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.”
