THE FRANKFORT HONDURAS MEDICAL-DENTAL MISSION

This is to announce the Frankfort Honduras Mission’s 2024 trip to Tegucigalpa Honduras for medical, dental, and optical care of the indigent at two neighborhoods in this city.  We will be flying to Honduras this Saturday, February, 17, 2024, and will land at the new Palmerola Airport about an hour north of Tegucigalpa; fortunately or not, we will be unable to experience the dramatic and difficult landing at Toncontin Airport in downtown Tegucigalpa.  Toncontin is a lot closer to where we are going but Palmerola is a lot safer.  We are traveling from three different airports through two different gateway airports, Miami, and Houston, and all arriving in Tegucigalpa in the early afternoon.  We will then be conveyed by our transportation coordinator, Sebastian, to the Humuya Inn.  By then, we will need to get food and rest as most of us will have had to arise at 3-4 AM.  Many months of planning and preparation have gone into this mission and all the missioners and Honduran helpers are excited and optimistic.  Stay tuned for more developments and remember that, while we go to provide medical, dental, and optical care for the least of our brothers and sisters (the Great Commandment, from Matthew 25:40), we are also there to fulfill the Great Commission from Matthew 28:12-20 (“Go and make disciples of all the nations).  Embedded below are two images from our packing session on Sunday at the First Methodist Church; our supplies are ready to go!

Please click on the following link to see and ~12-minute video of our medical-dental mission this year, done by one of our Honduran friends.

(102) Frankfort Honduras Mission Brigade Video 2023 – YouTube

 

This report is the final report for the 2023 Frankfort Honduras Mission; we will call it an epilogue.  The word for this report is “seed.”  The related scripture comes from Luke 8:11 and says, “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.”  The entire reason for our mission is to plant the seeds of the gospel by addressing the physical and spiritual needs of the impoverished Tierra Blanca community.  As an immediate reward, I see the smiles on the faces of the folks whom we care for and minister to, particularly the children.  Seeds are strange things; in reference to the gospel, we saw some of them germinate while we were there, as noted in the Tuesday update.  I have no doubt that the Solid Rock Church, and surrounding churches, will reap spiritual benefits from the mission seeds planted for some time to come as the folks there correctly recognize that God cares for their physical and spiritual health and that will lead them to follow Jesus.  Another seed we plant is the seed of health that enables the folks there to rise above their circumstances and become what their country needs them to become so that Honduras may be the prosperous country its people deserve.  Without health, there is no way they (especially the youth) have a chance to do that.  The road to progress in Honduras goes through corruption and inefficiency of a staggering degree that the youth only realize about college age.  We hope that better health and a Christian spirit will enable them to better rise above their current circumstances to create the result their intelligence and hard work deserve.  The mission team will soon be meeting with those who were unable to go to plan for next year.  Your prayers are greatly appreciated.  We have several options, and we certainly want to follow God’s vision.  Also, we are in the process of fine tuning the clinic at Fuerzas Unidas and trying to establish a similar clinic at Solid Rock so those neighborhoods will have ongoing health care.  There are some government clinics nearby, but those clinics never have medications to give patients.  Additional donations will be helpful for this, so if you are interested in this, please let us know.  The final numbers for this year’s clinic are:

Dental                                   217 Patients

Extractions 69

Fluoride          5

Fillings           46

Prosthetics   28

Cleanings      69

Optical                                   318 Patients

Medical                                 743 Patients

Rx                                           2470 Prescriptions Filled

I don’t think the success of the whole week should be summarized entirely by the numbers but there is something to be said for visualizing the objective accomplishments.  While mission success is at least partially number dependent, without the intangible things, spiritual development, and relationships formed, the mission would not have been complete.  Thanks so much for following us on our journey; please keep an eye out for other updates.  Blessings to all!  Roger and the Mission Team

Click here for the last set of images:  FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSION 2023 EPILOGUE | Flickr

