May Newsletter

Clergy in Belize, photo used with permission.

Mission to Belize.

Every day seems to be a new adventure for us.

In April this year, I was inspired to pursue the possibility of teaching seminary courses online from the US to East Africa. We are hearing rumors of good things from the Anglican ordination process in Tanzania, but firm details have not been established yet.

On top of these developments, about three weeks ago an opportunity emerged for Julie and myself to teach seminary classes to students in Belize from the US, online. In Belize, there is a strong desire for us to do this; it would be a key component for theological education in Belize. The Commission on Ministry and Bp. Philip of Belize are onboard, enthusiastically. In fact, very enthusiastically.

As of this past Saturday night, we have been asked to share our online teaching plans and thoughts with the Commission on Ministry, 12 potential students, and the Bishop of Belize in late July, with our eye fixed on beginning our teaching in September of this year.

There is always the possibility that we could teach intensive classes with each trip we make to Belize. The frequency of our trips to Belize and the kinds of things that we plan to do online will be determined in part by the money available to us to do this through contributions to SAMS. So, we are evaluating our financial resources to see how much we can do.

We are pleased with this turn of events.

"Where is Belize?" you might ask.

Belize is in Central America and borders the Caribbean Sea, Guatemala, and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The Mayan Empire was an ancient civilization in the area; Belize was known as British Honduras. More recently, there has been a high percentage of Spanish speaking immigrants; the parishes in the country are either English or Spanish. Therefore, we are planning to translate some of our materials for the Spanish speaking people who are in the ordination process in Belize.

Our upcoming visits.

Our upcoming plans for mission presentations and updates, during June, are:

June 3: St. James', Au Sable Forks.
June 8 (Friday, 2:30 to 3:15 pm): workshop at Diocesan Convention, Jelinek 1A, "Sharing the Good News: missionary dos and donts" - how to spread the gospel effectively.
June 8-9: booth at Diocesan Convention
June 17: Trinity, Potsdam

Ways to support us.

Your prayers and financial support can , make a tremendous difference.

Please make checks out to: "SAMS", and put "Mudge" in the memo space. The mailing address is: SAMS, P. O. Box 399, Ambridge, PA 15003-0399.

God bless you,

Shaw+ and Julie+
Missionaries of the Diocese of Albany, serving
with SAMS.