The Last Day in Honduras

Today was one of the most heart breaking days on the trip. It's hard to imagine human beings surviving by picking plastic and cardboard out of the city dump to make $3 / day. As we approached the dump we had to close the windows of the bus to keep the flies from pouring in on us. As we drove up to the dump we saw cardboard and wire mesh houses constructed to protect people and cardboard from the daily rain that falls 6 months every year. Levi explained that the church and mayor have worked together to construct housing with cement floors and tin roofs to provide a minimum level of protection for these families. Finding a permanent solution to the scavenging of the dump for money has proven to be elusive. We called these men together for some prayer and gave them fresh water and the remainder of the food we had on the bus. The return trip to the hotel was silent, as we tried to process the human conditions and daily existence we had just witnessed.

We then stopped by the church to pickup some of the long term college student missionaries that were spending the summer in Choluteca. We traveled 45 minutes to the beach and enjoyed a fish lunch and a few hours of sun and sand on the coast of Honduras. It was a world away from our morning trip, but was a great end to the trip. From the shore we looked South to Nicaragua and north to El Salvador. Spending a few hours in the warm ocean swells and swinging in hammocks was a welcome break.

Saturday evening we returned to the Great Commission Church for the weekly church service. We met Carlos and Edita and gave them a photo album showing the construction of their new home and the team working side by side with them during the week.

Our week in Honduras has come to an end. It has been a wonderful opportunity to help a family that we pray will become a spark to change a community. We have seen how the Great Commission Church is making a difference in the lives of individuals and fighting to change the cycle of poverty, disease, hopelessness, and the spiritual voids that impact the people of Honduras. Elevate church will be back again next year to continue our partnership with the Great Commission church in Honduras, and learn from each other what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ in a broken world

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Celebration and Tears

Wow, we finished the home and had a wonderful morning full of ceremony, celebration, and commission. After making a few final touch-ups to the home including a front door handle, padlock and general construction cleanup, we sent the Auguilar family out into their neighborhood to bring back friends, neighbors, and loads of children for a celebration. While they were gone, our team decorated the home with 2 new foldaway beds for Franklin and Jeffrey. We moved Carlos and Edita's bed from their home and put fresh sheets on all of the beds. We brought in their table and added new plastic chairs, a table cloth, plastic dishes and glasses. Their house, now looked like a home. The finishing touch was to place the shoes of the son they had lost along side a bible on the bed. As the crowd gathered behind our GCLA Bus we could not resist adding a bit of ABC drama by having everyone yell Mueve El Bus (Move that Bus) to show the home to everyone. It's hard to describe the impact of seeing a bed of your own for the first time as 17 year old Jeffrey did. Or to know that when the rains come, as they do almost every afternoon during the 6 month rainy season that you will have a dry place to stay. This week has been life changing for the Anguilar family and for all of us as well.

It was now time to celebrate with a pinata with all of the kids. It was amazing to see how fast a pinata gathers kids for a party. They were everywhere. It was a great celebration. Luis Fernando finished the morning with a commission, for the Auguliar family to become a beacon within their community to open their home to share what the love of God has done and is doing in their lives.

In the afternoon we went to a community between Limon and Casa Hogar Vida that is made up of farmers that do not own the land they are living on, but have created homesteads. They have no electricity or city services, but have planted crops to sell in the marketplace. Many of these people can not read and write and have been visited by many different missionaries and have developed their faith by word of mouth. There has been a traveling preacher that is starting to pull the community together, but they are essentially isolated from a regular community of faith. We tromped through the fields in the rain and mud back to the bus.
Our evening ended with a special Honduran meal at the home of Pastor Geovanny. The food and fellowship was wonderful and we watched a video of pictures taken throughout the week. Some of the team stayed for a Cell Group meeting(like our eleven32 groups). There was good discussion and it was amazing how similar our churches are.

