Mission trip June 2011

We had a wonderful opportunity to minister to the people in Belaire. We were located at Evelyn Castellar’s Clinica de Los Angeles in Belaire, Honduras. The eye team was able to service 216 patients. The team dispensed 134 pairs of readers and 63 pairs of prescription glasses. Patients whose near vision could not be corrected enough to read a Bible were given the large print Scripture book “La historia de Jesus Cristo”. Sunglasses were also given to all patients and their children who came to the clinic and they were informed about the importance of using sunglasses to protect their eyes. About 400 pairs of sunglasses were given to the patients who came through the clinic.

When each patient finished at all stations in the eye clinic, they went finally to the evangelism station with Brenda Hyche and our beloved interpreter, NaNa. Over 50 patients were saved and many others rededicated their lives. Bibles were given to everyone who came through the clinic. Evangelism was our primary mission and everyone rejoiced at the ones who were saved and rededicated their lives to the Lord. One man had a huge smile on this face when he started to leave after praying with Brenda and NaNa. The look on his face said it all. This made it all worth it.

Patients were also informed about ways to purify water and prevent dehydration. They were given an eye care booklet called “Los Ojos” and well as booklets on sanitation and hygiene.

“It’s a God Thing” Eye Team members included me, Dale Hyche, Brad Hyche, Hugh Guffey, and Mary Guffey from Alabama and Yaqui Sanches Calix, Patty Calderon, and  LDS volunteer Elder Jones from La Ceiba.  There were other team members who also helped including Angela Calvert, Michelle Hallmark, and Alicia Hyche. Brent Brady was a great help in carrying the inventory to Belaire and with assistance in our transportation. As always, God bless America!

Below is a link to pictures from the 2011 trip.

A mom and her baby with sunglasses.

A little boy from Leonard's home who wanted blue eyeglasses. Guf made sure he got the glasses he asked for.

                                 

Mary working the near vision station.

A few of the girls from Shalom Girl's Camp

Brad holding the daughter of one of our patients. She loved her sunglasses and Brad made sure she got a pair.

It's A God Thing!

I had the blessing of going on a mission trip the last two years.  I went with the AHMEN (Alabama Honduras Medical Education Network) group from Livingston Chapel United Methodist Church in Cullman, Alabama. There were a number of other missionaries from other churches who went as well.  I praise God and thank him for this opportunity and experience.

2009 Mission Trip –
Mission:
Our mission was two fold. One was to establish a medical clinic and eye clinic while we were there and the second mission was evangelism. We saw several hundred patients at each clinic during the two weeks while we were on the island of Utila. The second mission was to reach as many people for the Lord as we could during this time. We had people praying and talking with patients at each clinic as they were finished. We also had several other team members going out on the streets and in the bush passing out Bibles and talking with people. All total 53 people were saved – that we know about. One man who was saved was an alcoholic. His name was Nandito. He was saved our first week on the island of Utila. We asked him to join our team. He was so excited. We gave him a team shirt and he came to every team devotion each morning at 6 am and each evening at 8 pm. We have asked several churches to follow up with him. They have promised to follow up with all of those who were saved.

 Praise reports:

We want to praise God for the people who were saved which totaled at least 53. We had 2 break-ins at the hotel into our rooms at night . We were safe again. Finally, most of you heard about the revolution in Honduras on June 20.  President Zelaya was arrested early Sunday morning and escorted to the border. We were leaving about 8:30 to go to the airport in the city of San Pedro Sula. International flights were going to be stopped shortly.  Ours was the last flight to leave the airport. We actually flew out earlier than planned from Honduras. It was a relief to get in the air. It was sad to leave Honduras though because the people there are so appreciative of everything we do for them. I am thankful to have had this experience in spite of the drama we went through. God kept us safe through it all and we had our prayer warriors holding us up back home. They were our “rope holders”. Thanks to all of you who prayed for us. “It’s a God Thing”.

 And I can’t forget, God Bless America!

2010 Mission Trip -

We went back in 2010 to the island of Utila and the town of Yorito. We set up an eyeglass clinic and a medical clinic in each.  We had the opportunity to minister to many people again both medically and in evangelism. This was this team’s first time in Yorito in a long time. There were many people there who needed the services that the eyeglass clinic and the medical clinic could provide. Again, we saw many people come to know the Lord who came through the two clinics. We had the opportunity to minister to their needs both medically and also in sharing the gospel with them.  Many had never had prescription eyeglasses before and were very happy about being able to see much better than before.  One lady visited our clinic who had very bad vision.  Fortunately, we had a prescription that worked for her and she was able to see much better. The look on her face made it all worth it.  We had the opportunity to see Nandito, the man who was saved the previous year. He came to our meetings again and was excited to be a part of the team.  It was such a blessing to have Nandito with us again. He shared the things that had happened to him in the last year.  We committed to continue to pray for Nandito.

Missions at Home:  

This previous school year I wanted to get my students at school  involved in missions. Another teacher and I, Ms. Dutton,  had a community service project called “Vision for a Mission”. We had the students bring in used children’s eyeglasses. The winning class would receive a party during 4th period. We took up over 100 glasses! Our eyeglass team leader, Hugh Guffey, was very excitied about this project  because we did not have enough children’s eyeglasses in inventory so this essential part of the stock was replinished. Mine and Ms. Dutton’s student clubs, FBLA and FCCLA, were the one’s who took up the eyeglasses and kept a daily count of eyeglasses.  We had another service project which was creating and entering data into a database about the patients who were seen previously at Utila, Lamon and other areas that the eyeglass team has visited. The students spent about two weeks entering data into the database which is being used by Hugh and Mary Guffey to keep up with past patients and how they were served.   I let them know that they were missionaries here at home because of the work that they did concerning these patients.  This seemed to make them more excited about the project. We had the "Vision for a Mission" eyeglass mission project again this year (2011). We didn't get quite as many eyeglasses as we did last year but the FBLA members who participated were excited about the project. Two are pictured above with a few of the glasses from the first day. We never know how far away or how close to home our mission can take us. It was a God Thing again!

Es una cosa de Dios!
And again – God Bless America!