The objectives for our mission trip to Honduras have changed, but not our mission. Our goal and mission is always to carry the gospel into all the world. Our medical missions serve a practical purpose, but that is not our main focus.

Despite the fact that we are taking the largest number of people in our International Missions history, we do not have enough medical personnel to do an effective medical clinic. We know the demand for those kinds of services and to go unprepared to meet it will not serve the gospel well. So we’re going to re-direct our efforts to more direct evangelism - teaching in churches, schools, and orphanages. We’ll also support local churches by teaching and preaching in their services. We’ll be working in a feeding center and a supply center that our hosts maintain for school children as well. Lastly, we hope to visit a church that Forestpark built several years ago.

Because we have so many young people we’ll be emphasizing ministry to teens and parents of teens. We expect to participate in mid-week services as well as revivals in our host’s network of churches in Honduras, primarily in rural areas and barrios that are traditionally under-served by mission groups. 

So, we’re asking our folks to prepare themselves to tell their story, pray for people, and work in the areas our hosts have need of us.

Pray for the people we will meet and that the Lord will make appointments for us all as we minister. 

 

Had  great meeting Sunday with Rich Bassett leading the teaching and discussion. I’m excited to get to know some of the folks new to missions - especially the young people. The team preparations are a great time in themselves and you get so much more out of the trip when you’ve spent some time getting to know the other team members and talking about what and how we are going to do things. Rich had a really good video on short term missions he’ll be using for our meetings, and by the way - We LOVE for the parents of the young team members to be there!

Our first fundraising event is underway - Ebay for Honduras. This link will explain how it works, but basically, we are looking for donations of items of value that we can auction off on ebay. We’ll collect items until January 1st when we will then start the auctions. You’ll be able to see a list of what we have collected at the same link and the reserve price on the item. If you’d like to own any of the donated items, place a silent bid through anyone going on the trip and if it meets the reserve by the time Jan. 1 rolls around, you own it!

Our next fundraiser will be December 10th at Forestpark Watterson Trail campus - Childfree Christmas Shopping. Need a day to get the shopping done without the kids? Drop them off at the Watterson Trail campus and our skilled missionaries will take care of them for the day - breakfast, lunch, snacks and even dinner will be provided as well as plenty of fun activities. They’ll never know what they missed! 8:AM to 8:PM, ages 2 to 10.

More opportunities to raise money coming soon - check your email. 

We have 20 people for this team now. The Lord is always doing something new: we have 9 teens going with us. Why? We don’t know yet, but our mantra of plan, prepare and adjust is born of the fact that these things happen all the time.

This is a dynamic that our missionary hosts always appreciate - North American teens ministering to their brothers and sisters in Central America. We have no doubt that it will be a powerful time of ministry and growth for adults and teens alike.

We are holding 2 seats for nurses or doctors that we still need and we’ve sent a few invitations, so…

About Money

I am not one to spiritualize things that are just practical matters - HOWEVER, in all the mission trips I’ve planned and been on, I’ve never seen anyone that stepped out in faith to say yes, fail to raise all the money they needed for the trip. I believe it is because the command to go into all the world and preach the gospel is just that - a command, it’s not optional.

Some fulfill that command by going themselves as a vocation, others by financing the effort and others, like us going on short term trips in support of full time missionaries. I truly believe God will not  ask you to anything then fail to make a way for you.

So, do what you must to raise the money for your trip, but don’t doubt that He will sustain and provide the means. Prepare your hearts and let Him prepare the way. 

We’re progressing in our plans for the medical clinic in Honduras, February 18 to 25. If you want to go, sign up soon by calling or emailing me ASAP.

Many of you already know our hosts, the Duponts. Their ministry in Central America extends from Nicaragua to Costa Rica and encompasses medical and dental clinics, feeding centers, street ministry, they support local pastors and churches, and host mission teams year round. They minister to police, government agencies and schools all over the countries they serve with unprecedented access.

For groups like ours, Open Eyes Ministries provides opportunities to work alongside local churches so that the fruits of our labors are not wasted when the medicines are packed up and our crew goes home, because the folks we will serve are connected with local pastors and local churches where they will continue to be discipled and their physical needs addressed.This is why we have chosen to partner with Terry and Arlene Dupont in Central America. The work we do there produces real and lasting results because of their ongoing efforts. Visit their website and read about their work: www.openeyes.org

We will arrive in Honduras Saturday and get settled in for the night then attend church Sunday morning. We’ll probably spend the afternoon preparing and packing medicines, then attend an evening service after supper.

