A few weeks ago my son Caleb and I joined a team from Prairie Ridge on a mission trip to Honduras. We joined our mission partners Dago and Delia at the Children’s Home in Azacualpa. I’ll be unpacking many experiences from that week for months to come. A few things that currently stand out:
- Summer in Iowa no longer feels hot! Five minutes after taking a shower, I needed another one :-)
- You don’t have to have much to be content.
This is a line that is forming for the feeding program. Once a day a bus from the children’s home went into the village to pick up any child that wants a free meal. For most of the children I talked to, this was the only meal they had for the day. It consisted of some form of rice and tortilla that fit into a small cereal bowl. I’d call that an appetizer, they called it abundance. They had very little, but were among the most content children that I have ever met.
- Soccer is way bigger than football. And I’m a terrible soccer player! Be thankful there was no video of that.
- I anticipated experiencing poverty and material need, but I did not anticipate the level of connection that occurs with the mission team.
Before going, I knew some of the team members by name. Some not at all. Through the course of the week, I developed relationships that will be lifelong.
- We were able to meet Vanessa, the girl that our family has been sponsoring through The Ridge for the past two years. It’s been meaningful to pray for and support her. Meeting her and experiencing her life takes our support to a whole new level. And she’s not the meek and mild little girl that she looked like…she’s got some spunk. I didn’t know that!
- Going on a mission trip with my son was an invaluable parenting opportunity. It opened up new conversations, a new perspective on life outside the suburbs, and was far more life shaping than a trip to Disney. Sarah and I are committed to giving each one of our children an international mission experience in their teen years. I highly encourage it.
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