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| Couple find happiness helping poor in Belize | |
| JARONDA LITTLE News staff writer 10/31/99 Mike and Janne Ballard found happiness in the tiny huts of a remote village in Belize, Central America, while on a missionary trip last year. The couple of 26 years are career missionaries and travel to Belize three to four times a year taking gifts to Maya Indian children in need. What started out as a one-time missionary trip to the tiny Third World country has turned into a passion for helping and spreading the love of the Lord, the Ballards said. "I can't explain how I, the consummate city girl, now yearn to live thousands of miles away from homes and hours away from Wal-Marts and movie theaters," Mrs. Ballard said. But during a 10-day visit to the country with a medical mission team in July 1998, the Ballards said they found their purpose for living. While there they learned that few Mayan families in the village they visited earned more than $1,500 a year. Upon returning to the United States, the Ballards formed "Love in a Shoebox" and took 450 boxes filled with underwear, activity books, crayons, toothbrushes and toys to the children in December 1998. The Ballards taught Bible study in one village and repaired basketball goals in another. "The people there are so very appreciative of everything you do," Mrs. Ballard said. "It costs more for them to buy those things than us." The Ballards returned in July with a group of Wisconsin church members. They plan to return again in December. The Ballards say the dire needs drove them to help. They have visited several families in two-room, thatched-roof huts with dirt floors. Mike Ballard said one family reared nine children in a tiny home. "Their meals are cooked over an open fire," he said, adding, "The love felt there is palpable." "We are gripped by the realization that this wonderful yet humbling experience is changing the course of our lives forever," he said. Those who know the Ballards say they have always had a heart for people, especially children. "Their work is highly personal and not institutionalized," said Mike Garrigan, pastor of Shades Valley Community Church. Steve Brooks, a Huffman High School teacher and summer missionary who visited Belize this summer, saw the Ballards in action. He said the couple's ministry made a lasting impression. "It opened a door for the Ballards to tell the children who Jesus is and the heart He has and the care He has for them although they don't have a lot of material possessions," Brooks said. © 1999 The Birmingham News. Used with permission. |
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