July trips exceed expectations

The 2005 summer mission trips to Honduras are over and we are all back home; back to our daily lives. We have returned to work, back to our day to day routines. Students are scrambling to get in the last couple of days of summer vacation in before starting another year of school. College students are packing up and heading off to their respective schools. It doesn’t take long to get back into the swing of things, does it? But most of us are still talking about the trip we made to Honduras this summer and the wonderful things we experienced. New friends, tons of stories, and freshly printed photos are floating around everywhere. This was definitely a great summer.

For all those who are interested, I have tried to calculate the statistical totals of the trips. Many will be doing presentations to their home congregations soon and hopefully this information will be useful to you. Feel free to contact me if you need additional information or any clarifications on what you read.

July 1-10 team totals: (98 total team members)
* 3 day VBS at Limon Church of Christ in Choluteca (600 in attendance)
* Painted the Limon church building and clinic (35 gallons of paint!)
* 3 day VBS/gospel meeting at Valley of Angels (500 in attendance)
* 1 day medical clinic outside Valley of Angels (450 patients seen)
* Built 6 new houses
* Passed out 650 boxes of food (163,800 meals)
* Passed out 1,000 bottles of purified water
* Made 35 gallons of lemonade!
* Made 1,100 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches!
* Visited the special needs orphanage
* Visited hospital Esquela twice (every patient and visitor received toys, clothes, and stuffed animals)
* Passed out 1,000 flyers in the Valley of Angels
* Gave away 650 Bibles
* Worked 2 days in Santa Ana hauling gravel, sand, concrete, and block
* Gave away 62 boxes of shoes, clothes, and toys
* Had 22 devotionals
* Gave $1,651 for contribution
* Visited Jimmy Hughes children’s home

The Crew retreat: (24 team members)
* Spent 1 night at the Marriott Hotel in Tegucigalpa
* Cleared brush at Santa Ana along with concrete work
* Built 18’x 32’ bodega at Santa Ana
* Participated in poverty simulation at Santa Ana
* Took the children from Dadasko orphanage on a field trip to Kentucky Fried Chicken (and the HUGE play ground!); Showed the Spanish version of the movie “Finding Nemo” with Tim’s video projector (with popcorn and drinks); Played games and soccer; and had a pizza party!

July 13-24 trip (94 total team members)
* 3 days of work at Santa Ana hauling gravel, sand, concrete, clearing brush, pouring sidewalks, and hauling blocks
* Visited Hospital Esquela 3 times
* Visited the blind school
* Built 4 new houses
* Packed 850 boxes of food
* Visited the Special Needs Orphanage
* Painted 2 school classrooms at Nueve Oriental
* 3 days of VBS/ gospel meeting at Valley of Angels (450 in attendance)
* Put on a carnival at Valley of Angels
* Distributed 650 boxes of food (163,800 meals)
* Visited the Good Shepard Children’s home and did a carnival for them
* Built a 3 tower playground at Dadasko Orphanage (3 bridges; 12 swings; 16’ cargo net climbing course; 20’ climbing rope; 4 slides; balancing beam rope pull; 7 decks) with unlimited playing combinations!
* Put on a carnival for the Dadasko Orphanage
* Passed out 1,200 bottles of purified water
* 2 day VBS at Aguas Agria ( 300 in attendance)
* Medical clinic at Aguas Agria (142 patients seen)
* Gave away 112 boxes of clothes, shoes, toys
* Passed out 1,200 flyers at the Valley of Angels
* Gave away 400 Bibles
* Painted 11 houses
* 24 devotionals
* $1,400 contribution
* Visited Hospital San Philippe
* Made 950 peanut butter and honey sandwiches
* Made 25 gallons of lemonade
* Our soccer team defeated the American Airlines team at the Olympic training facility 7-4 and the Cobras (Honduras' special task force) 6-5!!! 2-0 record!

For those of you that did not get to go this year, this is just part of the reason the one’s who came back can’t seem to stop talking about the trips. There are so many projects, so many memories. So many stories! But most importantly, there were so many lives that were touched and so many seeds that were planted. God granted us a wonderful trip that will be remembered a lifetime.

Thanks again to all who helped make this trip a reality. Thanks for the prayer warriors that prayed for us everyday while we were away. Thanks to all who gave money and supplies for this year’s trip. Thanks to the parents that allowed their children to go on the trip and gave us the opportunity to work with them. Thanks to all of the group leaders who participated this year. Thanks to all of the congregations that worked together to support this work. Thanks to all of the team leaders who headed up the different projects, without you it would be impossible to run teams as big as ours! And thank you Lord, for granting us good weather and health during the trip. God watched over us and guided us everyday while we were in Honduras and we give Him the glory for all that we did in His name. Until next time, Dios te bendiga! (God bless you!)