A Gift from the City Dump

I've been to Honduras countless times. In fact, I even lived there for a while. Almost every time I go, I bring something back with me, something that impacts my life and my ministry. This last trip was certainly no exception.

Most of the team members on my latest mission trip to Honduras had read, Radical, by David Platt. In that book, Platt describes a life-changing experience he had at the Tegucigalpa city dump. Everyone wanted me to take them there. For several reasons, I did not want to go. I had been to the city dump about five years ago, and I knew the conditions had not changed, at least not for the better. I knew we would see poverty, injustice, and human depravity at its worst. My thirteen-year-old grandson Noah was with us, and I honestly didn't know how this would impact him. But we decided to go.  Click here to see the Tegucigalpa city dump.  

Unless you've been there, you cannot begin to imagine this place. Nothing can prepare you for the sights and smells. To see children, young teens, and women living and working in the filth of miles and miles of garbage is simply beyond description. Locals call it the Crematoria - the best translation being, "the burning place." It reminded me of Jesus talking about hell in Matthew 1:8. He used the Greek word geenna - the name for the valley outside of Jerusalem, where mounds of garbage burned constantly - to describe a place where the fire is never quenched.The Crematoria is much like the geenna of Jesus' day.

At the city dump, there was smoke rising out of the trash everywhere you looked. The smoke and smell permeated everyone and everything in that place. Our bus stayed only a few minutes, then turned around, and headed back down the hill, away from what was perhaps the most depressing place in the world. As we drove down the winding road out of the dump, everyone on the bus was quiet-no words, no conversations, no questions, nothing but silence, and a lot of tears. I think they were all shocked at, and I was certainly reminded of, the stark reality of how people live in places like that.

I feel sure there are crematorias in many other places around the world - places where people live in abject poverty, where people suffer injustice, and live totally without hope of anything better. We don't have to go to Tegucigalpa to find people living in some kind of "hell" they can't escape. People like that are much closer than we think.

What I brought back with me to my home, to my job, and to my ministry in Greensboro was not just another memory or experience, but rather a message from the Holy Spirit that is already impacting how I work, how I live, and how I relate to others. From what I saw, smelled, and felt in the dump, the Spirit of Jesus wants me to remember that these are the people He came to die for, and these are the people He sends His Church to care for, and reach out to with His love and the good news of His mercy and grace.

In a real sense of the word, there are city dumps all around us. But, we tend to build our interstate highway systems, and our lives, so that we avoid them. Our busy schedules and commitments don't allow us time to see them, much less interact with them. Our homeowners' association covenants, and city building codes prohibit them from moving in next door. And, our fear of catching some strange disease, or being the victim of crime wouldn't allow us to move to their neighborhood either. They have their world, and we have ours. And, that's the way it is. But, I have to ask, is that the way it should be?

What I brought back with me, is a determination to find a way to break into their world - the world of the city dumps - and somehow, some way become the Good News to them. I now understand a little better what it means in John 4:4 where it says, "He had to go through Samaria." Respected rabbis in Jesus' day, didn't go through Samaria, and avoided all contact with Samaritans because of racial and religious prejudice. Going through Samaria, and going into the city dumps is not what most religious leaders do today. But, if we follow Christ, we must follow Him into Samaria and beyond.

I also brought back a commitment to never again look the other way. I refuse to pretend there's nothing I can do. I reject the temptation to blame their poverty on them, or their governments, and by doing so, excuse myself from any responsibility to act. I'm reminded of the words of William Wilberforce, the man who helped end slavery in England:

"Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way; but you can never again say that you did not know."

From this trip to Honduras, I brought back a desire to look for the poor and the outcast in the city dumps, and find ways to step into their world in order to make a real difference. I want them to know my Jesus! Perhaps I'm crazy, but I'm done with living in the sterilized bubble of the American Dream. It's time to go to Samaria!

I've seen the need. I've felt the Holy Spirit nudging me forward. I cannot look the other way. I'm ready to go where only Jesus would lead me. I wonder, how many people feel the way I do? Would you go there with me?

