FIRST IMPRESSIONS, LASTING IMPACT

Words will never adequately express what the team experienced in a one hour period of time from 3-4 pm, Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at the city dump. Pictures will hardly do it justice. But maybe a view into the hearts of some of our team members will offer a hint.





Today we went to the dump to distribute rice and beans to the people who live there. I cannot even begin to describe what we experienced. The stench, the sight of people vying with vultures for food, and the number of children living in these conditions – it was overwhelming. People crowded around to get the food, and listened as Pastor Don spoke to them of Christ’s love. We pray that they will respond to the hope of Jesus Christ. Grace Thornton

This trip has been eye opening for me. So much has happened this week but I would like to share my favorite part of the trip. I have enjoyed all the relationships that have started or grown. My relationship with the people I came down to Honduras with, the Honduran people and with God. These relationships have been formed because of our love for Christ. Always, Karen Gorski

This is my 12th trip down here and every time I come I see things that have changed in what I see along the roads….more construction of houses…many still empty. Things in the barrios are still basically the same with the poor people living in shanties and coming to our clinics for help. At the dump it was unbelievable! There were vultures and dogs looking for food and people scrounging for something to use or sell. We gave sandwiches as well as orange juice to the people along with the beans and rice.
We actually went to a church on Sunday in the barrio that we are going to tomorrow and Friday and Pastor Don preached the sermon. The people were very nice to us and fed us some food. Christ is working in Honduras! Lois Thompson

As Grace said – today we went to the Tegulcigalpa dump and it was something I had never experienced before. It was an experience that cannot be adequately explained with words, but I will never forget it. I think my favorite part of the trip is the children. Yesterday, when we were washing their hair, they were so trusting and obediently bowed their heads as we poured water over them. They were so thankful and precious – they touched my heart deeply. Hopefully we have been Jesus with skin on to these beautiful people. Yvonne Semel

The Honduran people stole my heart three trips ago but today at the dump was beyond description. On the ride back to the mission house all that went through my mind was the verse “Jesus wept”.
Diane Billing

My first patient yesterday had been attacked and robbed two months ago, losing his eye in the process. He explained of his inability to sleep following the incident, which led to a conversation about my Prince of Peace. God transformed his heart in the triage area, taking the scales off his eyes to believe in the One who loves him dearly, sent his Son to save him from his sin, and who promises to never leave or forsake him. He responded with a bright eye and smile when I said, “If I don’t see you here, I’ll see you in heaven.”
Lizzy Hill

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who bring good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Never in my life have I had the opportunity to preach to a congregation the likes of the one I faced Wednesday afternoon. Imagine a hundred to a hundred and fifty homeless men, women and children who spend their lives in the city dump, scavenging for anything of value, standing in an orderly line, listening to a brief gospel presentation, waiting patiently for a sandwich, a drink and a bag of rice or beans. It was a moment of hope for a people who are living in hell on earth. Pastor Don Erickson

I do not believe I will ever be able to adequately express what I have seen and what I have learned in the last several days. The sights, sounds and smells will never leave and I’m only just beginning to process these experiences. What I can say is that the quote “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” has forever been changed in my mind and that I have seen hell on earth. What I have seen has given me an incredible understanding of what God has saved us from. Praise God for the work He has done and is doing even in the most wretched of places.
Ryan Erickson