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Belize (August 13-25)A History of the Lord's Church in Belize--
For those of you who do not know the history of the Lord's church in Belize, let me first give you an introduction. The work in Belize is the fruit of many hands working together to spread the borders of the kingdom. Jesse Hightower first went to Belize in 1996. He tried to worship with the institutional group, but this proved to be an impossibility, so he started a new congregation. In 1998, Jesse put out a challenge on one of the e-mail lists, in which he stated: “If evangelism is what preachers are about, then I challenge you to come to Belize. I am at a place where people want to hear the truth. There are more people than what I can teach.” Denny Freeman read that note and accepted the challenge to go and help in personal evangelism. He made his first trip to northern Belize in 1998. He has been making annual trips ever since then. His first trip was the only one he made alone. He has taken other brethren with him on subsequent trips. He has taken 30-40 others with him through the years. Dana Whisler also read Jesse’s note. He was happily working with a growing congregation in Shippensburg, PA, but decided to make a trip to Belize just to check it out. He made his first trip to Belize in October 1998. Jesse was still living in the country and Denny Freeman was down for a three-week visit to help out with door-to-door work. The church at that time had about twenty members, but attendance would average in the 40’s on the Lord’s Day. The church met in Corozal, under Jesse’s house. Jesse informed Dana that his wife could no longer stand the heat, so they were going to move to higher elevations in Guatemala and would no longer be living and/or preaching in Belize. He told Dana, “Where I am, no one else is interested in moving here. Someone else will be willing to go where you are working.” In the next two months, about twenty more obeyed the gospel. Several men from the U.S. (Keith Sharp, John Welch, Keith Camp, Jerry Angelo, and Jeff Asher) went down to do tent meetings. Even though tent meetings were being held, almost every one who became a Christian was due to a contact through door knocking and converted through one-on-one studies. In January 1999, three months after returning from Belize, Dana loaded up an old school bus, with his wife, Carol, their life-long possessions of twenty years, their two teenage children (Dustin and Shanda) and their one-year old son (Luke). The day that they packed up the bus, Carol informed Dana that she was pregnant with what would be their fourth child (Hannah), who would be born in Belize. Dana petitioned off the bus, allowing the family to sit in the front and all of their belongings in the back. Their trip from the States to Belize would make for an interesting movie. The brakes went out and the bus caught fire in Virginia. They drove to the Florida College Lectures and then picked up Larry Paden, who would travel with them, to help with the driving and the unpacking of their belongings. They had three flat tires along the way. All of their problems happened in the States and it was a smooth trip through Mexico into Belize. They finally arrived in Belize in February. The Whislers moved into Jesse’s old house in Corozal, as this is where the church was assembling. The attendance was consistently average in the 40’s, but there were several times it would reach as high as 80. They had arrived in February and Jesse left for vacation in the States and then to move to Guatemala in April. After a few months, Dana decided that he could no longer afford the house by the sea, so they started their plans to move, which meant finding a new place to worship. Bro. Andreas offered a piece of his property, out in the village of San Narciso, 15miles away. At that time about half of the members lived in Corozal and half lived in the village. Most of the new students, however, were coming from the village. At first, the church simply put up posts and a roof. As they built up enough money in the treasury from the Sunday collections, they would buy supplies until they eventually completed their current building. Men continued to travel down from the U.S. to find new students, allowing Dana to follow up with all of these new contacts. Dana also tried to have weekly studies with all of the babes in Christ. Dana and Carol knew they needed help in the work in Belize. Dana recalled having met a faithful brother, Greg Whipple, at a lectureship in Annandale, Virginia. He invited Greg to come down and check things out. He came down in July of ’99. During this six-week trip, Greg mainly helped Dana with his current contacts and studies. In May of 2000, Greg then returned with his wife, Chris, for a two month visit. On this trip, he did his own door knocking to get the feel of the reception to the gospel. Together, they made their decision to move to Belize to help in the Lord’s work and settled in at Corozal in January 2001. The timing of the decision of the Whipples to move to Belize was at such a crucial period. Dana and Carol needed help. Several American brethren have had much interest in the work in Belize. Jeff Smelser, Ken McDaniels, Carlton McPeak, Jesse Flowers, Jr., and Jared Acuff are us a few of those that I can recall having gone down to help with door knocking. Bobby Graham made his first trip to Belize in April 1999. He has returned almost every year following. For a few years, Denny Freeman returned at least once a year. Baldwin Borland was a native of Belize. He fled the country when they were seeking their independence, because he feared the country was going to fall under Communism. He moved to Los Angeles, CA, working as a school teacher. He would take a group with him to Belize each year to help do more door-to-door work. Phares Acuff served as an elder with the church in Lakeland, FL. He, too, would take groups of people, to do door-to-door work. They helped to make new contacts, while encouraging the brethren at the same time.
In the first two years of his work, Dana grew to appreciate why God sent the disciples out in pairs. With everyone being a babe in Christ and being spiritually “needy,” Dana and Carol were burning out fast. Time weeded out the sincerity of some of the original converts. Sadly, the devil won some of them back into the world. The sins of covetousness and drunkenness overcame some of the babes. One of the original Christians, Jose Riviera, who was such an encouragement to those who would come down to help in the work, left a powerful lesson on procrastination. Jose was fighting the sin of drunkenness and stated to Dana that he would never die drunk. Dana worked unendingly to help Jose win his battle with the alcohol, evening allowing Jose to stay in their home on several occasions. Jose could not, however, break away from his evil companions, his brothers. One night they went out drinking and were involved in an accident. Jose was in a coma for several days and then died. After his death, his wife, Blanca, found a letter in Jose’s personal belongings that he had written to her. He stated as to how he hated himself as a drunkard and hated the shame he had brought upon the church. The church had withdrawn their fellowship from him on two occasions. He wrote that he had set the date of January 18 for when he was leaving Corozal and getting his life together. He said he would eventually become a faithful servant to the Lord. In the past, he had rejected all offers from the brethren to help him improve his life. Well, the plans in his letter never made it to fruition. He was in this accident and January 18 was the day he died. The church and the community learned much from this story.
With Greg in the country, the work in San Narciso continued to grow until they reached a rather consistent attendance of about 80, with 60 of these being Christians. Their numbers have even hit as high as 110. In 2004, Dana and Carol decided to begin a new work in Orange Walk Town, about thirty minutes from San Narciso. Three ladies had been baptized, but they had fallen away from the Lord. A few of the other contacts Phares and his team had made were still showing some interest in studying. They rented a meeting room on the second floor of a building in Trial Farm. They later moved into their current building in November ’04. Times and days were set so that brethren could visit each other services. The church in Orange Walk met at 9:00 a.m. and the church in San Narciso met at 2:00 p.m. Mid-week services were on Wednesday at San Narciso and Thursday for Orange Walk. The Whislers and the Whipples are determined to encourage each other, to encourage the brethren, to look for new contacts, and to continue their battle with Satan. There have been problems; there have been challenges.
Wednesday, August 13-- I accepted the invitation of Dana Whisler and Greg Whipple to return to Belize to help with several Bible classes and conduct a few special lecture on assigne topics. |
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