A 27-member team representing three Alabama Baptist churches recently embarked on a comprehensive missions trip to Honduras equipped for evangelism, construction and medical ministry. The eight-day trip, March 23-30, was sponsored by the volunteer in missions department of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions in conjunction with the Tri-State Partnership and Judson Baptist Association.
The Tri-State Partnership for Honduras includes Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Through this partnership, the Alabama delegation was able to work with missionaries Eddie and Nora Wehmeir. Through dialogue with the couple, the team was able to assemble a group to meet the greatest needs of the communities they were going to serve.
Members served on one of five teams: evangelism, Vacation Bible School, construction, medical and support. The Alabama delegation consisted of members from First Baptist, Headland; Ridgecrest Baptist, Dothan, and Concord Baptist, Headland, Concord’s pastor, James Rich, led evangelism efforts.
The group flew from New Orleans to San Pedro Sula, then traveled by bus to La Ceiba, where they spent their first night at the Wehmeir’s missionary home. For the duration of the trip they stayed in a hotel in that city.
Each day they traveled 45 minutes by bus to the mission site in Dos Bocas. For some team members this missions trip was their first visit outside of the United States. Many found their first encounter with a different culture surprising and humbling.
“We were astonished that people could live on so little and be so happy,” said Mac Moore, director of missions for Judson Baptist Association.
Gracious people
Moore noted that despite the poverty of the country the people still exuded warmth. “Hondurans are gracious people. They receive you with open arms. There was no skepticism we could see,” Moore said.
The team began its work within a receptive climate. The erection of a church with concrete blocks and a tin roof had begun prior to the team’s arrival. The construction workers completed doors and windows, poured concrete in the sanctuary, put roofing over the Sunday School rooms and built a porch.
By the conclusion of the trip the church had three new Sunday School rooms, electricity, running water and a completed sanctuary. “Now the people of Dos Bocas have a place that will be the center of their community. The church will be a great asset,” Moore said.
The medical team, which consisted of an optometrist and several nurses, set up a clinic in two houses across from the church. News of the free medical services spread rapidly and the clinic was overrun with people in need of treatment. The medical personnel treated more than 1,500 people with a wide range of infections and diseases.
The Vacation Bible School team set up their daily activities in front of the two houses that served as the medical clinic. The VBS workers reached more than 800 children with their activities. With the aid of an interpreter Rich preached in a pavilion outside the church where people gathered to hear the gospel.
Despite language barriers, there were more than 100 new converts,” Moore added.
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