DELEGATIONS
LEARN AND EXPERIENCE
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2026
Rev. Martha
The taste of fresh cacao beans from Eladio’s sustainable farm, a hike through the forest explaining how the look of cedar, jack-fruit, and coconut trees predict the health of the oil for planting, and a story of a young woman and her sister traveling to India to learn how to install solar energy in their local villages; these are a just a few of my epiphanies thanks to the Xa’al Be’ experience.
Based out of the Creekside Eco Lodge in the Toledo district, the creation of community amongst the participants and across culture was sensitively facilitated and encouraged by John and Allison. Shared meals, conversation, laughter, and worship with the Jacintoville, Mayan Catholic community proved that surprising and meaningful connection can happen in a short span of time. I will relish the memory of hearing a showering of spoken prayers in both Kekchi and English amidst the scent of copal incense.
John and Allison were wonderful guides and companions to Southern Belize both ancient and modern, to a land both beautiful and formidable, and to the hope that indigenous practices and peoples can protect our forests, renew our agriculture, and help heal our climate and our world.
Rev. Brooks:
During the week I spent in the Mayan communities of Belize with our delegation of progressive Christians committed to developing the kind of relationships and commitments needed to reverse centuries of colonialism, I kept a journal to capture some of what I was hearing and learning. On one page, I wrote a short note as I listened to a local leader tell of a priest who embodied some of the worst of what Christianity can be. In the midst of a dispute, he padlocked the church doors and put bars on the windows. Most Christians I know would be appalled by this act that runs so contrary to a faith that should embody the inclusive, barrier-breaking love of Jesus. Yet, without even knowing it, have even the progressive churches of the United States allowed their churches to become spiritually padlocked—closed off to transformative relationships with their neighbors in the Indigenous communities of the Global South? The Xa’al Be’ ministry opens the doors of the church—not only so that others can enter, but more importantly, so that we can leave and engage the spiritual richness of the broader world that manifests itself when we strive for just and equitable partnerships with others.
Rev. Kirstin
It was with childlike glee that each time we were asked, “Would you like a cacao drink?” I responded, “Yes, please!” I leaned into experiences as I learned from and shared with the people of Jacintoville in Belize. I savored this week-long full sensory experience. It is written, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” We tasted fruits, soups, and spices. We saw lush vegetation, choreographed dances with cultural costumes, clear rivers, and fresh food markets. We heard drums and songs and howling monkeys at night. We smelled Copal incense, soups, and the damp jungle. We touched cocao seeds, corn tortillas, and shovels as we participated in acts of community. We felt quiet strength and authentic love.
We met brave people doing ordinary things with extraordinary courage, deep connection to land, and faith in God’s abundance and nurture. The richness of connection with God through time, with land and creation, and with the rootedness of people, culture, and traditions left palpable imprints of the Q’eqchi’ Mayan people in the God rhythm of my own heart.
WHAT WE LEARNED
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WHAT WE CAN DO
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