Southern California Conference
L.A.-Area Missionaries Have an Earl of a Time in Belize PHOTOS BY ALLISON WAITE
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Local members provided critical support to the L.A. Adventist Mission Ministry team. Back row (l. to r.): Ms. Blatham; Ainslie Richards; Allison Waite; Jason James; Fedly Bonneau; Ms. Fran; and Ms. Bailey. Front: Anonette Simpson embraces Devean Tucker.
Pastor Fedly Bonneau prepares to pass out shoes the group brought for the kids. Several children became known as his “security detail,” because they walked everywhere with him.
Bonneau shares a devotional thought at Praise the Lord church in Dangriga before the team goes out to distribute school supplies.
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he phone rang at about 3 a.m. local time in Valencia, Spain, on Aug. 3, 2016. “Pastor Fedly, I am getting a lot of calls from church members because of Tropical Storm Earl,” said Antonette Simpson. “They are saying we shouldn’t go to Belize because it won’t be safe with the storm passing through.” “God will make a way for us, and we will be safe and sound,” replied Fedly Bonneau, young adult pastor of White Memorial church. “As a matter of fact, they need us more now because there might be a shortage of supplies due to the storm.” On Aug. 4, Hurricane Earl began battering Belize as a Category 1 storm, destroying vegetation and houses and even cutting the electricity. The L.A. Adventist Mission Ministry team, as they call themselves, made up of people from various churches in Los Angeles, landed in Belize City on the morning of Aug. 6. The team included Louise Bennett; Bonneau; Jason James of North Carolina; Candy Rivera of the Eagle Rock church; Devean Tucker; Simpson; and Allison Waite from the Breath of Life church. “This trip had been planned since November last year, and we pushed it from June to August,” said Pastor Gelder Gamboa, Belize Union youth director. “God knew the team needed to come for such a time as this.” Daina Gail Lewis and her mother, Joy Martinez, opened their home to the team. “It’s was a no-brainer to have the team stay at our house,” said Lewis. “They left L.A. to come help out my country, my people — and this was us saying thank you.” Outside their home, a group of kids from the neighborhood raced up and down the block. Bonneau asked if he could join the game. “We raced better than what was happening in Brazil at the Olympics,” he joked. More importantly, it began a friendship with kids they would minister to every night. “That was the highlight of the trip for me, being a track guy, meeting the kids where they were and ministering every night to these children,” said Jason James. “What more can you ask for?” Ainslie Richards, district pastor in Dangriga, had a team of church members who walked door-to-door with the L.A. Adventist Mission Ministry team, passing out “bags of blessings,” which included food, clothing, diapers, school supplies and female hygiene products. Along the way, they met members of the Adventist church who had stopped attending. Some decided to return because they saw the church meeting people’s needs. The team had fun delivering an electric wheelchair to a family that needed it for their child. “When Fedly told me about this family, I was like, ‘Oh boy! How are we going to pull this one off?’” Simpson explained. “Fedly gave me the ‘God will work it out’ speech — and he was right!” “As I look back on the trip, God is so good,” Bonneau noted. “We didn’t get our first drop of rain until we were in the car heading to the airport to return home.”
Fedly Bonneau and Lauren Armstrong