Dear Synod of the Trinity:
Thank you so much for the opportunity to travel to the Southern REgion of Honduras with Central American Relief Efforts (CARE), which is spearheaded by Steve Mentzer of First Presbyterian of Lancaster.
With the support of my Church (Columbia Presbyterian, Columbia, PA), Donegal Presbytery and the Synod of the Trinity, I was able to go on my first international mission trip after making many domestic trips.
Our group traveled February 24-March 1, 2008. We landed in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and then traveled two hours south to Pespire. Our volunteer group of 12 was divided into 3 working groups: clothing bank, dental, and medical clinics. I worked with the medical team which consisted of 3 nurses from a local hospital, myself (EMT), and a translator. We stayed in Pespire at night and traveled to remote mountain village sot run the clinics during the day. Monday through Wed we worked in the village of San Isidro & on Thursday we were in San Jose. Both villages were approximately a 90 minute ride up into the mountains on gravel roads.
We bought, sorted, and delivered the medications to be given out to the local people. Each day we stocked the pharmacies in the medical clinics. The pharmacies were wooden shelves with a window to dispense the medications. Medications were handed out in plastic bags by a local woman.
Each day hu ndreds of local villagers were lined up by the time we arrived. Some of them had walked for hours to get in a long line to see us. We listened to them, offered a comforting hand, wrote - 'prescriptions' - often for nothing other than vitamins and tylenol on small pieces of paper in pencil. This healthcare which seemed primitive to us was so much more than they were used to receiving. The gratitude that the Honduran people demonstrated by the looks on their faces and hugs they gave brought all of us to tears.
Often the only comfort we could offer our patients was prayer - and found that there is indeed, no language barrier when coming to God in prayer.
We were asked to see 800 patients in 4 days prior to the trip which astounded us and we thought was perhaps an insurmountable task. When the four day medical clinics were finished, we had seen a total of 1,180 patients. God is Great!
The people of San Isidro and San Jose in the southern region of Honduras blessed me so much and I am so grateful that I could serve. I cannot wait to return.
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