Overview of our Honduras Trip: Brad Ward

Just a few weeks ago, twelve of us went to Honduras on what we call Midlife Men on a Mission, version 2.0.

I have been asked to give you an overview of our mission trip to Honduras.

This year's group included 8 veterans as well as 4 new participants who were not members of our church but who felt the need to serve those less fortunate.

I think of this much like the effect of a stone dropped in still water — a wave of positive energy flowed outward from our original mission trip touching and affecting new men.

We welcomed these new additions, and the diverse skills and talents that they brought to our group.

Honduras in Need

Before I mention the specifics of the work we performed during our mission, it is important to recall the need that is so obvious in that country.

Honduras is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

- 47% of the population lives below the international poverty line

- 24% of the population does not have access to safe water

- 18% of children under the age of 5 are considered malnourished

- an estimated 30 to 35% of the population is illiterate

- only 8% of all students graduate from high school

These are the statistics, but we saw the reality of Honduran poverty and underdevelopment wherever we went.

The people of Honduras are needy and worthy of our assistance.

The Trip

As we began our trip, it looked as if we would be flying into a hurricane. Hurricane Beta, one of many this year, was predicted to hit Central America, including Honduras.

Call it luck or call it providence, we avoided anything more than a light rain and overcast skies.

Much as we did last year, we divided our time and efforts.

In the town of La Entrada, we again worked at a youth camp, Rancho Vida, and at the Plan Escalon school.

In the mountains, we assisted the clinic managed by Lisa Armstrong, who spoke to this congregation in October.

In the evenings, after dinner, we met as a group and struggled to find the true meaning of some of the parables of Jesus.

Rancho Vida

At Rancho Vida, Mauricio Erazo has a grand vision of a place for the children of the town to gather for healthy activity in a safe and nurturing environment.

Such a place is particularly vital in a town without any apparent public recreation facilities.

We worked on a large dining hall at the camp. We wired rebar cages together, hoisted them atop columns, and filled them with concrete to form a continuous beam some 90 feet long.

Many cubic yards of concrete were mixed by hand on the ground and hauled bucket-by-bucket into the air.

We painted roof trusses, repaired a rutted road leading to the school, laid concrete block, and fixed broken water pipes.

We also repaired and upgraded a confidence course we had designed and built last year.

In addition, we designed and built a smaller confidence course for the youngest children.

Plan Escalon

At Plan Escalon, we experienced another lively and inspirational Sunday service with kids from all over Honduras.

George Fesak, John Trax, Bill Freeborne, Tony Russo, and Lann Malesky, converted an idle electrical generator from a very large paperweight into a source of light and power for the school.

The generator was badly needed and had been sitting unused for two years.

This group also engaged the school's shop students to fabricate components needed to mount and protect the generator and fuel tanks.

This was a significant technical achievement and a lasting benefit to the school.

Lisa Armstrong's Clinic

At Lisa Armstrong's mountaintop clinic, we were able to deliver 5 suitcases of badly needed medicines.

In fact, when we arrived, the clinic had only a few days supply of antibiotics remaining.

Our delivery should supply the clinic for 3 or 4 months.

We met the clinic staff and learned of their personal commitment to providing health care to the people of the area.

We also learned of Lisa's efforts, on behalf of the coffee workers who are her patients, to assure them fair wages and a fair price outlet for their product.

Unexpected Benefits

One interesting note is that we overlapped with a mission group from Colorado, so we had more hands to share the heavy concrete work at Rancho Vida.

In addition, because many of that group were talented bluegrass and folk musicians, we were treated to formal and informal concerts throughout the week.

In sum, we aided Hondurans seeking to better their own lives and we worked with like-minded Americans seeking ways to contribute.

We hope to continue working with Rancho Vida, Plan Escalon, and Lisa Armstrong's clinic. We also hope to find additional ways in which we can put our faith into action in that country — ways to assist our Honduran brothers and sisters.

With your encouragement, contributions, and prayers, Midlife Men on a Mission will return for version 3.0 next year.


First of the sermon reflections: Lann Malesky

Eleven months ago when I stood in this place, I felt that I had to introduce myself to you, the congregation. Today, I do not feel that need because I am now connected to FPC, thanks to last year’s mission trip.

