Run for the Border

My first order of business in Belize last week? Get out of dodge. Seriously! 

Less than 24 hours after I landed, Rev. Herb Burch and I made a run for the Mexico border Sunday morning. Because of its proximity, the Belize team oversees LCMS church planting in the Yucatan Peninsula, including a small congregation in Chetumal that we aimed to worship with. Orange Walk District, Belize's northernmost, was conveniently on the way. 

Entering Orange Walk town. Herb made sure to point out amenities (hotels, restaurants, medical facilities) that may be of interest to me, should I ever be called upon to host volunteers serving at one of the two area congregations.

Iglesia Luterana Castillo Fuerte in the Trial Farm neighborhood holds kids' activities on Saturday afternoons and worship services on Sunday evenings. 

Visiting Rev. Roldan Ríos, a soon-to-be-colloquized national pastor (although he's actually Peruvian!) who serves in the area, and his wife Ruth. 

Orange Walk is sugar cane country.

I was deeply grateful for Herb's insider knowledge when it came to the border crossing, which was not intuitive if you ask me. All in all it took ~40 min. I was WAY too excited about my first ever Mexico passport stamp, after crossing literally hundreds of times by car and on foot during my GEO term in El Paso, TX.

If you know me, you know I almost never drink soda, but there's something about apple soda in a glass bottle in Mexico that just hits different.

After checking into our hotel, running a couple of errands, and picking up Rev. Genaro Arcos and his wife, we made our way to the Chetumal mission's worship location. 

How To Make a Law Office Into a Sanctuary 101. After celebrating Divine Service, the congregation surprised us with tamales! The fact that we sat there chatting until nearly 10 pm? NOT surprising.

Herb and his wife Markie had been RAVING about the breakfast at Hotel Los Cocos, but neither had revealed any specifics. I now see what they're talking about and appreciate the fact that other cultures have a much less boxed-in definition of what constitutes "breakfast."

Breakfast views :)

Downtown Chetumal was slowly waking up on a Monday morning as Herb and I did a lap through the Mercado Municipal. Herb even got his shoes shined!

I don't know if it was actually on our way or not, but Herb drove me by the coastal area that borders Chetumal Bay "on our way" back to the border and eventually, Camp Concordia. This statue honors a woman who valiantly saved numerous children from certain death during a tsunami.

Slight detour to see the other Orange Walk District congregation...I see why Rev. Micah Wildauer had to take a boat to get here once after heavy rains.

Church building in the San Roman neighborhood. The congregation is growing; Micah celebrated a Baptism there on New Year's Day.

When you count up all the stops we made and consider the encyclopedia of knowledge that is Herb, I most certainly got the deluxe tour. I'm deeply grateful to him for letting me tag along on a road trip he makes monthly and narrating it as well as he did. My impetus was work-related, but I would have wanted to go just because I'm curious and ever chasing new experiences. 

Herb & I quite literally weathered intermittent heavy rains during the home stretch of the return trip before two final stops: the airport to pick up Mike Behr, the LCMS's Executive Director of Communications, and a scrumptious Lebanese lunch. The rest of the regional leadership team would land a few hours later; commence regional meeting #1 of 2 for the year. 

Until next time, blessings in Christ!