The House Nears Completion

Today’s devotion was about Scott’s childhood memories of learning how to fish; the importance of knowing the fish and how the right bait, the right location, the right depth, and patience are all required to catch fish. Jesus invited fisherman as his disciples and we also are called to be fishers of men.

We returned to the work site to find the framing and interior walls had been constructed by Carlos and Daniel yesterday afternoon. So the team began the construction of hinged window covers (there will be no glass in these openings), and the front and rear door of the home. The rest of the team started working on attaching the concrete board and painting the home. We returned to the work site after lunch and completed the concrete board and much of the exterior painting. The afternoon rains started and so work was stopped. When it rains, it really rains down here. All that is left to finish the home is some final trim, latches, and touchups.

Some of the team went shopping this afternoon to purchase plastic chairs (everyone has them in the neighborhood), a 2 roll away twin beds, Tupperware to store kitchen staples, backpacks for the kids etc. to complete the house. Tomorrow is going to be especially exciting as we finish the house and celebrate with the Aguilar family by hosting a “block party” Honduras / Elevate Church style.

During the afternoon a team of 4 of us accompanied by Marisu and Luis Fernando went to 2 homes in Limon. We spent 20-30 minutes at 2 separate homes sharing our faith before the bus picked us up in the pouring rain.

Concrete, Prison, and Evangelism

Our morning devotion focused on taking this week beyond the emotional high of a mission trip. We should structure our lives such that being a Missional Christian is the focus of our daily routine, not just 1 week during the summer. Although spending a week in Honduras serving others in need is an awesome emotional, physical, and spiritual experience.

During our work in Limon today, we worked on the concrete floor, putting the finishing touches on the roof, and completing the framing. By lunch we had completed 1/2 of the concrete floor. We returned to the work site at the end of the day and found the rest of the floor had been completed. Justin carved the Elevate Church symbol just inside the main entrance.

Dave, Ryan and I had the opportunity to spend time with Pastor Giovanny at lunch today. It is amazing to hear the similarities in the vision and mission of the Great Commission Church in Honduras and the vision of Elevate Church. After lunch we were invited to witness the prison baptism of 3 women inmates as a part of the church's prison ministry. One of the church's Deacons started a prison ministry 5-6 years ago. Today was a special day for 3 of the inmates who were taking their faith public with a baptism. Seeing how the love of Christ has impacted these inmates is a powerful and emotional experience. It is hard to describe the conditions these women live in and the faith, courage, and strength it takes for the women of the church to be serving the prisoners.

After lunch the rest of our team went shopping for food staples to be handed out during our sharing of the good new of Jesus Christ with the local poor. These food staples should last a small family 1 week for the cost of $7 US. The teams visited 10 homes this afternoon. We will be going out again on Thursday and Friday afternoon.

Rasing the Roof and visiting Casa Hogar Vida

Our team had another long, hot, wonderful day of service in Honduras. We began the day with devotions from Ryan, who reminded us that God is not just out there somewhere, but is active and alive working in this world every day. As we begin to prepare to share the good news of Jesus Christ with some of the poor in Honduras, we should remember that God is at work already in our lives, and in the lives of those we are going to meet

The work day started back at the Aguliar family’s home. It was the hottest day this week, and we worked thru the noon hour before taking a lunch break. To extend our day on the work site, the team from the church brought lunch for us to share. They setup at a house down the street and we had pizza and watermelon. We completed positioning all of the rocks for the concrete floor, and had enough rocks left over to add a porch and sidewalk to the property. We also completed all of the support structure for the roof and added the tin roofing material to 1 side of the home.

In the afternoon we visited Casa Hogar Vida to see the amazing things the team there is doing. Since we last left in July 2010, they have nearly completed the construction of 19 new homes. The homes should be ready for occupancy in about 1 month. The applications totaled over 400 families for these 19 new homes. We visited the orphanage that currently has 6 orphans in 1 of 2 buildings on site. We were also able to see the brick factory, the recently relocated coffee roasting operation, and the girls did some shopping at the craft house.