Mission trips change people. It might not be a long-term change, but I assure you that you will be changed if you take a mission trip. You will be touched by the people you meet, the project you work on, and the country you visit. Be warned, if you take a mission trip, something will likely grab you and hold you, and you will want to go back because the work is never done. I have a friend who has made over ten mission trips to several countries. I met a man on this trip from Tuscaloosa, Alabama who said he had made over 40 trips to Honduras since the early nineties. He was there to buy materials for a nutritional clinic and to check on an orphanage.

About three years ago some folks sent the Plan Escalon School a used generator. It was in good shape and I am sure that the donors felt very good about their contribution. There was only one problem; the school did not have the technical know-how to install this piece of equipment. Brad described the generator as a large paperweight, and we found it sitting idle last year.

George Fesak spoke with the school director, Pastor Guy Henry, and left last year with the intention of trying to install the generator should he return to Honduras. A new staff person arrived at Plan Escalon a few months after our trip and suggested that the school get rid of the unsightly eyesore. Pastor Guy told him that a master electrician, that being our George, had visited and said that he could get it running. The generator stayed.

George bought fuses, circuit breakers, wire, the stuff that he knew would not be available in Honduras. With the vital help of midlifers Tony, John, and Bill and of Joseph of the Plan Escalon staff and of several Plan Escalon students, George and the team gave the school a working generator before we left. It took a mission team to turn an otherwise well intended but useless gift into a desperately needed, functioning piece of equipment. For me, this is a dramatic indication of the value of mission trips. You cannot put talent and hard work in a collection plate and ship it to the mission field.

Brad, in his review of our trip, failed to mention a very important fact. He was our crew chief and organized the work at Camp Rancho Vida, the Youth for Christ camp for poor kids. Midlifers Andy, the two Davids, Jeff, Henry, and Syed did the work Brad mentioned, cutting and tying rebar, painting structural trusses, lugging 95 pound bags of cement, carrying countless buckets of water, mixing concrete by hand, and finally hefting the concrete up a scaffold. We accomplished this working along side our new friends with a mission team from Colorado as together we moved Mauricio Erazo’s vision for the camp one step closer to completion.

On Thursday we traveled to Lisa Armstrong’s clinic to deliver the medicines Brad mentioned. On the day of our arrival, the clinic had only enough Amoxicillin for doses for five children and was out of Cephalexin, a medicine too expensive to buy locally. We delivered 9,600 Amoxicillin pills and 1,500 Cephalexin pills along with other meds that had an estimated retail value in excess of $16,000. I think that we were lucky to arrive in the nick of time. Henry would say that our arrival was providential and not luck. After two trips to Honduras I am finally beginning to understand the difference

I think that in our efforts to help Plan Escalon and Camp Rancho Vida as they reach out to the poor children of Honduras to provide an education and a safe place to play, we were reaching out to the poor and downtrodden. Our delivery of desperately needed medicines achieved the same end. We followed Jesus’ entreaties in today’s text, and I know that when we served the least of these, our needy brothers and sisters, we were really helping Jesus himself.


Second of the sermon reflections: Bill Freeborne

As Lann mentioned, on Thursday we all went to Lisa Armstrong's clinic on top of a mountain half way between La Entrada and San Pedro Sula where our arrival and departure airport was located. (www.fellowmaninternational.com/Clinic.htm). Lisa is a registered nurse from rural Kansas who has created the clinic and an amazing array of other projects which help employ and engage the local people so they can become self-sufficient.

Lisa first took us to the coffee grower and processor's place where we were introduced to the steps in making usable coffee. The coffee is first picked from the trees and then is sun dried for a period of time on a patio. Somehow the outer shells are removed. The beans are next roasted and either packaged or in turn ground to be placed in a package. As she took us up the mountain we stopped halfway up at her place where the women were picking the beans. They weigh in each day and are paid a fair wage each week. Please support her cause and Honduran people by purchasing a bag(s) of Green Parrott Coffee.

At the top of the mountain we arrived at the clinic where we emptied our suitcases of the medicine while the staff happily watched and appreciated that they could restock their shelves. We toured the clinic which has a large waiting area, a dental room, an emergency room, a pre operative space, an operating room, and a post operative space. Each month, over 800 people receive medical care (a physical exam and all medicines) at a cost of 40 lempiras (about $2).