This report is for Friday, February 24, 2023 of the Frankfort 2023 Honduras Mission, day seven of the mission and day four of the clinic.  The word for today is rejoice.  The related scripture comes from Philippians 4:4 which says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!”  This was indeed a day to rejoice as the clinic’s final day was a great success.  I write this on Saturday morning as we prepare to depart for the airport for the trip home and anticipate continuing to write it as we travel.  Friday began with a joyous devotion and prayer to celebrate the final day of the mission.  The images will show various volunteers speaking up, then and later, about what the mission this week has meant to them and what they have seen occur in the physical and spiritual health of the folks we have served.  The clinic began as usual but lasted only about half the usual time as we needed time to pack up and store the equipment.  The cooks prepared a spaghetti lunch for all and we then celebrated the success of the mission with a cake after all the packing was done.  The pastor gave a rousing devotion about how we are all in some way parts of the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12), each contributing to the physical, mental, and spiritual healing of the mission community this week.  We feel, as US missioners, and as a team (from Honduras and the US), that we gain as much, or more, than we give during this mission.  That is what keeps us coming.  By sharing our experiences, we deepen relationships and become a healthier community.  Dr. Elmer described this as us being “the tools of God!”  I felt the gathering after the patients left was a true “mountain top experience” based on the testimony of several of the team members including the doctors, dentists, cooks, the church superintendent (Henry), the pastor’s wife and the pastor himself.  In the morning, a small group went to the nearby town of Tatumba to look at a small church where an additional mission may be considered in the future; it was a beautiful trip over rough roads.  There were mountains, vineyards, flowers, flowering trees, and Bougainvillea hedges.  We also met a man on Friday from North Carolina named Alvin Anderson who has been in Honduras for many years doing mission work with the Outreach Christian Fellowship.  Dr. Elmer will be working with him, using some of our equipment on Saturday; we look forward to working with him again in the future.  Thanks so much for your prayer and financial support.  Blessings, Roger  Click here for a link to Friday’s images:  FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSION 2023 DAY 7 | Flickr

PS The posting of this was delayed due to the last-minute nipping at my heels of Montezuma’s Revenge from a tuna sandwich at the Honduras airport.

This report is for Thursday, February 23, 2023, Day six of the mission and day 3 of the clinic.  The word for today is FRUIT. That is appropriate, given the excellent fresh fruit we enjoy here, but the kind of fruit I am referring to is spiritual fruit which is a direct manifestation of living “in the spirit.”  The related scripture (of course), comes from Galatians 3:22-23 which says, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  The third day of the clinic is always “hump day” (even though this is a four-day clinic week), and the team is always noticeably more tired and grumpy (yes, we too get that way).  That is when we come to rely on our spiritual fruit to guide us through the times when we might say or do something we would regret later just because we are tired.  We trust the spirit to guide us so that we treat each of the patients coming to the clinic and each of the other staff as we would want to be treated, even when we do not feel like it.  The mood today, as I write this, is more subdued but the clinic is running like a well-oiled machine.  We received an infusion of additional medications today to stock up for the rest of the clinic.  The sun is shining, she sky is blue, the clouds sparse, and the neighborhood roosters crowing.  I feel more serene and at peace here than I do almost anywhere else.  Today, we realized we had a volunteer in optical, Sierra, a beautiful young lady of 17 with Mayan heritage, who has a congenital cataract in her left eye; it is obviously opaque to a penlight.  We are going to try to find her an affordable way to get the cataract removed.  I was also told by Karla a story from the optical clinic last year in which a man, nearly blind, came and got a pair of glasses which corrected his vision amazingly well.  He thanked the team members as tears ran down his cheeks.  Stories like these abound and there are too many to tell in detail for the week; in fact, I sure I have not heard them all.  I was privileged yesterday to be able to return to the Fuerzas Unidas neighborhood on a hillside near Tegucigalpa where this mission began, the Fuerzas Unidas neighborhood.  I met with the new pastor, a delightful young woman named Leidy (with a toddler), and the clinic nurse there, Reina, who I have met before.  It was a marvelous experience to hear their stories of success with the patients of the clinic (FUMC Frankfort church supports), to feel the mountain breeze on my face, the gushing of many past mission memories, and to see the place where the mission all began.  There are now planters in front of the church and an image of a single rose I took there is included in the images for today.  One of the dentists had a difficult extraction as the patient had a retained tooth fragment.  A much more complicated referral to an oral surgeon at the university was anticipated but finally the tooth fragment was extracted, much to the relief of the patient, her son, and the dentist.  Please enjoy the new photos which demonstrate the clinic functioning, the people we work with and the environment we work in.  Have a blessed day.  Tomorrow is Friday, the last day of our clinic and we will be stopping early to break down and store the equipment.  It will be a hectic day and we will be leaving the hotel Saturday morning about 9 AM to begin the trip home which will not end until 9:30 Saturday evening, (2/25) in Louisville.  The day’s statistics are:  Dental patients: 63; Medical Patients: 197; Prescriptions: 718 and Optical patients: 91.  Roger

Click here for a link to today’s images:  FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSION PHOTOS 2023 DAY 6 | Flickr

This report is for Wednesday, February 22, 2023, Day five of the mission and Day two of the clinic.  The word for today is LOVE.  How could we go on a mission trip and not embrace love?  I Corinthians 13:13 tells us that, “These three things remain, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.”  We are told by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40 that the entire “law and prophets” (the Old Testament) is summarized by loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves.  The thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians also clearly says that all the works we do are worthless unless they are done with love as the motivation.  We, therefore, have to continuously check ourselves and make sure we are not just going through the motions but are motived by love, even when love is not easy.  Personally, I find the folks we minister to at the clinic here in the Tierra Blanca neighborhood easy to love.  In the past, however, we have ministered to gang leaders and others who were not so easy to love, but we attempted to demonstrate God’s love and message to them as equally as those who are easy to love.  Today has been very busy with almost 200 medical patients registered by early afternoon and the pharmacy was overwhelmed.  Dental and optical were as busy as they could be.  An excellent lunch of beef stew and rice was prepared for the team by the kitchen staff (see pics).  The children continue to be beautiful and amazing; I feel I can’t get enough photos of them.  The old folks are also remarkable for the endurance and determination that is required to live in such difficult circumstances; the lines on their faces tell the stories of their lives.  Patients are required to go through patient education before receiving their prescriptions, so they learn basic nutrition, sanitation, the importance of clean water, physical hygiene, and dental hygiene.  In today’s pictures, you will notice Dr. Patricia talking to a young man about his leg injury; he has had two fractures from two different injuries.  We obtained crutches for him, and he will return tomorrow with his records so that he can be referred to the hospital for orthopedic care as he continues to have severe pain with weight bearing.  Additional images will show Karla’s mom, a delightful lady who is also the grandmother of Alexandra; she is seen with them, by herself and in a dental chair.  We were delighted today by a visit from Denis, the lay pastor at the Catholic Church from the Fuerzas Unidas neighborhood where we previously worked and were we support a clinic.  We hope to visit that clinic at Fuerzas Unidas tomorrow.  The tank on top of the church ran out of water as we only bought enough on Monday to get by until the public water was due to be turned on.  In fact, it was turned on, but it began bubbling up in the street where a pipe was broken instead of filling the tank so another load from the water truck was ordered.  Never short of surprises, we were blessed today by a visit from the Honduras College of Dentistry who came to film a documentary about how to do a dental mission to show to other teams coming to Honduras.  Fernando, who did the video documentary which is linked in the Pre-Mission Announcement for this mission, came today to do a video documentary of this week’s clinic which I will post in the future.  There were 190 medical patients seen today, 57 dental patients seen, 97optical patients seen and 757 prescriptions filled.  Amazingly, the clinic is half over for the week; we anticipate two more productive days to complete the week.  Today is Ash Wednesday so the team here wishes you a blessed beginning to Lent.  Roger

Click here for a link to today’s images:  FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSION PHOTOS 2023 DAY 5 | Flickr

