Day 6 – Thursday
Another late entry tonight - it is almost 10pm. This has been a long, exhausting, and emotional day for me. Our day started at the usual time – I woke up at 5:30am to shower and get to breakfast which starts at 6:30am. We ate breakfast and then made our sandwiches for lunch. I have to tell you that having P,B & J sandwiches every day has been one of the best parts of this trip for me!! Josh Hatley gave an excellent devotional today about “what is it that brings true happiness?” I really admire him for getting up in front of 60+ people to give us his feelings about this trip. He read from Proverbs 29:18, John 13:17, and Proverbs 13:17. He spoke about how following God and doing what He says will bring true happiness. Being here with the kids and all of us FBFCO members being his family while he is here on his own brings him happiness. He concluded with how we are bringing physical and spiritual growth to the Hondurans. Through God we bring happiness to them and to ourselves. Dr. Gates gave a short devotional as well reading from 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul said “Run the race so that you may win it” and he said “we are winning the race." Dan Falco spoke about a boy he saw in medical yesterday who was 11 or 12 years old. He was hunched over grabbing his stomach so Dan asked him where his mom was – the boy responded that she wasn’t around. Dan asked about his dad – the boy said he was dead. Dan asked the boy several questions but was stumped as to the cause of the boy’s pain. Then one of the interpreters, David, asked the boy what he ate for breakfast – the boy responded “nothing”. David asked what he had for dinner the previous night and got the same reply. David asked the boy if he was hungry and with tears in his eyes he simply nodded his head yes. Dan gave the boy some sandwiches and when he turned around for a moment the boy was gone. Dan asked David how he knew that the boy was hungry and David said “that’s how I looked when I was a runaway and I was hungry”. David used his experiences to help that boy and that was a ministry and testimony to God which is what each of us are doing as we use our experiences, skills, and strengths to help the Hondurans while we are here.
For the first time all three teams drove to the church site together. The windows and doors had been installed and they were finishing with the stucco on the outside when we arrived. I don’t think Medical and VBS were prepared with how little space was at the church site. Remember there is the church, the lean to they use for a school and then a small concrete structure just a few feet away. The church is on a hill so there is no flat area for VBS to set up games, crafts, etc. After scoping out the area the leaders determined that Dental and Pharmacy would be set up in the church; optical would go to the school area; and Women’s health, Medical, and triage would use the smaller structure. The team began unloading both buses while discussions were going on elsewhere as to where to set up VBS. Eventually they located a vocational school just down the hill from the church site and they were able to use a covered area to hold their activities in. It was important that they had shelter because today’s weather was one of the worst we have experienced. It started out as a light drizzle and the drizzle got heavier as the day wore on. It must have rained all last night because the ground was slushy and extremely muddy. Some of the men found boards to use as a walkway over the mud so that patients could walk from the church to the structure and vice versa.
As has been the experience all week, there was a line of patients waiting for us when we arrived. Triage quickly set up as well as Evangelism. The limit today was 200 patients and I would imagine that we saw close to that number of people today. I was a “runner” so I got to see a little bit of everything. Sonia disciples to a group of 25-30 people first. Then she signs off on their paper – if her signature isn’t on that paper, they don’t get seen. The next stop for them is triage and then they are escorted by a runner to wherever they need to go (eyeglasses, dental, etc.). Karen Pflasterer is the queen of the runners. She kept the flow moving as smoothly as possible with so many people aimlessly walking around. When someone would try to skip a step in the process she would forcefully get them back in line where they needed to be. I was in awe of how powerful her little 5 foot frame can be!!
At one point I walked into Medical and saw a mother holding a little boy who was probably 3 or 4 years old. She was holding a nebulizer over his nose and mouth. I asked one of the doctors what his ailment was and he told me the boy had a severe case of asthma. They later took the boy to the local hospital to be admitted for treatment – all of which was paid for by our doctors. During a lull in the crowd toward the end of the a couple members of our team were seen in the dental chair getting their teeth cleaned! By the end of the day most everyone was covered in mud and it was decided that even though we had brought our “church clothes” with us there was no need to change into them. That was a relief because most of us didn’t bring shoes for walking around in our church clothes and mud! We wrapped up by 5pm and then ate our sandwiches or whatever other snacks we had and then went into the church at 6pm for the dedication.
They had decorated the church with red and white balloons and a sign welcoming all those who came. It was hard to believe how much got done on that church in the short time we were there. The Hondurans did the majority of the work since they worked from dawn to dusk but it felt so great to have had a small hand in finishing the church for them. The ushers looked so sharp in their black slacks and light green oxford shirts. And the pastor, Ricardo Celaya, looked just as neat in his black slacks and white shirt. But what really made us feel proud was that underneath his shirt you could see that he was wearing the lime green FBFCO mission shirt the team had given him the day before as a gift. The chairs were set up for adults and then a small section of maybe 40 miniature plastic chairs were set up on the side for the children. The church looked amazing!
The pastor thanked us for our work on the church and expressed what a blessing we have been to him and his church. He praised us for what we did and the example that we set. As he was bestowing all the kind accolades upon us all I could think about was what a wonderful example the Honduran workers and his group were. They were so patient and kind when I know they must have been frustrated with us at times. They put up with our Spanglish and allowed us to come in and work alongside them. They are very gracious and humble and it made me sad to know that this would be the last time we would see the church.
There were several prayers of thanks and blessings bestowed upon us and the church. Our group sang some songs in both Spanish and English and then their group sang us a couple of songs in Spanish. They took an offering and Dr. Gates gave them a “small gift” for the church. The pastor showed the church a beautiful plaque that read “A special thanks to First Baptist Church of Fair Oaks, CA. for your valuable participation in the construction of this church. Central Christian Church, Strong Fortress, this 19th of February 2010.” Roberto gave a short sermon in Spanish and I’ll have to find out from him tomorrow on what it was about since he never translated it for us. The pastor closed by saying that lots of families’ lives will be changed because we have preached as an example of what Jesus is like. His passion for Christ and the salvation of his people is a wonderful testimony of Christ’s love for his people. As we left the church many of the Hondurans the construction team had worked with gave hugs and shook hands as we said goodbye. Several of the local Honduran families were also there for the dedication and gave us hugs and thanked us for coming to help them build the church. It was a very emotional time and I hated having to say goodbye to the friends we have made over the last few days. On the bus trip home Dr. Brent Hambrick was on our bus. He told us that 60-70 Hondurans made a decision to accept Christ into their lives during our time here in Honduras. Praises to God that more people have come to know Him and what a wonderful gift they have received!
Tomorrow we get to sleep in until 7am as it is our day off! We will be packing up after breakfast and heading back to Tegucigalpa. We will be spending Friday night in a hotel before heading home on Saturday. We are scheduled to go to see the waterfalls tomorrow but if it is raining we will be visiting the caves. In case there is no wireless in the hotel I will fill you in when I get home on Saturday otherwise, I’ll talk to you all tomorrow. God Bless and good night!
Aprill Edwards