Ralph Jarrells is quite an interesting guy. 
What he wants to do for kids in Belize is even more interesting.
I met Ralph recently at a West Metro Rotary Club breakfast meeting and we chatted about a mission project he has been involved with.
He grew up in Columbia and during his high school and college years, he worked at television station WOLO Channel 25  as a photojournalist. He later became the news director. 
As his career went on, he worked at other locations like the state Economic Board. He was also the marketing director for NAPA and Precision Tune.
When he retired in Gadsden Ala., he joined a church there and his pastor, after learning about Ralph’s experience, asked him to go with a team to Africa. 
This started Ralph’s missions’ experiences. He went there four times and also went to Albania, Guatemala and India and four times to Belize.
In Belize, he met Victor Hernandez, a pastor with the Toledo Christian Outreach Center in Jintatoville. They are non-denominational, he has a title equal to a bishop and has 18 congregations. 
Multiple conversations have taken place about doing missions’ work with Victor’s churches.
Not long after that, Drs. David and Kay Dalton of Vital Vision Resources went with Ralph and his wife to Belize to investigate how the could best help Victor’s churches. The Daltons had been pastors and missionaries in the Philippines, so they had the knowledge and experience to develop a plan of action.
They decided to launch a church building ministry for 2019. It will involve getting five United States churches to send teams of 10-12 members to Belize and build a church. 
The cost of construction materials is around $8,000. Now the challenge is finding five churches willing to participate with them and Missionary Church International in Columbia. If you know of a church looking for a 2019 project, contact me at the Chronicle.
Baseball in Belize
There is a sports angle to this story and it regards aspiriting baseball players overseas and the Lexington County Blowfish. 
One of the churches in Belize has started a baseball league for the 90 kids in attendance. The problem is, they have virtually no baseball equipment. 
So now the challenge is getting them equipment. Even without much equipment, they have fallen in love with baseball, just like us red, white and blue Americans. 
Well, two of our favorite local Lexington heroes,  Lexington County Blowfish co-owners Bill and Vicki Shanahan have come up with an idea to help. From now until the end of the Blowfish’s baseball season, guests who donate a jersey, baseball pant, belt, socks, baseballs, bats etc. will receive a free general admission ticket to the game. 
So, let us lend a hand to two great causes - supporting our local team and helping another country’s kids enjoy our American pasttime.