ORICA, HONDURAS

BAPTIST MEDICAL DENTAL MISSIONS INTERNATIONAL 

B.M.D.M.I.

A LITTLE TEAM TIME:
"BIND US TOGETHER LORD WITH CORDS THAT CANNOT BE BROKEN"

Each year our church supports a foreign mission to Honduras through BMDMI. My grandfather and Jim Woods lead the team, and the preparations for the week ahead start almost an entire year in advance.  Our church has met several times over the past year to pack pills, to pack food, to raise money, to box items for shipping, etc.  Grenada is also a HUGE help in the prescriptions and food.  The Holy Spirit puts together a team ranging from 40 people some years to even 120 other years.  This year our team size was 71 Americans (from all over - Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia, Arizona, Florida), 20 translators, 6 bus drivers, 2 team captains, one BMDMI leader, and approximately 20 Honduran workers to help on the missions (dental, kitchen, medical, etc).  It is quite amazing to watch the body of Christ work independently, yet, all together.  Each person does their job and at the end of the day this huge movement has taken place.  No one fusses or complains - its just one week of all smiles - of utter obedience to the Christ - and total service to others.  

THE MISSION HOME:

 This is the BMDMI Mission Home.  The most beautiful place on earth which sits right in the heart of El Zomorano Valley - the most fertile land in all of Central America.  It will house a team of 120 people (not including Honduran helpers (translators, workers, etc)).  20 rooms - 6 people per room.  We stay here before and after the mission.  The flowers here a beautiful, the food is delicious, and the showers are HOT!  I always have such a sense of Peace when I am there - the world has yet to see what God can do with a man who is completely devoted to HIM.  There, I feel as Christians, for just one week - we are totally devoted to HIM.  You can never give as much as you receive.  My cup over-floweth with joy from the Blessings My God has given to me.  And if you ask "why do you need to go to Honduras when your own town needs mission work?"  My answer would be "If I spend one week per year giving to the Lord in a foreign place, that still leaves 51 weeks at home for local missions."  

HOLY HOLY HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, EARLY IN THE MORNING MY SONG SHALL RISE TO THEE

 THE MISSION BEGINS.....

THE BATHROOMS....
Dont forget your water from the pila...

IF ITS YELLOW, LET IT MELLOW
IF ITS BROWN, PLEASE FLUSH IT DOWN

BEFORE

AFTER

So how exactly do we do this????

Well.... Its simple.  Every one that wants to be seen must attend church.  Once you attend one Church service you are then enabled to "register."  Once you register you receive cards for where you want to go.  The more you go to church, the more cards you get.  Green - medical, Yellow - Dental, Pink - Optical, Blue - Pharmacy, Red - Shoes, White - Rice and Beans, and so on and so forth.

We don't force anyone to accept Christ (you cant).  We just use Church as the BAIT.  That way we leave knowing that we at least SHARED the gospel - it may not have been accepted, it may not have been listened to, but we offered an opportunity to know Jesus thru our ministry.  

 PHARMACY:

• 15,082 Rx were filled in the village
• over 2000 people were wormed
• every single person was given a months supply of multivitamins

 

"SOULS FOR SOLES":

• 1405 People were given a new pair of shoes
• if you are ever shopping at walmart and you come across a shoe sale - 1$ for a pair of flip flops - PLEASE make the purchase.  Some of these are the only new pair of shoes these children may ever get!  Get them to me - I will be happy to take them for our shoe ministry

OPTICAL: 

• 520 people treated and given Rx glasses
• 600 sunglasses given out

THE KITCHEN:

• Here lies the most humble of all workers - up before the others they have breakfast made, and the last to go to sleep.  
• When in the village, we eat only the food we send or things that are prepackaged and sealed (coca-cola, snickers)
• some of our meals included spaghetti, chicken and rice, pancakes, grits, steak and potatoes, and the freshest fruit you have ever tasted
  
  
  
  

All the buses it took to get us there - we overtook the school yard!

MEDICAL:

• 2546 people treated
• 1500 shots given
  

organized chaos to get into the medical clinic

treating patients

lines to the medical clinic...

every now and then, you see a child with a little GRINGO in her blood....

the line continues on....

 DENTAL:

• 335 people seen
• 647 teeth extracted

And this is the line for the dental clinic....
Just kidding......

This is the mob for the dental... see all those yellow cards....

And this is a proven picture as to why Dentist are smarter....  Look at the crowd control under our tent vs the medical tent.....  Organization people... Organization!

