Blog
Thankful Thursday
Today was our last day actually working in the mission field as tomorrow is a driving travel day. The drive back up to San Pedro Sula is very long and can take anywhere between 6 and 10 hours depending on the day. So we drive up there the day before our flights to anticipate any hiccups along the way and make the actual flying day less stressful and uneventful.
So Thursday is always a half day working on mission in the clinics etc so we have time to take down the clinics, sort through medications and inventory stuff for next year. Theres a lot to do during this time so we can be on top of things for the next mission and know exactly what we have down here.
But the day started off as usual and pretty quickly upon arrival the clinic was filled with people who had been waiting there, some of them since 6am. Some people come from the mountains and go by foot to get there. We take for granted in the states the ability to get around and access to so many things. Lots of kids today too and people coming back for rechecks as well as new patients. Our little girl who had the massive abscess came back for a recheck so it was awesome to see that. She endured so much the day before, I was happy to see that she came. Her wound looked good and she didn’t have a fever and said she was feeling better! Fingers crossed it stays clean and heals.
We had 71 patients in the clinic this am with a total for the 3 1/2 days of 525 patients. That’s just the clinic. For the entire medical mission we are probably pretty close to 1500 patients between kids in the school, the rehab center, special needs school and women’s clinic.
After church was cleaned up and everything sorted and accounted for, we headed back to the hotel to clean up, pack and get ready for dinner and church. After dinner we headed back to church to celebrate and spend time in worship with our brothers and sisters from the La Ceibita church. The church services here are always so vibrant, cheerful and exuberant. Theres so much passion in the service and it’s always enjoyable to be at. My little girl Valery sat with me through the whole service so that was wonderful. She such a sweet girl and has a beautiful smile and I always love seeing her.
When we come here we always leave with so much more. We are filled with love from the people here and while we think we are coming here to do good work, we are humbled by the work that people do here and how much they do for others. My heart is full and I can’t wait to see everyone again. Life is different here, there are language barriers, and other things that we could allow to get in the way, but they don’t because the only language we need to know is the love that we have for each other and our faith in God.
Tomorrow is a travel day, with another travel day following for the team. The van ride back is often full of reflection and laughter and sometimes quiet sleep moments as the tiredness from the week kicks in. But no matter what it is all good.
There will be a youth mission in June and another mission in September. There is work to be done in between and the people here never stop being on mission.
Until next time
Blessings, Shelley
Theres always room for one more in the vehicle 😂
Counting meds earlier this week
Wild Wednesday
Today was a record day in the clinic and we saw 182 patients. Even though we were busy, we managed a good flow and it didn’t feel like overwhelming. We have had a few illnesses and injuries in the team so a few people have been staying back resting. So pharmacy has been short a few people, but they have been troopers and managing fine! Today there were some tough cases in the clinic that sone of the providers had to contend with. A couple of them were serious abscesses that needed to be drained and my heart hurt for those little kids and the pain they had to endure. It’s unfortunate and sad that these kids and adults have to deal with the illnesses they do because of the lack of resources.
Sometimes it’s hard and you feel somewhat helpless. I get a lot of comfort snuggling and playing with the little ones that come through the clinic and just seeing them smile and giggle. There were definitely some sweet little snugglers today! Lots of kids again today, some sent over from the school screenings. Word travels around here and that is how a lot of people hear about the clinic, so it seems we have an endless stream of patients coming through. We do what we can to see as many as we can, but sometimes it’s not possible to see them all.
The school continued with their screenings and saw 111 kiddos. The education team there had fun teaching the kids some fun computer games they had developed to teach the kids math and geography. Lots of planning for the future projects at the school makes for some exciting days!
The womens health screening had their last clinic today and have had several young girls coming through in an effort to be more educated. Which is fantastic. One of our translators told us that birth control and education in these topics is often taboo so no one talks about it. Education is key to helping these kids make good choices for their future. There are a lot of young girls having babies here but there’s definitely an interest in being more educated and making better choices. It’s exciting to see the developments in these areas.
VBS had 120 or so kids today and Nancy and Mara have managing all week with no translator. Nancy knows a fair amount of Spanish or at least enough to get by . But still thats a lot of kiddos with a language barrier. Bruce finished up his vision clinic and went over to help out with the kids. His instructions were to take the younger kids outside and play duck duck goose, but instead they played a monster game. Oh Bruce!
The clean water ministry continued today and word is spreading about the filters so I think this will grow in the future.
