Article in the NB Anglican

An article about the Cathedral's mission trip to Belize was published in the NB Anglican. Read the article on their website, or look below for the full text.

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Cathedral's March mission to Belize a little like Christmas every day

By Ann Deveau

It was like Christmas every day during our March break in Belize — the fourth time since 2005 that some of us from Christ Church Cathedral have visited this beautiful, small, Central American country. This time there were 16 of us ranging in age from 15 to 66, and we prepared for months to again visit and help out at St. Hilda’s rural Anglican School.

“Our visit was full of joy,” missioner Kurt Schmidt said. “The emphasis every day was on teamwork, building loving relationships with each other and with the Belizeans, and serving God in a beautiful corner of his kingdom.”

“We got to know each other, shared our skills, learned about working in other cultures, and developed spiritually under the leadership of team member Dean Keith Joyce,” organizer Beverly Morell explained. “Most people were new to mission, so it was important to stress the need for prayer, flexibility, patience, humility and communication.”

As missioners we paid our own expenses, but fund-raising for the school was an important part of our preparation.

“We received donations of money, goods and services from businesses and people in the congregation,” said Kirsten McKnight, who co-chaired a successful silent auction and dessert party that raised more than $12,000. “We brought dozens of books, school supplies, computers, printer cartridges, chess sets, balls, games and toothbrushes,” she said. “We’re paying tuition for some students to attend high school. We set up a local area network of computers so that St. Hilda’s can get Internet service.”

The principal, eight teachers and nearly 200 kindergarten through grade-eight students were overjoyed by the improvements. They deeply appreciated the team’s willingness to travel from Canada to work in the classrooms as literacy tutors for a week.

“Many of the children progressed in their reading ability,” Cheryl Jacobs observed. “The gratitude of the teachers was clear. They and the children liked our gifts of storybooks, pencils, rulers, Canada-flag lapel pins, a puppet show, and a free hot lunch on our last day.”

We made a special gift to the sanctuary guild at St. Hilda’s chapel — a beautiful set of altar linens in the liturgical colours of purple, red, green and white, and expertly stitched by Lucy’s Sewing Group at the cathedral. Their prayerful support was typical of the whole congregation’s help surrounding the mission trip.

“I really think we received the greatest gifts,” Anne Thornton, a busy mother of two small boys, said. “We held daily devotionals to give our time to God. We stayed at a quiet mission centre surrounded by the beauty of nature. This was precious.”

“We enjoyed laughter and fellowship,” student Lionel Hayter said. “We learned from each other and from the wonderful children and their hard-working teachers. We saw deep-rooted challenges due to socio-economic conditions, but also noticed compassion and dedication.”

Student Natalie Barrie concluded that it was an unforgettable experience to express one’s faith openly and to offer oneself as the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.
“We returned as different people with a new understanding of mission and a better outlook on life,” she said. “We’re enthusiastic about what God is doing in the world, and we’re excited by what the future might hold for us and for St. Hilda’s.”