After dinner we made a stop at the local ice cream shop and enjoyed desert with Ronnie, Alturo, and Levi’s family.

Monday, June 20th Meeting the Children of Nutrition Center

Waking up refreshed and renewed we began our day with a devotional by Betty about "Being Thirsty". In the Honduras sun, we have all experienced first-hand the satisfaction of drinking a cold bag of water, but we all need to find the satisfaction of thirsting for God.

We began our day visiting the Nutrition Center and Day Care in Limon. The children were so filled with joy when they saw us. Lots of "horsey rides" and "teeter tottering" occurred with our group. We also toured the Computer and English as a Second Language building. Our team that came in July last year had dug the footers for the building and the October team worked on the landscaping. It is a beautiful building that will allow the children of Limon to gain skills that will help them get jobs in the future.

After our visit we headed to our work site to continue constructing the home for the Anguilar Family. Today we filled the foundation with dirt and are now in the process of filling with stones that will support the concrete. The men also added the beams that will support the roof. Our team noticed that there was no food in the home so with a undesignated gift sent with one of the missionaries, we went to the store and bought staples for the family; beans, rice, eggs, lard, soap, etc. We discretely placed it in her kitchen and when she saw it she broke down with tears of gratitude. We explained that these gifts were not from us, but from God who placed us here at this time and place to support her family in their time of need.

Rocks, Concrete and an Amazing Family

Our first full day in Honduras was a great start for the team. We began the day with an orientation and understanding of what the Great Commission Church in Choluteca is trying to accomplish. Pastor Gaovanny shared the 5 Giants that need David's to defeat. These include Poverty, Inadequate Education, Disease, Selfish Leaders, and Spiritual Voids. He shared how GCLA Choluteca is working in the local community to develop outreach programs to attack all of these giants.

Before lunch, we took a short bus ride into the heart of Choluteca to see the first home constructed by a mission team for under $2,000. Concrete block homes can cost up to $6,500 or more. The church has developed an $1,8000 concrete sheet and metal roof structure with a concrete floor. This allows the church to make 3 -4 significant, life changing homes for the very poorest families for the costs of a single block house. The team here also believes we can complete the home in 1 week.

After lunch we headed to the construction site and were introduced to the Aguilar family. Carlos and Edita and their 2 son's Jeffrey and Franklin. They shared their story along with pictures of their son that died 2 years ago after fighting a brain tumor that he had since birth. The costs of the treatments and hospitalizations left the family with nothing. The family worked along side all of us throughout the afternoon. We moved stones for the 18 ft x 15 ft foundation, dug post holes and set the corner and center wall posts in concrete. It was a great start to what we are sure will be a wonderful, life changing home not only for the Aguilar family, but also those of us working so hard this week as the hands and feet of Christ.

Saturday, June 18 2911 Travel day

Our first breakfast was at 3:30 AM in Detroit. Our second breakfast was somewhere over the gulf of Mexico around 10:30 AM. Lunch was with Ronnie (our bus driver), Levi (Our GLCA Mission Coordinator) and Mari and Edwin (Our interpreters) at Pollo Camparo in Tegucigalpa, Honduras around 12:30 PM local time. (There is a 2 hour time difference in Honduras). Julie survived the 3 hour bus ride in the rain (no surprise) by remaining horizontal most of the way(Julie and long bus rides don't mix well). Dinner was provided by the ladies of the church and it was delicious. The Saturday night church service was awesome with the new LED lights we carried down with us already plugged in adding to the visual effects. It was a long day of travel, but EVERYONE MADE IT (See last years Blog).

Friday June 17th - Best Western Airport

We have all safely transitioned from Monroe to Romulus, abut 45 minutes from home. We shared dinner at Bob Evans and had a quick team meeting to prepare for a very long day tomorrow. Our wake-up calls are set for 3:00 AM. The Best Western surprised us tonight by telling us they have prepared breakfast bags that we will pick-up as we board the shuttle at 3:45 AM.

