<\/p>\n
Something amazing happens when 210 volunteers descend on a small country for a mission trip.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is transformational for the whole country,\u201d says Pastor J\u00eban Ross, vice president of evangelism at Amazing Facts International. \u201cWhen 210 show up just to bless people, it gets everyone\u2014from the common people to government officials\u2014talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what happened in Belize during Amazing Facts\u2019 recent mission trip.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Belize is a tropical paradise, yet over half of its 400,000 inhabitants subsist below the poverty line, especially in rural areas. Even in Belize City, poverty is common. That\u2019s why Amazing Facts and Granite Bay Hilltop Church organized a mission trip to the city from April 12\u201319, 2026. The team consisted of 210 local and online church members, as well as Amazing Facts partners and employees. Some came from as far away as Switzerland and Italy. \u00a0<\/p>\n
When 210 people show up just to bless others, it can transform a whole country.<\/p>\n
The team provided free medical and dental services, built and painted churches and schools, hosted two vacation Bible schools, and trained local church leaders. The week ended with a Brotherhood Sabbath, the largest gathering of Sabbath-keepers ever in the small country.<\/p>\n
The medical and dental team provided free services to 1,374 patients over four days at the Belize Civic Center, which was made available free of charge by the local government. The Belize Adventist Mission was also heavily involved and facilitated the necessary permits. Medications were supplied in partnership with Loma Luz Adventist Hospital, helping reduce costs and expand care.<\/p>\n
Patients came as early as 2:00 AM to wait for the free services, which included dentistry, eye care, pharmacy services, women\u2019s health, emergency medicine, and a prayer station. Many expressed their deep gratitude for the help they received.<\/p>\n
For many volunteers, their ministry went far beyond physical care. One man came for dental work; he had a hole in his tooth that he wanted fixed. But the ache in his heart was what really bothered him. His 42-year-old son had died not long ago from issues with alcohol. The dental team fixed his tooth, but they also took time to listen to his sorrow and pray with him.<\/p>\n
The local television station even did a broadcast about the program.<\/p>\n
Another group of nearly 60 volunteers did construction and remodeling work. In just three days, they raised the walls of a church whose congregation had spent ten years raising money just to lay a foundation. Granite Bay Hilltop Church has also committed to providing the remaining funds needed so local members can complete the church structure by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
The team also painted and repaired two schools and a church. One of the schools had been condemned but can now continue to provide children with a biblical education.<\/p>\n
Language barriers can make hosting a vacation Bible school on a mission trip challenging. But English is Belize\u2019s primary language, so running a VBS was much easier this time. The Amazing Facts\u2019 team hosted programs at two Sabbath-keeping schools\u2014one for a group of about 250 students, and another for 25 kids. About 80 percent of the students were not Sabbath-keepers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the cutest group of people to minister to,\u201d says Kate Moreland, VBS coordinator. \u201cThe kids loved it. They were all in! And it helped them realize they were part of a global church family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing to see how the simple things we did made such a huge impact on the kids,\u201d added Joshua Droze, who served on the VBS team with his wife Inna.<\/p>\n
Sabbath-keepers in Belize often feel alone. About 10 percent of the population claim to be Sabbath-keepers, but only about a quarter of those are regular church attenders. \u00a0<\/p>\n
However, a growing number of Belizeans are hearing the three angels\u2019 messages through a radio station hosted by a local Sabbath-keeping family. The station broadcasts Amazing Facts programs and other truth-filled sermons through Belize, Guatemala, and southern Mexico. Many are responding to the messages and walking into Sabbath-keeping churches ready to become members.<\/p>\n
To help the local church, Amazing Facts\u2019 evangelism team spent two days teaching church leaders, pastors, and elders how to lead and do evangelism more effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was basic stuff that we were teaching,\u201d says Pastor Doug Batchelor, president, \u201cbut it was new to them and very helpful. They didn\u2019t realize there were answers to many of the problems they were facing. It was very encouraging to them to know they are not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of a busy week of ministry, the Amazing Facts mission trip team joined local Sabbath-keepers at the Belize Civic Center for a \u201cBrotherhood Sabbath.\u201d The program included Sabbath school with the Amazing Facts team, sermons by Pastor Doug, and music.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arena was full,\u201d says Pastor Doug. \u201cThere were over 4,000 people there. It was the largest gathering of Sabbath-keepers ever in Belize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Your gifts make Amazing Facts mission trips possible. Thank you for changing lives in Belize!<\/em><\/p>\n Your Next Read<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHealthspan Science: Living Longer Means Living Biblically<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Something amazing happens when 210 volunteers descend on a small country for a mission trip. \u201cIt is transformational for the whole country,\u201d says Pastor J\u00eban Ross, vice president of evangelism at Amazing Facts International. \u201cWhen 210 show up just to bless people, it gets everyone\u2014from the common people to government officials\u2014talking about it.\u201d That\u2019s what<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1791,9641,2394,700,1923,5133,3119],"class_list":["post-29163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-trivia","tag-amazing","tag-belize","tag-facts","tag-mission","tag-serve","tag-trip","tag-volunteers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}