By Garrett Smith
Last June I took my church youth group on a short-term mission trip to Belize. The church that we were partnering withheld a service for us, welcoming us to Belize and to their small Spanish-speaking village of Armenia. The small children of the church sang an opening song for us. This was the first time I met Zeekel, a fourteen-year-old boy who happened to be the children’s Sunday school teacher.
During the week every time we arrived at the church, there was Zeekel waiting for us, always wanting to know how he could help us that day. One day he took us through the village, acting as our translator to help us invite kids to VBS. Another day he would help with the construction project we were doing for the church. It didn’t matter what we were doing, he was always willing to help.
Zeekel’s willingness to serve made it was obvious that he loved God. On top of that, he was a very mature kid. When other kids were playing soccer, he would be sitting with adults talking about his dreams. He told us it was his dream to go to high school and said that we wanted to work in the science industry when he got older. He explained that in Belize you had to apply for high school, and not many kids have the opportunity to go due to the high cost.
The Holy Spirit was working on my heart that we as a group needed to try and help send Zeekel go to high school. I called for a meeting with the other adults and shared with them that I wanted to try to help. Others mentioned that they were feeling led to help as well. We prayed and decided that night that we would pay for Zeekel to go to high school until he graduated. We told Zeekel the news the next morning, and his smile was priceless.
When we got back home the teenagers wanted to help raise the money for his schooling. We brainstormed and came up with a few different fundraiser ideas. In a few weeks, we will be holding a garage sale that people from our church will donate items to, and the money we get will go directly to Zeekel’s schooling. We’ll also be doing a car wash and a baked potato bar after church for a free will donation.
Coming from a small rural church in Indiana, it would be impossible to meet every need we saw in Belize. But just because we can’t meet every need, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make a difference in someone’s life. The Holy Spirit directed us to meet Zekeel’s need, and we have faith and trust that the fundraisers we do will be an overwhelming success.
Garrett Smith is the youth pastor at New Beginnings Holiness Church in Indiana.