Cleaning station

THE BUILDING OF GOD'S CHURCH

• This church marked the 24th church our mission team has built
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  This was the first time in 34 trips to Honduras that our team has had someone get hurt.  Danny White fell from the peak of the church and landed on the concrete block steps.  He was surely in the Lords hands because he only suffered a concussion and some bruises and bumps.  No head trauma, no broken bones...  If you could have seen his fall - you would understand what a miracle he is! and what a miracle God did in protecting him!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

EVANGELISM: 161 - the only number that matters

• 161 accepted Christ as their Savior
• 500 complete bibles were given out
• 1000 new testaments were dispensed

HOW MANY HONDURANS CAN FIT INTO A CAR....???
ONE MORE

CHILDREN'S MINISTRY:

• 610 Children participated
• 6 Children's Bible classes were offered
• Pinata Breaking for boys and girls
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

This is what impatient looks like....  He was ready for those kids to break that pinata!!!

RICE AND BEANS MINISTRY:

• 1359 FAMILIES RECIEVED ENOUGH RICE AND BEANS TO LAST ONE MONTH 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

SOCCER:

We had our soccer game on their grazing field...  They did not seem to care....

THE FIRST CHRISTENING OF A CHILD IN THE CHURCH WE BUILT:

 BMDMI SURGICAL HOSPITAL IN GUAMACA, HONDURAS:

• This is a full service surgical hospital built by BMDMI in Honduras
• Each year, SEVERAL teams of American Doctors come down to perform surgeries on children and adults funded by the Project Hope Program
• For example, our team goes into the village and finds medical problems associated with people of that village - they are then given a surgery date - the team supports the hospital cost - the Surgeons fly in spend one week doing case after case of that particular surgery
• Teams come fully equip with everything they may need "extra" - the facility is provided at no charge - all work is service - Each week rotates to different teams - Urology, Cardiology, OBGYN, General Surgery, Orthopedists, etc...

Post - Op and Recovery

Storage

Eye Clinic

Labor and Delivery

THE CHILDREN'S HOME:

• 102 Children reside here - they were taken away from their parents by the State
• The Good Shepherd's Children's Home lies about an hour from the Mission Home
• The Children live here, work here, and go to school at the Bilingual Christian Academy

This is Yolany.  My father adopted her when she was 2 years old.  She is now 14.  She lives there and is now in the 7th grade.  The high school there goes through the 9th grade.  Right now her dream job is to be a secretary and support her family.  Her father lives in El Salvador.  Her mother lives in the city and has a history of prostitution and drug use.  Her sister ran away from the home and is now with the mother.  Yolany's mother visits occasionally but she knows that the Christian Children's Home is where God wants her.  When the mission first took her in, she had a very "colorful vocabulary" and was not a Christian.  Her mother had raised her to participate in witchcraft and devil worshiping.  The Lord is working miracles for this young lady.  In the last few years, her brother has also been taken by the state and is now living with Yolany at the home.  

THE LEATHER FACTORY:

A FAMOUS WOODCARVER IN THE VALLEY OF THE ANGELS:

• His main clientele is Embassy's
• He hand carves just about anything out of cedar or mahoganny
• He is gifted....

THE PEWTER FACTORY:

Honduras may not be a trip that everyone wants to put on their "bucket list."  I can understand why.  The toilets dont flush, the smell is hard like tar and diesel, the roads are not paved and the way is rough,  the water is undrinkable, Montezuma's Revenge is to be feared, there is no comfort zone, and it is far away from the blessings we are raised in.  I, on the other hand, find it to be the most Holy Place you can ever go.  Its a humbling experience that I think everyone deserves.  We do not choose who our parents are, what country we were born in, or even the air we breathe.  These children are no less deserving of our lifestyles than we are.  Is ignorance really bliss????  Each day we get in a frinzy over the Pizza Hut taking too long, or the 45 min wait for the doctors office, or the single line for 100 people at Wal Mart...  not ever stopping to think about the family that lives off of 1.50$ a day pay, has no food for supper, cant afford the clothes for their children to attend the "public" school, and the list goes on and on and on.....  Are we so caught up in our world that we dont stop to see the best of His Creation's and glorify Him for that daily???  Yet they do...  and they have nothing.....  but a love for Christ.  So in the end.... who is really more blessed???  us or them?

I want to leave you with the most beautiful poem I have ever read.  It was found on the wall of an African Pastor in Zimbabwe after he was found martyred for his belief in Christ and his willingness to continually share the word of Christ - despite his freedom to do so:

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problems recognizing me – my banner will be clear!