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Adult Mission Trip
Hondouras Outreach International: Our team of 21 adult missionaries built 9 latrines
and laid concrete for 6 houses in Guapinol, La Venta, Honduras in 2003. But that
was only one aspect of a multi-pronged mission.
The missionaries had several areas of work that included Making Friends : Candy
and Tennis Balls were the icebreakers for the initial making friends with the village.
The children readily accepted us. The adults were a little more skeptical until
we all worshipped together, led by Pastor Edgardo Turcios.
School Supplies were provided for the village school. You and I have never
seen students so excited about school supplies. Notebooks, pens, pencils, rulers,
erasers were provided in the hundreds. It takes 12 notebooks, pencils and a uniform
for any student to attend the school. We would like to assure that any Guapinol
children who are not currently attending because they lack such simple things as
notebooks, pencils and a uniform will be provided with what they need. Through First
Presbyterian Church, education can be provided.
Bible Study for the children was an incredible challenge since the assumptions
of age groupings and abilities got thrown out the window on the first day. Crafts
were adapted. Lessons changed. Tape was used to form rows and chairs provided for
mothers’ with babies. The mothers learned as much as the children when the
Bible stories were told and then acted out by the children.
Soccer Uniforms, Shoes, Balls were the way to the hearts of the young men.
Rumors filtered through the village that we had brought soccer balls. We brought
over 100 and every one was distributed, not only in Guapinol but also throughout
La Venta. Enough uniforms had been gathered to outfit eight teams. In memory of
Allison Horne, a Colleyville Heritage High School soccer player who had been killed
by a drunk driver, a girls’ soccer team was given uniforms and balls. Young
men cleared fields and picked up trash to earn their soccer balls. And a highly
entertaining game was played between the missionaries and the local men’s
team. Due only to the men’s team’s kindness and an impending storm,
the missionaries scored.
The Medical Mission involved professionals who gave of their time and talents
to see the villagers and anyone else who could make it to the make-shift clinic.
Many were referred to the clinic at Rancho de Paraiso, where the missionaries lived.
The clinic at the Ranch has the only ultra-sound machine for 300 miles and has a
continual stream of residents who need care. Now that the missionaries have been
exposed to the needs of the residents they are collecting eye drops, anti-acids,
vitamins, antibiotics, Tylenol and other medications.
Dental supplies were one of the most useful items taken. Toothbrushes,
toothpaste, soap and other basic items were provided for each student of the school.
So many toothbrushes were donated that each family also received them.
Family Gifts were an unexpected bonus. Missionaries didn’t realize
they would be allowed to leave a gift for each of the 48 families. In addition to
soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, each received a Spanish Bible with color pictures.
The Bibles were instantly opened and families gathered to read and look. In 2004,
the missionaries hope to take hammers, pans, nails, silverware, shovels and other
garden tools. Some things, like nails and shovels will be bought in Honduras to
support their economy. Other things like hammers and notebooks are much cheaper
to buy in the US.
In 2004 the missionaries hope to take a Village Gift, not unlike the family
gifts. A generator is already in the plans. An Egg Hatchery or other means of generating
income for the barrio is needed. Sewing machines are being collected as well. Nothing
given to the Hondurans can come close to equaling the gifts of friendship and faith
the missionaries received from the people of Guapinol.
You do not have to speak Spanish to be a part of the Honduras Mission team, The
Apostle Group or TAG. A willing heart is all that is needed. Missionaries range
in age from 20 something to 70 something. All are used by God to be His Hands in
Honduras.
Leslie’s Account of Trip
Take 21 Type A Presbyterian personalities, put them on a plane and a bus to a country
where only 2 of them speak the language and watch for explosions. What could have
been a clash turned into a blending. One’s vision led to the other’s
talent for detail. Tough guys cried and tender hands mixed concrete.
We flew from Dallas to Miami with the people who were to become our new family.
In Miami, we met other missionaries headed to Honduras to work with street children.
How odd to think of us as missionaries. It is easier to see ourselves only as travelers
but we are arriving in Tegucigalpa to do God’s work. They will stay in the
city and we are heading for Orlancho. Our guide, Lukas is from Honduras Outreach,
International, a non-denominational group. He takes us to the Mennonite Bakery where
we have lunch and on to Juticulpa, our halfway point. Honduras is where US school
buses go to die. The streets are lined with the big, yellow buses that are used
for everything.
Ours takes us through the mountains to Orlancho, which Lukas tells us is the Honduran
Wild Wild West. Later he confides that there is a blood feud in the Agalta Valley
and over 80 people have died in the past decade. But for now, he assures us that
no one messes with the HOI bus because they know we are missionaries who have come
to help. We arrive at Rancho de Paraiso and the dorms we will call home for one
week. People pay thousands for the view we now have. Verdant mountains with clouds
hiding in valleys, trees filled with sunlight and complete calm. The lunch bell
rings and we encounter our first but not last meal of beans, rice, watermelon, pineapple
and tortillas. Meat is added in small quantities. Everything is grown on the ranch
to demonstrate farming techniques to the villagers and to feed the weekly stream
of missionaries.
We are anxious to see ‘our’ village and take a 3-mile bus ride to the
barrio. The next days are a blur of smiles and trying to cross language barriers.
Even those who don’t know any Spanish learn that agua is water as we mix the
concrete for floors. We learned caballo as the men showed off their horses.
Les, a soccer ref in the states, brought more than 100 soccer balls and enough uniforms
to outfit 8 teams. He is a bear of a man who the Hondurans like immediately. Soccer
is the universal language.
Somehow we got through the miscommunications, the miscounting of how many children
we had school supplies for, and the ‘what do you mean we left the cross that
we are donating to their church back at the ranch?’ We stood in front of their
church on the last day to present that cross. The school children sang the Honduran
national anthem to us. And we sang the Star Spangled Banner. Had we ever had greater
appreciation for all that the US had given us?
Before I began this trip and went for my shots, the doctor told me how long the
shots were good for. I told her I was just going this one time. “No one goes
once,” she shot back. Well, she was right. I’ve been taking Spanish
lessons at the church with the others who felt the sting of not being able to communicate.
I don’t know that I really helped that much in Honduras. The villagers did
most of the work. I took digital photos and showed them to the kids. I smiled a
lot. I did the chicken dance, which means that any of those Honduran kids can attend
a wedding in Texas and fit right in. Others felt the same. We could do so much more.
I made a list of the families to make sure every one got a Bible, soap, toothbrushes
and toothpaste. I looked at that sacred list and cried when I got home. All I could
think of was Schindler’s List. But he only had one shot. We get to go back.
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