Fatima spent the day at the Cricol working with some of those rehab patients and had a wonderful time connecting with people there again.
I think about all of the relationships we have developed in this area over the years and how wonderful it is to have them. They are not just a group of Hondurans we come to do mission work with, they are friends and family and people who care equally about us as much as we do them. We’ve seen kids grow into young adults and so much growth its awesome. I can’t wait to see where it continues to grow going forward. God is good!
I’m turning in for the night. It’s been a busy day and tomorrow is our last day working in the field. Friday is a travel day back to the city near the airport. We do that to make Saturday a smoother travel day because the drive up there is so long.
Blessings,
Shelley
Chantel with a helper in pharmacy
Productive Tuesday
So by the second day of the clinic/medical mission, we have usually gotten into a groove with how things are going to go, workshopping new ways of doing things and working through the hiccups. Today was very much a day like that. We did have an issue with the EMR Electronic record system not communicating, and so had to switch back to paper records for a short while, until I figured it out. I did a little work on the router that they connect to and after about 45 minutes or so things seemed to be back up and running. Which is good because the system is really proving to be worth while. Providers are seeing huge benefits to it and the real excitement will be next year when we have a lot of our regulars come through and we are able to look up past medical history and medications and treatments prescribed.
In general today was a little harder in that we had quite a few challenging cases come through the clinic. A lot of them are diabetic related. Diabetes is very prevalent here in Honduras and often goes untreated. Untreated diabetes is the worst and the body can deteriorate fast. We had at least two cases of necrotic feet from untreated diabetes and referrals to surgeries to have them amputated were made. It’s so sad and heartbreaking that people reach this level due to no fault of their own. Lack of access to medical care and medicines is the biggest component of it. The ability to even get to a health care center is a challenge. And to be able to afford is an even bigger challenge. The numbers we measured for a lot of our diabetic patients have been high. Hypertension is also another disease that is prevalent here in Honduras. Again very treatable, if you have the resources to do it.
Several people got involved in caring for the patients that needed amputations and it was amazing to see the care been given to them. Tonight at our devotions, our Honduran provider shared her story today about the love she saw given to her people . She talked about how its not just about giving a medication, its about how its given and how the person is made to feel during the treatment. It’s important to show respect and love.
Today was a loud day in the clinic also – I think all the crying babies came this afternoon! I got to at least cuddle and play with a few of them and even managed to get a couple of them to giggle at me. I do love all those cute kiddos!!
In VBS they had around 90 kids so it was a busy day for them also. They enjoyed stories and crafts
Kurt continued with his clean water project in the community, continued health checks at both the regular school and special needs school, and health checks at the women’s clinic all continued. The school team had fun teaching some of the kids how to grow seeds and they all went home with chia seed sponges! The hope is to help them implement a vegetable garden in their school down the road so they can learn to grow food.
Tomorrow is another day and we hope and pray it will be another great day!
Blessings,
Shelley
Working the kids at the special needs school
Not Your Average Monday!
Today we had an early start. 6am devotions, breakfast then vans loaded by 7:30am, ready to start the day. Today was our first day of seeing patients. There were groups going in different directions, at the church clinic, the grade school, the hospital, the special needs school, feeding center and the local health clinic. It takes a lot to coordinate a large group like this, especially going in many different directions, so kudos to Milton our Honduran coordinator who puts this giant puzzle together for us every time. He hates to be called out, but I’m going to do it – Milton you are the best!!
There are a lot of moving parts on a mission like this and flexibility and patience is key!!
I was in the group with the church clinic and when we arrived, we already had patients waiting. Inside, we set about getting things ready and the rest of pharmacy set up etc. So many have been coming on this mission for such a long time now, that it seems like a well oiled machine. However, even well oiled machines have hiccups on occasion. We had a few snags getting going and opened the clinic a bit later than we had hoped. Our team this trip, has been working on implementing an electronic records system, using iPads that talk to each other. Each of the providers has one, and you can enter all the essential patient information including a picture of the patient. So at each step in the clinic the next person to see the patient has the most up to date information. More importantly, going forward we will have clear electronic records of patients we see. This is huge and super exciting. We had a few snags getting it started, that required a few emails/calls to a support person in the states, but we did get it up and running and the rest of the day it worked so well! Its super exciting and such a game changer in the clinic. I’m sure there will be the occasional hiccup along the way, but I think we are off to a great start with it.
