In September of 2015, we again sent a team to Honduras. This team of three had a little different mission than last year. Each of the three team members raised money privately to pay their own way on this Missions trip. God was good and supplied!
Knowing some of the battles and needs from the 2014 trip, this team was a little better prepared. They were also able to source some much needed medical supplies that they noted were needed from last year’s trip.
After a night in La Ceiba, the team traveled to Cusuna (a remote village on the north coast of Honduras). The local people are the Garifuna, a small population of descendants from Carib and West African people. In Cusuna, Connect Global (our mentoring Missions agency used for our Honduran trips), arranged for us to assist in teaching a Missions Program to the church in Cusuna along with three other churches from neighboring villages.
Over the course of a few days and with our translator Jorge (a loving gregarious Christ-filled man living and ministering in Cusuna) we taught the full Missions Program from Global Pathways. It was so exciting to see the idea and love for missions bloom. We witnessed the actually birthing process of the Garifuna Missions movement!! God is so good!
A family doctor was again part of our team and volunteered at the small clinic in Cusuna. But as word spread that she was a doctor, she was often asked to step in to someone’s house or hut to see an ailing family member.
We were thrilled to be part of the work in Cusuna and to see their desire to also send out missionaries to other parts of the world.
Following Cusuna, we headed back to La Ceiba where we visited Casa Feliz (which means Happy House in English). Casa Feliz is an orphanage that cares for children that fall between the cracks of the traditional Honduran orphan system. In Honduras, if the child’s parent(s) is still living they are not eligible to be in an official orphanage. In this case, many of the residents of Casa Feliz are taken out of abusive homes where they are mistreated.
I’ve been asked to not show photos or use names from the house in order to protect the children. One child that I’ll call Joe, was taken from his parents at 3 months of age covered in cigarette burns. Joe was there several months when we met him and seemed content. We were there during nap time so he would doze off and on while we were there. Beautiful child that now has an opportunity!! There are more stories and more lives being changed!
The children live at the house, help with chores, go to school in a separate class room and even have an American couple that comes in and teaches them how to use a computer. I can’t wait to see the lives of promise yet to come out of Casa Feliz!!
Thank you to all who support our Missions programs – you help make a huge difference in the lives of people of all ages!
Here are some of the photos from this year’s Honduran trip…