Check out adamdavisblog.com
to see what our mission work in Honduras will be. We are very excited and blessed to be building a home for the Anguilar family. We head to the airport hotel next Friday and our flight leaves at 6:00am on Saturday. Keep us in your prayers!

Honduras Mission Trip 2011

Today is our final meeting with the mission team before we head to Honduras on June 18th. We are learning how to pack for 9 days in a carry on suitcase and a backpack. This year we have 4 of our 10 members who went on the trip last year so their knowledge will be invaluable to our "newbies". We are so excited to know that we will be building a home during the week for a family in need. Keep us in your prayers.

Pictures

Day 7 (Saturday)

Our final full day in Honduras, and we are back on the rock pile. Initial plans were to visit the local dump to see where the poorest of the town's residents live. News stories have been filmed and broadcast concerning the children of Choluteca, Honduras and the living conditions at the dump. It is our understanding that the children and adults scavenge the dump for bottles and cans to sell for money. The heavy rain yesterday has flooded the road to the dump, so we are back as Casa Hogar Vida this morning to continue working on the playground.

We also had the opportunty to visit Senior Santos's home and the new concrete floor layed yesterday by the other team, and carve the Cedar Creek and Elevate chrurch names at the entrance to the building. We were again surrounded by children and had the chance to give out candy, and play some frisby.

During the afternoon we finally got some much needed R&R time to swim at the pool and rest before going to Church. Senior Santos along with several of the women the teams visited during the week made it too the service and we had a last chance to say our goodbye's to the local community.

This has been a truly amazing week of work, community outreach, sight seeing, and time with Anna.

Day 6 (Friday)

Today was a bit of a mixed day, with work in the morning,and some time in the mountains in the afternoon.

This morning teams returned to Casa Hogar Vida to complete the concrete work at Senior Santos house and load another 500 concrete blocks to be transported to Limon. Anna and I worked on loading concrete blocks. 500 blocks, each weighing between 30 and 35 pounds (just a guess) took us several hours. Along the way we found a frog with suction cups on his feet that let him stick to the blocks like glue, a scorpion that made it all the way into the truck before we found it, and several spiders.

After lunch and a short time at the hotel to clean up, we loaded the busses for San Marcos de Callo. The is a retreat center in the mountains about 90 minutes by bus from the hotel. We spent several hours enjoying the cool air, the beautiful scenery, and talking in small groups (Anna and I) about our week in Honduras. We ate dinner at the top of the mountain adn ruturned back home this evening.

The church is hosting 100 college kids this weekend to discuss the vision of the church and all of the great projects they have started in the community. Several of the adults, and all of the kids and interpretors went back the church to share this weeks work with the college students.

Day 5 (Thursday)

It´s getting late, so I´ll keep this one short

Today we mixed our teams with Cedar Creek and Elevate working together. Both teams were working to put new concrete floors in homes that currently had only a dirt floor.

Our team worked on a home of a mother of 4 suffering from HIV AIDS. Her family is not aware of her illness, and the kids have all been checked by the doctor and are free of the disease. When we arrived she had been taken to the hospital suffering from a high fever. We had a skilled mason working with us, and we completed the front room and front porch by 4:30 pm when the bus arrived. After lunch we found Christina had been released from the hospital and the team was able to visit with her and her childern as we finished the concrete work. She expressed her gratitude to God and the team for the work we did to support her family. It was very rewarding to know we have made a significant difference in her living conditions. The team from the Great Commision Church will return in the next few days to add a front door, and security bars on her home to make it safe.

Tonight we enjoyed a meal of traditional Honduran foods prepared by our volunteer team from the Great Commission Church. We came to serve the people of Honduras, but the team from the local church has made this week an awesome experience. They are always 1 step ahead of our needs, from transportation, to water bottles, to translators and tonight that had a slide presentation of pictures that were taking all week long.

