Western Yearly Meeting Sending Visitors to Belize

On December 4, Western Yearly Meeting is sending Bob and Hope Carter (medical missionaries serving in Africa for over thirty years), Shawn and Katrina McConaughey (Western Yearly Meeting General Superintendent, and former Friends United Meeting Field Staff), along with Michael Sherman (FUM Coordinator of North American and Caribbean Ministries) to Belize for the explicit purpose of seeing and being seen.

This fall, FUM’s North American Ministries has offered a book study of David Brooks’ book, How to Know a Person; The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. Brooks writes in the opening chapter of his book, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person and to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.”

Oscar and Miriam Mmbali, FUM Field Staff, are working and living in Belize with their daughter, Noa. It can be lovely living and working in a country which is not your own. It can also be lonely living and working in a country which is not your own.

When we met to discuss our visit, we listed the things we wanted to accomplish. That list included things like forming a deeper connection, providing encouragement, finding out what FUM–Belize needs, creating an opportunity for envisioning. The group also wants to take time to specifically listen to Oscar and Miriam, getting a sense from them for the growth and potential of Christ’s Kingdom in Belize. The group will also be able to see the Mmbali “home.” Through all this seeing and listening, the group intends to learn how best to support both Oscar and Miriam and also their desire for God’s work in Belize.

Relationally, we are going for the purpose of letting Oscar and Miriam and the staff of FUM–Belize feel valued, heard, and understood. Alongside that deeply valuable purpose, Western Yearly Meeting is planning to take a larger group of participants to Belize through FUM’s Living Letters program later in the year. So, Shawn and Katrina will get a feel for the mission and ministry of FUM–Belize, hoping to make the upcoming trip deliberately useful and productive.

May we accomplish not just our desires, but those things God desires.

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