After months of preparation and fundraising, 29 Christians who attend Westwood Church of Christ, flew from Nashville to Miami to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to show and spread the love of Jesus.
Despite the cultural differences and language barrier, this short-term mission trip will have lasting results. Split up into teams, including medical, dental, building and Vacation Bible School, members volunteered to help meet as many needs as possible.
Here’s a quick look at what those in our community accomplished in just eight days in Honduras.
• Participated in building 31 homes
• Treated 175 patients in two days at two medical clinics
• Distributed reading and sunglasses to around 200 Hondurans
• Provided 100 patients with dental care
This doesn’t take into account the distribution of clothing, shoes and toys or more importantly – the spiritual growth from the two VBSs held in two different locations and a Ladies Day.
For Dr. Todd and Julia Noblin, they couldn’t keep up with the number of extracted teeth, but estimated it was around 80. With the help of two Honduran dental students, they spent the majority of their time doing minor dental surgeries.
“We weren’t used to working on patients in a folding chair on a concrete floor, but we did the best with what we had,” explained Julia, a registered dental hygienist. “We saw a lot of abscessed teeth and spent a lot of time on dental hygiene instruction and demonstration.”
In the medical clinics, nurse practitioner Julie Carr explained the Honduran people primarily wanted treatment for common things like minor aches and pains, cough and allergies. Unlike Americans, they can’t run to the drugstore for those issues.
“This year, we treated a lot of worms and fungal rashes because the water is not very sanitary and unfortunately, I saw a lot more scabies than I did last year,” described Carr.
Stacey Simpson shared her experience helping build homes that measured 16 feet by 16 feet or smaller. For Simpson, the second day was most memorable.
“The second day we were there and there was this family we were building for, a husband and wife with a 1-year-old and baby on the way,” recalled Simpson. “We were almost done and someone pulled up on a motorcycle and he threw his arms up and said “Welcome to my house!” in perfect English. We all laughed and cried together.”
Minister Richard O’Connor, a new grandfather, said this was one of the most selfless and hardworking groups he’s ever been around.
“I’m thankful for the members of Westwood Church of Christ who have been so generous with the giving of their finances, time, energy and prayers which help us make trips like this,” said O’Connor.
