Reports From Crique Sarco

Reports From Crique Sarco

News/Updates:

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A team from ROW has returned to the small jungle village of Crique Sarco in the southern district of Belize to dedicate the church that ROW and First Presbyterian Church of Eden, NC partnered together to build. The team consisted of Nick Beazley and Drew McIlreavy from ROW and Pastor Joel Long, Charles Knight, and Valerie Knight from First Presbyterian Church of Eden. For Nick it was a return trip to Crique Sarco to see the completion of the project he had been working on for the past 7 months. As for the rest of the group was traveling to the village for the first time and to celebrate the dedication of the church that had been built through the generous donation from First Presbyterian Church of Eden, NC.

Traveling to Crique Sarco was an adventure within itself. After landing on runways that looked no bigger than a large sidewalk, riding 40 miles into the jungle in the back of a pickup truck, and a dugout canoe ride in the dark; being able to walk the last half mile to the village in the moonlight was a blessing for all of the team members. However, the true blessings of the trip came the next day when the team members woke up to their first look at the church they had travelled so far to see. The church was a beautiful shade of Carolina blue that stood out amongst the foliage of the surrounding jungle and rapidly began to fill up as Christians from surrounding churches filed in for what would be an amazing worship service.

With the a crowd surrounding the church, a short prayer service was held outside and Nick Beazley was asked to cut the ribbon on the church and officially open it for service. With the door open the people that had traveled for hours to be there poured into the church, stood in the back, crowded the doorway, and hung in the windows for what was to be a standing room-only service. The service itself lasted for several hours and was held in the native language of Kekchi making it hard for the ROW team to fully understand the songs or sermons, but the worshiping experience was stronger than ever and the message of love and Jesus was heard by all. After the service was over, the estimated 300 people travelled over to the local Pastor's thatch-roofed hut to get a piece of pig and some poch (corn meal wrapped in a leaf and boiled).

The celebration continued through out the afternoon and concluded with another worship service held in the church with Pastor Joel Long preaching. At the end of the service Joel dedicated (similar to baptism) two young children, only further showing the influence this ROW team has had on this village in the jungles of Belize.

The team will remain in the village until Wednesday morning, so please keep them in your prayers and stay tuned to the ROW website to hear more updates and read more reports.

~Nick Beazley
Senior Field Director

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