Hampton Roads Serves La Isla

Thursday, February 18, 2022

Today we had our shortest drive yet to the village of La Isla, just beyond the far side of Lake Yojoa. This community is situated on the side of a hill overlooking a lush valley and is full of particularly nice people. Many of the families just wanted their children to receive well child check-ups which is hopefully indicative of high levels of community health.

Dr. Bo, our dentist, had a particularly challenging day today. Shortly after waking up, he learned of a mishap resulting in the loss of some of the instruments for fillings. His glasses broke shortly thereafter. Then on arriving at La Isla, he plugged in his dental machine which worked for 1 minute before failing. He and the rest of the dental team (Carlos, Luis, Jodi, Bonnie, and Dr. Bo) worked hard for an hour to fix the machine (while keeping up with fluoride treatments) and eventually got it working again only to see it fail again 1 minute later. However, he shared how he has learned through times like this to be adaptable for the Lord. He made the conscious effort to adapt and redeemed the day even with his personal offerings limited to extractions. He was rewarded by one particularly cute child who, when told he had to get a tooth extracted, just smiled and gave a big thumbs up.

There were also many who were fortunate enough to just share positives from today. Dr. Rich shared the observation that we don’t get to see the men of these communities as much because they are working. However, he noted with thankfulness how many men volunteer to help us unload everything at the beginning of the day and then reload it at the end of the day. Maggie shared how she came to give to the people of Honduras, but through seeing their perspective, joy, and love, she has felt that she has received just as many blessings (or more) in return. Camil and I were able to have a short, hot, and fun game of soccer with the children of the community.

It is hard to believe tomorrow is our last clinic day here in Honduras. We are ready to see more patients but also know tomorrow will be the last clinic in a week full of wonderful people. We pray for the health of our group, fully functional equipment, and God’s mercy and protection on us and the people of Honduras.

~Dr. Chase