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June,
2007 - On June 9, 10 members of Church of the Hills in Duluth left for a mission trip in Tualabe, Honduras, with 23 bags of luggage. On June 16, a family of 10 arrived back home, leaving behind their extended family in Honduras. It was a great trip! Lots of hard work, lots of laughter and fun, and lots of prayer and support from home.
While there, the group visited the caves in Taulabe and the Pullapanzak Waterfall, both amazing examples of the Great Artist’s creation. Sunday evening we went to church services in Taulabe – all in Spanish, but enjoyable anyway. The group also sang the Doxology for the church – it was…well….anyway. It’s a good thing they could work hard!
The group stayed with John and Marta at El Cortijo del Lago, and they and their family were wonderful hosts – and provided delicious meals all week.
Monday through Friday, the group worked long and hard on building a house for a widow and her 5 children. The house is 20 feet by 30 feet, with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and sitting room. The house they were living in previously was half that size, and was made of mud bricks. The family helped out – even the smallest children sweeping and also picking up rocks from the yard. The house was made of precast concrete panels – small panels under the windows, and large, very heavy panels for the walls. The group got all of the walls up, all window and door frames in, and most of the form for the top beam in place, along with the rebar. We hope that the team after us will be able to complete the house soon.
Each day when we drove up, the children in the neighborhood would come to greet us – one running down the street as fast as his little feet would carry him – barefooted! They smiled, watched us, played
dodge ball and marbles in the street, and were so sweet.
Each day, we brought a boxed lunch with us. The first day, we were very concerned with being able to wash our hands before we ate. By Wednesday, we didn’t care if we had washed – just run a little water from a water bottle over them, use some Purell hand sanitizer, and hand me something to eat. And we ate next to Oscar the pig – because he had a great shade tree! Just a little ripe when the wind blew the wrong way!
Three days, work on the house stopped early, so that we could clean up a little and go to a village for VBS. The village of El Diviso was first – there were over 100 children waiting, along with older brothers and parents when the group arrived. We used the one-room school for one group – crafts, a song or two, and a story read in Spanish. Meanwhile, the other group played soccer, Frisbee, had sack races, jumped rope, and played with a bright, colorful parachute. After a while, the two groups switched, so that all could enjoy both parts of VBS. At the end, all children were given toothbrushes, toothpaste (dental care is a real concern in the mountains of Honduras), a coloring page, and crayons. During VBS, we had a couple of our group with the water purifier, giving the people of the village clean water.
The second village for VBS was El Cerron – way up in the mountains, with a spectacular view. The roads were steep and curvy, but there was a big soccer field waiting for us at the top. And about 35 beautiful children. That number grew to about 100 as we unloaded and began playing with the kids. There was no classroom this time, so we just gathered everyone close together for the story and a song. And then enjoyed games and fun with the kids. Meanwhile, Israel was giving out solar-powered audio Bibles to about 10 men and women who could not read or had no Bible. They were fascinated, and excited to learn how to work them. Each child received a t-shirt, necklace with a cross, and toothbrushes and toothpaste.
And the third village was Savannah, not so high up in the mountains. On the way there, we drove past the dump for the area – and were saddened by the groups of people searching through the garbage for something useful. But the children of Savannah were bright, energetic, and a real blessing to us. There weren’t as many as at the first 2 villages. We again had a flat area, no building to work in, and it threatened to storm the whole time we were there – but never rained until we left. We again enjoyed the story, songs, games, and gave out Bibles to those who could not read.
Friday afternoon, after VBS, the team returned to the house site, for a very meaningful time with the family and neighbors. We gathered together to pray in English and Spanish over the house and the family who would live there. Tears and hugs by all. Then the group gave the family a footlocker full of school supplies, clothing, toys for the children, and more, for them to enjoy in their new home.
Each member of the group was touched by the people, the beauty of the land in Honduras. Some special thoughts by the group:
“Too many good things touched my heart to list. The international language of grins and hugs were way more reward that I could have expected.”
David
“Watching Geraldo and his neighbor play marbles on a gravel road. No TV, no video games, just 4 marbles and pure joy.”
Render
"There is a subterranean river, the North Atlantic River. And it flows
constantly, even though no one sees it. Similarly, there is a River of People which flows overseas to serve others. We were but a part of that."
Avis, ever the science teacher
The team would like to thank our COH family for helping to make this trip possible – financially and also by sending with us many gifts for the Honduran people. We took 13 footlockers full of supplies to give out – VBS materials, 1 set for each village, which were left for the village school when we left; school supplies; toys; clothing; medical supplies for the clinic; sewing supplies for a group of women who are learning to sew so that they can help support their families, or to totally support their families in some cases; shoes (an entire footlocker!); and more. We packed everything before we left, just however we could to get it there. Then, Monday evening, we sorted it out so that each village had 2 footlockers for VBS supplies. And it had multiplied like the loaves and the fishes. It wouldn’t all go back in!!! Your generosity is amazing!
We would also like to thank our prayer partners for their prayers and notes of encouragement while we were there, and also all those others who prayed for us while we were gone.
And we would also like to thank our families for their support and for keeping the home fires burning while we were gone.
Because of each and every one of you, the Word of the Lord is spread a little further.
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