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| Missions: HONDURAS | |
Wednesday, April 2nd 2008
After yesterday’s “work day”, everyone had tired bodies but happy souls because the Lord had provided 2 families new homes. We were also happy because today we knew we were going to visit Good Shepherd Children’s Home (GSCH). GSCH is another orphanage which accepts kids who have been abandoned and abused, and attempts to reshape their outlook on life. Unlike the Casitas Kennedy orphanage which we visited yesterday, GSCH is a wonderful example of what only God can do with only two Americans and close to 200 children. At GSCH, the children are taken care of very well in every aspect; they are given a safe environment, good clothes to wear, a great education, and much more. Many people of our team have their “special” child or children in mind every day of the year long before preparations for next year’s trip are being made. With a few special little girls there myself, I can honestly say it’s one of the best times we are able to interact with children the whole time we are here. We played for hours with the kids. We walked around the large gorgeous property to see the cows, chickens, and pigs while also at other times playing with bubbles and Frisbee's. Most of us had gifts which we gave out to the children and watched as they got to rip off actual wrapping paper. The kids were beautiful and the weather was hot. A good time was had by all. Finally, after we left GSCH, we traveled to eat out as a group for one of the only times on this trip. From there we headed to our devotional spot to wrap the night up. We worshiped at the oldest church in the western hemisphere; the Church at Santa Lucia. It is a 15th century structure which, even though it is being restored, is a beautiful piece of architecture. After a good devotional we headed for the Mission House to get some sleep before another “work day” tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 1st 2008 “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” Although we do some form of work each day, whether it be emotional or physical, the days we go out into communities and build homes for others, we tend to call “work days”. Today was a work day. We built 2 homes today for different families. The homes that we build are not fancy; they have no electricity (usually), no indoor plumbing, no ornamentation, and no insulation. Our homes are 16’ x 16’ foot square structures made from simple wood and tin. In the States, we would call that a one stall garage. Here, on the other hand, if you would talk to the families which receive these homes, they believe them to be mansions. These days are physically the toughest for us. It is hot, dry, and you can get scorched very quickly. On these days, all we do is build houses. It takes us anywhere from 5 to 8 hours to finish a house depending on the terrain and quality of the wood. We always make sure to get and use the best wood available to us in Tegucigalpa, but sometimes a few of the boards are warped or broken in some way. While others might just throw those boards up and call it a day, we are committed to not give anything but our best to these people. Do we always do it perfectly? Nope. But we do the best with what we have, and God has blessed us with competent people who know how to build stuff and people who know how to hammer stuff. (Believe me, there is a big difference.) Out of all of them homes I have had the privilege of helping to build, once we were finished and presented that home to the family, they all cry tears of joy and thank us profusely. It’s even better than Extreme Makeover Home Edition! However, it never fails that before they give one word of thanks to us, they always thank God over and over again. That makes sense, right? I mean, you go from living in cardboard boxes and miscellaneous tarps to a nice clean solid home with a roof that doesn’t leak and an actual wooden floor, it makes sense to thank God first. We know that first hand, we’re Christians after all. So...when was the last time you received a raise and you thanked God first before depositing the check? When you went to visit your Mom or Dad, did you thank God before you got there for the blessing of having parents at all? Or how about when you went by your favorite fast food restaurant just for a quick combo meal? Did you thank God that you can afford to buy a combo meal before you pulled through the drive through? Yeh. I don’t do much of that either. These people weep for a house out of the happiness of their hearts to God for His gift. Most of us only show that much emotion while watching...well...Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Just something to think about. Pictures below.
One of the old houses. That's a house for a family of 4!
The wood and supplies.
The view from the house.
Putting on the roof.
Putting in the floor. The woman 2nd from the left with the pink flower print shirt was the mother getting the house. She was helping.
