Chandler's Experience

Here is a short summary of our trip:
Who: An intergenerational team of 14 members, 9 adults and 5 youth, from Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church
When: July 20-July27
Where: Tegucigalpa, Honduras and San Buena Ventura, Honduras
What: We worked at a children's home. 63 children call the home, Casa Hogar (God's House) their home. Some children are orphans, some have been removed from their homes by Honduran social services, some have personally asked to live there because they know their homes are unsafe, and some children's parents have agreed to let their children live there because their homes are unsafe. Every child's situation is different, but the goal is to provide a safe, loving, nurturing, and God-centered environment for these children to grow up in.
Why: Our church, MPPC, is a big supporter of the LAMB Institute and send a team every summer to work at the children's home as well as financially support the institute.
       

      Gray and I are so blessed to have had the opportunity to spend a week in Honduras working for the Lamb Institute. Amanda Scott, a missionary who works with the missionary teams who come each summer, tells members of the teams to give people 90 second snap shots of the trip, but I usually spend that much time trying to figure out what part of my trip I want to talk about. 
We started our trip bright and early on Saturday, July 20, by being at the airport at 5:30 am. We flew from Charleston to Miami and then from Miami to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. When we finally made it to Tegucigalpa, it was only 12:30 and our day was just beginning. We met our drivers for the week, Jose David and Novel, went to Casa Lamb, where we would be staying for the next week, unpacked and ate our first Honduran meal. After lunch, we loaded into the vans and traveled 45 minutes south of Tegucigalpa to San Buena Ventura, where the children’s home is located. Amanda gave us a tour and after the girls played with the little kids on the playground and the boys had their first soccer match. We ended our first day excited to see what God had in store for us as we worked along the Hondurans and got to know the children at the home. 
Sunday began with “upside down church” as Amanda calls it. It’s 90 percent kids and 10 percent adults. Suzy McCall, the founder and spiritual advisor of the Lamb Institute, preaches at the church. I had the amazing opportunity to help Suzy serve communion to everyone. I could see the love and appreciation for God on each child’s face as he or she took the communion. After church, one of the interns, Mary Crawford, took us to lunch at Casa y Campo and then we went back to the children’s home to spend the afternoon playing soccer and making crafts. 
Monday morning the real work began. Mario, the Honduran work leader, split us into groups and we began doing a variety of tasks. Throughout the week, we made a lot concrete, began building a brick wall, finished the new trash house, sanded and painted  metal doors and shelves, moved and reinstalled cabinets, and made an outside work area off of the shed. 
Each day, we would take an hour lunch break and gather on the porch of the church to eat and take a small siesta, before going back to work. Around 3 or 3:30, we would call it quits for the day and go play with kids until we had to leave. 
On Wednesday, we went to Flor del Campo, an impoverished neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, to visit the school and to learn about the MicroFinance program. We went to lunch and then headed to the Valley of Angels to spend our afternoon shopping. 
On Friday, we finished our work early and went to the church, where the kids put on a little goodbye ceremony for us. Afterwards, the kids led us up to the top of a the mountain across the street. Sitting on the top of the mountain with the kids was an incredible experience. You could see the city of San Buena Ventura as well as the children’s home. We made it down the mountain and said our goodbyes. 
Saturday came around way to quickly and we found ourselves back at the airport and heading home. I wasn’t ready to leave and I know that God will take me back one day.