THE FRANKFORT HONDURAS MEDICAL-DENTAL MISSION

Today is Friday, February 21^st, the 7^th day of the mission and the 4 clinic day.  The word of the day is love.  The related scriptures are   Jn 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” Gal 5:14, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”  We come here to love, be loved, and demonstrate God’s love.  Without love, a mission such as this is not possible.  You might say, “Love is in the air here.”  I can feel the love of both the missioners, the translators, the providers, the volunteers, and the patients.  There is a sense of community here which is impossible to adequately describe and which is rarely experienced. We will miss that sense of love and community which we have here when we leave for home tomorrow, but, for most of us, it will be a major factor in drawing us back to the mission next year.  What Christian Joy!  This is our last clinic day, the air has a slight coolness to it and the sky is a little gray.  There is joy in the mission all over.  There are lots of smiles today, even in dentistry and the medical clinic.  Particularly smiling today is a young lady who had lost her upper front teeth.  Javier, our dental prosthetics specialist, created a partial which makes her smile bright and toothy. I will get a copy of the before and after photos and post them when I can.  Our dental clinic has done remarkable work this week from Dr. Steve, our dentist from California, to our Honduran dentists, to the dental assistants, to our sterilizer technician, to our dental prosthetist.  Running a dental clinic is challenging as it takes many complex machines running well to do it.  For our success in dental technology, we can thank Dr. Elmer, our Honduran dental sponsor, who maintains our equipment and uses it for missions throughout the year.  We were blessed this year to bring a new dental chair and a portable X-ray machine.  Both have been very useful in the dental clinic this year.  I will have pics which show how Dr. Steve used the X-ray machine helped him choose the  best course of action for a young man with an injury to his front teeth.  Many thanks are due to our home support team and they include Arba Kenner, Debbie Brown, and Mary Ann Burch; we could not have come without their invaluable help.  Thanks to everyone at home for their prays and support!  A follow up post will be posted before long.  Blessings,

Today is Thursday, February 20th, the 6th day of the mission and the 3rd day of the
clinic. It is a beautiful day in Honduras, with a blue sky and temperatures in the
upper 70s. There is no shortage of patients for our clinic. Thanks to Terry’s excellent
management, the clinic is humming like a fine tuned machine. The word of the day
is “FAITH.” Related scriptures are: Rom 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Also, Heb 11:1 “Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is by faith we live
and by faith we are saved. It is by faith that we trust the wisdom of God with our lives
and futures, instead of be guided by our own wisdom. We came to Honduras with
the faith that God would look after us and guide our mission to success as long as
we rely on His wisdom and not our own. We obtain God’s wisdom by prayer,
meditation, reading scripture, and discernment. We must be determined to find
God’s wisdom, otherwise, we rapidly resort to our own. Our medical clinic has seen
a wide variety of problems. We have had diabetes crisis with blood glucose levels
literally off the scale. This required helping the patient purchase a 90 day supply of
insulin and a Glucometer. We sent a patient to the ER yesterday with
extremely high blood pressure, which did not improve here at the clinic with the
medication available. Everyone who comes through gets parasite medication due
to the frequent infestation of parasite from the poor water quality. We are treating
allergies, cough and cold, infections, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, and
skin disorders. Depression is also present, but the medications are difficult to
obtain and sustain. We therefore treat depression and anxiety with the peace of
Jesus. Today I had the pleasure of attending a party for the 3rd birthday of a youngster
in the daycare here at Solid Rock Church. It was amazing as such things should be.
The team really appreciates your prayers and support! Blessings to all, Roger. Photo link pending.

Today is Wednesday, February 19^th, the 2^nd day of our mission clinic, and the clinic is buzzing with activity and excitement.  The mechanics of the clinic are running much smoother today after Terry spent yesterday afternoon fine tuning our process.  The word of the day is “HOPE.”  Hope is what keeps us going, what gives us our motivation to go on.  Without Hope, most of us would give up.  The question is, what is the source of our hope?  For us Christians,  hope comes in the form of Jesus, the Christ.  As the old hymn says, “our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  The related scripture comes from Gal 5:5, which says, “For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”  We are made right with God by our faith.  Being right with God is the source of our Hope of a fulfilled life here on earth and in life after life.  Hope is what we come to bring to Honduras this week: Hope for a better life on earth and hope for eternity with God in heaven.  Ministering to the physical needs of this indigent Honduran population shows them that God cares and will lead them to inquire about the faith which brought us to them.  The eye clinic has been extremely busy and that is expected to continue through the week.  Tim calls the eye clinic the happiest place in the mission.  There are no painful procedures as in dentistry, and no unpleasant exams, diagnoses, or treatments as in the medical clinic.  In the eye clinic, folks enter with poor vision and leave with the instant gratification of improved vision.  We develop close relationships with the staff and translators on these trips.  Returning here each year is like a family reunion for me.  I stay in touch with many of these folks year-round and greatly look forward to seeing them when we return each year.  Without their help in planning this mission (especially Karla and Dr. Elmer), we would be unable to do this mission.  It is gratifying to come here in sequential years and see the children who come to the clinic grow up and become their own person; we hope that the care we give them may contribute some to this.  The pharmacy has had a much better day today as the organizational effort to get it up and running is substantial.  We thank Heather for this.  The weather here is very pleasant, especially compared to home, and that has been a blessing this week.  Have a blessed day and thanks again for the prayers and support.  Roger.  To see the photos for today, please click here: pending.