Monday morning, we’ll head out early to set up our clinic at a local church in a small barrio or village and start seeing patients by around 9:AM. You can read about the clinics and what to expect by reading about some of our previous clinics here on our blog.

The planning is the same every time, the schedule nearly identical, but each clinic is entirely different and we try to stay open to the work the Lord presents to us. We have seen dying patients who have no professional care at all, chickens, lizards, and dogs in the clinic, and families on the brink of starvation. We’re open to whatever we are presented. As I was told when I started doing short term missions years ago, we must; plan, prepare, and adjust.

Here’s a feature of short term missions you need to know: The more you give yourself to the work, the more effective and productive we will be. Whatever you are asked to do, even if it is beyond your "comfort zone", jump in and do it - your testimony, a skit, caring for someone in pain, etc. You must know, and Rich Bassett will talk more about it as we do our team training, that different cultures have different values than we do here in North America. (there’s one right there; Hondurans live in America too - you must specify that you are NORTH American, not just AMERICAN) Our hosts are intimately familiar with the culture they serve and they won’t steer you wrong.

This mission trip will be one of the best memories of your life, so engage in all the meetings, the medicine packing, the travel hassles and the fundraising, but when we arrive, loose yourself in the ministry and just give yourself to God for His purpose and you will come home entirely fulfilled. 

 

 

 

After a short hiatus Forestpark is ready to get back on the road doing international missions. We had a short respite to get a few projects completed and to take a long anticipated trip to the Holy Land last September( you can read about that trip here: www.holytourist.com ).

Since last we were in Central America, besides touring Egypt and Israel, Forestpark has moved into a new facilty, renovated it, set up the old church as a student ministry campus with wifi, games, basketball court, volleyball pit, and of course our famous (infamous?) motocross track out in back. With that behind us, a jump in attendance and new outreach opportunities abounding, we’re ready to re-start mission trips.

February, 2012 we will take a group to Central America to do medical clinics and a water purification project in a prison. If you want to get a look at what that is like, you can read and see some pictures of our past trips here: http://missions.blogsome.com/2006/02/  and here: http://missions.blogsome.com/2005/02/ .

In the coming weeks I’ll be sending out more specific information about our itinerary, meetings and other preparations like getting medicines and equipment to take with us, what you need bring and what you need to do to prepare. For now, here is the important stuff you need to know:

I don’t know nothing about birthin’ no baby: I know. Me neither. For every nurse or doctor working the clinic we need at least 3 support people to prepare food, work the pharmacy, dispensary, the triage, reception, entertain kids, etc., etc., etc. Believe me, you have a skill we need. We have visited police stations, prisons, orphanages, churches, farms, daycare for handicapped children, dentists offices, TV and radio stations, schools, playgrounds, parks. Everyplace we go people are hungry to hear about Jesus and know that He cares through your acts.

Who can go: Anyone. However, you should understand that our primary purpose is to spread the gospel of Christ through the acts of service we will be performing. Good with that? Great! Children should be accompanied by a parent unless you have made other arrangements with Terry Steiden. This is an awesome event to share with family and friends - invite them even if they don’t go to our church.

Cost: about $1450. includes airfare, transportation in-country, lodging, all food except 1 meal in the airport, 1 meal our last day, your souveniers and snacks. A $100 deposit will be due by September 30th, 1/2 the total paid by December 20th and the balance by January 23rd.

 

Passport: If you don’t have one, you will need to apply at least 10 weeks ahead of the trip (by the last week of November, 2011). It will cost about $100.

Shots: None required, but call The University of Louisville Travel Clinic at 502-852-3691 for their specific reccomendations.

What you should do right now: Start to pray about it. The Lord has asked us to go, so ask Him to show you how. Begin talking to folks about going (or even going with you) and making plans to save / raise your funds. There are lots of ways to raise money and if God is leading you to go, He will make a way. If you need some ideas on fundraising, talk to me about it or check the links on the homepage for ideas.

Make a plan, understanding that the enemy will throw up roadblocks all along the way and that "everyday life" ALWAYS gets in the way of extraordinary living - it’s the constant battle of the immediate vs. the important.

If you want more information give me a call at 502-657-9999 or send an email at tsteiden@att.net , or just watch for more information at church.

That’s what my mother used to say to me when I asked for something silly, self-indulgent or unattainable. I imagine that’s the essense of the response to the request for clean water by the inmates of a thrird-world prison too. Although it’s not silly, or self-indulgent, it is sometimes unattainable.

We attended a conference last week, learning how to install the McGuire Water Purification system and how it can be used in short term missions. It is fairly simple to install, but requires a fair level of commitment from the end users to keep it in operation.

In most of the places we go on our missions and indeed, most of the world, pure water is in short supply and high demand. In fact, most deaths in the world today are due to water-borne pathogens. That fact makes this purifier a great way to minister to people and introduce them to the gospel.

A case in point is the project we will do in February - installing a system in Esteli prison in Nicaragua. There are 650 people in this prison. Check out some of the conditions in these pictures. In Nicaragua, the prison system spends about $1 a day per prisoner to house, feed and guard them. The federal government simply will not do anymore because anyone with any resources at all has paid their bribes and avoided prison. When at all possible, the prisoner’s families come each day to bring them food, clothes and clean water. If they have no family, they only have what is provided which is less than…uh….sanitary. (Of course if they had family, they would pay to get them out!)

Speaking of hell…(we were, weren’t we?)….because we are willing to do this, the warden will give us full and complete access to the prison to preach, teach and share our faith with the men there. You can read about how this project came about in the previous post.

What we plan to do is plumb the kitchen with purified water and build a water bottle fill station. This way, the drinking water and water used to make juice and drinks will be sanitary as will food washed during preparation. Our plumber will survey the rest of the system to determine what repairs are needed and we will return perhaps in July or later to make repairs to the rest of the system supplying the restrooms and “dorms”.

We will buy the supplies and supervise, and the inmates will supply the labor. We’re going to need about $2500 to complete this phase of the project. Someone has donated the purifier to us, and everyone installing the system and ministering will be paying their own way.

If you can help out with this project, or would like to go with us, give me a call or email me. Donations are tax deductible.

 

 

Terry Steiden
502-836-9201
tsteiden@insightbb.com

 

BTW - I don’t believe people in Hell want ice water. I think they just want OUT. That’s not up to us, but we have an opportunity and obligation to tell people how to avoid it in the first place.

We are well into planning our February Medical Mission to Nicaragua. We had originally planned on going to Honduras, but the fares for flights were really high, so we’re going instead to a town called Riva near the Costa Rican border. You can read all about the plans here. You can see Rivas HERE, Look at Rivas weather HERE and see a map HERE.

We’ve already applied for and been approved to get the medicines we need, about 7 people have signed on from Forest Park and we’ve made at least one trip already to pick up supplies.

In the process of all the planning I got a call about another mission opportunity which you can read about below. Consider these opportunities and send in your $100 deposit soon - it’s going to be a blessed time .

Please take just a few minutes to read this story – it might be important to you.

A friend of mine named Mark Hogg…yeah, it really is…is involved in several types of mission work in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and in Romania. One of the projects he does as a mission is install water purification systems.

Believe it or not, poor quality water is responsible for most of the death in the world today via water-borne pathogens. The system he installs actually purifies existing water sources. You can read all about it here if you like.

Anyway, a full time missionary from Costa Rica contacted him recently about the need for a water purification system in a prison in which he ministers in Esteli, Nicaragua. Here is the email I got from Mark:

Hope all is well with you.
Need to chat with you and Ronnie. Got a bit of a problem and need some serious help.
There is a Nicaraguan prison 2 hours north of Managua.
600 people drinking some really nasty water.
Big problems.

You think your church would be interested in EDGE training some people in the water and tank plumbing set up and send some folks down there? Perhaps couple it with one of your other trips. We don’t have the manpower right now.

HUGE ministry opportunities down there at the prison - open to anything while you are installing the system.
Vernon Hodge is on the board of a ministry down there that brought in a REC in the prison.
I met with a guy in Costa Rica last week we’ve been working with who goes there about 1x/month.
The ministry is Food for the Hungry and is world wide.
He is getting panicked for the water needs there.

Our water conference would be a perfect place for some of your folk to learn how to do the water purification ministry.
More on that and a 12 page document we wrote for water ministry www.edgeoutreach.com

Thanks for your time.
Let me know what you think.
I don’t have Ronnie’s email - could you forward this to him.

Blessings,
Mark Hogg
EDGE OUTREACH

It just happened that I got this email the night of our men’s dinner at church and I was scheduled to speak about our recent mission to Honduras as well as international missions in general.

I mentioned the opportunity at the dinner with no particular plan for actually doing it. I was just gauging interest. 4 men expressed a great desire to work on the project. Well,… I guess I would make 5. My son, Dallas, was so convicted to go, that even though he will be living in Flint, Michigan by then, he made arrangements to take off from a job he hasn’t started yet to go.