At first, I was helping a bit in pharmacy with dividing of medications etc and then the rest t of the day I spent helping with the triage/intake part of the medical mission. I worked with the iPads and doing all of the data entry as patients came through. We got into a good groove and got through at least 130 patients. I expect tomorrow will be a lot more as we will get started earlier, and word travels fast so more people will show up. We did have to turn some people away at the end of the day but they will be back tomorrow.
The team members working on surgeries at the hospital, got held up and we found out they would not be done until about 9:30am this evening. It’s not unusual, but it’s a long day for them. I believe they did 5 surgeries today, a few included hysterectomies. I believe that the surgical team will have done 22 surgeries by the end of Thursday.
‘ After we closed up the clinic, we came back to the hotel and had dinner together. The hotel has been providing our food and it’s been great so far. We then got together as a group to talk about our day and to enjoy devotions together. There were lots of great stories shared from everyone’s day and conversations.
It was a great first day. It’s such a blessing to be here and to be a small part of something much bigger. This mission and the people we work with are so special and it’s so great to see this mission continue to grow and touch so many lives. But not only that, the people here in Honduras touch our lives in ways that can’t be explained. We talked tonight about they are always so giving and embracing. They have so little to give, yet they don’t hesitate to give it. I’m blessed and privileged to be here and to be part of it.
Tomorrow is another day, but it comes quickly. 6am start for us so its time to say goodnight! Until tomrorow.
Blessings.
Fun with stethoscopes at the special needs school
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Celebration Sunday!
This morning the team had a later start due to our late night of travel the night before. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then devotions together. Devotions are an essential part of this mission and it grounds us in the work that we do and the intention and purpose for why we do it. Lots of discussion over various topics and singing together. It’s a time to take a breath and reflect on either the day we had or the day ahead.
We discussed the plan for the day and got those details out the way, and then split into our own smaller groups. Each group took the time to find some space to meet every morning for morning devotions. Our group found a nice shady spot and spent more time talking about our topic the Lords Prayer. Our group will be meeting at 6am every morning in that spot and we start our day together then. Following by breakfast and then leaving for the various mission locations at 7:30am.
After some down time at the hotel, our team headed to La Ceibita to participate in the opening ceremony of the newest feeding center. This has been a long time coming and the community has prayed about this day for many years. The old building was in significantly bad shape and needed to come down. I attempted to do a facebook live post sharing the event with folks back home. There are many supporters of our mission back home who have been out here and some who have not. So many people we appreciate that have been part of this process along the way. The feed was a little buggy due to internet issues but I think we got some good material. After lots of discussion and recognition we finally got to open the gate and cut the ribbon for the feeding center. I think it’s safe to say that everyone was so in awe of house beautiful the building turned out. So many people had a hand in the building and so many locals donated time and talents to help build this center. Folks at home helped raise funds, but the community of La Ceibita really came together to raise funds also. They worked very hard with making food and selling food and other things to help get the funds together for this. Its so wonderful to have this partnership and help with creating a sustainable feeding center.
The kids came in and sat down and we had the pleasure of serving them lunch while everyone admired the new building. Lots of time spent chatting with community members, visiting with people and soaking it all in. It was a good day.
After the opening ceremony, we returned back to the hotel to eat dinner, and share and spend time again in devotion. We have been blessed with so much love from this community.
Tomorrow the work begins with clinics, and surgeries, and women’s and children’s health, Vacation Bible School and so much more. Time to rest and get ready for the work week! I can’t wait.
Serving the kids at the feeding center
Kids waiting for lunch!
The women cooked Tamales for us!
At the ceremony for the new feeding center.
Ribbon Cutting
Serving the kiddos lunch
Our team with the community all together
Beautiful view
At devotions together
Side View
Another view of the new building
First view of feeding center
Kids waiting for lunch
The ladies hard at work
My little Girl Valery and I
Cuteness over load!!
Long Travel Day But We Arrived Safe
Today was an exceptionally long day for the team but we made it here safe and sound. The majority of the team have been traveling for 24 hours so they are pretty beat. Arriving at San Pedro Sula Airport we had a minor hiccup with a missing bag. Turns out it had been pulled by customs for reasons we couldn’t explain and it took a while to retrieve it. So after sitting around for a long time we finally left the airport at 4:20pm. Our lunch was at 6pm at Wendy’s in Tela and finally after a short bathroom break, we arrived in Tocoa at around midnight. Much of the drive was in the dark as the sun sets around 6pm here all year round. So not too many sights to report along the way.