Today is the Tuesday, February 18, 2025, the 4th day of our mission trip and the first day of the clinic. We are all excited and the patients are grateful that we are here. The word of the day is “HEAL.” The related scripture is Acts 4:30 which says, “Stretch out your hand to HEAL and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” We are here to heal bodies and souls, which is the way Jesus would want it, I think. Folks are more receptive to the redemptive message of Jesus when they are not suffering so much from physical ailments. Today, we welcome Hondurans from the indigent Tierra Blanca community to our clinic in the name of Jesus. We are fortunate this year to have a Honduran gynecologist working at the clinic to attend to female problems and do PAP smears. Dr. Melissa, the gynecologist, has been my friend since we began coming to Honduras in 2003. I have watched her go through college, medical school, and residency to become a great gynecologist and great human. Her mother worked with us as a nurse practitioner in the early mission years. We are so happy to have her join our medical practitioners in the clinic this week. In today’s images, you will see the clinic starting up and running. Many thanks for your prayers and support. Blessings, Roger.  For the second set of photos, please click here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/167537108@N03/albums/72177720323963175

Today is Monday, February 17, 2025, the 3rd day of our mission and the clinic setup day. I apologize for the delay in posting this report. We arrived safely on Saturday, 2 days ago, and have done well since. All are healthy and happy with no illness or mishaps. The word of the day is “LEAST.” The “least” which I am referring to is as a noun, referring to God’s children who are the least in the world in terms of money, status, authority, and opportunity. We know from scripture that the least are as loved by God as the rich and privileged. The scripture which pertains to this is from Matthew 25:40 which says, “The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” It is these “least” for whom we came to Honduras. We see these least around every corner and in almost every neighborhood. Once one gets to know these folks, it is immediately apparent that they are God’s Children and are as smart and capable as the rest of us; they simply are poor and lack the opportunities many of us have had. They remind me of the people mentioned by Thomas Gray in “Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard.” In this poem, Gray laments the life possibilities of the folks buried in the church graveyard which were never fulfilled due to poverty and lack of opportunity. I see the Hondurans who come to our clinic as just like those in the remote English churchyard, with lots of ability and potential which only need to be released with opportunity. We are here to help them achieve their potential by improving their health, helping them see better and giving them healthy teeth. Most of all, we are here to make sure they know that God loves them and that Jesus died and rose from the dead to provide reconciliation with God for their sins. It is now early Tuesday morning and we are starting the clinic now.  There is excitement in the air as patients are being seen. Thanks so much for your prayers of support! Blessings, Roger.  Click here for photos from Saturday and Sunday:  https://www.flickr.com/gp/167537108@N03/m3j0hCx304

The link below will take you to Honduras in February of this year to experience in person the sights and sounds of our 2024 Honduras Medical/Dental/Optical mission to churches in two indigent neighborhoods, Fuerzas Unidas and Tierra Blanca.  The church in the Tierra Blanca neighborhood is called Solid Rock Church.  There is music but no narration on this video.  However, there is an excellent interview with our missioner, Sabrina James.  For further information about this year’s trip, please see the daily updates and photo links, published while we were in Honduras.

THE 2024 FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSIION VIDEO (youtube.com)

Please click on the link below to enjoy a three minute clip sent from Honduras in which a clinic patient tells about the clinic at Solid Rock Church.  Listen to the lady in the video clip tell you what the clinic means to her and to that community.  The pastor and staff at Solid Rock are calling the clinic: Un Rayo de Esperanza (Ray of Hope) Clinic

Link to video:  THE CLINIC AT SOLID ROCK CHURCH IN TEGUCIGALPA JUNE 2024 (youtube.com)

This update of the Honduras Mission Blog is to announce the opening of the new clinic at the Solid Rock Church! This is one of the churches in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, at which we recently held a 4-day brigade clinic.   The specifics for this were established with Pastor Wilmer at the time of the recent mission trip and $2,000 was donated to enable the location to go from an empty room with a closet to a functioning clinic.  The images in the link below will show the opening ceremony for the new clinic as well as patients waiting to be seen.  The new clinic logo, designed by the church, is included.  I wish to especially mention that the funding for the project was provided by the Levine Family Foundation.  Dentist Steve Iceland, who went on this trip and performed marvelously in mission conditions, is a member of the Levine Family, as are his daughter Heather Schmocker, and granddaughter, Monica Robbins who also performed admirably on the mission.  Please thank them at every opportunity you might have!  Hopefully, the friendship we have with the folks at Solid Rock Church is the beginning of a beautiful relationship which will keep this clinic going for a long time to come.  Blessings, Roger

