hearts there.

We pray that the Lord will continue to bless the work there in Belize.

Report from San Lazaro and August Pine Ridge
by Florene Carlisle (AL)

On the morning of July 18, we joined others at the airport in New Orleans for the flight to Belize. Our team was made up of nine people from Alabama and three from Mississippi. The Alabama team members were Carol Jackson and her son, Windham, Tracey Sims and her son Adam, Charity Lambert, Florence Carlisle, Jim Shaw, Mary Shaw and at the the tender age of 79.......Mrs. Jewell Robinson (her lst trip to Belize). From Mississippi we had Bro. Andy Jenkins, Richard Garrett and Brittany Davis. This group quickly became a close-knit unit, working well together and ready to do what we came for and enjoy the journey!

Only time and eternity will tell the real worth of things we do....there and here. Thank God for fruit that remains. (John 15:16)

COSTA RICA ~~ UNEXPECTED MINISTRY EXPERIENCE

By Dianne Reid (MS)

When two friends and I made plans to attend Martha Headley’s graduation (May 2003) in Costa Rica, Central America, we did not know what rich ministry opportunities and insights lay ahead. The graduation at the Institute of Spanish Language early in the week was one of the most moving experiences of my life. To feel the spirit of those missionaries going forth to storm the gates of Hell made me weep with deep emotion and joy. Eight flags representing eight mission fields were displayed: Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, United States, Peru, Dominican Republic and Venezuela. What a personal spiritual challenge to see such firm determination, dedication, and gladness in the Lord’s service.

Rosy and her husband are very much involved in a “half-way house” ministry in the city of San Jose. We had the privilege of seeing this Chrisitian ministry up close. MANA (House of Bread) is for men and boys who were dealing with drug and alcohol addictions (some had been living on the streets and eating out of garbage cans). One of the boys said he was fourteen. The residents lived together in a run down building which looked like it had once been pretty nice with an inside patio area with a small pool and stairs leading to a second story. They had a makeshift sanctuary in the back with blue and white strip curtains behind the pulpit area to cover the walls. When it rained (and it did) there were a lot of leaks. The front part of the building facing the street displayed some of the school furniture and other items the members of MANA ministry made to help earn a living and sustain the work. Some also helped in Rosy’s bakery. A large workshop where they made items to sale was also attached to the main area. The residents had to agree to and abide by house rules in order to stay. Most importantly, they were regularly exposed to the Gospel and personally experienced the love of Christ through those who ministered at MANA. Martha had become an active part of MANA during her year of language study, and it was evident they had a deep appreciation and love for her as she did for them. Please pray for this compassionate ministry. This ought to stir us up to reach out to people in similar distress and pain right here in the United States. Jesus came to seek and save the lost; he is our example in ministry. MANA is a highways and byways ministry.

I was amazed at the Language Institute’s success in teaching Spanish in such a short time. The students seemed so proficient and even confident in conversational Spanish. The Institute also offered a much shorter course, besides the year long course. I can only imagine how difficult that might be. Martha said it was so intense at times that she saw grown men cry. These students were not fooling around -- they had a purpose -- to get out in the Harvest field, better prepared to communicate the Gospel. One key to learning seemed to be that the students concentrate in speaking “only” in Spanish. Of course, they had to study many hours outside of class, and it was also helpful to work with a Spanish-speaking partner.

Martha lived with a Costa Rican host family. Their modern home was quite nice, and they were expecting their first child. While we were in the city of San Jose, Florene Carlisle stayed with Martha at her host ‘s house. Bonnie Palmer and I stayed a few blocks away at a Mission Hospitality House. We had the whole top floor to ourselves. In order to get in, we had to go through two locked outer gates and a locked door. Barbed wire encircled the top of the compound. The crime rate is very high in the city. Almost every business and house was enclosed or protected with metal bars or fences. Just riding in one of their little red taxis turned out to be a spiritual experience -- with a lot of earnest prayer and fervent cries going on in the back seat-- it was terrifying to say the least. Wild would be putting it midly.

Martha made sure we limited a our leisure trip in order to get back in time on Saturday for another ministry she was involved with in teaching English to Spanish speaking residents of San Jose. This was not merely a language experience, but a vehicle to share the Gospel. It was especially interesting to Bonnie and me, since we had been involved in a similar ministry back in Mississippi. A couple opened up their home for the weekly meetings. The larger group was broken into smaller groups. I was asked to take the ones who were there for the first time. A Spanish-speaking gentleman gave me some hints which were very similar to what we had been doing back home. My four students were young men from Nicaragua who were very eager to learn, but one looked at me like he did not have a clue; we actually made a lot of progress in one session. We were assigned a small room upstairs, and they sat on the floor in a semicircle since there were not enough chairs. They had various reasons for wanting to learn English, but the point was while they were there they were exposed to the Gospel and the love of God’s people. When the session was over my students said “You are a beautiful teacher (and they were not talking about my looks).......You come back next week?” I had to explain, as best I could, that I was only there temporarily. I thought it was strangely interesting that practically the same method we were using to teach English to Spanish speaking people in the States was being used in Costa Rica to teach English to Spanish speaking people in Costa Rica. Likely, we will be seeing more and more Hispanics come here to the Southern states. Perhaps, this could be a vital ministry if diligently pursued. I’m so glad that we had the wonderful ministry opportunities and our spiritual vision expanded while in Costa Rica. I would not trade these blessings for a mere vacation. (Martha is serving currently with the League of Prayer based in Montgomery, AL)

“Nobody said it would be easy, But the one who brought us here is never going to leave us alone....” (from a poem read in Spanish at Graduation)

Suggested format: Volunteers praying from 6AM to 6PM using prayer power points below for united prayer effort -- Open church all day and place offering plate for those wishing to participate in general missions "One Day I Give" offering.

Prayer Power Points: