Recap

We made it back home this evening and are so thankful for safe travel! We wanted to let you know what all was given to the orphanages, since many of you gave money to help these children. On Monday morning we went shopping and purchased the following:

30 crib mattresses (much-needed, since the old ones were made of foam, stained, and in bad shape)
Three dryers
20 cans of formula
Powdered milk
Fruit, juice, and cookies for snacks
20 water jugs

This is in addition to the many bags of donations that were sent with us. The directors of the orphanages were very grateful for our (and your!) generosity, and the children will greatly benefit from these gifts. We still have money in our budget to provide an ongoing supply of different items.

On Monday afternoon we took pizza and sodas to Nueva Esperanza for the kids to enjoy. We had a number of activities planned including a bible story (Laura decided to tell the story of Jesus asking the children to come to him), coloring, playing with a parachute and balls outdoors, and taking individual pictures of each child to be made into a cute frame for them. We knew it wouldn't go perfectly and it didn't...drizzly weather limited the outdoor activities a bit, and the picture-printing process took a while (the weather didn't help them to dry quickly!). It was definitely hectic trying to coordinating everything among over a hundred excited kids, but God was clearly at work and we believe these children saw Him through us.

Laura, Dawn, Ryan, Jodi, and Lauren are very grateful to George McCain (from Buckner) for his leadership, wisdom, and huge heart. He was our rock on this trip and it was comforting to have such a dependable leader! We also want to thank Aracely Perez (also from Buckner) for her advice, pep talks, and most importantly her bilingual ability :) The language barrier was pretty challenging at times and we would have been lost without Aracely. We also have a special place in our hearts for Frances Azzad, the consultant for Buckner in Honduras. She was a wealth of knowledge and also pulled several strings to make sure we were taken care of. Her daughter Frances Nicole was also a huge help! They introduced us to many aspects of Honduran culture and some delicious food! We are especially thankful to them for inviting us to worship with them Sunday at their wonderful church. Their congregation greatly affirmed what we were there to do. God was definitely smiling on us that morning!

We each brought something different away from our experience in Honduras but are in agreement that the Lord had worked in each of our hearts to carry out this mission trip and to see how Northlake can continue this ministry and help these children. We hope that as we work to further help these orphanages and make plans for future visits, He will open your hearts to join us.

If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask one of us. As always, thank you for your prayers and support in making this a very successful mission trip.