Wow

Day 4 (Wednesday)

Unfortunately our new Dell computer has developed a memory problem and has not allowed me to update the blog or send out pictures. Must be something in the water.

So, I´m using the lobby computer for tonight´s update.

The past 2 days have been very busy work days for us. On Wednesday the Elevate team traveled to Limon to work in 3 areas.

1) Nutrition Center
2) Day Care
3) Construction

Anna spent the morning working in the Nutrition center spending time with kids being brought back from the brink of starvation and malnutrition. This process can take from 6 weeks to 1 year depending on the level of malnutrition. From the look on the faces of the kids and the volunteers the morning was a great success. The biggest obstacle was that the playground was filled with fire ants. The local kids did not seam to notice, but the Americans were dancing and swatting their ankles.

John work in construction, cutting a trench to build footings for the new english as a second language and computer resource center. The trenching was some of the most difficult work, with the heavy clay soil, the swamp like surface conditions it was like trying to dig a moat in the everglades.

In the afternoon Anna worked the construction site covering the reinforcing bars that formed the corners of the building. She had several new blisters to show for her efforts (she should have been wearing her gloves).

John visited 4 local families in the Limon community sharing the Good News and inviting them to join the small group study at Senior Miguel Gonzallez home. We were swarmed with children looking for candy handouts. One gentelman in particular stood out to me. His name was John, so we had an immediate connection. As we passed by his house, he was working in the back cutting some metal for a home project. Through our interpretor we said hello and asked if we could talk with him. He stopped immediately and was so open and inviting to have the chance to talk to 5 strangers that did not even speak his language. We find this same openness and inviting spirit with everyone we have met in Honduras. It has truly been a blessing to visit this country and get to know the people and culture.

Day 3 (Tuesday)

Today's devotion was presented by Ryan, and it was about unity. Unity as a team at the work site, unity as the combined teams of Elevate and Cedar Creek, unity of mission and purpose. As the newness of the trip begins to wear off, and our day's become more predictable, it will be important to not loose site of why we are all in Honduras.

We loaded the buses ½ hour earlier today than yesterday, (So much for routine). The Elevate teams first stop was the Tortilla factory and bakery. This store front was recently relocated across the street from the Great Commission Church. The Tortilla factory produces about 10,000 Tortilla's, baked bread, cookies and other baked goods daily. The recently purchased Tortilla machine can make 6000 Tortilla's per hour, so production only takes about 2 hours per day. The manager of the story is working on getting some contracts with local supermarkets to increase demand. Distribution and sales of the finished product is keeping sales down.

With all of the heavy rain, we loaded the buses and were taken to the central market area of town to purchased much needed boots. 1 Pair of rubber work boots cost $140 Lumpera (approx. $7.50). Then it was back to Casa Hogar Vida to continue working on the playground. With all of the rain yesterday, it was even wetter at the work site. We completed moving the fill to completely enclose the playground with a border. Then our next assignment was the lift the play structure the construct a new foundation of large boulders to replace the 4x4's currently sinking into the mud. What a challenge.

The afternoon we headed to a real supermarket to purchase some staples (rice, sugar, beans, lard, pasta, salt etc.) to give to the families we were to visit in the afternoon. We were told the supermarket was owned by Walmart. With the donations collected, the team purchased 33 bags of staples to be distributed. We went back to the same neighborhood to support the Senior Toshee's new small group being formed. Our team visited 2 families. We returned to a family we visited on Sunday, to talk with them again and give them some much needed food. Several of the children looked like they were showing signs of malnutrition. The second house was an older couple that had a real connection with Tom and Betty, since both couples had children from previous marriages and were not remarried. After finding out that they had already been invited to the small group meetings, our interpreter took command of the dialogue and we just sat back and watched.

After dinner we tried to Skype with Julie as a team and were somewhat successful, but we lost internet connection and bandwidth continues to be a real problem for us. Everyone got to at least say hello before we lost the link.