Saturday April 21, 2018
Sus Manos has arrived! We started at D.C.’s Reagan National Airport; beginning at 0400 this morning, the team bounced from the Washington airport to our connection in Houston before finally touching down on Honduran soil in the early afternoon. Throughout the morning, many heavy team duffels were loaded (twenty-six to be exact) and many passports were scanned. It is here that I must give a well-deserved “Thank you” to our co-leaders Carlos and Charles for all of the work they’ve done in keeping the team organized and helping us get to Honduras safely.
Many of this team, myself included, is brand new to Honduras. In fact, the majority of those same individuals have never been on a mission trip at all! For a newcomer, the drive from the airport in San Pedro Sula to the Alfredo House left me with mixed feelings. There is both a feeling of awe at the sight of this lovely land, which has an abundance of colorful flora, but also a feeling of sadness when reflecting upon the condition of some of the communities themselves. Scattered trash selfishly claimed the sidings of many roads. There were malnourished cows, with visible rib cages, grazing the farmlands. Housing projects abandoned and left unfinished was not a rare sight to see. All of the aforementioned sights reignited in me a desire to help make a change. In that moment I was very proud to be a member of this team. My wonderful teammates, most of whom I’ve not met before today, and I are here to make a difference.
The afternoon was spent preparing and organizing planned give-away items (e.g., diapers) while settling into our new home for the week. When the dinner bell rang (Charles did the honors), the team sat down to enjoy a delicious Honduran meal prepared by our hard-working helpers Albita and Virginia.
Tonight’s devotion, led by Charles, focused on faith in the presence of difficult situations. Just as Peter stepped away from the comfort and security of his boat and onto the water, we too must be willing to step off of the boat; we must have courage and an unwavering faith as we prepare to tackle the mission ahead of us. A blessing of the hands was performed shortly after closure of Charles’ message.
Our Honduran Director, Nury, ended the night with an endearing story. She spoke of a call she’d received from a local hospital tonight. Two twins had been born prematurely, at 24 weeks, and were both in critical condition. While one of the twins passed, the other twin had a chance of survival if administered a specific medication. The hospital only knew of one source for the medicine…Friends of Barnabas. After the attending physician relayed this information to the father, the father promptly drove from the hospital to the Barnabas House to retrieve this specific and necessary medication. He was waiting for Nury outside while we were eating dinner tonight. The father cried upon meeting Nury and receiving the potential key to his newborn child’s life. He asked if he might be able to volunteer for the Friends of Barnabas, to which Nury responded, “Come back to me if you’re still interested… but only after your baby turns one year old.” Blessed be our hands, as Sus Manos, as we prepare to do an incredible service and positively impact a less-fortunate people.
-Jacob Watkins
