Wrapping Up in Honduras

A panoramic view of Tegucigalpa from the street we are staying on

It's hard to believe that our week in Honduras is coming to an end. It has been an incredible week, and we are so thankful for all that the Lord has done!

Since the last post, we held held a clinic in the mountains one day and in a village near the city's dump for two days. In the mountains, we partnered with a ministry at the local school. I had the chance to work at the evangelism station. It was so good to be able to share the good news of the Gospel with our patients and show the that we care about more than their physical health. I was reminded that no matter what our situation in life is: in wealth or poverty, in hunger or plenty, in health or sickness, we all have the same primary need. A savior to redeem us from the worst malady of all, our sin. Through a translator, I shared the Gospel with I don't know how many people and prayed with many of them to receive Christ. It is my hope and prayer that the Lord uses the seeds we planted to grow faithful followers for Himself.

At the dump today, I got to witness the poverty of some of the families first hand while I served on the outreach team. We visited the homes of two families that I had met in the clinic and got to deliver them some food. It was sobering to see how the families took care of what little they had and the joy they had despite their meager lifestyle. I was struck by how often I take what I have for granted. Psalm 73 has been heavy on my mind this week when I consider the poverty that has surrounded us. I pray that I will be like the Psalmist and be able to say, regardless of my situation, "For me it is good to be near God..."

The line to get into the clinic in the mountains

Amy, Hannah, and Bethany in front of our trusty bus

Inside the mountain clinic. Not visible are all of the flies, the room was covered with them!

This is Brian with Fabrizio. I don't know if Fabrizio ever saw a doctor because he seemed to prefer sitting in someone's lap all day.

Greg with some of the kids outside the school at the mountain clinic

Our bus wasn't able to get us to the church at the dump, so we had a bit of a hike to our clinic site

This is the church that hosted our clinic near the dump

Clinic at the dump. It was cleaner, and didn't smell as bad as it sounds!

This is the outside of the first house we visited on outreach this afternoon.

This is their kitchen

Me, Ben, Shante, and Greg with the first family we visited.

Greg with the mother at the second home we visited

The father, Alex, made recovers car seats using a sewing machine in their back yard.

As the week comes to a close, I want to share with you what we have been thankful for this week and what we are praying for as we leave. First, what we are thankful for:

•   Your prayer and financial support. To bring our team and supplies here cost a lot of money and many of you provides the money necessary for us to be able to get here. And we believe that the week would not have run as smoothly without your prayer.

•   For the Honduran nationals who hosted us. Their hospitality has been overwhelming. We have had delicious home cooked meals every day. If it were our responsibility to drive ANYWHERE in this town, we would have died! And the fellowship we have shared as brothers and sisters on Christ has been refreshing!

•   For our Honduran doctors, translators, and pharmacist. Their patience in teaching us has been incredible. Most of us have very little experience with patients, much less patients who do not speak our language! And still, the doctors helped us practice exams and were patient with our mistakes. Because of my translator, Dunia, my Spanish is probably better than it ever was after any Spanish class I ever took. (My English, on the other hand, has gotten worse.)

•   For the camaraderie in our team. I am always amazed at the unity we experience in the Lord when we are serving Him.

•   For our health and safety. To have no major injuries or sicknesses in a team of our size is no small blessing and wouldn't have been possible apart from the Lord's protection.

•   For themes believers that the Lord has drawn to Himself. We heard that at the Thursday night service at the first church we worked with, they had 17 new people and they are expecting more this Sunday.

And our prayer requests:

•   We saw a lot of sick people at our clinics this week and in the hospital. In particular, we got to watch and participate in some burn surgeries with a general surgeon from Tulsa. Someone the patients were burned over large parts of their bodies and will have nothing or almost nothing to manage their pain as they recover. In one family I helped to treat, 4 of the 6 family members we saw were anemic and they do not have much money to be able to afford beans or meat that would be helpful. And finally, we saw a 7 year old girl with a congenital heart defect that severely limits her abilities. We were amazed that she has lived this long and we are afraid that she will not live long without surgery. There is a team coming in a month or so that will be able to perform her surgery, but she gets sick easily. We are praying that the lord will help the grafts to take, to provide for the needs of the families we have met, and that he will keep the little girl healthy enough for her surgery.

•   For the continued growth of the new believers. We pray that they will be able to be plugged in with a local church and will be old with the Gospel with their friends and neighbors.

•   For our new Honduran friends that they will be encouraged in the Lord.

•   And for peace in Honduras. I was surprised to learn about how violent Honduras is.   The people here live with the constant threat of violence and are surrounded by poverty and corruption. Many of them feel that there is no hope, but we know that there is always hope in Christ.

Again, thank you for your prayer and support. It has been a great week!

Esperanza en Cristo,

Griffin Collins MS II

Tegucigalpa at night

First Two Days at the Clinics and Hospital

Written by: Payton Statkewicz - 2nd year medical student

Above and below are pictures of some of the nicer homes my husband and I saw on our way to bring a basket of food to a family in need. These are homes we walked to from our clinic and this is where many of the patients we saw lived.