Larry Doyle

Board Member

Urgent News

You may have seen in the news the major rains and flooding that are pounding Honduras this week. Tropical Storm Rina (now Hurricane Rina) has brought about two weeks of rain to Honduras, causing major flooding, mudslides, and homes and roads being swept away. The Honduran Embassy in Washington, DC, estimated that 55,000 people have been affected and 6,000 people are still in shelters today.

Dr. Antonio told us there is tremendous flooding in the southern part of Honduras, especially around Choluteca. Some are saying the conditions are even worse than after Hurricane Mitch, which devastated Honduras in 1998. People are losing houses and entire villages are being swept away.

A missionary based in Tegucigalpa said, "It has been some of the worst devastation I have ever seen. Thousands of families are misplaced with no food to eat. One whole town in Choluteca was under four feet of running waters...We are bagging up beans, rice, flour, etc, and delivering them to several locations. Your prayers are needed."

Please pray for the rains to stop and for the workers who will surely travel to Honduras to help in whatever way is needed - rebuilding, food provision, medical care. Pray that God will provide the necessary resources and willing workers to use them. Thank you for your prayers for and support of Camp Betel and the people of Honduras.

Jordan Teague
Board Member

Cristian

Of all the children that participate in the feeding program at Camp Betel, Honduras, Cristian has stood out to me the most during my visits to the Camp over the past two years. He was the boy who ran out of his grandmother's house to jump and wave every time our buses drove by. He was the boy who participated in all the fun and games of Vacation Bible School. He was the boy who hit the pinata, sang the songs, and received clothes at Christmas time. He was also the boy who wore a bandana to cover the tumor taking over the right side of his face.

When I first met him, he was nine years old. He came to our medical clinic to receive vitamins, pain medicine, and bandages for the frail, thin skin on his face. Other members of our team got to know him through the Vacation Bible School program. In July 2010, Cristian ran and played with the other kids, even with the bandages and the bandana.

Cristian's battle with this tumor has been a long process. For many years, Cristian lived in a small house with much of his extended family. About three years ago, a man from a local church built a house for Cristian and his mother right next to his grandmother's house. This project got Cristian out of the crowded and noisy house, and gave him his own, clean, quiet room and his own bed.

When we were there in August, Cristian wasn't doing so well. He was confined to his bed and was not able to eat. Several of our team members visited him and his family one afternoon while we were there. That night, Cristian lost consciousness for a while. We took bandaging to his house, but there was nothing else to do. On September 17, we received word that Cristian had passed and is now with Jesus.

Sara Sowers remembers, "Cristian was really an incredible little boy! He affected and, I believe, changed the lives of almost everybody who met him! He had a wonderful, carefree attitude about life. A great relationship with his mom and his cousins. I remember him hurrying to VBS each day (with the help of 3 little cousins) a few years ago when we were there. Despite having very little sight, he loved playing catch and sliding on those cement slides at camp!

I spent a lot of time with him the week we were there. We had been playing catch with different color beanbags and on the second day he started holding the bags really close to his good eye and calling out the colors, correctly, of each bag. When I gasped in shock, he belly laughed like he had just played the best trick on me! Which he did!

He is greatly missed by many who had brief encounters with him. But he is tremendously missed by his mother, grandmother and all his family."

I don't tell you this story to make you sad or to make you sorry. I tell you so that you rejoice with us in his life, that you rejoice in what you have, and that you realize what some people don't have. This is the mission of Simple Matters - to realize that others have less, and that we can do something about it. We cannot change all the issues of poverty in Honduras. We know we won't be able to change all the issues Cristian and the others in his community face every day. But we can do something.
Jordan Teague

Board Member

The August mission team had a blast in Camp Betel and Tegucigalpa in Honduras! Twenty-seven people went on the trip and served on four different teams. Many of them had never been to Honduras, and all of us came back changed. The unity of the group from the very beginning was amazing - that, and what was accomplished over the week, can only be attributed to God!

