The first day of our mission trip was to our new village of El Portillon where our Honduran coordinator, Miguel Bautista teaches ninth grade. This makes 5 villages where we do community development. Our first project there was the new outdoor classroom, allowing the students to enjoy a reprieve from their hot, stuffy classrooms. This village is very poor and remote, yet the community is so loving and faith-filled.
On the morning of our second day we met with the clean water production team of San Marcos de la Sierra to discuss distribution and progress of the purified water delivery. It was our first visit since the installation of the clean water system in December, 2019. We found that the production team was doing a tremendous job of producing and distributing clean water to their village. Two of our villages, however are too far away to walk to San Marcos for clean water. It was decided that the production team will deliver the water by truck to these two villages
One of the highlights while we were in San Marcos was finding little eight year old Meily Michel Hernandez. She is the little girl on the cover of the magazine she is holding from Living Waters for the World. She was five at the time the magazine photo was taken during our clean water installation in her village. The photo continues to be used by Living Waters. She remembers drinking the water! As you can see, Meily is a healthy, happy little girl.
That afternoon we traveled the difficult, mountainous road leading to Miguel’s boyhood home in El Paterno. After greeting Miguel’s parents, we took a tour of Miguel’s home. Then his nieces and nephews took us along a narrow mountainous path to view Miguel’s coffee plantation. We enjoyed a visit with Miguel’s brother and spent time with his 15 day-old baby and cousins. The visit ended with a delicious Lenca Indian chicken soup and tortillas prepared by his mother. These photos portray typical life in our remote villages.
Sunday morning we enjoyed a leisurely morning at our hotel and in the afternoon we held meetings with our villages of Guanacaste and Aguacate. The meetings gave us an opportunity to reunite after our two year absence during COVID. It also gave us time to exchange ideas for future projects.
Monday we hiked a narrow, mountainous pathway to visit an impoverished single mother, Maria Geraldina and her daughters in the new home we funded. To the delight of the family, each one received gifts of clothes and shoes. We were treated with an apple juice toast to commemorate the special day— a day we will always remember.
Following the visit, we delivered three sewing machines to each of our villages to start our long-awaited sewing project. The sewing machines came from The Sewing Project in Columbia, Missouri.
This non-profit organization receives used sewing machines and refurbishes them— sending them all over the world. The sewing machines are encased in wooden containers packed with everything needed to sew, including eyeglasses and small gifts for the children. We’ve only been home a month and are already receiving photos of their sewing handiworks.
On our last evening, we spent time celebrating our successful trip with Miguel, our In-Country Coordinator, and his family. We gave his children small, treasured gifts. That next morning we received a photo of Miguel’s son, Miguelito sleeping with Señor Slinky, such a cherished gift!
The days of our mission trip are a story of beauty, challenge, joy and gratitude. Gratitude from those we serve, and our gratitude to be able to serve them. Our villagers thank God, Friends of Honduras, and our many donors who make our projects possible.