Life Link

During one of our team conference calls before we went to Belize, one of the women with Hearts of Christ in East Tennessee told us about Eli, a man who had been in a wheelchair for several years due to an accident, and had become a Christian this past December. He was mentioned as someone to pray for as we prepared for the trip and to let us know that he would be one of the people we’d be building a ramp for while we were in Belize.

On Tuesday morning of our trip, we headed out to the village of Ontario to meet Eli and to distribute packets of rice and beans to the people in the village. When we drove up, Eli was on the porch working on someone’s bicycle tire (he repairs bikes for a living). After they finished, Korie made the introductions and the builders got to work removing the old ramp (the porch remained, but was reinforced). We saw some frogs that lived under the ramp and uncovered the hiding place of a tarantula, which caused some excitement, especially when the tarantula appeared again later in the process!

While the ramp was being built, Eli and Doug, who has also been living with a disability for many years, were able to spend time talking and getting to know each other, sharing their stories. Eli told Doug, “I’ve lived for 13 years since my accident and have never met another person in a wheelchair.” Eli was able to see how God has worked in Doug’s life despite his disability, and that he can be used by God to encourage others as well.

Later, some of the Hearts of Christ team told us about when they met Eli and shared Christ with him. Eli didn’t think that he could become a Christian because he didn’t know anything about God. They told him that he only had to repent and believe and that he could learn more as he spent time with the Lord. Eli said, “I finally decided it was better to live for God than live for nothing.”

Our team was also able to bring Eli a new manual wheelchair to use while he works and also repaired a motorized wheelchair that Eli had already owned, but needed updating. Eli was appreciative of the new “wheels” as well as the ramp and porch and the other practical items that the team brought him. There was also some places in the flooring in his house that needed to be repaired and the team was able to take care of that to make it easier for Eli to maneuver around inside.

Eli was another person we met who told us that he had prayed for God to send help and that we were an answer to his prayer. Thankfully, we have a Good Father who sees our need, and hears and answers our cries for help!

On Tuesday morning, we headed into Belmopan to the home of Ms. Mary. She had come home from the hospital the day before, after having her second leg amputated below the knee due to diabetes. When we drove up to her house, her sister greeted us and we explained that we had come to build a ramp for Ms. Mary’s house and visit with her, if she was feeling up to it.

After a few minutes, we were shown inside to visit with Ms. Mary in her room (not everyone went in at once). She was sitting up on her bed and greeted us with a smile and was so excited to hear about the new ramp. We learned that her pastor and friends had made the arrangements with Korie, so it was a surprise to Ms. Mary. 

One of our team members, John Deeds, who owns a medical supply store and is experienced with fitting people with wheelchairs, talked with Ms. Mary and then he and a couple of team members went back to the Hearts of Christ mission to see what we had that would be a good fit for Ms. Mary. The rest of us stayed and prayed with Ms. Mary and heard a little of her story and the ramp-building began.

Ms. Mary’s faith and trust in God was evident and she told us that she believed that she had lost her legs for a reason and that God is good. Ms. Mary said that she had been praying for God to send her help and she knew He would come through. What a blessing she was to us and we had gone in thinking we needed to encourage her! 

With it being our first ramp of the week, there was a little trial and error, and one minor injury, but soon the workers were in their groove and the platform and ramp began to take shape. As it was getting completed, John and the others came back with a motorized wheelchair for Ms. Mary and got it cleaned up and looking good for her. Also, Nancy (our team Physical Therapist) and Ashley (our nurse) were able to spend time with Ms. Mary, showing her some strengthening exercises and gave her some medical supplies.

When the ramp was finished, we all went back to see Ms. Mary and brought her the chair. She was so thrilled and surprised that she was going to be able to leave her bed and her house with the help of the chair! John and Nancy helped Ms. Mary get into the chair and gave her some “driving” lessons. Then we asked her if she would like to go outside. She wanted to go check out her new ramp! 

As she wheeled through the door and out onto the porch, she was so excited to get out in the sunshine and said that she wanted to sit outside the rest of the afternoon and wave at everyone passing by! She had originally thought that she wouldn’t be able to get outside until her legs had healed and she got her prostheses. Being able to have a wheelchair and leave her house gave her freedom to even go to the store in her neighborhood by herself. 

Ms. Mary was able to come to the Expo on Saturday and enjoy the activities and being out among her friends. She told Alicia, “Some people want the blessing, but not the Blesser. I have both!”

God used our team to bless Ms. Mary and she blessed us above and beyond our expectations!

Well, the ministry’s final activity of 2015 was our annual East Tennessee Outpost Christmas Jingle and Mingle and this year God blessed us with over 90 participants and 40 volunteers! Folks enjoyed good food, a fun craft, Christmas carols, participant gifts and fun fellowship that night and many in the community with disabilities experience the love of God through Christmas in a new and special way.

Below are a few picture so everyone can see the smiles. :)

For the second time in two years, an Access-Life East Tennessee Outpost Ice Cream Social was held at Shady Grove Methodist Church in Dandridge, TN. This year’s old fashioned gathering was on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 27th with 52 persons present. 

 After an opening prayer, participants played arcade games (including corn hole, ball tosses, golf, ring toss, bean bag throw, and blinco ), played bingo, and helped draw a picture of a farm. They also made their own healthy trail mix from a choice of nuts, grains and dried fruits after designing their own jar from a series of crafting items. This by far was the biggest hit of the day. A prayer and care center allowed participants to either write a prayer request or share it personally as well as have someone pray with them, too.

Ice cream and cookies were served by church mission team members and upon leaving, participants got to choose from a selection of prizes to take home along with their trail mix. it was apparent that everyone in attendance received a wonderful blessing of God’s love. :)

 

I wanted to share that we had the privilege of taking a few folks with disabilities who live in Maryville, TN fishing last week. They met us at the dock in Dandridge, TN around 9am with a couple other staff from the facility where they live after an early and long bus ride and their excitement about being there really made us smile. Two of the folks used wheel chairs so after setting-up the ramp and loading everyone onto my dad’s pontoon away we went to find some fish!

It was such a blessing to spend time with these folks as they were so thankful to be out on the water. We even caught a few fish bringing bonus smiles to everyone’s faces. Smitty, who has been living at the facility for 5 year’s following a year long hospital stay, said it was the best day he has had in the past 6 year’s since his accident.

Hope you can see some of the joy we experienced that day through the photos here and let us know if anyone is ever interested in taking folks out on a fish grant like this in the future. We get requests from time to time and are always looking for fishermen interested in sharing their love for the outdoors with others living with disabilities.