* The Medical Team saw 507 patients in 4 days!! Dr. Antonio, who holds the medical clinic at Camp Betel each month, served as the doctor. The team was at Camp Betel for 2 days and in the city at a church called Renacer for another 2 days. The team was as blessed by the patients as the patients were by them! Patients received medications such as vitamins, Tylenol, Tums, amoxicillin, high blood pressure medication, allergy relief medication, and parasite medication. They even prescribed reading glasses!
* The Women's Ministry Team worked with the women of Camp Betel in sewing. For 2 days, the women worked on curtains to go in the new medical clinic and children's center. The women were so enthusiastic about sewing and excited to make new things!
* The VBS Team worked with the children at the Camp and also with children at Emmanuel Church, in Tegucigalpa. Those kids latched on to the team members and did not want to let go!
* The Construction Team painted the new medical clinic building a lovely shade of pink, and there was just one injury (of running into the roof)! Because of their hard work, the building will have a welcoming feel and more people can be served by the clinic.

Over the next few months, you will be hearing stories from the August team. Each person has a different story to tell, and a different perspective. We pray you will be blessed by our experiences in Honduras, and that our passion and love for the people will shine through them.


Jordan Teague
Board Member


Click the link below to view pictures from the most recent trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras!
Hope for Honduras 2011

Grateful hearts worship in El Tablon
By: Melissa Lilley
July 2010

EL TABLON, HONDURAS – Pastor Benjamin pulled the photo out from between the pages of his Bible and before he could flip to the next photo the Greenes were wiping away tears. Mike and Ginger's daughter Stephanie is now a senior in college and she hardly recognized herself in the eight-year-old photo, back when the Greenes (now NC Baptist Men on-site coordinators) worked with Deep Impact to build a building for Iglesia Bautista Restauracion. The building took several years to complete, but the congregation of about 45 has moved in and children, youth and adults gather together each Sunday to worship.

During the Deep Impact week in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, high school students, college students and youth leaders made the village of El Tablon and R church a focus of ministry. One team did Bible studies, games and crafts in a public school just down the street from the church and another team set up a free medical clinic at the church.

Pastor Benjamin remembers when the spot where the church building now sits was empty. His dad was a member of the church that bought the property, which for 11 years sat abandoned. Finally, his dad helped lead the charge to get a ministry started in El Tablon. When Benjamin's dad died last September, Benjamin stepped up to help lead the mission church.

Benjamin lived in Choluteca until age 18, when he moved to Tegucigalpa. His enjoys teaching the congregation and wants to help them learn that "it's the job of everyone" to be on mission for God. Benjamin grew up in a Christian home and received Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior during a Vacation Bible School.

Several students at the school in El Tablon prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior during the Vacation Bible School led by Deep Impact participants. One day during the week the Bible study was about prayer and the team asked the students to write down specific prayer requests. Some students asked the team to pray that they would have food to eat. One student prayed for his dad to come home. Other students asked how they could know Jesus Christ.

The students at the school don't have much. They give their full attention to simple crafts and coloring sheets because they rarely see them. Just listening to their excitement playing soccer and one would never know they were playing on a cement slab full of cracks with no nets for the soccer goals. The classrooms are simple, with white walls, exposed wooden beams, nothing for decoration except a few faded posters and a few vocabulary words, and no air-conditioning. One room didn't have lights.

If the students mind, they certainly don't show it. Nor does Benjamin's congregation seem to mind worshipping in a building without pews, or a choir loft, or stained glass windows, or even a bathroom. None of that matters to them. They shout praises to God and worship as if this Sunday may be their last Sunday.

The church sits at the top of a hill, past the school with its thick black gate and wrought iron looking bars over all the windows. The road is dirt and gravel, the homes close to the school hardly looking like homes at all with their tin roofs and structures that seemed to be made out of whatever material people could find.

But the landscape is breathtaking. Walk around to the back of the church and as far as the eye can see are lush, rolling green mountaintops. Tegucigalpa sits in the bottom of a bowl with mountains on every side. On the way to the school, driving through curve after curve and looking down below at the brightly colored buildings, homes and mountains that seem to go on forever underneath the earth, it seems unfair for such extreme poverty to exist in the midst of such beauty.

