Mission Trip

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Honduras
By Laura Kasimier

June 2005

I had an amazing opportunity to go to Honduras in June on a week-long mission trip.  I went with 37 people from my congregation in Gainesville, University City Church of Christ, and was blessed to be supported spiritually and financially by Riverside.  We spent five days in a village called Las Casitas, outside of the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa.  During those five days, we had a team on construction, medical brigade, installation of pure water filters, and an after-school children’s program.  On a separate day, we held Vacation Bible School for two churches in the area, with over 100 children who came.  

I was primarily involved with the medical brigade, which we set up in Las Casitas in an old, rundown building.  The people flocked to us once word spread that we were in town, and we saw over 650 people in those five days administering needed drugs, listening to their concerns, prescribing medicine, and praying with them.  Many people would raise their heads with tears streaming down their face.  I know many of those people will get to know God and His love.  I feel so grateful that God let me be a part of that and He has blessed me with love and support from my family and friends and this congregation.  

Our construction team built six houses that week, all for homeless families of the Las Casitas Iglesia de Cristo.  Each house was one large room with wood planks for walls, and a tin roof under which several children and parents lived.  At the end of the week, our whole group came to each house to dedicate the house to the family and give them a care package.  We sang and prayed with them and it was an extremely emotional time, as the families were so incredibly grateful and wanted to hug each of us.  

Our group’s focus for the week was Galatians 6:9-10: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”  Thank you, Riverside, for aiding in my trip to spread the word of Jesus Christ to the people of Honduras, and taking part in “tending the fields.”  God has certainly reaped a harvest, using us His messengers.