My Week in Belize
Submitted by Julie Turck
It was late September when I was talking with a friend from back home in upstate NY and she was talking about a mission trip to Belize! She told me that the church had connected up with an organization called Praying Pelicans Missions and how they set up all the plans for the trip and we would be ministering and helping a local church. I was very excited to hear about this trip, but we had just recently moved to the Carolinas and obviously unable to attend our home church in upstate NY. Later I found out that we could still sign up for the trip and just meet everyone in Belize City! So, then my next dilemma arrived…would Joe, my husband go on a mission trip!? I have always wanted to go on a mission trip with him and it has never worked out. I began to pray and seek the Lord about this trip and the Lord spoke to me and said to go only if Joe goes. Honestly, I didn’t think I was (we were) going until one day Joe came and told me that the Lord had spoken to him and he felt like we were suppose to go on this trip to Belize! That alone for me was an answer to prayer and I was ready to go, but I couldn’t have imagined the relationships, ministry and fun we would have on this trip! It was life changing in so many ways. Here is a story that will stay with me all the days of my life, Lord willing!
It was a rainy Friday evening on January 4th, 2008. We were staying on Caye Caulker at the Barefoot Beach Seaview Hotel. We had snorkeled at Shark Alley earlier that day but the sea was rough, so we headed in and did some shopping on the island. That evening we were to meet across the street from our hotel at the deck of the restaurant for our final team and debriefing meeting. Due to the rain and wind we moved it to the place we were having dinner at, a small place called Marin’s. I remember walking down the muddy streets to Marin’s thinking “Wow, the Lord did so much this week and now it is over.” Thankfully, the Lord is never ‘done’ and is always looking to touch people lives!
As we arrived at Marin’s we began to push the tables to the side and put the chairs in a circle so we could sit down and begin the meeting and go into worship. As Nate began to play his guitar and lead us into worship we could hear these foot steps come up the stairs to where we were worshipping the Lord. This young beautiful girl came in and made her way over to the only open chair left in the circle and sat down. We continued on with worshipping and then Stacey led us into a time of sharing about what impacted us the most about the trip. One by one each person stood up and shared how the trip impacted them. Some share how they had made amazing relationships, others it was how the Lord used them to minister to someone or how the children just broke our hearts because of the love and trust they had for us and in us. It was a powerful time for us all. As I sat there and listened to each person share, I heard the Lord speak to me and tell me to give my bible to the young girl that came in during worship. Then the doubt tried to enter in: “I am sure she must be part of Praying Pelican Missions”, “She already knows the Lord, why would you give her a bible” and I thought I must have not heard the Lord. As we continued to go around the circle and it came to this young girl, she asked if she could speak. She stood up and introduced herself as Serena and explained that she was visiting on the island and was trying to sleep because she had a long hard day, but kept hearing us singing. She said “It was like I was drawn to come up here and worship and listen to you guys.” She said “It is not like me to walk into a place with a bunch of people I don’t know and sit down.” She expressed how she wanted to ‘be like us’ and go and meet this pastor and the children we had worked with. I could see that the Lord was drawing her to Himself and knew I needed to give her my bible. As she was speaking I leaned over to my friend and said “Don’t let her leave without one of us introducing ourselves to her, plus the Lord wants me to give her my bible.” After many tears, laughter and prayer we had ended the meeting. My friend, Becky had gone right over to Serena to introduce herself to her while I grabbed my bible. We chatted with Serena for a while and began to share Jesus with her. We shared that the ‘thing’ she sees in us is Jesus and His love and that He wants to give her that very same gift too. Tears were flowing down all of our faces and she shared that her dad had always told her to pray and God would always help her and that she hadn’t talked to her parents in a while. I shared with Serena how the Lord had told me to give her my bible and asked her if she had one and if not would she like it?” Serena was very excited to have a bible and then we just began to pray over her and speak the things of God into her life. After we prayed we asked her if she would like to have a relationship with Jesus and she said “yes”. It was an amazing time in the Lord, but God wasn’t done yet!
There was a very sweet girl on our team, Kathryn that hadn’t surrendered to the Love of Jesus yet and we were able to pray with her as well!! So Serena and Kathryn have a memorable day to remember: Friday, January 4th 2008!
I was able to learn two things from this experience:
1-To see how divine our God is and how he works out even the ‘smallest’ details to reach His Children. See if we would have had our meeting where we originally had planned, Serna would not have heard us worshipping and been drawn upstairs to where we were! Plus, there was one extra chair in our circle, even though we didn’t know we were ‘missing’ one person-God knew! Then to top it all off, we had given Serena the name of the church we had worked with and of the pastor and she went to visit them that Sunday. If you have ever wondered if God loves you, just look at the details in this story that He did to orchestra His plan in Serena’s life, as well as Kathryn’s. What a love…..
2. Is the power of prayer! Serena had praying parents in her life and even though she was thousands of miles away from home, God heard her parent’s prayers. It simply amazes me and encourages me to know that our Father is so detailed and loving to hear us and respond! Be blessed!
Julie L Turck
Rock Hill, SC