First priority for me, however, is our medical clinic in February. Logistically, it’s already pretty daunting – we have to get everyone’s license, get medicines donated, collected, inventoried and packed, get tickets, etc., so adding another component like this would be really challenging.

We had planned on going to Honduras this year instead of Nicaragua to do our clinic. We even had the cities already identified. Here’s the info sheet I did for the trip: http://home.insightbb.com/~tsteiden/PDFS/2-17-07.pdf

So, to do the water project we would have to drive 4 hours to cross the border into Nicaragua (after completing the week of clinics), drive another 5 or 6 hours to pick up the rest of the team in Managua, then drive another 3 to 4 hours to Esteli to do the project. Of course, some of us would have to go back to Tegicigalpa to go home from Honduras and the rest leave from Managua once we completed the project.

As we started lining up flights to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, however, the cost of tickets came in $200 higher than the same tickets we had just bought in September! We tried every way to get cheaper flights, but we could not find them.

We then decided to see what flights to Nicaragua would cost. They turned out to be almost $100 less than we had ever paid before. Well, I might be dumb, but I’m not stupid – we’re going to Nicaragua. That cleans up some logistics considerably.

To make things even easier, we’re going to a town called “Rivas” which is south of Managua, just across the border from Costa Rica which is where the missionary from Costa Rica will be coming from as he heads to the project in Esteli.

All that was really left to do was make arrangements for transportation, lodging, food, etc. for that week, so, I sent an email to everyone involved letting them know I would get back to them once I got more info. I got this email in reply from someone I have never met:

Dear Terry —
I am a missionary in Nicaragua (also) and am on the NPMI (prison ministry) Board. I would be glad to take care of your transportation and lodging for the water project. I went with Scott to the prison in Esteli last week, just in case I could be of service to you. So I now know the players there. I can translate for you, or arrange translation. I can also set you up with lodging if you can let me know how many are coming and for what time period. In fact, someone who works with me (his name is Gabriel) checked out lodging possibilities for you this past weekend, and he has connections with someone who owns a house that they rent out by the month, but for only U$50!! It’s a nice place (I will go and make sure before you come down), has a kitchen, and if you need someone to cook for you, we can arrange that. [Rafael, the head of all the prison doctors] suggested a place for you to stay while we were visiting, but Gabriel told me it’s “not adequate for Northamericans.” So he went this weekend to find some alternatives for you.]
Let me know if you’d like me to take further action, make reservations, etc. I want to go to the prison with some wood for their carpentry shop before I go on vacation (Nov. 14-Dec. 13), so if you can get back to me within the next week or so, I can get everything set up for you now.
Thanks for being in touch.

Que Dios les bendiga.
Cheryl Avery

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I asked you to read this story because sprinkled throughout, it appears to me that God is directing people, resources and events to accomplish this work. Why? I don’t know - but I intend to find out by being available and I want you to have the same opportunity. A great man of God once told me “if you want to find God, go to where he’s working and just hang around – he’ll find you”.

The trip will cost you about $1250. I’ll have to have a $100 deposit by 11/26, the balance of the flight money ($750) by 1/5 and the rest by 2/8. This will take care of all your expenses except a meal or 2 out.

If you are already going on the medical trip with us (2/17 to 2/24) and just want to stay on for the water project, just add another $400 or so.

The trip will be from Saturday, 2/24 to Saturday, 3/3

Email me to let me know that you want to go, or to put you on the email list for this project if you aren’t ready to commit yet. I’ll keep you up to date with the planning.

If you’d like to contribute, I’ll be glad to talk to you about that too – we’ll have to buy some equipment and supplies.

If you’ve gotten this far and want to know more, here’s the rest of the story up to today. Things are moving quickly.

The Costa Rican missionary has been to the prison in Esteli to do a water survey. It revealed that the water used in the kitchen is in good shape, but water being pumped out to other areas (for drinking and washing) is highly contaminated.

This is probably due to the fact that the water lines run through areas where they are exposed to sewage in ditches as well as contamination from sewage saturated ground water. (There is no freeze danger, so water lines can be run above ground, on the ground or just below the surface – they don’t have to be below the freeze line).

When power goes down (as it is does a regular basis), the pumps shut down, pressure is lost on the pipes and the contaminated water can seep in.

Therefore, we need only treat the drinking water at the building(s) where it will be used, not the whole system. (I guess it is not feasible to replace the whole piping system).

I am scheduled to attend a training seminar on November 8, 9 and 10 to learn how to construct and install the system and a team in Nicaragua is photographing the site so we can get an idea of how the system needs to be constructed when we arrive. You can see some pictures of what the system looks like here.

