Pastor in Pena Blanca

This is the pastor from Pena Blanca.  He, his family and his congregation were amazing and did everything they could to make us feel welcome and loved.  Here he is in from of his house which we were able to put a roof on while we were there.  He and his family packed all of their belongings into 1 single room so we could do our work on his roof.  They had been living in the church until his roof was built.  He was so proud and was found many times just wandering around his house watching all the progress, so pleased with what God had provided for him.  

Our fearless leaders!

Brad celebrated his birthday while on our trip to Honduras.  The celebration included the customary tradition of breaking an egg over the head of the birthday boy.  Which was then followed by a flouring.  His mother, also on our trip, said it was the most fun she has had in years.  You're a great sport Brad!  In his speech and with a large lump in his throat he said he couldn't think of a better way to spend his birthday than serving the people of Honduras.  

This is a picture of Heart to Honduras president Gordon Garrett who was in Honduras overseeing many of the projects like ours during the week.  He has an absolute passion for the people of Honduras which was evident the minute he arrived at our Pena Blanca worksite.  He jumped in and played with the kids during VBS and even let them place stickers on his forehead.  I caught him playing soccer with some boys using an empty plastic coke bottle.   

Roughing it in Honduras

These are all pictures from our hotel.  It was about 10 minutes from where we worked each day.  It sat on a gorgeous lake and had tropical flowers and beautiful landscaping everywhere.  There were orange trees and ginger plants everywhere along with tropical blooming flowers of every kind.  We were served buffet style for breakfast and dinner each day.  The food was incredible and couldn't have been better at a 4 star restaurant in the states.  

This is a picture of a steak dinner we had one evening at the hotel.  The steak was covered with this pico de geiyo (I have no idea how to spell it) topping that we all loved.  Sides were fresh potatoes, steamed vegetables and a beautiful green salad.  Lunch was served by the beautiful ladies of the Pena Blanca church who worked tirelessly making us feel welcome and comfortable e

ach day. They served us their best each day.  They would begin cooking by hand at about 10 am each day and would serve us at about 12:00.  As we would eat, the people would wait patiently outside for the medical providers to return.  They wanted to make sure they would not loose their place in line.  

Here Janet and Dan rest from their tireless work in Pena Blanca.  Dan set a new pace for building a house in Honduras.  Once he met the woman who carried the supplies and saw how excited she was to have a home, nothing was going to stop him from getting her house completed.  Not even the Honduras Tropical Storm 2008! 

Vacation Bible School in Honduras

Here we are entertaining the kids at vacation bible school.  Jim, Patti and their team, made bracelets, face painted, and sang lots of songs about Jesus.  We also colored, played instruments and just spent the days loving on these kids.  They felt loved and treasured.   Sometimes the crowds of kids were almost more than we could handle. But we were so thankful for each and every one of the children and loved them as if they were our very own.  

At the beginning of the week, we were told to look for God and that he would be faithful to show himself throughout the week.  I saw God in the eyes of these children every day as they were shown respect and love and were treated as Jesus treated the children that would surround him.  I am so proud of our VBS team!  Thank you for serving.

A new Home!

This is the finished product.   Like I said we built two of these.  They are very similar to a shed you would build in the states in your backyard.  Heart to Honduras had already laid the concrete slab and this was completed the very first day.   Great job guys.  Both houses will be dedicated Tuesday night which will be a tearjerker I am sure!  

Building Hope in Honduras

Here is a few pictures of the village we were serving.  The 2nd and 3rd pictures are of the current home for a widow who lives there with her daughter and grandchildren.  We were able to build her a home right next to her old home.  She could not have been more pleased and watched us work with a huge smile on her face each day.  The new home has 4 walls, a roof, 1 window and a door.  There is no electricity or water in the houses.  The average income for the household is 3-5 dollars a day if you can find work.  Many have no income at all. Sadly....the government does not help at all and most are forced like this one to live with their entire familes. 

We were able to build a home for this widow from the local church.  She lives with her daughter and her 4 children 2 of which are twin babies.  Her 1 room home also must make room at night for the chickens and their most prized possesion, the family pig.  Theft and crime is commonplace so anything of value must be brought in at night.  The flooding was so bad in Honduras that the truck which brought the wood and supplies got stuck and was unable to the deliver to this womans house.  They decided to unload the truck blocks away and this woman and her kids and grandkids brought the wood and supplies 1 piece at a time to her home so she was ready for us.  Needless to say she was excited to have a new home!!

Medical Team in Action!

Here is one of our translators who is from the organization of Heart to Honduras.  His name is Diego.  He is from Columbia and is a graduate of the HTH discipleship school here in Honduras.  He is checking patients in and getting their medical complaints ready for our providers. 

