March 2005
Well, the trip to Camalote, Honduras in March was a great success. No sooner were we settled in Camalote than we started packing up gear to take on a 2-day trek up the nearby mountain. We each rolled up a mattress and packed some clothes in a backpack. Then we distributed frying pans, soccer balls, and puppet equipment among us loaded up some mules with our food & water, and headed up to La Vertud, a small village at the top of the mountain. We didn’t have enough mules to carry everyone, so we took turns riding whenever anyone got tired.
It was a lesson in humility for all… even the strongest men on our team were eventually defeated by the heat and the steep slope of the trail. And it amazed us to realize that people from La Vertud make that trek every other week just to attend church in Camalote at the bottom of the mountain. There are no roads leading to La Vertud. When Samaritan’s Purse built a school there, all the concrete blocks were carried by mules and sometimes men up that steep incline.
La Vertud is a very poor, but close-knit community. There are less than 20 families living there, and there is a one-room Catholic church. There is an elementary school with two rooms and a small courtyard. Most people live in adobe, wooden, or aluminum houses of one or two rooms. There is no indoor plumbing or any electricity at all. No phone lines.
Upon our arrival in La Vertud, we made friends with the children instantly. Some of our team members played soccer with the older kids, while others blew bubbles for the littler ones. The children loved the bubbles and kept asking for more. Later, we did our program for the children… a puppet show with songs such as “I’ve got the Joy” and “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” A puppet also told the story of Jesus death & resurrection, which was followed up by a gospel presentation by one of our translators.
The children responded well to the whole program, and were eager to keep playing with us when it was over. We then did a presentation for the adults of the town. Our pastor, John Drage, gave a short talk using the feral dogs of the neighborhood as an illustration of our rebellion against God. We then gave gifts of frying pans to each family in the town & spent time talking with them until dinner time.
That night we had a bonfire where we sang songs and shared with each other about our experiences so far. Then we slept on our mattresses on the concrete floor of the school.
The next morning, we started down the other side of the mountain. We stopped at a small village and did the same children’s program and played with the kids. We also got to talk one-on-one with a few adults, both on the way up and on the way down the mountain. Many were Christians, but were eager to hear anything about God because they are all unable to read. We read verses to mothers & children. We helped a young man who was struggling with his faith.
It saddens me to think that the only way these people get to learn God’s Word is by walking 3 hours to church every other week, or if someone who can read visits them. Surely there must be some way to give these people God’s word… I only wish I knew the answer.
Once we arrived back in Camalote, we began our building projects. In addition to building 17 benches and painting about 10 more that were already built, we also helped pour concrete for the bathroom facility at the church, and we painted the guest house we stayed in, which was loaned to us, rent-free, by a lady in Camalote.
The benches were quite a bit of work. We didn’t realize that even though the wood had been purchased, it would need to be planed and cut before we could start putting benches together. The team that worked on the benches spent 3 days working on them. But it was well worth it a few days later when the church gathered and was able to sit for the first time instead of standing!
In the midst of our projects, we were able to take some time off now and then to visit nearby villages. We gave frying pans to families there, and soccer balls to many of the schools. The Camalote area is very poor, and had been hit hard by a hurricane in the late 90s. The government has made some effort to assist some of the towns by forming cooperative agriculture programs… but the roads were left unrepaired, and a large bridge that was washed out by the hurricane was replaced by a wooden foot bridge, making it difficult to reach the towns by car.
At the end of a hard day of work, we were invited to play soccer against the Camalote city team, a group of young men and teenagers who play against teams from other towns. They went easy on us, and we played together rather well considering our exhaustion and lack of experience. Fun was had by all. And when it was over (they won), John gave a gospel presentation. He talked to them about fear, about the unknown future, about what we let become the master of our lives, and about death. When he asked if any of them would like to learn more about giving their lives to Christ, one brave young man raised his hand, even with the others staring at him. As we talked to the guys afterwards, a few more expressed interest and admitted that they’d been too embarrassed to raise their hands. So we talked with them about Jesus, and invited them to the church meeting later that night.
The meeting that night was wonderful. The pastors of the church asked John to give the sermon, and he preached on the Last Supper. He had the church leaders come up on stage and he washed their feet as he spoke.
At the end of the week we returned to San Pedro Sula and were able to attend part of the GCLA (Great Commission Latin America) Easter Conference. Over 3,000 nationals attended this conference. It was so encouraging to be in a different part of the world with a different language and see people who love Jesus. We sang and worshiped in Spanish and it was amazing. God has blessed GCLA powerfully in Honduras and they are planning to start churches in Mexico, Panama, and Nicaragua in the next couple of years.
In reflection, the people we saw in the remote villages of Camalote were terribly poor, yet some had a hope in something greater. When I go on these mission trips I desperately want to give these people everything, to give them what my American mind says would be a “better life”, but in the end all I can give them is exactly what they need, to share the hope that I have in Christ. Those who have that hope, I can see it in their eyes, in their smiles, and in their devotion to their community.
Many mothers we met on the trip were thankful that we came and spoke about Jesus because it is the only way that they can learn about Him, since most of them can not read. But they are even more thankful that their children are learning to read. This is possible due to the tireless work that the nationals we met have done down there. In La Vertude at the top of the mountain, they have a beautiful school building, built by the nationals. To build this school they carried each concrete block and supply up the mountain on mules and on their backs. They displayed a faith and commitment to care for their fellow man that really challenged our team.
