A FIRM FOUNDATION

“Literally, this was the best trip I’ve ever taken people on,” said Associate Director for Youth Ministry Whitney Bell. “You could see life changes really happening—not only for our team, but for the people from Belize.”

Added Youth Director Nathan Richards, “It was cool to recognize that our greatest needs are the same: We all want and need a place to know God more.”

The two were talking about the youth and family Spring Break mission trip to Belize. Thirty Ebenezer Church, a church built on the “Burial Grounds” that was literally sinking into the ground. The team was charged with laying a new foundation for the church, but came back with so much more.

Laura Marra, who joined the team with her husband, Nick, and two cousins—Natalya and a foundation was one of our trip goals,. What we didn’t know was how meaningful the relationships we made with our Belize partners would be.”

Jen Genovisi traveled to Belize with her husband, Steve, and her son, Noah. She wrote the following about her experience in Belize.

Where did I see God in Belize? Everywhere. In everyone. In every single moment.

In first meeting my prayer partner, Elizabeth, hugging her and feeling so deeply connected already after simply praying for each other for a month before our arrival in Belize, knowing little about each other but our names and ages.

In worshipping together, in an area much like a carport, beneath the rented home on stilts of Pastor Ibañez where the church started gathering after the demolition of their building (and his home) across the street. When it began raining at the start of the service, some of the men scrambled to nail tarps to the building and stretched the other corners to tie onto the exposed, exterior staircase and a tall fence, to better protect the people seated in the back from getting soaked. We sat on wooden benches or in cracked plastic lawn chairs. We sang together, prayed together, celebrated the baptism of the pastor’s twin granddaughters together. Those of us from Covenant heard, for the first time, the story of the plans for the new church building being drawn up years before, and of their long, patient wait for the chance to begin the process of constructing a new, solid, dry, safe structure. We heard about their delight when we decided to partner with them. We heard that we were the answer to their prayers.

In small kindnesses. Randomly and previously selected secret pals who snuck each other a bottle of Gatorade or a popsicle on the worksite or a note of encouragement on a pillow at night.

In sacrificial giving. Ladies from the neighborhood brought watermelon to the construction site midmorning. Others, up since before dawn, prepared home-cooked lunches. Communion looked a lot like rice and beans and chicken and whole grilled fish and juice squeezed from oranges, the rinds collected in enormous mesh bags as evidence of all the work that went into sustaining our energy so we could do other work for them.

In new friendships, such as between James Sipowicz and teenage boys from the neighborhood who gave tours of the London Bridges area, where the swamps remain and access to the homes built there is a network of rickety boardwalks assembled from scavenged pallets. Or between our teens and the children who gathered every day, eager to help dig holes or tie rebar with us, but who we tried to redirect to play soccer instead, regarding that as a less-dangerous activity for their bare feet.

In the discovery of each other’s stories. Although we come from far more affluent and privileged circumstances, we got glimpses into each other’s hearts and hurts and fears and worries. Pain is not unique to poverty. Strength was demonstrated not only using muscles and power tools. We gained respect and deeper fondness for each other as we slowed down enough to listen, felt brave enough to open up, and drew closer to each other than we’d ever anticipated.

In the actual effort of trying to prepare the site for the church’s new concrete foundation. In working so very hard in the hot sun and humidity, and in accomplishing so much more than we sometimes felt possible, yet so much less than we’d hoped before leaving, and knowing we had God to thank for giving us strength and stamina—and God to trust that, even from a distance, we could find a way to keep helping. That we wouldn’t leave the members of Ebenezer Church in worse shape than if we hadn’t ever said, “Sure, let’s do this.”

Oh, believe it. God was in this. In the willingness, the enthusiasm, the courage, the love, the work, the kindness, the generosity, the empathy, the resolve, the faith, the heartbreak, the gentleness, the friendship, the food, the hope and the promise that it’s only just begun.

We are partners. We are friends. We are church. We are God’s hands and feet and also backbone and ears and smile and embrace and encouragement for each other. And it is so very, very good.

SUBMITTED JEN GENOVISI

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