Julie Clay and Mike Brown trying to entertain the crowd while they wait for their doctors appointment.  Some waited the entire day to be seen but were so grateful and hugged each of us for our kindness.

This beautiful little girl was stung by a wasp and was treated with ice packs and love by our amazing crew.  

Work in Pena Blanca

Dr. Jerry Anderson treating some of the children of Pena Blanca.  Most seen were women and children. There were many skin disorders like scabies, ringworms, and even chicken pox!  

The first day we arrived there were already crowds of people waiting for us to arrive.  We prayed that we would be able to meet their needs and boy did God answer.  The first day we saw over 120 patients and the second day 267!!!  The third day in this little village we saw over 200 again.  God is so good!

Notice how the older siblings care for their younger brothers and sisters.  We saw an 8 year old who cared for her little brother and sister while her mom was away all week.  She cooked and cleaned for them.  She was there because of some lasting effects from being burned while her mom was away.  She had 3rd degree burns all down her legs.  She had no access to a hospital or doctor to care for her.  And no one to cry to or hold her.  Our hearts were broken hearing stories like this.  

Day One In Honduras

Well, we have had some trouble getting our blog site up but we finally did it and boy do I have a lot to share with you. The first day was a travel day and man did it come early.  We all woke up around 3:30 and headed to the airport and promptly met our group at 4:46.  (We were told we would be left if we were even a minute late).  I saw lots of eager faces ready to embark on our journey.  Most of us not having a clue what were were in for and what God had planned for us there.  With passports in hand we each received a plastic tub of medicines to take as 1 of our 2 bags to check on the plane and by 6:30 we were off for Houston.  As we waited for our flight the anticipation of our journey built.  I found our group is very diverse some very qualified with many degrees but most just being obedient to the call to serve.  Some had been on missions trips before but many had not. As we moved through the airports that day we got many questions from passers by wondering why we were all wearing those Heart to Honduras shirts.   

As we flew from Houston to San Pedro Sula South (one of only two commercial airports there) many prayers were being offered up to prepare our hearts for this week of service.  But none quite as much as when the turbulence began about an hour and a half into the flight.  We were warned of some upcoming turbulence and not 5 minutes after that warning the plane encountered turbulence like I have never experienced.  The plane shook and rocked and dropped quickly.  I thought that the air masks were going to fall at any time.  But God was faithful and obviously had big plans for us in Honduras.     In fact not 10 minutes after the turbulence the ride was as smooth as I have ever felt.  It felt like we were floating once we passed the storm.  Sometimes I think God likes to show us his power to remind us of how big he is, how little we are, and how much we depend on him.  

For those of you who don't know, like me before I pulled out the map, Honduras is south of Mexico in Central America.  It is to the East of Guatemala and Belize and above Nicaragua.  It is a gorgeous tropical country with rolling hills and many fields of coffee plants, sugar cane, banana and pineapple.  But it is also the second poorest country in the world.  We found out that the average daily income is about 3-5 dollars a day.  (If you are like me, we spend that on our way to work everyday at Starbucks!)  Population is 7.5 million and currency is the Lempira.   

Ok, so we arrive safely in Honduras at San Pedro Sula, flawlessly get through customs (which is a big answer to prayer) and board our vans for the drive.   It started to sprinkle just a little as we headed out.  It was about a 2 hour drive from the airport to our little village of Pena Blanca.  We found out that the driving is extremely aggressive with passing even on the shoulder with pedestrians and animals everywhere.  It was like driving as fast as you can through the colorado mountains with donkeys, dogs and pedestrians everywhere! There is no speed limit once you get out of town and only speed bumps to slow you down in town.  All this as the rain began to pour.  Again we arrived safely at our hotel and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised.  The hotel grounds are gorgeous!  It's hard to imagine that we are here to work and not vacation.  There are blooming ginger plants and tropical flowers everywhere.  Our rooms have hot water, warm beds, an AC unit and even a TV!  What more could you ask for.  First nights dinner and all the meals have been delicious with plantains and fruit with every meal.  The dining hall could not have be more beautiful or clean if it was in the states.  We had our different group meetings and began to plan our days.  The medical team had about 25,000 vitamins and Aspirin that needed to be divided and placed in baggies so many of us stayed up to work on that but we got it knocked out fairly quickly, had our group devotions by pastor Julie Clay and were off to bed.   Breakfast would come early tomorrow at 7:00 am and we were in for a big day the next day. I think many of us prayed that first night for the rain to stop so our construction crews could get to work.     Mike Brown