When we made it to the home we were walking to I was speechless. The father of the family we were going to visit has cancer and we were told is very sick, yet he was still out working trying to provide for his family. His daughter was home and was able to let us in to their one room home that was maybe 8ft by 8ft and housed their whole family. We were able to pray with the daughter for her father and family and left them their basket of food. Russell and I left their home with so much more than what we came with. The image of their home is burned into my brain permanently and a sense of immediate thankfulness came over both of us when we thought of what we call home. I know the food will be a temporary blessing for that family, but the blessing they gave to us will last a lifetime. Please keep this family in your prayers.

Above is a picture of the clinic we worked at the first two days. It is the building on the left and is actually this community's church. The pastor of the church is a precious christian, who truly is changing and blessing so many lives in this community. Many people from this church along with the pastor graciously helped us set up our clinic and helped us throughout our time there. We saw close to 400 people from this community in these two days. It was really awesome that as we were helping these people, they were also helping us learn and perfect some of our clinical skills. The Honduran doctors that worked with us were so patient teaching us and so kind to give up their time to help the community in need.

This is the public and main hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I was able to visit this hospital for an afternoon  on our second day of our clinic and watch two orthopedic surgeries. This gave me a whole new perspective on the waiting time in ER rooms in the United States. One patient that received surgery on Monday had been waiting 18 months for it. We will be setting a clinic up tomorrow in a new location, please keep our group and our patients in your prayers.

First Day of Clinic

Ben Cason, MS-3

Today we held our first day of clinic. We set up shop in a small covered amphitheatre in an outlying neighborhood in the hills. The drive getting there was quite adventurous, and at times we wondered whether we would be hiking the final couple of miles. Thanks to our very skilled bus driver, we were able to get within a few hundred yards of the amphitheatre before we had to start carrying supplies by hand.

After getting settled and manning our stations - intake, physician, pharmacy, evangelism, children, and outreach - we began seeing patients. I was assigned to intake in the morning and was immediately aware of how difficult today would have been if it had not been for our amazing interpreters. The language barrier still made communication difficult at times, but we were able to get patients through our station pretty quickly so that their health concerns could be addressed. It was remarkable how many health problems many of these patients had, and today was the first time many of these people had seen a physician in about a year.

After lunch, most of us changed stations. Emily and I were assigned to the evangelism and prayer station ("the E team"). We teamed up with a local minister who was able to interpret for us as we attempted to address these patients' spiritual needs after they had been treated medically. It was truly a blessing to see how thankful these people were to have people from another country donate their time to take care of them. Most of the people seemed to understand that we were there out of love, and some of them knew that our love came out of our relationship with Christ. Many of those who came through our station were believers themselves, and all of them had some knowledge of the Gospel, mostly from a Catholic background.

Those who were not believers were given the opportunity to receive Christ, and many new believers were added to the Kingdom.

The crowd as we arrived around 10:00. Some of these had been waiting since before 6:00.

 

Me taking vitals at intake.

Griffin had a great time playing with the kids. Apparently Hershey's Kisses are the way into children's hearts even here.

Tricia and Ethan playing with the kids.

Here's Shante taking a patient's vitals at intake in the afternoon.

Dr. Butts deep in converstation with one of our Honduran physicians, Radolpho.

This is a father and daughter we were able to help receive Christ. On the far left in Ricardo, who was both a minister for the people and an interpreter for us.

We thank God for the great success we had today. Please continue to pray for the people of Honduras and especially for the new believers, as they will be facing new challenges in the midst of an already difficult life. 

"Hola!"from Tegucigalpa, Honduras!

The team safely arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we've been on the move ever since. 

After getting settled at the Mission House, the packing of the meds began. We had a little help from translators in figuring out proper dosages in Spanish.

The food here is amazing- we have had the opportunity to experience many dishes unique to Central America. Chef Griffin has even learned how to make papooses (that is most likely not how that dish is spelled). 

Sunday morning was spent at the Basilica where we worshipped with our Honduran brothers and sisters for upwards of three hours. The service began with a special processional, and we're not sure how it ended because the entire service was in Spanish, but it was fun experiencing the different cultural worship.

Here's a group shot of our team: 

We are here with another medical team from Oklahoma. Here we all are at lunch on Sunday. 

Sunday night, we had a pizza party with a few Honduran medical students. It was interesting being able to compare their medical training to ours in the States. Hopefully, our new friends will be able to come out to the clinics and work with us after their classes. 

Monday marks our first day of clinic here in Tegucigalpa. We'll have a full update on both the hospital team as well as the clinic team. 

Thank you for your prayers! Specific needs include patience with the language barrier, strength to get through the physical demands the day will bring, safety in health, and of course, that we will constantly be aware of opportunities to preach the gospel of Christ's love to these precious people of Honduras.