Belize Stories: Ms. Mary

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 Korey, 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!