The January Friends of Barnabas (FOB) team headed down to Honduras mid Jan. After an early flight and connection in Miami we arrived in San Pedro Sula at 2:30p. Passports and customs were a breeze, there are definite improvements in the airport. Traffic was heavy but we made it to our base in Pena Blanca by 700p CT. A long day given the 3am ET wakeup. Sunday was team building and prep for the week ahead.
Each day during the week, we start at 620a with a devotion before breakfast and then again after dinner. When we head to the communities and arrive by 9a, we set up the pharmacy and the medical, dental, vision, and physicial therapy stations. Deworming, vitiamins, and height and weight for children are set up next to the intake area. We see an average of 40 families and are on the road by 4p and finished with dinner, devotions, and ARR by 8p.
This time, because of the epic storm Fern (snow is still meltling nearly 3 weeks later) we decided that the team needed to return a day early to beat the storm and avoid being stuck away from home. This was a good call as several volunteers needed time to prepare for the storm once they returned, but it also heightened everyones anxiety and the distraction potentially impacted what we could gain from the trip for ourselves.
NMS – this is YHCs 10th trip to Honduras and 9th as the team lead. While we seek to serve others, YHC cannot get over how much serving others serves us in turn. As Hardywood said once – its not a question whether the glass is half empty or full – the real question is what are you putting in your cup. On these trips my cup is overflowing not just for the good that we do as a team, but also the interaction with our steadfast FOB amigos en Honduras, and finally seeing the experience through the new volunteers we bring. Most are shocked and moved to see such abject poverty – not too far away. While we have poor in the US, we also have services available and its rare that a multigenerational family of 5 -8 are living in a house of sticks and mud with dirt floors and a few sheets of tin or tarps for a roof. We have everything available here and many are miserable. The special people we visit in these remote communities have nothing with respect to our standard of living, but they have the happiness that we do not. I challenge anyone to make this trip and return unchanged. Till next year.
Let me know if you want to learn more or check out: www.fobf.org
Prayers for all to give their time an treasure to serve the world in this way: Pigskin is co leading a team in July. As part of a different org, Try Hard is leading a team to Nicaragua soon.
Gitty up!