We had lunch at the Trade Store and were served native foods from their gardens.. The Store serves a nutritious meal to the patients so that they can make the trek back to their homes. The enterprise is making a profit to contribute to the mission.

After lunch we saw how they were raising chicks and the variety of food they are growing. The project also is hoping to construct multiple bamboo greenhouses in the area to provide a constant source of fresh foods to the populace. Luckily we missed the tour of the butcher slaughter area.

Finally we also witnessed up the hill the first adobe block house they have built with the hope of setting a block plant to produce more homes.

On our drive back down the mountain Lisa, with great passion, reiterated how important it is that the people of Honduras be given the opportunity to become self-sufficient. To do that we well meaning missionaries can provide guidance, but must step aside to allow the families to improve their own lives and the economy of their country.


Third of the sermon reflections: Henry Brinton

This year, like last year, I was fortunate to travel to Honduras with a truly remarkable group of guys. Last year, we were diverse in age and ability and background. This year, we were even more diverse — we were an interfaith group, with a Roman Catholic, a Mormon, and a Muslim in attendance. But what we discovered is that real unity can be found when men share a common passion and purpose. Bonds were strengthened as we worked side by side throughout the week.

It’s clear to me that men develop relationships shoulder-to-shoulder, not face-to-face. We grow closer by sharing a project and working side by side, not by sitting around a table and sharing our feelings. We joked with each other and poked fun at each other, using language that would not be acceptable in today’s service of worship. One of the sayings that was repeated a number of times was, “Got an issue? Get a tissue.”

But don’t think of us as superficial. Or heartless. When conflict arose, we did our best to address it. We all care deeply about this group, and want its mission to continue. We have a strong commitment to this work, and we value the bonds we have with our partners in Honduras: good friends like Henry the welder, Lisa the nurse, Mauricio the camp director, and Guy the school director. Each man believes so strongly in this work that he gave $1500 to participate in the trip, as well as a week of vacation. This has been a sacrificial commitment, but I believe that if you surveyed these men, they would tell you that they received far more than they gave.

At this point, it looks like we are on track to take another trip next fall. If any of you feel moved to participate, please speak with me or any of these men. We would welcome you, and I believe you would find the experience to be extremely worthwhile.

One discovery we made is that it is important for us to make an investment in children. Children are the future of Honduras, and anything we do for them is going to have a powerful and positive impact for years to come. That’s why we spent a number of days pouring concrete for the dining hall at Rancho Vida, a Christian camp for children. That’s why George and his team worked so hard to get the generator running at the Plan Escalon School. That’s why we improved and expanded the confidence course we erected at the camp during last year’s trip. And that’s why we supported the medical care being provided to children and adults in clinics in La Entrada and Buenos Aires.

Wess Stafford, the president of an organization called Compassion International, captures our approach very well when he says, “the best place to start is small — with children.” He encourages churches to focus their spiritual efforts and their anti-poverty work on the smallest members of society. “Providing education gives a child practical knowledge and vision,” he says. “Health care keeps them strong and growing. Social care enables them to play and relate to others in a safe environment. Salvation speaks to their priceless worth in the eyes of their Creator. Worth breeds hope, hope encourages effort, and effort leads to success and confidence. A life can be built on that foundation.”

Jesus, the Son of Man, is certainly speaking of children as well as adults when he encourages us to care for “the least of these” who are members of his family. He challenges us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the prisoners, and he promises to bless those who do such work. Most significantly, he says that when we are caring for the least of these, we are actually caring for him.

Jesus comes to us, in the words of Mother Teresa, in a “distressing disguise.”

One of the children I will remember most vividly from this year’s trip is a little boy who appeared mid-week, and then visited with us every day. He was not as cute as most of the Honduran kids, children who tend to be really adorable. This boy had a rather homely face, and a stump where one foot should have been. But he had the most amazing smile, and he was grinning every time I saw him.

One day, he and I started playing soccer after I finished my work on the dining hall. He ran around and kicked the ball with gusto, while the sneaker on his footless leg was facing backwards.

Another day, he sat and had lunch with us, really enjoying the food that had been prepared for the work teams.

