The 32-member team coordinated by Dennis and Barbara Glad of Luverne, Minn., spent the first two weeks of February painting and doing construction at Wesley Methodist Church and the adjacent Wesley Education, Social and Cultural Center in Belize City. But for the team it was also another phase of faith development. Three pastors and two lay team members participated in Sunday services, including Minnesota Reverends Dennis Glad and John David. Dorothy, my wife, and I told our personal stories in a Sunday evening service.
Mission trips are a unique forum to share faith journeys.
Team members are at many different places in their journeys, but hearing and telling stories supports and deepens the Christian maturity of all. Night devotions were led by team volunteers incorporating hymns and inspirational messages. One couple told of their grandson's death in a snowboarding accident just days before they left on this mission trip. They told of their ambivalence about going but decided God wanted them in Belize. A man told of his brother's violent death in a robbery and of his difficult time of grief.