The family. Monday, March 31st 2008
There are days when you have no choice but to simply stand in passive silence and watch as others around you are in incredible pain. You cannot do anything about the situation, and you are unable to offer solutions to the underlying problem because the toll of the suffering is too great. As a man, I am always looking for the answer to the problem no matter what it may be. I need to solve puzzles with decisive action. I need to find solutions to whatever ails the people around me. I think to some extent we all feel that way. Whether it is a brother, cousin, mother in-law, or someone we care for deeply; as humans we need to fix stuff. There is in every one of us a passion to pursue the good and fix the bad. Unfortunately, doctors can’t prevent cancer, police can’t stop all child abuse, and no government in the world can halt the viral spread of human trafficking. We are at the mercy of ourselves. Today was a sobering experience for our team. We were amidst sufferings we could not fix and pains we could not understand. Though we were unable to heal physical bodies or mend the emotions, we instead used the only resource available to us: Hope. There is a beautiful undertone in the book of Job which seeks to explain the notion of this hope in God. Now you have to remember exactly just what Job lost; to sum it up as “everything” doesn’t do it justice. Job lost his money, his servants, a total of 11,000 livestock, 7 sons, 3 daughters, and eventually his own health. This all happened at the same time nonetheless. Satan had unleashed an entire natural disaster upon Job. Here in Honduras we see Job’s everywhere we look. In chapter 5 of the book, Job’s friends show up to presumably comfort him. It is here that we a read of a guy named Eliphaz who (although he was long-winded and a bit haughty) gives a wonderful argument for the need of hope in times of utter despair. Speaking in an effort to console Job, Eliphaz says... “...If I were you, I would go to God Job 5:8-15
Hospital Escuela This is a teaching hospital for the local medical school. Medical student from all over the area come here to finish out their education requirements. While our “university” hospitals in the States are often top-notch, here at Hospital Escuela things couldn’t be more different. The hospital is a dilapidating institution for the poor. It is run by the state and therefore has little funding to provide at times the most basic medical treatment such as the delivery of antibiotics or x-rays. Here we visited children, young and old, on many floors of the hospital from the cancer ward to orthopedics. We colored, painted nails, gave out toys, and prayed with everyone we could that God would visit them with some form of comfort and provide them with unmatched hope. Note: I am not a fan of taking pictures in hospitals. Therefore, there are no pictures to post here. If you want to see pictures of Hospital Escuela, see someone from our team when we get home. Or, better yet, come see for yourself next year. We'd love to have you. Casitas Kennedy Casitas is one of the few state run orphanages which houses children, infants to teenagers, from around the country. Kids whose parents have abandoned them or abused them are sent here to reside until a better environment can be found. Unfortunately, better homes cannot be found on a regular basis for the majority of the children. They are placed here temporary but end up staying for long period, years and years at a time. While they are at Casitas Kennedy, the kids, - who have been abused physically, emotionally, and sexually - viciously victimize themselves with the same abuses which put them there in the first place. With over 40 children, failing structures, a small staff, and various human rights violations, Casitas Kennedy is one of the worst places to be if you are a child. We basically just spent time loving on the kids as best we could. We fed them pizza, played with the older kids on the playground, and held the babies in their nursery.
Blind School This school was setup specifically for the blind children of Honduras. This is a wonderful environment where the kids enjoy the commodities of home life with dormitories for them to live in while they attend to their education. Every child is valued here at the Blind School and accepted for who they are. The children sang to us, we sang to them, and we gave them plush stuffed animals and things which make noise...there was a lot, a lot of noise, thank you Karen Burnfield - my ears will eventually stop ringing. It went great.
