Saved the Best for Last

I cannot believe that our short time here is drawing to a close. I hope that I have been able to convey through this blog how meaningful and moving this trip has been. Even more so than I had remembered.  I am confident that I got more from this experience than anyone we might have helped.

As for today's activities, I will simply say this - anyone who's heart is not warmed by giving food to the poor must not have one...

Day 6 - Another long but very rewarding day

Today the entire group went to the final medical clinic.  The construction team really didn't have anymore projects that we could accomplish in 1 day so we decided to join the medical team.  The site for this clinic was in Villa de San Francisco. I'm pretty sure that translates to "just past the end of the Earth" in English - let's just say it was remote!  :)  But like so many of the places we've been, it was absolutely beautiful.

We held the clinic itself at a school.  It was a very neat setting.  They had no Electricity, but they did have solar panels that were powering fans and lights.

We ended up seeing just over 150 patients - I think our biggest clinic of the week.

I couldn't get over this dirt soccer field behind the school house.  Once more I was struck by how simple life is here.  And, how happy the Honduran people seem to be with their simple life.  The children entertained themselves for hours playing on this dirt field, with a plastic ball (not even a real soccer ball) while we as Americans would be complaining if the sod on our fields wasn't in perfect condition. Again, makes you feel kind of petty to think about how spoiled we are in comparison to most of the rest of the world.

How Can it be Day 5 Already?

Wow, this week is flying by!  We had another very successful day.  Our morning started out with typical Honduras "hurry up and wait" as we had to restock on some of the medicines that our medical team uses. We also had to buy some electrical supplies for today's construction project.

The medical team had another successful clinic.  They saw 99 patients at the clinic before a little excitement towards the end of the day.  They received word that there was a pregnant lady whose water had just broken at a nearby home.  After they got to her and determined that she wasn't going to give birth immediately, they got her loaded into Carlos' truck and he rushed her to the hospital.

The construction project for the day was to wire sister Rosa's (from the Church ) house for electricity. She told us that she had lived there for 30 years without electricity. To get to Rosa's house, we turned off the blacktop half way up the mountain and then drove straight up a narrow dirt road for another 15 - 20 minutes. The view was SPECTACULAR! This is definitely one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been.

Her house was equally amazing. The simplicity of their life would be hard for most Americans to comprehend.   No electricity, no indoor plumbing, no luxuries....  nothing,  yet everything they really need...  Almost makes you feel foolish when you think about all the "stuff" that we as Americans think we "need".

We wired her house for 4 lights and 5 plugs.  I can't help but wonder how much electricity will change their lives after all this time.

We ended the night with the traditional group meal at El Patio.  It was fantastic - an awesome end to another awesome day in Honduras! 

Sunday

I really don't even know where to start this post. What a blessing today has been!  The trip to worship at the Church in the Valley of the Angels is always a highlight of this trip and today was no different. It is hard to put into words and describe the warmth and joy with which we were met.  Likewise, you will never attend a more joyful and faith-filled worship service than the one in the Valley of the Angels. For me, the Sunday morning service alone is worth the trip down.

We were welcomed this morning with a serenade of "This is the Day" (in Spanish) by the congregation, followed by refreshments of cookies, coffee, and juice.  Service finally got started somewhere between 930 and 10.  After opening prayers, we were treated to a performance from the singing group from Baxter Preacher's school.  They were incredible!

After the Baxter group finished, Ray led 4 songs in English.

And then Carlos led several songs in Spanish.  Here is a snippet of my favorite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=521lYy_69BU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

**the video is sideways because of the way I recorded it with my phone - sorry! :) **

And then Stacy brought us a very good lesson about the Good Samaritan (with just a little help from our interpreter). .    

Immediately after service, we were treated once again - this time with a wonderful lunch prepared by the ladies from the Church.  As soon as lunch was over, we set up for the medical clinic.  Our medical team saw about 75 patients this afternoon. We also gave out several food bags and many pieces clothing to the members of the Church.

We finished up the day with a little souvenir shopping and supper at KFC.  CANNOT wait to see what the rest of our time in Honduras has in store for us!

Day 3 - A long but fruitful day

Forgive me if I am brief tonight, but it has been a very long day.  I will let the pictures tell most of the story tonight.  We spent the day in the Valley of the Angels again.  The medical team held another clinic, seeing about 100 patients while the construction team went back to finish up the house.  After lunch, we went with a group from Church to witness 4 baptisms.  What a blessing it was to get to watch Ricky baptize these 4 young people, including Darion Carlos' oldest son. We then came back to the hotel just long enough to clean up before going back to the Church to show a DVD about the story of Jesus' life.  Another very good day!

A Great Day!

We spent our entire day in the Valley of the Angels today. Dr. Sain, Stacy, Lorin, and Emily hosted a medical clinic along with Carlos' sister with is also a Doctor. This group was waiting on us when we arrived at the school to set up for the clinic.

I think the final count was 164 patients seen - a very successful clinic!

Ricky, Ray, Leroy, Carlos, Lenin, and I headed to the building Site after we got the clinic set up. The site was in very good shape of we were able to get right to work.

We were blessed with perfect weather so the work progressed very quickly.  This is the new homeowner, Jorge who worked with us all day.

Walls were up by lunch, which by the way was the highlight of the day.  Jorge's wife made us bean soup with rice and fresh tortillas for lunch and invited us in to eat at her table.

We spent the afternoon putting the finishing touches on the walls and putting the roof on while Jorge and Lenin mixed concrete to put around the posts.

Looking forward to pouring the floor and wiring it tomorrow. It was truly a great day. You can imagine how rewarding it is to build such a nice house for a young family that is living inside of mud walls.  I like to think that just a little time invested here will pay dividends for many, many years to come for those which we are privileged to help.

We made it!

We arrived in our Hotel about 3:30 local time after being blessed with a near-perfect day of travel.  All flights were on time, wait times were reasonable, and all bags arrived with us!

It's hard to describe this place to someone who has never been.  The feeling I get is one of being dropped into a movie set.  It is almost hard to process all of the sights and sounds that are thrown at you as soon as you walk out of the airport. The beauty of the countryside compared to the squalor of the neighborhoods. Razor wire and armed guards at every business. But most of all the tremendous warmth and love of our friends and Brothers here.

After checking into the hotel and getting settled, we headed over to the Ambassadors for Christ clinic to assemble food bags.  We ended up with just over 200 bags of food that will be distributed to the poor of the City.

The bags also include this note that basically say that they have been donated by the Church of Christ in Valley of the Angels in the name of Jesus.
                                                        
Tomorrow we are off to the Valley of the Angels to host a medical clinic and begin construction on a house.  Pray that we are able to touch as many lives as possible in the short time that we are here.