This report is for Tuesday, February 21, 2023, day four of the 2023 Frankfort Honduras Mission.  The word for the day is serve.  The related scripture comes from Galatians 5:13 which says, “Serve one another humbly in love.”   I also like Psalm 100:2 which says, “Serve the Lord with gladness!”  Serving the Lord is indeed what we are here for this week.  It is a glorious day here with a nice temperature, but the direct sun is brutal. This was the first day the clinic was open and the start was slightly delayed by additional last minute setup tasks.  Despite the slightly late start, we had a very successful day and saw 199 medical patients, 56 Dental Patients, 80 optical patients, and filled 690 prescriptions.  As you will see in some of today’s images, we began the day with a circle of team members in the sanctuary (where dental is set up) to do introductions and begin with a prayer.   It is a pleasure to work with our Honduras team members from past years, particularly our patient educator, Alexandra; Dr. Betsy, Elmer’s wife and another dentist, translators Danilo, Kelvith, Bismark, and Nelson; and Dr. Sandra.  We have many new excellent team members including a new Honduran pharmacist, Valeska, and Victor, the optometrist who has been here for two years but who we had not met previously.  The people here are joyful despite their poverty and much laughter is heard throughout the crowd and team.  As you will note in today’s images, there is a tent devoted to “evangelism.”  This is to make sure we offer spiritual healing as well as physical healing to those who come to the clinic; this is, after all, first and foremost, a house of God and we are his ministers.  Images of the dental clinic, kitchen, patient education, medical clinic, patient education and optical clinic in operation are also included in today’s pictures, as well as street images and personalities around the clinic.  In previous locations, the host church has chosen to charge the patients a small fee (US equivalent of about 40-50 cents) which the church used for administrative costs.  This church has chosen not to do so.  The dentists go out into the waiting line in the street and triage the patients such that the most needy are seen first; we are doing both extractions and restorations (fillings) this week as well as cleanings and fluoride treatments.  One set of photos near the end shows Dr. Elmer and Pastor Wilmer around a man in a red and white striped shirt who asked for prayer due to his spiritual distress; the result was the man committing his life to Jesus and the reconciliation with God he provides.  You will see the tears of Joy in his eyes.  As always, your prayers are greatly appreciated, and we wish you great blessings!  Roger

Click here for today’s images:  FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSION PHOTOS 2023 DAY 4 | Flickr

PS Did I say the weather here is great?

This report is for Monday, February 20, 20223, day three of the 2023 Frankfort Honduras Mission.  The word of the day is prepare.  The related scripture comes from Matthew 3:3, which says, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.”  I also like Jeremiah 46:3 which says, “Prepare your shields,  both large and small, and march out for battle.”  While we will not likely encounter enemy forces armed with spears or guns, as Paul notes in Ephesians “6:12, “..our struggle is not against flesh and blood,  but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  We therefore “ gird our loins” to prepare for the spiritual battle which we rightly recognize to be infinitely more important than our physical battles.  Our means to accomplish that this week is to help the folks of Tierra Blanca neighborhood with their felt (or physical) needs to show them God’s love and introduce them to the good news of God’s offer of reconciliation.  With this in mind, we began a day of preparing for this week’s clinic after another great Honduran breakfast.  Dr. Elmer, our head dentist, had already setup 95% of the dental clinic Sunday evening, so little remained to be done there.  Victor, our optometrist, set up the optical portion of the clinic with the help of his assistants and volunteers; the donated, cleaned and analyzed glasses were set out and the optical equipment made ready.  Amy and the pharmacy staff had the busiest day, unloading the medication, putting it on shelves, and preparing lists of available medications for the physicians.  Water was delivered to the rooftop tank at the church, chicken was cut up to make soup, and the medical offices were cleaned.  Since the church volunteers are always diligent to keep the floors swept and mopped, we have a consistently clean environment in which to work.  On the way back to the Humuya Inn, we stopped by Walmart (yes they have one here) to pick up supplies for the remainder of the week.  We continue to enjoy the bright smiles, especially of the children, the pleasant weather, and the delicious Honduran food.  Please continue your prayers and let me know if you have any questions about what we are doing.  Blessings, Roger    Please click here for a link to day’s photos: FRANKFORT HONDURAS MISSION PHOTOS 2023 DAY 3 | Flickr

