In April, I was able to travel to Honduras with a group from my local congregation, the Nashua church of Christ. A group from my church has gone over the last few years to work with the organization Mission Lazarus, located in southern Honduras. This year I had the opportunity to join them and it was an experience that will stay in my heart.
Mission Lazarus is a 1200
acre ranch that supports and outreaches into the surrounding area.
"Mission Lazarus is a holistic ministry that focuses on basic primary
education, skill development, health education and treatment,
agricultural development, and preaching and teaching the Word of God."
You can find out more information by visiting their website at
http://honduras.missionlazarus.org/
Our group participated by making food deliveries to families in particular
need, conducting women's days and children's activities, as well as
helping to build a house for a particular family of 14 that lost their
house in the floods in the fall.
There was one little
boy,
named Aron, who lived
in next to the house we were building. He was probably about 4 years
old. The first day we were there, he kept picking at the bottom of his
foot, which were bare. There was a rock that had become embedded under
some skin, from an injury, and it was bothering him. One of our group
members, a nurse, was able to remove the rock. The next day, he was
given a pair of flip flops and very proudly came over to me and stuck
his foot out on the ground to show them to me, in the exact same manner,
my 3 year old son does when he is showing off his dearly loved cowboy
boots. The mannerism struck me, these two boys are miles and miles
away, and live in completely different worlds, yet, here they were so
similar. It was a further reminder that we are not as different as we
seem.
We built this house for a
family of 14
who's home had been washed away in the fall. They were currently
living in various small shacks surrounding the foundation of where the
new house would be built. I was struck with the matriarch of the
family. She was a woman of strength, both physically and spiritually.
She was in the fire line moving cinder blocks down the hill, she was
carrying water up from the river, she was cooking food for her family in
a rudimentary but efficient kitchen house. I was told that she had
exclaimed how she just could not believe that this was happening to her
family. The final day, as we said our goodbyes, there were tears in her
eyes as we all hugged necks. I may never see her again, but her strong
face will forever be in my memory, and hope that I can be the type of
woman she is to her family.
One of the days, that I was at the work site, we had the task of moving a
large pile of cinder blocks from where they were dropped off at the
side of the road, down a steep grassy bank, to where the house was being
built. We decided to create a fire line, to move the pile, instead of
each carrying bricks the whole way down the hill individually. It
worked great. We all handed the blocks to one another. Members of the
family and the neighbors participated in this line as well. It became a
very bonding experience. We were all working together at this specific
task. We did not have to speak the same language. It was brothers and
sisters working together for the common good. One member of our group
mentioned later, that it was neat to think that everyone's hands,
touched every block of the house.
We worshiped on Sunday with a local congregation. It was a really awesome experience to participate with them and hear the same songs we sing at home sung in their language.
I had the opportunity to visit a local school, run by Mission Lazarus.
I also had the opportunity to sit in on a local preachers meeting.
This was my first time in a third world country, and even though I
expected and prepared myself to see the poverty there, it was still very
shocking. You can not have this type of experience without it
effecting you in a deep way. Several times during the trip, I was
bursting to the seems with emotion, both in sadness and happiness. I
hope that this experience will effect the kind of mother I am to my own
children, as well, as encourage me to do more in my own community to
serve those in need.
I will plan to share more about my experience in future posts.