SOLID ROCK CLINIC BEGINS! | Flickr

This report is for Friday, February 23, 2024, the seventh day of the mission and the fourth day of the clinic.  The word of the day is complete, and the related scripture comes from Acts 20:24, and says, “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”  We cannot look at the completion of this mission as the end,  but merely a milestone of progress on a long journey.  This day is the day of completion of this mission, but in a sense, it is never completed because the folks of Honduras continue to need healthcare and continue to need to know about Jesus for their spiritual health.  There is no sign that the Honduran government is close to solving the problem of health care in their country; even though there are public clinics available, they never have medications to give to the indigent who come there.  The corruption and dishonesty in the Honduran government (and most like it south of the Rio Grande) prevent adequate health care as well as the one thing necessary for Hondurans to progress in the world: economic growth.  I do not believe any major corporation will put a factory with good paying jobs there with the level of corruption and dishonesty which exists.  I personally know the Honduran people to be intelligent, industrious, and resilient people, but they are usually discouraged by the lack of opportunities there, which explains why many want to come to the US.  We can help these folks by encouraging our own government to require reasonable standards of honesty and transparency of the Honduran government before giving them loans or grants.  High officials in the Honduran government commonly take the money the US donates for themselves, so it never gets to those who really need it.  This was an exceptional mission in many respects.  First, there was the fact that we were able to fund and oversee a healthcare mission at two different sites.  The missioners on this trip were extremely focused, energetic, capable, and passionate, which enabled the two sites to perform with relatively few missioners compared to what we have had in previous times.  That said, we hope to have a larger team next year and to do a five-day clinic instead of a four-day mission.  The mission was so successful that the medical clinic at Fuerzas Unidas closed early on Friday due to the total depletion of medications from the pharmacy.  This scarcity of medications was despite the fact that we bought additional medications several times during the week.  Friday afternoon, the dental and optical clinics ended early so the equipment could be packed up and stored.  Much of it is used on frequent missions by our Honduran dental partner, Dr. Elmer.  The weekly clinic at Fuerzas Unidas will continue to operate and a new weekly or twice-weekly clinic will be started at the Solid Rock Church.  This will be possible due to a generous grant by the Levine Family Foundation and hopefully, it will continue with the help of a coalition of churches and donors.  Please consider a donation to this worthy cause.  Checks should be mailed to:  FUMC Frankfort, ATTN: Cleland White, 211 Washington Street, Frankfort, KY 40601.  Thanks to everyone for their prayers, support, and donations.  Blessings, Roger

FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSION 2024 DAY 7 | Flickr

This report is for Thursday, February 22, 2024, the sixth day of the mission and the third day of the clinic.  The word for the day is joy.  The related scriptures come from John:15:11, and Galatians 5:22 which say: “’I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete’” and “but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control.”  I feel like joy has to be mentioned this week because joy is evident in the missioners, the volunteers, the translators, the Honduran professionals,  and especially the patients we see.  For the Hondurans, the joy is not due to the conditions in which they live, which are mostly abysmal, but from their attitude and the care they have received.  The ultimate joy comes from our faith which reconciles us to God through the sacrifice of Jesus.  The awareness of this reconciliation creates a sense of peace that comes by no other means.  We have seen abundant joy from the care the patients have received this week.  There are big smiles of joy on patients as the leave the clinic with new glasses, a dental prosthesis, an artificial forearm, blood pressure and diabetic medications, parasite medication, health education, and dental care.  We believe that we have provided both spiritual joy and physical joy the people we have seen this week.  Spiritually, our team receives at least as much joy from the people we care for as we give away; it is what keeps us coming back on these mission trips.  Thursday was a very busy day. Among the special things done, Sabrina delivered to both churches AEDs (automatic external defibrillators) to for use in the ongoing clinics at those locations.  You will see in today’s photos Pastor Wilmer’s wife learning to do CPR and use the defibrillator.   We really appreciate the donors who helped purchase the defibrillators and Sabrina for bringing them and proving instruction in their use.  The medical care has been partially limited by short supply of medications due to seeing so many patients.  Several trips back to the pharmacy supply store have been required and we are still short of some medicines.  The emotional reaction of the patients who receive a forearm is nothing short of amazing.  One man, injured in an electrical accident in which he lost his right forearm and three fingers on his left hand, left crying in joy because he can now work and feed his family.  A total of 11 artificial forearms were fitted or left to be fitted.  The week is moving along rapidly, and the mission team has been excellent in all respects, somewhat small (compared to the past), but mighty!  We continue to appreciate the support and prayers of all of you at home!  This report was composed on the way home.  I will post Friday’s report ASAP.  Thank you for being patient!  Blessings, Roger

FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSION 2024 DAY 6 | Flickr