This report is for day 2 of the 2023 Honduras Medical-Dental Mission, Sunday, February 19, 2023.  The word of the day is worship.  The related scripture is from Psalm 100:1, which says, “Worship the LORD with gladness and come before him with joyful praise.”  Today was a day of worship with the congregation at the Solid Rock Church in the Tierra Blanca neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, the area we will be serving.  Resting soundly after the long travel day yesterday, we were driven by Sebastian to the Solid Rock Church after a great breakfast at the inn.  Although we had seen photos and architectural drawings (by Jim Burris) of the church, this was the first time any of us had seen it in person.  For me, it was exactly as I had envisioned it from the photos and drawings.  After a tour of the church and greetings by several church members, the worship service started with loud and enthusiastic praise and singing!  The church service was excellent, particularly the sermon.  The pastor used the scripture of the Great Commission at the end of Matthew to challenge his congregation and the mission team to “go and spread the good news to all the world.”  He noted that many people are dying each minute who never have the opportunity to become Christian believers because they have never been exposed to it.  As we all know, particularly from II Corinthians 5:18, we are the ambassadors of God, with the responsibility to spread his message of reconciliation.  The health care mission this week, the pastor noted, is the perfect opportunity for this church to introduce the “Good News” to those who do not know of it.  It will be our duty to not only minister to the physical needs of the people who come to the clinic but also to minister to their spiritual needs, which are always greater.  Eating at a nearby Honduran restaurant after the service, we rejoiced in the mild Honduran weather and enjoyed the view of the nearby mountains.  The children here are such a joy, always polite, clean and well dressed, even if poor.  In contrast to when we first began coming to Honduras, there are now more men in the church services than early on.  I suspect the men are now more comfortable coming and do not associate coming to church with being less “macho.”  After lunch, the suitcases and boxes of equipment were sorted and moved to their location for the clinic in the church.  At the end of the day, we enjoyed more Honduran food and had a group meeting to discuss the logistics for Monday’s clinic setup.  Your prayers are again appreciated!  Blessings, Roger    PS: Did I say we are enjoying the weather here?  Click here for a link to today’s photos:  2023 Frankfort Honduras Mission Day 2 | Flickr

This is for day one of our 2023 Honduras mission.  The word of the day is journey.  The related scripture comes from Genesis 24:40 which says, “He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success…”  Indeed, this was our experience today on the way here to Tegucigalpa.  Our trip was an unqualified success as there was no illness, no problems with TSA, no lost baggage, and no airline delays.  We arrived on time and were graciously greeted by Karla Larios, our Honduran point person; Sebastian, our transportation person; and Pastor Wilmer, the pastor of the Solid Rock Church where the team will be serving the neighborhood.  Being quite hungry after our travel through Houston and on to Honduras, we ate authentic Honduran food at the airport and then left for our hotel in Tegucigalpa.  The trip from the airport is now nearly an hour and a half due to the change in airports because of safety concerns at the old Toncontin Airport in downtown Tegucigalpa.  The new airport, Palmerola, is at the site of the previous US military installation north of Tegucigalpa.  Although extremely modern and safe, the distance to Tegucigalpa is formidable.  What a joy it was (and always is) to see our Honduran friends.  Karla was recently in the US, so we saw her a few months ago but we had not seen Sebastian for three years; he is a person everyone on our team has always admired greatly for his wisdom, humor, competence, Christian values, and calm demeanor.  We had not met Pastor Wilmer before, and it was a great honor to meet him.  He is a very spiritual man and has a great sense of humor; he is a joy to be around.  On the way to the Humuya Inn in Tegucigalpa, we stopped at a roadside market, inspected the produce, and enjoyed fresh corn cooked on a grill (see photos).  Arriving at the inn after very little sleep since 3:00 AM, we had more Honduran food for dinner and went to bed early, thankful for our successful day.  We look forward to going to church at Pastor Wilmer’s church tomorrow and beginning the clinic setup.  Your prayers are greatly appreciated!  Blessings to all, Roger Click here for a link to today’s images:  Day One Photos 2023 Mission | Flickr.