On our last day, he was a fixture at the confidence course, being the first one to test each of the balancing challenges that we created.

I never had a conversation with him, so I never learned his name. In fact, I never even heard him speak. He might have been deaf and mute. But I will never forget his smile, and the joy he seemed to find in what our group was doing with him and for him.

I think I’ll call him “Jesus.” Because for me, during this week in Honduras, he was a clear sign of the presence of Jesus Christ. Amen.


Prayers of the People and The Lord’s Prayer: David Garcia (prayer written by Dave Thalman)

Lord, we are your servant people here in Fairfax.

We thank you for the people of this congregation. Accompany and strengthen those of us who are sick, troubled, or bereaved this week. We are grateful for the abundant talents and resources enjoyed by many of us here. Help us to be more open to mission opportunities within and beyond our community. Separate us from selfishness and send us into servanthood. Lord, hear our prayer and show us the Hope created by our reaching out.

Lord, we are your servant people at Rancho Vida camp in Honduras.

We are very grateful that we were able to send a small group of men to construct facilities and, especially, to build relationships at a Christian camp for youth in La Entrada, Honduras. Thank you for keeping this work team safe, energetic, and open to new experiences. Help us to build on these relationships and return to work at the camp next year. Lord, hear our prayer and help us to share our stories about the Hope we saw in the eyes of the children at camp Rancho Vida.

Lord, we are your servant people at the Plan Escalon school near La Entrada, Honduras.

Thank you for providing the talent and resources to complete the installation of a large generator that now reliably lights and powers the entire campus. We especially thank you for the new friends we made among the special students and their dedicated teachers. Be with them as they grow in their faith and education, increasing their opportunities for a more spirit-filled and prosperous future for themselves and their families. Lord, hear our prayer and help us to share our stories about the Hope we saw in the eyes of the Plan Escalon students.

Lord, we are your servant people at the medical clinic in the Honduran mountain village of Buenos Aires.

Thank you for turning our cash donations into medicines that will stock their pharmacy shelves for the next year. Thank you for the amazing ministry of Lisa Armstrong and her continued vision to improve not only the medical condition of those villagers, but also the food, housing, and vocations of over 600 desperately poor Hondurans. They are not poor in spirit or faith. Bless them with continued growth and increased cooperation. Lord, hear our prayer and help us to share our stories about the Hope we saw in the eyes of the medical staff in the village of Buenos Aires.

Lord, we are your servant people here in Fairfax.

We are grateful for the work accomplished and the stories told by our delegation to Honduras. Throughout this congregation, our talents are many -- but our fear is great. Help us all not to fear to reach out. Grant us strength to risk new adventures through Christ to build new relationships and sew the seeds of Hope for those who Christ called, “the least of these who are members of my family.”

Lord, we are your servant people. Hear us now as we pray together as Christ taught us: “Our Father, who art in Heaven …”


Introduction to the Offering: Lann Malesky:

After dinner on our final night in Honduras, six of us walked up to the town square for an ice cream. We purchased our ice cream bars and meandered across the cobblestone street and paused to take in the sites. A small boy came to stand between Brad and me. A piece of chocolate about three-quarters of inch long and maybe one-quarter inch wide fell from Brad’s ice cream bar. The youngster stepped forward, squatted, picked up this piece of chocolate from the filthy street and ate it.

I did nothing. I did not feed this hungry youth. Instead I crossed the square with my fellow midlifers and returned to the hotel. I forgot about the boy and the piece of chocolate and the dirty street.

But I have not forgotten because that image still grips me. On this occasion I did not feed the hungry. I did nothing. How will I answer the question when the Lord asks what I did when I confronted the hungry? One does not have to go to Honduras to reach out. Eleanor Duffield visits women prisoners in the Fairfax jail. Bob Coon has been feeding the poor for years and Bill Golightly houses them. We can reach out here as well as in Honduras, but sometimes it may take a poor hungry child on a dirty square in a nondescript crossroads town in the Third World to sound a wake-up call.

When we give gifts to help the needy, we are really helping Jesus. Our morning offering will now be received ….


Benediction

May you go from this place in peace, to love and serve the Lord. And when you perform an act of compassion, may you see the face of Jesus. Amen.