November 9, 2018
The Missionary Heart:
“Care more than some think is wise.
Risk more than some think is safe.
Dream more than some think is practical
Expect more than some think is possible.”- Karen Watson
The Dinwiddie Mountain Team traveled to our last community today, La Union in San Francisco de Yojoa. We were able to treat 186 people in the medical clinic, 135 Vitamins, 90 deworming, 60 children were seen for Fluoride, 65 adults & children in the vision clinic, 20 in Dental Clinic with a total of 30 extractions. It was a busy day, but I know I can say for everyone; it was a wonderful day of serving others in the name of our Lord.
If you’ve read these journal entries often you would have noticed I went a different path than most have, and I hope you’ve been enjoying them as much as I have. I wanted to make this personal because this was a very personal experience, not just for me but for everyone involved. You always hear about the Dinwiddie Mountain team, but what you may not know is how many other people that are working right along with us to make this whole mission possible.
We have a full Honduran staff of 25 hardworking and amazing individuals. I’d like to take this time on behalf of our team to say a huge thank you to them for their commitment and dedication to this team. We were lucky to have the most amazing house staff, Virginia and Albita, who cooked, cleaned and spoiled us all while we stayed at Alfredo House. Our Medical team had amazing translators; Luis assisted Tiffany, Jasmin was teamed up with Robyn, Jennifer was with Courtney, Marvin was assisting Jordan and Raul helped anyone and everyone! Raul was also our incredibly talented navigator; those mountains are no joke and he drove that bus like a pro. So a big thank you to him for always keeping us safe on our journeys. We have had incredible doctors here with us; Dr. Arita was our Dentist who takes a week off from his own practice to come and take care of the people’s dental issues. Dr. Moncada is the Honduran Physician here and runs the medical clinic. Lilian is the community health nurse. Joel is the man in charge of all the medical supplies and makes sure we have everything we need when we go into the villages, and he also helps out as an interpreter in the medical clinic. There is also a whole maintenance/ transportation/ grounds keeping staff that do an incredible job. Giavonni helps run the Vision Clinic with Otoniel as a translator. Manuel, Danilo, Daniel and of course all the security guards keep the Friends of Barnabas compound safe 24/7. Clarissa, who is going to be attending nursing school soon, worked as a translator and teamed up with Debbie Stegman in the Weights/ Measures Department. She’s going to make a wonderful nurse and the Stegman’s wish you all the best of luck! A big shout out to all the staff that work hard at the Barnabas House next door, which is a part of the extended care program who work hard to give people to extra care they need; Suyapa and Dailila are both Nurses, Lidia is the assistant director of the Honduras Team, Pascuala who is the Community Outreach Educator, Carla the Physical Therapist for Barnabas House and Berta who takes care of all the cooking and the housekeeping. You are all blessings to all the people around you.
Speaking of blessings, Carlos Munoz, you are a blessing to us, the people of Honduras and to anyone you encounter. For those of you who don’t know Carlos, he grew up in Coasta Rica (where his family still lives), moved to the United States when he was 27 and became a U.S citizen in 1977. He was a Tobacco Processing Manager for Phillip Morse International for many years and even had the opportunity to live in Chile and Switzerland. He is now retired but has continues to work as an engineering consultant. He is a member of Ocran Methodist Church in Dinwiddie, VA where he is very involved in the missions there as well as with Friends of Barnabas. He has been on multiple domestic mission trips for disaster relief construction, rebuilding after the hurricanes and tornados, and is also involved in prison ministry. He is married to a lovely lady, Darlene, and they’ve been married for 21 years. They have raised a grandchild named Sadie since she was just a toddler and is now a freshman at Longwood University this year. Carlos has not only been the translator in the medical clinic for Dr. Joe this week but has also been our steady hand. If there is anything you don’t know or understand, just ask Carlos. This was his sixth trip back to Honduras and he has so much knowledge and passion, and he loves to share his experiences. He is gentle but firm, quiet but funny, smart but humble, and best of all he has the biggest heart out of anyone I’ve ever met. He has such love and compassion in everything he does and we were incredibly lucky to have him with us this week. He truly has a gift for doing God’s work and letting God use him in any way the Lord needs him. I’m so glad he was here to guide us and help keep us under control. It was no easy task I assure you.
As I close this entry for the last time I’d just like to say a big THANK YOU to all of you that have showed support and prayed for this team while we were here. Your messages of love and encouragement meant the world to us and we couldn’t have gotten through it without you all. Thank you to everyone who helped get us here; know that however you helped, you made a difference this week. And there are so many pictures to show it. God Bless and thank you for being a part of this incredible journey.
God Bless
-Laura Noyes
