POMONA HAS CHURCH!

This newer church in our area has had its ups and downs lately. Sort of like a child learning to walk, they go for a bit, not exactly sure of themselves, then they stumble a bit also. Sometimes they fall down and look around to those watching to see what they should do next. If the adults or older siblings are encouraging, then they get up and try it again.

Pomona church has been like that. They have gotten their start, walked a bit, stumbled a bit and recently, unfortunately have fallen or sat down and did not know quite what to do.

Leah McLaughlin and her son Tabor have been here in Belize this week. She became very enthused about Bible Storying during her last visit to Belize. Her eagerness earned her a chance to come back and teach it to some of the women in local villages. The first was Silk Grass. The women there were also captured by this simple yet profound way of digging treasures out of the Bible. A decision was made to take it to another nearby village to introduce to the women there…enter Pomona.

After a morning of Bible Storying at Silk Grass, the ladies loaded up our little vehicle and went to Pomona. A short time later, we had assembled a delegation of ladies and children, plus Tabor and myself, and walked through the village going to homes of those already known to have been involved in the Pomona church. Smiles, greetings called over fences and through windows soon created some excitement for the following day when the class would be held.

Saturday proved to be a bit of a challenge as some followed through on the invitations while others found other things to occupy themselves with. Leah and the ladies persisted which led to the next step…Sunday morning.

It was decided that we would have church Sunday morning and attempt to reignite this little church. There was overnight excitement and enthusiasm which was challenged by reality on Sunday morning. When we arrived, the church was locked and no one was to be seen.

Persistence is an interesting word. We persisted.

We had walked around the village a couple of days earlier, so we knew where people lived and Leah had already committed their names to memory so….

Not too long later we had gotten the keys to the church, had visited a few homes and brought some people back with us.

A happy 3 hours later we slowly reversed the process, took people home, gave lots more smiles and handshakes and words like “See you next time, okay?!”

It is neat to work within God’s sense of timing too. We found out that next week a group will be coming that will be doing VBS …at Pomona! So, is His infinite wisdom, this week was at least, in part, about preparing some of the church folks to receive the ministry that is in store for next week.

It’s fun to be a part of what God is doing, even if we don’t know how it all works out, it is neat to see that He gives us a place in His handiwork.