Joy!

Monday finally arrived and as the team met for breakfast the excitement was palpable. The planning was over and this was now the real thing.  An hour long bus ride took us to the community of Terrero Blanco Taulabe.  This community has been one of FOB’s Advanced Learning communities for 2 years and will complete the program later year after a final visit from a mountain medical team.

The fact that this community has been in the program for two years became evident as residents were seen in all of the clinics.  Health problems were minimal.  Most evident was the quality of the dental care that the families have learned and are practicing.  The continuing education and extended care program that is spearheaded by the Honduran staff was showcased today in this community.  While the number of visits that you will see later in this journal will look staggering, the team all remarked on the better condition of these residents over some of the communities that are at the beginning of the program.

As supporters of FOBF, your contributions allow teams to continue to show, treat, and teach so that the communities can become self-sufficient.  Of course, though, the community is only half of the story.

Those involved on this Mountain Medical Team will not leave Honduras the same. They will never be able to take for granted the bounty that God has bestowed on those of us who live in the United States. There will also not be a single heart that has not been changed by this experience secondary the melding of our cultures and the universal gift of love both given and received.  Which leads to the story of the day.  A 28-year-old woman with cerebral palsy came to clinic with her family and won the hearts of the team.  She was filled with the joy of life and an example of the joy that we are to have in our relationship with Jesus Christ.  In John 15:11 Jesus says "I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. “ (HCSB)

Jesus asks us to share in His joy and we can only do that by considering others more than self.  Our team is learning that the gift of caring brings joy unspeakable through our relationship with Jesus Christ. We so often get so bound up in the problems of the day that we forget the joy and freedom we have through Christ.  At the end of this first day our team has grown in joy with each other and in Christ.  We look forward to tomorrow and the adventures that God has already planned for us.  For that joy and change of focus, all of you who have supported FOBF, we, the Laurel Hills MMT, are in your debt.