Sunday, March 30th 2008 "Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself." Mahatma Gandhi As often misrepresented as it may be, the phrase from Ephesians 5:19, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord...”, is a joyful, powerful section of scripture that just may be the most appropriate title for this posting. Today we were able to worship with the church in Santa Anna. Located on the grounds of Casa de Esperanza, the Santa Anna church is a beautiful blend of sweet old ladies and cute curious children. They may not be the biggest collection of believers in town (they’re not even close), but they are sure some of the most gracious and sincere hearted people around. We were given the privilege of joining them for their morning service where we worshiped together and encouraged them with our words and actions...but mostly by our actions because most of us can’t speak Spanish. And that is where the verse from above comes in. Even though we were mutually prohibited from understanding each others words, our sounds of praise blended together in our hearts to form a wonderful celebration of love for our God. As well as worshiping with them, some of our team were also able to hold bible classes for all of the children, young and old. Over 40 precious and excited children were able to sing, pray, color, listen, and learn from the presentations prepared by Tammy McCullough and members of the Reynoldsburg Church of Christ. Our final big joy of the day was a neighborhood cookout. For a few hours in the afternoon, we set out to give the residents of Santa Anna a free lunch and hopefully encouragement through our love as well. We went through about 200 hot dogs and an untold number (at least to me) of baked beans and bags of chips in that short amount of time. Take note though that we did not serve 200 people. Instead we served a smaller amount with great abundance. Stuffing loaded hot dogs down pant pockets and makeshift purse-bags, smiles across their faces from bellies filled with food, villagers from Santa Anna and the United States came together not just to simply satisfy hunger, but to put a human face on the words of Jesus. For the rest of the day, the team hung around Casa de Esperanza. Some of us played with kids and completed simple household chores while others took a quick nap or helped get ready for the next day of service. All in all it was a special day for everyone involved from morning until night. See some of the pictures below to put images with these words.
Side note: Due to a technical problem and short time, we are running a day late on our postings. Hopefully we can fix this in the coming days...but definitely not by tomorrow because it is going to be a long tough day. Sorry. :) Saturday, March 29th 2008 10:08pm "It's the greatest poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." Mother Teresa Today marked a turning point in the lives of those of us not yet acquianted with a little place called the Didasko Children's Home. Didasko, as it is simply called, is an orphanage for boys and girls of all ages from 1 to 18. I cannot recall the exact number of children which call Didasko home, but I believe it to be well beyond 30. It is run by two of the humblest people you will ever meet or hear about; Jorje and Rosa. These two wonderful people provide food, shelter, and protection for dozens of children with almost no substantial financial means. They rely heavily upon private support to fund their aging facilities and feed the children in their care. Children have a way of bringing the "good" out of people. I mean, come on, when was the last time you saw a grown man contort his face like a clown and stick his tounge out? Answer: Today while trying to comfort the heart of a four-year-old. People just don't do that sort of crazy stuff (normally) unless they're with a child; and today saw a lot of good come from a lot of people. We planned, and pulled off with great fan-fare, a carnival for the kids of Didasko as well as the kids from Casa de Esperanza who came to visit us. We had a cookout, smores, ring toss, hand/arm painting, apple bobbing, darts (thrown at balloons), popcorn, snow cones, hop scotch, and a lot more. It was an amazing day of giving ourselves away to these children. Some of who have come before on this trip got to see those children we have loved from afar for a year finally in our arms. For those who were exposed to these precious children for the first time, I believe the word they would use to describe the day would be: blessed. I could try and explain in great detail what wonderful things happened today, but, my words cannot do justice what pictures can. Here are a few from today...
This picture if hillarious. They are about ready to do a three-legged race and I'm pretty sure it ended up being a carry-you-across-the-finish-line-because-you-are-so-much-smaller-than-me race.
Great stuff. More to come tomorrow.
Friday, March 28th 2008 10:32pm Henry J. Tillman once said: "The saying 'Getting there is half the fun' became obsolete with the advent of commercial airlines." It is my pleasure to inform you that all 26 of us Honduran-bound travelers arrived safely in the country this afternoon at the airports in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigulpa. From there, some of us had to drive a little, and some of us had to drive a lot to finally reach our final desination. Also, to add to our safe journey, every single packerbox and piece of personal luggage managed to make its way here as well. This is definitely a first compared to our trips in the past. We wish to thank everyone for their prayers of safe travel and hope that you will now extend those prayers to include our time together while we are here. Pictures and paragraphs will follow in the coming days that will keep you up to date on our activities. Thanks |
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