Muhammad Ali street was always filled with two things. Cars and children. We would play all kinds of games around the neighborhood, and us boys (my cousins and I) would playfully fight over which car passing by was ‘ours’. The memory of Mr. Dickie’s off-blue sedan making its rounds in our neighborhood with a cheerful smiling lady in the front (Mrs. Loretta Soutar) will forever be embedded in my mind. He had a street militancy about him, and I don’t remember what he said, but that was his vibe. My cousins didn’t fight for this car. They said it was mine. Mrs. Soutar invited my cousins and I (the whole tribe) to VBS, and though I didn’t know it, this was probably the day I was called. At VBS, Mrs. Velasquez led me to Christ. I remember the Adam and Eve story, the same one I was reading at home, being told in Belize Kriol with a lot of improvising and visual aids by Ms. Jacqueline Jones, and other dramatic presentations from the bible being told. Ms. Jones and Mrs. Velasquez would cry real tears while telling a testimony or a bible story. I was amazed, and I wondered if the tears were real. Back at home, we had big discussions if the people at church were genuine or acting – or a combination. How and why were these women crying! One thing for sure, they really were putting their all into VBS. And VBS was so alive! I never experienced lively music in a church setting before; and Nicole Soutar led the music like an international singer. I returned year after year – eventually helping the team from about age 12. I remember a tall skinny White man named Matt, pretending to surf on stage as we sang the theme song Surfin’ God’s word! Moving in the right direction and we’re surfin’ His holy word! We had a blast. And it was quite interesting from a child’s perspective to see his relationship with his now wife Latoya bud and bloom along with his Belize Kriol which always made us laugh.
Church attendance most Sundays at my Primary School’s catholic church was mandatory. So for a while I was living an almost double life. Going to St. Ignatius early for mass to get my card signed by the priest and happily making my way to Open Door’s later in the morning. But the cherry on top of my week as a child and young Believer was Wednesday night Fellowship. Admittedly because of the food. Miss Heidy and Miss Yvonne served the food those Wednesday nights after church, and it felt like Christmas every week, as everyone would gather around and actually talk and fellowship. I got along with the young and the old. The young such as Jevon, and the old such as Fritz and Kris Bowen, Leon, Horace and Kenny. I had young men to look up to such as Andrew Arana. I admired the way he read. I looked up to people like Mr. Emil, who taught me how to pan a camera, and I looked up to guys like Kingsley for the way he talked to God/pray. It was Kingsley who taught me to always say “we” when praying in public. Little tips like that go a long way.
The first song I sang as a solo was Oh Holy Night. It was sometime around 2002 or so. I would have been about 11. The pianist, Mr. Andrew Cain, was practicing one Saturday afternoon in church, and I walked up to his keyboard and started singing. He quickly got up and set up a mic and said to sing it again. I did. I felt slightly self-conscious that the whole neighborhood could hear us. I didn’t realize he liked my singing voice and was somewhat amazed, until he said I sounded like the CD. He gave me a dose of confidence. The next thing I knew, I was in singing in groups with Ms. Sandra Bradshaw and her two daughters Sashá and Shanya, and soon after in cantata.
Through camps and church activities I grew and grew in the Lord. Nevertheless, during my teen years, I drifted a bit but like the numbers in the bible that represent the verses, I was guided by someone or the other along the way. A word of encouragement. A memorable one liner or two. For instance, at one summer camp about 2010 or so, someone said: “What is the point of doing something if it doesn’t change you?” That line stuck with me, and I began to not only be a one-day type of Christian.
But Open Door has been a source of fellowship, brotherhood, life-long friendships, and a place where we worship in spirit and in truth. A certain place where we come together and enjoy being in God’s presence together.
There is a myriad of words of wisdom over the years, but some that stand out are:
“Richard, don’t be a statistic” – Mrs. Loretta Soutar
“Mi nevah know seh Richard talk so much!” – Elder Dwayne Scott
“Wait I say on the Lord” – Mr. Dickie Soutar
“I’ve been praying for you” – Ms. Vangie
“Ah proud ah yuh, son” – Mr. Dickie Soutar
But the quote we should all be striving to hear is “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter innto my rest.”
Over the past 25 years, I’ve seen many come and many go for various reasons: migration, changing locations and churches, or giving up. It is my prayer that all who step foot through these doors, whether they come to stay or eventually go, that they will come to the vital realization that we must be transformed internally and live out our salvation outwardly, using our time and our talents or the glory of God.