Greeted by the few team members that came ahead a few days, we were happy to get to our rooms quickly so we could turn in. I was thrilled to learn that the clinic is all set up! Tomorrow will be a more restful day. I’m excited to see everyone again, but for tonight keeping this post short as I need some sleep! I’ll write more tomorrow.
Selfies in the van
Time To Prepare
It always seems to be that the week leading up to mission, I have way to much to do. Not necessarily related to the mission, but “life” here in Wisconsin. This week was no exception with various different things going on, including a family funeral and other events. I spend so much time in the busyness of it all and getting caught up in the details, I forget to slow down and find the meaning in what I am preparing for. Shouldn’t we do this more anyway, mission trip or no? So I am taking this time to reflect on my week and prepare my heart and my mind for the work ahead in mission.
Its a beautiful thing to spend time with the most wonderful people in Honduras, those who I consider close friends. Its time to take that deep breath and pour my focus into what it should be. The love and caring of others and leaning into Gods work. Its time to be grounded in my faith and find peace in it all. Its not hard to do once I am there. Our friends in La Ceibita and Tocoa have so much love to give, I feel abundantly blessed when I am there. I’m thankful for the technology that exists that keeps those relationships alive when we are no longer together. The work doesn’t stop just because we leave and the beautiful mission continues to grow. So much good has happened, yet there is always work to do. I am excited to see the brand new feeding center in la Ceibita and be part of the opening ceremony for that! We now have two feeding centers in the area and they feed around 150 kids a day. Food insecurity is very real out there. Most of those kids who visit the feeding center, thats their only meal for the day.
We had a small team go ahead a few days ago, to do some prep work for this mission. This is a big mission, with 27 US missioners, and 10+ translators and a whole community of people in the area. We consider ourselves guests in their community and we hope to always follow their lead. The rest of the team arrives Saturday. We never truly know how long that first travel day will be, because there are so many variants. We are usually exhausted, but wake up fresh and excited the next day. I can’t wait to see everyone again!
I am working on being grounded. To feel centered, stable and strong in my faith. To connect with myself, and my faith and the folks in Honduras. To take time to meditate on things. To be present with myself, God and others.
Tomorrow is a big day. I’m thrilled to be going.
To be continued……
Day of Travel and Reflections from the week
Today was a long day of travel in the van back to San Pedro Sula. We usually spend our last night in Honduras near the airport so we don’t have any issues with travel on the actual flying day. So today we spent about 7 or so hours in the van driving from Tocoa back to the big city near the airport. The van ride, as usual, was a lot of fun with lots of giggles and laughter, music, singing and silly games. Also a few naps scattered here and there, with some breaks for stretching.
It is also a time when you have some quiet time to reflect back on the week and all the things we witnessed and were part of. This has been a truly special week where we have seen so many blessings and even amongst the most poor of all, we saw hope, love and gratitude. Even in their suffering and pain, these people still some how remain faithful to God. They know they are loved and that He will provide some how. To have that kind of faith and strength is amazing. The team spent time building relationships and creating friendships that will last for a long time. Relationships are what it is all about. Community and love and support from another when things are good or bad. That’s the meaning of all we do right there. We are not meant to exists alone, but to build each other up and be the village for one another.
A book I recently finished, “I’ll push You” talks about this very idea of community and support and being pushed beyond your comfort zone. Learning to lean on people in ways that may be uncomfortable and realizing how much we need each other to get through this crazy thing called life. It’s a story of friendship and love, hope and sacrifice. It talks about the deep connections that we all long for. These are all things that are the most important part of mission. Connections that last and grow and push us out of our boundaries, and perseverance in the face of adversity.
I can’t begin to explain the deep love I have for everyone I meet here in Honduras. Their smiles, their hugs, their compassion and caring. I miss them all so much when I am gone. God gives each of us a unique mission in life. I am truly blessed and thankful for all that I am able to do and for the many blessings that have been put upon me.
The team had a dinner tonight together to celebrate the week and enjoy each others company all together one more time before heading home. Such a fun and amazing team, and I am proud to know them all.
Now as the team rests and prepares for the journey home, we keep everyone close in our hearts and prayers and remain in constant contact. The work continues when we are gone and it’s until we see again, which we know will be soon. Never goodbye. We fly home tomorrow, so prayers for safe and uneventful travel.
