la alegría compartida ~ shared joy: Fluoride, Stoves, and the Face of Jesus

On Saturday, February 8^th a group of 23 people from Dallas, Texas arrived in Honduras for a short term mission project. The 10 students in the Holy Spirit School senior class and I were given the task of helping them throughout their week in Tela. We helped in whatever way we were needed from moving tile, to applying fluoride treatments, to translating. If I’m being 100% honest I was a little nervous about it. Recently, I have been feeling a little negative toward short term missions. I mean, how much can you really get done in a week? I had this idea that people who come to work in a foreign country for a short time do so only to make themselves feel good. Short term missions get a lot of flak for that very reason. And no, not all short term missions trips work. But from the moment I met this group, I could see that they were different.

For one thing, this group has been a part of the community in Tela for close to a decade. They come to Tela annually and work on construction, dental hygiene, vision, and education. They split into three or four small groups every day, each of which focuses on a particular task. Each person has an opportunity to use their skills to help in a unique way. When they go to the nearby villages, they meet both physical and spiritual needs – providing fluoride treatments, eye glasses, and lunch as well as music, crafts, and a lesson. They built ecological stoves in small homes in a nearby village and painted rooms at the bilingual school where I work. They also laid tile and fixed toilets at the school. What they were able to accomplish in one week was amazing, but it wasn’t just about what they did. I was amazed by the humility with which they worked. They were not working for themselves; it wasn’t about the praise they will get when they get back home. It was really about showing the love of God to people in need. And it was about building a relationship. I saw the face of Jesus in these missionaries and in the the children and families we worked with again and again. Although they are only here one week out of the year, they have gotten to know a lot of the children and families over the years. It was fun for me to see them reunite after a year apart. This is what mission is really about – the relationship.

It was a challenging week for me, but not for the reasons I foresaw. It was exhausting, but reenergizing. Seeing so many people who are dedicated to sharing the love of God to the people of Honduras reminded me that I was sent here for the very same reason. It’s not about what I do, but the love with which I do it. It’s not about how many classes I teach or if I’m the best English teacher my students have ever had. Yes, I am here to teach, but more importantly I am here to share the love of God with my students, my neighbors, the other teachers. I am here to get to know them, and so that they can get to know me. My prayer for the rest of my time here is that I will continue to see the face of Christ in the people I work with, and that I might be the face of Christ in return.

I want to say thank you to the people of St. Michael and All Angels, Dallas, Texas for reminding me of why I am here and for being an example of Christ to me and to the people of this community. It was an honor to meet and work with you.

Here are a few pictures from the week!

Fitting people for eye glasses in the village of San Martin

Craft time!

Teaching the children of San Martin about Saint Francis. Hopefully my Spanish was good enough to be understood!

Our afternoon group in the village of El Sauce (read Sow-say)

The kids having fun on the playground. It had rained that morning, so it was a little flooded.


My new friends from El Sauce. They are all siblings, Karen (4th grade), Walter (3rd grade), and Iris (5th grade). I was very impressed by them. Karen's job at home is to cook dinner. Iris makes the tortillas.

Making music with tambourines.

These children are either too old (public schools only go through 6th grade) or unable to afford school, so they waited outside the classrooms in the village of Campo Elvir for fluoride treatments. A couple of the other team members and I had the opportunity to hang out and play guitar with them while they waited.