Sarah's Journal...

On June 19, 2005 at 6:30 am, the Honduras mission team from First Baptist Church of Champaign at Savoy arrived at Willard Airport with their families. The team consisted of Chris Chambers, Paige Hall, Bob Coleman, Debbie Hirschi, Mark Hirschi, Elizabeth Bucey, Cameron Stewart, Elizabeth Hahn, Andrew Hahn, Ali Coleman, and Jennifer and Sarah Ehlman. We said goodbye to our families and boarded a plane to Chicago.

We arrived in San Pedro Sula, a large city in Honduras, about 9:00 pm that evening. We were met by Pastor Dago Zelaya and after about an hour and a half bus ride, we arrived at the Children's Home in Azacualpa, Honduras. During the bus ride, we flew off of our seats numerous times because the potholes were so bad!

Pastor Dago is a Pastor in Marshalltown, Iowa. When he was a young boy, he had a vision of a place that would take care of children that needed help. He eventually started the Children's Home and visits frequently. The Children's Home is a place where kids can go who have either been abandoned by their parents, who don't have parents, or whose parents cannot take care of them. They can go to school and learn about God. If a child in Honduras is without parents, they are not allowed to attend school. Being a resident at the Children's Home allows children to have the opportunity to go to school and become educated.

The Home currently has sixteen kids — ten boys and six girls. Some of them have contact with a few relatives, but most of them do not. The children are so loving! Everywhere we traveled at least one or two of the kids came up to us and wanted an "abrasar" (Spanish for Hug.) They would sit on our laps or just play around with us. They can entertain themselves with almost anything for hours. Some activities we would consider dull would be considered fun and exciting to them, like playing, "How many rocks do I have in my hand this time?"

Pastor Dago's nephew, Hector, was our translator. He was with us most of the time and translated our skits and our testimonies when we visited churches and schools in the area.

We kept busy with many activities on this mission trip. One of our activities was to help construct a foundation for a new building. We had to mix cement in a mixer and then put it into the holes made to be the base of the walls. We ran into a few problems while we were working. The first day the cement mixer would not start. The second day, rainwater plugged the holes so we used plastic cups and bowls to bail out the water before we started on the cement. We shoveled dirt, pushed and poured cement in and out of wheelbarrows, leveled ground, cut wires, sweated, and drank tons of water. (I think all of us still had a lot of fun, though.)

We also visited many different churches. Every time we would go into a church, people in the front would stand up to give us their seats. There was a lot of singing in the church, and people would get up and dance or jump. Pastor Chris, Bob Coleman, and Pastor Dago all gave sermons at some point in the week. At least one person from our group gave their testimony at every church we attended. We sang songs in Spanish that we had learned before the trip and did a few skits, as well.

Monday through Thursday we worked at a feeding program in town. Some of the kids come to the building after school to get lunch. (Their school only goes to about Noon). We dished out the food and poured drinks to the kids. After lunch the kids would go upstairs to a large room that was a church. We used puppets and had them sing along with a CD that had songs in Spanish. After that we would sing while Chris played his guitar, acted in skits, and someone would always give their testimony.

We played lots of "Futbol" (better known as soccer in the U.S.). We had competitions for two days — Honduras vs. USA. Day One: Honduras-2, USA-1. Day two: Honduras -0, USA-2! Mark, Chris, and Andrew, were the only ones who really knew how to play soccer. The rest of us just stood back and tried to act like we knew what we were doing.

A couple of the days we went to get ice cream! I was very surprised to see that ice cream was super expensive… $25.00 a pint! But then I realized it was 25 Limpera for a pint of ice cream, which is only about $1.50 American money. Pretty cheap, after all.

Every day we had a Vacation Bible School program for the kids. Two people from our team led each lesson. We did crafts and the kids listened to a story from the Bible.

We also had the experience of washing clothes by hand since there are no washers or dryers. There are two washboards on either side of a basin of water. We had to rub the soap on our clothes and then scrub our clothes on the washboard. We would then rinse by using water from the basin. Elizabeth B. and Sarah really enjoyed washing clothes!

We visited two schools on the trip, and when we arrived all of the kids ran up to our bus to meet us — just like we were a rock band! The kids would come up to us and watch us do our skits and sing our songs. That was really fun!

Debbie Hirschi visited a Rotary Club in San Pedro Sula and she is trying to team up with them to get a project started in Azacualpa.

We arrived home in the evening on Sunday, June 26, tired but very happy. I think that I speak for everyone on this mission trip when I say that it was amazing! The kids were awesome and adorable. We all learned a great deal and had an incredible life-changing experience. All of us returned feeling we have too much stuff and have no reason to ever say, "I'm bored." We will never forget our experiences on this meaningful trip.

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