Blessings,
Shelley
Final Work Day and River Fun
Today was our final work day for the week. With the help of Hector this week, we have been able to get the shelter up and built in two days. We really were Hectors apprentices and he really must take all the credit for the shelter. He is a local guy who works in construction and was the one who helped build the special needs school. He volunteered his time this week to help build the shelter, and thank goodness he was there, because I am not sure we would have done anything anywhere near as nice as what he did. Still, we had fun helping with the project, driving nails in wood and climbing ladders. Everyone got to participate in the project in some way. When we were not working on the shelter, we were helping in the feeding center with the kids. A few of our team actually got to the feeding center at 7am to help prepare and cook all the food for the kids. Lots of chopping of vegetable and preparing chicken and rice. Some of us spent a little time on the property cleaning up trash also. Honduras does not have the infrastructure for disposing of trash properly so there tends to be a lot of it around. It’s unfortunate given how beautiful a country Honduras is.
After our morning of work and finishing the shelter, we ate lunch and then went out to do some more home visits before hitting the river. The home visits were particularly hard for some of our team members. Such poverty with young women caring for so many kids under one household, little kids that had lost their mom and kids that had severe disabilities. These visits can be so hard but I think they are so important. Important to show love to otherwise marginalized families and families struggling in general. One of the families today was so thankful for our visits because she said they had just used the last of the food in their pantry.
After home visits, we walked to the river – which ended up being a longer, hotter walk than anticipated, but still the team enjoyed the water and time sitting in the shade visiting. We did a short devotion and talked about how even though we are a world apart, we are kept together by God and nothing can separate us. After a little more swim time, we headed back to the vans.
After cleaning up we headed to church for the final service for the week. It was a lively service with lots of joy and smiles. So good to be with everyone again for our last night. We then headed to dinner with Pastor and Lorena, Christian and Silvia and a few others.
Such a great last day, lots of laughs but also some tears, but mostly joy. It is always such an honor to be part of this community.
Tomorrow we hit the road for the long drive back to San Pedro Sula where we will spend the night before our flight home. I will probably do one more blog before the flight home but for now, goodnight!
Blessing, Shelley
Team Bonding and Laughter
There are many days when we come down here when it’s difficult to understand the level of poverty and suffering and the why. We are not meant to understand it all and simply have to have faith that God has all people in His hands. One way I think a team can cope with that is with the incredible bonding that happens as a team and the times we spend enjoying each others company and laughing together.
One of the things I love about coming on mission, is not only the work we do down here, the relationships we build and the things we learn and grow from, but its the times spent in laughter, with the USA team and the folks from the community and Honduran team. We have had more than our fair share of laughter this week. There are no language barriers with laughter and it’s one of the simplest ways to spread joy. Laughing speaks the same language. So while the work we do here is serious and important, so is the joy that we can experience while we are here. Some of it comes from sheer exhaustion from the week and you have no sense of control anymore and laugh at the silliest things. Some of it is just how sometimes things spontaneously happen – take our visit to the hardware store this morning. I don’t think anyone could have prepared the store owners for the silliness that happened in there and the goofing around, and they didn’t seem to mind one bit and enjoyed the “show”. I could try to explain it but I’m afraid I just wouldn’t do it justice. Needless to say we had a great time purchasing supplies for our construction project today with lots of smiles from lots of people.
Team bonding, I believe, is crucial to a successful mission. You need to have good partnership, flexibility and understanding. I have to say I think this team nailed it this week. It’s been awesome and I’m proud of the amazing team they have been.
After our day began at the hardware store we headed over to the Tocoa feeding center where we were to begin construction of the outside shelter. Hector, our Honduran partner, had it all figured out and we were really and truly there just to lend moral support and a hand every now and again. So there was a lot more down time today than anticipated, but the team embraced the time and had so much fun playing with the kids from the school and the community and helping out where needed in various different spots. There were home visits and trips back to the hardware store, food prep for the kids and more. We dug post holes for the shelter and then mixed concrete and set the posts. Hector then got to work cutting wood for the roof. It’s coming along!
After our day was done, we headed back to the hotel for a little down time before dinner and devotion. Some of us decided to cool off in the hotel pool and some took naps. The heat takes it out of you as well as the constant emotional ups and downs and physical aspect of being on mission. But it’s worth it and we get up every day, feeling tired but ready to go.
We enjoyed dinner together as a team, again with lots of laughs and then a wonderful time at devotion, reading scripture, singing songs and praying and then sharing our highs and lows for the day. It was a great day and we are ready for more tomorrow. Tomorrow is our last work day before we make the trek back up to San Pedro Sula again.
Blessings,
