Missions

"God is at work in the world, and he wants you to join him. This assignment is called your mission. God wants you to have both a ministry in the Body of Christ and a mission in the world. Your ministry is your service to believers, and your mission is your service to unbelievers. You were made for a mission."

 

Honduras Medical Mission 2008

As most of you know this is our third year sending members of our church on a Honduras Medical Mission.  This year we were blessed to have ten church members be a part of this year’s mission trip to Honduras – Pat Rosa, Brett Roelofs, Marisa Torres and Wendy Vassell; and first-timers, Tracy Ambrossi, Nia Bert, Sandra Hammerman, Helena Rodriguez, Pedro Rodriguez and Orlando Torres. Rachel Middleton, a pharmacist from Wisconsin, also joined us.

Our trip was sponsored by World Gospel Outreach (WGO), a Christian organization founded in 1984 by Allen and Dona Danforth.  WGO’s vision is to win the people of Honduras to Christ and to engage in ministry that mobilizes the American church and the individual believer for acts of love and service to the poor.  Thanks to your generous contributions, we were blessed to partake in this wonderful vision.

After stops in Panama City and Costa Rica, we made a safe landing on Saturday afternoon in Honduras where we were introduced to our hosts for the week, Denny (a North American missionary), Ileana (a Honduran lady) and Tyler and Renae (two young American interns).  We were taken by a yellow bus, driven by Manuel, to the Mission House where we would spend our week.  On Sunday some of us attended CCI, a Spanish speaking church, while others attended the English speaking Union Church.  Service was followed by a hearty lunch at La Florida Restaurant, after which we went souvenir shopping in Valle de Angeles (Valley of Angels).  After returning to the Mission House, we loaded the cargo truck with Brigade site equipment and then participated in evangelism training.

Each workday began with devotion at 6:15 am followed by a hearty breakfast prepared by three Honduran women.  We then ventured off to our site for the day.   After returning to the Mission House in the evening we would unload the bus and cargo truck, have dinner, and end the day with devotions and the sharing of special moments in our day.

On Monday and Tuesday our Brigade site was at a church called Casa de Oracion y Alabanza.  The Pastor and his wife had lost two family members in a car accident the week before but were committed to follow through with their plans for the brigade.  At this site we had a Honduran doctor, three Honduran dentists, pharmacists and nurses who were able to take care of the various needs of the many Honduran men, women and children who came.   In addition to assisting the dentists and pharmacists, we washed the children’s hair, treating lice when necessary.  The girls loved the barrettes and pretties and the boys loved having their hair spiked.

On Wednesday we went to Rancho Ebenezer where WGO has five homes led by a mother and father who are raising five to six Honduran children who have been abandoned and physically or mentally abused.  A brand new school has also been built on the Ranch to educate the children from elementary age to high school.  WGO also has in place the Bridge House, which is a home where the high school graduates are taught the skills to successfully transition to adulthood.

On Thursday and Friday, our Brigade site was a school further up the mountain from the Mission House.  Here the team was blessed to have three dentists and three doctors.  There was also a team of fourteen from Chicago who, along with Orlando, was able to lay the concrete floor in three rooms of the home of a young man who was not only taking care of his children but also a sixteen year old niece who had a baby.  At this site we also assisted the dentists and pharmacists and washed the children’s hair.

Even though we were small in numbers (the preferred number for a crew was at least twenty people), God orchestrated everything in such a way that no one was turned away from the Brigade sites.  Everyone was tended to.  Last year we served over 2,000 people.  This year we served approximately 1,200 Hondurans.   Many were already Christians and 89 committed their lives to Christ. 

It was great fun to sing with the children and share the Salvation story using the bead bracelets, which many of you helped to make.  No one, from the youngest to the oldest, left the brigade sites without being told the story of Salvation.  And all this could not have been accomplished without the help of our translators.

It was inspiring to learn of the many Americans who left the comforts of their homes in the US to live in Honduras in response to God’s calling on their lives.  Our two young interns, Tyler and Renae, also made sacrifices leaving friends and family to serve the people of Honduras. We thought we would be a blessing to the Hondurans but in many ways it was the Hondurans who blessed us with their humility, love, affection and warm smiles.  During one of our devotions, Pedro remarked that the Honduran believer has true faith because he or she has so little and must rely on God for everything.  During my time evangelizing to the Hondurans, I felt a sense of urgency to reach as many for Christ as I possible could.  I pray that each of us, having been so blessed and having tasted of God’s goodness in a multitude of ways, will realize how urgent it is that we share the Good News of Jesus Christ with not only our friends and family but wherever the opportunity presents itself. 

Thank you again for your prayers, contributions and notes of encouragement.  I pray that one day soon you will also be blessed to go on a great adventure for Jesus Christ!!! 

                                                            Submitted by Wendy J. Vassell

                                                On behalf of the Honduras Mission Team 2008