Yet, pastor Benjamin and those who gather each week for worship in El Tablon bring a beauty to their village that may very well surpass the grandeur of the mountainous terrain. Brothers and sisters run and play together outside the church before service starts. An older woman sitting in the back of the church takes the hands of a child sitting next to her on her mother’s lap and helps her make the hand motions to the song. A young girl makes her way up and down each row, shaking the hands of the Deep Impact team members joining them for worship. When the church begins the service singing "How Great is our God," there is no doubt that they truly know what it means to rely on God for even the most basic needs - and they still proclaim how great is the Lord God.

Medical team makes deep impact in Honduras
By: Melissa Lilley
July 2010

EL TABLON, HONDURAS – She tried to wipe her face with her cream colored blouse but the tears kept coming. She sat sideways in the white plastic chair to face Larry Doyle, who held her hand and prayed with her while she waited with her grandchildren for their medicine. She is a Christian, but her son, who is dying of cancer, is not. Larry blinked away a few tears himself after their prayer.
One by one families came through the doors of Iglesia Bautista Restauracion and waited in line to see the doctor. Some walked miles to get to the free clinic. Some children enjoyed saying "ah" for the doctor and having him listen to their heartbeat. Others, like Jared, seemed frightened at all the excitement. Jared buried his head in his mom's shoulder and she held his shirt up while the doctor pressed the stethoscope against his back.

Respiratory problems are one of the most common reasons people came to the clinic. Many came to be treated for illnesses caused by parasites, which come from Hondurans not having access to clean drinking water. In Honduras, a country of 6.6 million and one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, 80 percent of illnesses could be prevented if clean drinking water was accessible. Nearly 1.1 billion in the world do not have clean drinking water and about 2 million children suffer each year with water-related diarrhea. According to the World Health Organization, one quarter of the world's population lives in developing countries with water shortages.

Doyle and the Deep Impact team did their best to comfort. One member rubbed a little girl’s back as she sat in her mother's lap and tried to receive a breathing treatment through a nebulizer. She gently waved the tube back and forth under the girl’s nose so she could inhale the medicine, trying to help soothe her and end her screaming and squirming. Doyle moved around the room, talking with those in line and helping explain how to take their medication.

The free medical clinic is one of six mission projects carried out by Deep Impact participants in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. High school and college students and youth leaders from across North Carolina spent a week in July ministering in rural areas in the country's capital city. Deep Impact began 13 years ago at the North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell in Brunswick County, and in Tegucigalpa. This is the third year Deep Impact expanded to include camp weeks at other locations. Deep Impact was also held in Red Springs, Greensboro, Shelby, Fruitland and Eastern Canada.

Doyle, who is a former missionary in Ecuador and now Director of Missions for Piedmont Baptist Association, has been to Honduras with Deep Impact several times, helping build the very church where the clinic was held. He and his wife also served as on-site coordinators for NC Baptist Men the year following Hurricane Mitch. Over the years Doyle has built relationships with national believers in Honduras, one being Benjamin, the pastor of Restauracion. Doyle said Benjamin shared with him how the clinic gave him opportunity to get to know the people in his community.

The church's evangelism coordinator, Rosa, certainly took advantage of the clinic. Thursday was the largest turnout with 157 patients, and Rosa shared the Gospel several times that day with the group as they waited to see the doctor. As evangelism director Rosa gets the congregation out in the community, going home to home in order to get to know people and share the Gospel. "This clinic lets people know we care about them," she said.

Rosa enjoys going home to home because "you really find out about people." Nineteen years ago, in the midst of a family crisis, Rosa came to know Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. Now, she is investing in reaching out to others.
The Deep Impact team reached out to share the Gospel and to provide physical care that at times seemed too easy. The doctors prescribed over-the-counter cough medicine and vitamins. Or pain reliever for a woman who complained of shoulder pain that shot through her body when she bent over to scrub her clothes. For the people living in the village of El Tablon, nothing is as easy as it should be. They don't run over to the pharmacy for basic items to treat a cough or an ear infection because most can’t afford it. It's hard to avoid water-borne disease when all the laundry, bathing and drinking water is contaminated.

