My Mission Trip to Honduras

Well, for those of you who didn't know, I went to Honduras last July on the Ultimate Workout #9.

Here's a map of roughly where we were. I was on Baranco Chele.

I finally got some pics scanned, so here they are.

This is the first day we got there. As you can see, the floor was already laid and the roof was on.

See the barrels full of water at the bottom of the picture? Those were the cleaning Barrels. Even I, who spent hardly any time down at the site, spent time there cleaning cement off of shovels and trowels, etc. It was lots of fun, especially when we dropped a brush in the barrel. they didn't float so we had to fish them out with a shovel. whoever did it was the hero of the day.

The first day no one knew where the Maranatha flag was, so our site coordinator had to go to a near-by site and get it. As you can see, we had it up by the second day of work.

This is the third day... as you can see, the walls are going up fast.

The back wall is only about half way up and this is the fifth day of work (i forgot to take pictures on the fourth day.) Can we make it?

This is the front of the building on day 5. The scaffolding is going up. We're getting there!

Sorry about how big this is. This is the last Sabbath we were there. We didn't quite get the baptismal wall up, but basically we finished.

All of God's children. This was the dedication of the church. I didn't have the fortune of attending because I was deathly sick back at camp. Lucky me, I got sick two days after everyone else did. :-) Anyway, i had one of my friends take these two pictures for me. Thanx!

This is the resort that we spent a half day at, just relaxing. The water was incredible. The first time I've ever seen the ocean. Loved it!

In front of the kitchen where I spent most of my time were these wonderful, beautiful flowers. We got to look at them when we didn't have the big yellow tarp in front of the window to keep rain or flies out.

Our table/living quarters/sick bay/chapel/every thing else looked out on this mountain, which the sun rose over every morning. It is very beautiful. There was a rainbow over it when i took the picture, but it didn't turn out.

On the first Sabbath we took a hike up the mountain and this was what was on the other side. If you look close in the middle of the picture, right above the line of the mountain, you can see the smoke from the factory that all the men of the town worked at.

Well, i guess it's time for me to actually write something significant about UW#9. First, i decided to tell you what i learned, and how.

I learned that Carmel Corn is great after it's been in a 120-degree tent for a few days.

I learned that Frosted Mini-Wheats are really, really good, especially when most of them is crushed and half the bag is nothing but powder

I learned that slim-jims are a plus on an all-vegetarian mission trip

Those three lessons are just a few of the lessons i learned about food on the trip. Any food besides kitchen food was good. :-) but especially those three.

I learned that foreign roosters do NOT keep a normal sleep schedule... they crow from about 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.

This is not exageration. Julian, our assistant site coordinator turned off the light one night and as soon as darkness over-took us, the roosters started. They talked to each other across town. And on Friday nights, so did the cows, dogs, donkey, and people!

I learned that no matter how little I have, I should always, always be thankful.

We went into the community one Sabbath afternoon and in this one house, we asked the man if he wanted to pray. He said that he wanted to thank God for all his blessings, and his house was half the size of my room, with one bed.

I learned that i'm not really sick.

On this same trip some of our kids went to a house where a little girl who was six years old lay sick. She couldn't get out of bed, and no one knew what was wrong with her. she was brought to the clinic two days later and the doctors could do nothing for her. her kidneys had failed and she was dying. at Six years old.

I learned that kids are cute no matter where they are or how poor they are.

I have an absolutely beautiful picture of all of the children of the town standing posing for the "foto!" their smiles are all so beautiful and their lives so different from ours.

I learned that you have not really tasted Mangos or Pineapples until you eat them directly from the tree (plant).

Need i say more? i will not eat either one in the states any more. they are sooo sweet down there. but things like cheese are deffinately better here. :-)

I learned that no matter how foreign people are to you, after spending two weeks in a place foreign to all of you, you become family.

I came on this site knowing three other people. After sharing joys, sorrows, laughs, stories, and illnesses, I left with a whole new family that i trusted with my life. God is sweet.

I learned that it is incredible to help someone.

When the church was finally finished, the thanks of these people, even through the language barrier was beautiful.

I learned that a smile is universal.

I learned that our laws and police are really a nice thing to have around.

The first Sabbath that we were there, we took a hike up the mountain to the cave. Our guide told us that just a few months before, someone had been killed there. They had cut his head off and threw his body and the machete down in the cave. We didn’t believe it, but the next Sabbath, three guys from our site went down in the cave. At the bottom they found a rusty machete sitting next to an empty shoe. On the way back up, they found another shoe. Alex picked it up and it was heavy, he dumped it out and found a complete decayed foot. All the bones were there. The murder had actually happened and it was probably prosecutable but the police did nothing.

I learned that electricity isn't really necessiary but bleach and running water are.

We were in a site with no electricity and one faucet from which we got everything we needed. We refilled five dish tubs 8 times a day, got our showers and washed our clothes with that water. When the water went out, which it did a few times, we were stuck. And bleach... well, working in the kitchen, we bleached everything, and i mean EVERYTHING :-)

I learned that music is life.

On the long days when we were layed up sick, we had nothing to do but listen to music. It was our life-line and connection to reality. Music is wonderful!

I learned what it's like to be really sick.

Ugh, you don’t even want to know. It was really, really awful.

I learned how to pull teeth.

I worked in the dentist clinic for half a day. It was actually really sad; this one man came in among the first four patients we treated. When he got there he was laughing and joking with the people outside and us. We worked on him almost an hour and a half, and still didn’t get one root out. By the time he left, he was almost crying. The girl who’s tooth I pulled was so scared. I felt so bad, but i knew it was for the best.

I learned that my story can help someone.

Pastor Luis, our site pastor, asked for volunteers to give their testimony and finally I decided to give mine. I told the story of my father’s battle with Marajuana and how God finally helped him kick the habit. Many, many people came up to me and told me what a help I had been and how much they admired my courage.