Belize Mission Trip – Being the “Hands and Feet”

There is a song by Audio Adrenaline called Hands and Feet, I have included the You Tube video of the same title for you here. In this song is many of the emotions I felt and I think others on the Belize Mission trip experienced as we entered into a foreign country for the first time. We knew we were blessed with many things we would consider necessities, but we had no idea to the extent of what it all means.

The particular church I attend was blessed to have four of the eleven member team. This is a small church with 100-125 in attendance on a given Sunday. We support the usual mission opportunities, the Annie Armstrong campaign for North American missionaries and Lottie Moon for foreign ones. We have a food bank that distributes to anywhere from 80-95 families on a monthly basis. In other words we have qa missions oriented focus.

To the best of my knowledge, however, this was the first foreign mission. As one of my four  compatriots put it, we got to be the “hands and feet” for our church. We got to experience the direct blessing of ministering to the children and adults in the villages we visited. There was the children’s home in Flowers Bank, the Tutor Center in Maya Mopan, the villages of Salvapan and Camalotee. Shoe boxes, fruit and “sweets” or candy shared with those we met along with the love of Christ.

It was important to me to show the people we contacted that I, as an American, did not consider myself to be better. The perception is already set that Americans are rich and able to spend money like there is no end. Perhaps that is a result of the tourist destination near the coast and on the islands in the Caribbean that draw so many international travelers.

I felt like we were the example of “hands and feet” mentioned in the song. I know it is not practical that every member of our church travel in this way. Some do not feel the calling from God to do so and that is understandable. It is part of the concept of having a church that works together as a team, with each person doing what is their strength to support the overall ministries.

Being “on the ground” allowed us to see what can be done in the next few months in preparation to support the next team to visit Belize and the missionaries we worked with during our time there. I feel God has rewarded us for our faithfulness to follow his lead and make the journey to experience the culture of these beautiful, God-loving people. Being the “hands and feet” may sound boring, but I can say it was anything but that.