Rob Williams remembers the first time he saw parasites on someone's skin. Williams, a physician's assistant from Faith Baptist Church, came to Honduras in 2001 and worked in the medical clinic. Williams has learned to treat things he doesn’t see in his office, such as parasites and scorpion stings. "I came back this year for the same reason I came on the first trip," he said. "I am reminded that God has blessed me far beyond what I deserve."

Williams worked alongside Dr. Antonio, a Honduran doctor who has worked in years past with North Carolina Baptists. Dr. Antonio lives in Tegucigalpa and decided to become a doctor when he saw so many people hurting in his city. "They broke my heart," he said. "I had to do something."

One couple came back later in the week to get medicine for their son who has Hepatitis. Doyle got to pray with the couple and when he finished, the dad was in tears. "I knew he was hurting," Doyle said. Doyle shared the Gospel and the boy's parents prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
For the people Deep Impact ministered to through the medical clinic, little "somethings" added up to something big.

Honduran pastor leads charge to change community
By: Melissa Lilley
July 2010

SAN MIGUEL, HONDURAS – "Let's roll," said pastor Oscar to the group of students and youth leaders gathered in front of Emmanuel Baptist Church with their hygiene kits. Oscar doesn't waste any time when it comes to getting out in the community and ministering. Oscar is pastor of Emmanuel in San Miguel. San Miguel is a municipality in Francisco Marazan, one of 18 departments that divide the country of Honduras.

The municipality is extremely poor. Oscar said not until this year did the government start pouring cement onto some of the streets that were nothing but mud and dirt. Although the community is poor the people try to help raise funds for the work, and Emmanuel also pitches in with street repairs, street cleaning and trash pick up. Recently San Miguel has seen many cases of dengue fever, and Emmanuel members seek to reach out to those who are sick and to help with disease prevention.

As Oscar led the team from home to home passing out the hygiene kits the poverty of his community is undeniable. He pointed out a dirt patch where a house once stood before the river washed it away. One home sits just a few feet from the edge of a cliff, overlooking a river, with tarps spread out in front of the door in attempt to keep the heavy rains from coming inside. With much more rain, the little house itself has a good chance of being gone. Most homes the team entered consisted of one room and no electricity. Still, the houses felt like homes, as the families put pictures on the walls and had everything neat and tidy. The Hondurans are very hospitable people. Even if the home is so small there's no way the entire team can fit, they still invite the team inside to sit down and pray.

Two teams of Deep Impact participants spent their weeklong mission trip in Honduras serving in San Miguel. One team led basketball clinics in the morning and passed out hygiene kits in the afternoon. A second team led Vacation Bible School at Emmanuel. Other teams worked in El Tablon and at Camp Betel.

The first afternoon of hygiene kit distribution the sun seemed to beat down unmercifully. Pastor Oscar never tired. The team started by winding down a mountain of steps to the bottom of a hill and from house to house, not skipping over a single one, they worked their way back to the top. An elderly woman greeted the team at the first home they visited. Her home sat at the bottom of the hill, out of sight until the team squeezed around a mound of rocks. She asked the team to pray for her health because she often faints.

When Oscar first came to Emmanuel the church was a mission of another local church and met in a small wood building with few people attending. Over time the church grew and its influence in the community increased. Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem helped build a new building for Emmanuel and in 2001 celebrated with Oscar at the building’s inauguration.

The impact made when believers are willing to sacrifice to help others is not easily forgotten. Oscar still has a framed photo in his office of Max Furr and his family, from Calvary Baptist, who helped with the new building. He also has a Bible signed by Mark Corts in 2001, on the day
of the inauguration. Corts, who died in 2006, pastored Calvary Baptist from the age of 25 until he retired in 2002.

Oscar, 50, grew up in south Honduras in Choluteca. In the 1980s, Oscar was heavily involved in drugs and alcohol. His family members were not Christians, but he had friends who were. Although he showed no interest, friends persistently stayed after Oscar to join them at church. When Oscar finally relented, a friend picked him up and they went to church together.

Oscar showed up to church that day with long hair, baggy pants and sat in the last row. "Young people still came up to me after the service," Oscar said. "And I liked that." Oscar came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at that church. He also met his wife at church and they have been married 24 years. The kindness shown to a stranger that day meant more than those young people could ever have imagined.