I’ll get back to those of you who contact me. Feel free to pass this on to anyone else you think might be interested

Terry Steiden
502-836-9201
tsteiden@insightbb.com

Well, that was different! We just got back from building a home for Pastor Benjamin Tomas in Cloluteca, Honduras. That’s him playing a 1970’s Gibson Marauder to lead worship. Carlos Santana played one for a while. Do you think he bought it because he looks a bit like Carlos?

In September of 2004 (here is a picture of that mission team) we took a team into Honduras through Nicaragua to begin ministering there on behalf of Open Eyes. One day as we pulled up to a public park a man came riding up on a bike. He knew Terry Dupont who introduced him to us all as an evangelist/missionary from Nicaragua.

To tell the truth I never thought of him again until our team pulled up to the lot where Forest Park was building a home for him and he reminded me of our meeting 2 years ago at that park. He also took the opportunity to show me the drawings he had made with plans to build a church and a childcare center on that same piece of property with his house. Pastor Tomas has no "vision" problems.

Everything about this trip was different from our previous Central American missions. Even though this was one of our most expensive endeavors ($5200 to build a home), it was our smallest team to date - just 7 people.

First off, we have never done a building project before. The cost of construction is relatively cheap. The house we built has a living room, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. It has electricity, water at the site and is concrete block construction with a tin roof.

I learned that the mason (there was 1 on the site) makes $18 per square meter to lay block. This seems like a lot until you realize he has to mix the mortar (mezcala) by hand, carry it and the blocks, build his own scaffolding, cut block by hand and lay it in what is often 100 degree heat.

We took hammers, drills, saws, chalk lines. Everything a builder would use …in the US. All we really needed was a trowel, a shovel and a hammer (to break rocks). The rest of the stuff we left for our hosts and our new construction contractor friends who thought that a saw with a blade to cut masonry was a waste of time and cost too much in electricity to run - they just broke them with the trowel or hammer.

There is no OSHA in Honduras. All the people that had been hired to build the house were wearing flip flops, bare hands and bare heads. Mud was calf deep in places from overnight rains, but no one was bothered. Add to that the heat - 100 F. No one really complained …per se…but we did marvel at how the skin could shrivel and change color even as you watched. Pastor Tomas made the observation: "When North Americans start taking pictures, it means they are tired".

And that was our first day.

Sunday, we went to the Pastor’s church which meets in his current home which he rents. He must take down his hammock and move in the white plastic chairs to prepare for the service. With the addition of 10 North Americans, 2 translators and a driver, they were forced to employ the overflow room (the porch).

As people showed up, the children began setting up their own miniature plastic chairs at the very front of the church as if they were a choir of mini me’s - and they were! They sang, lifted their hands and played makeshift percussion instruments throughout the service. They knew all the words and made sure you KNEW that they knew all the words. What a blessing they were in that little room. Surely God was with us there to see that sight.

After church we rested a bit then prepared to participate in the "National Day of the Bible" a celebration of the translating of the bible into Spanish. In Choluteca and apparently many other Central American towns there is a parade of decorated vehicles with shouting, singing and music (much like the fiestas of the Catholics).

We rode in a parade to a large shelter at a church and had a service with many of the churches in town. The signs I saw just celebrated Jesus and the bible and none mentioned the denomination of the church represented. Hmmmmmmmmmm. ya might have somethin’ there.

Monday it’s back to work - loading rock and sand into the wheelbarrows and moving it into the house to build up the floor. Easy enough, except have you ever tried to push a full wheelbarrow through mud? It’s all day work. Finally the pile is just about finished about that time another load shows up.

After lunch, Ronnie headed out to do a local access TV program with one of the translators. He also did a radio program on Wednesday afternoon. It’s a good opportunity to share the gospel and encourage local pastors.

Tuesday and Wednesday’s schedule was much the same. The walls are going up and taking shape, the floor is built up and packed down and electrical outlets are in the wall. All that remained to do after Wednesday was to lay about 14 more blocks before the roof could be put on. (a week later the roof was on).

Although there are not as many events to talk about on a mission trip like this, it’s impact on people (us included) is greater in some respects and it is certainly more permanent. The neighborhood has a new anchor where the gospel will flow, the pastor’s life is changed, Forest Park has made an investment in time and treasure that will stand for years to come and in faith, we put our hands to that task. What an awesome honor.

On our last full day, went to San Marcos in the mountains to ride horses. A man there with a farm has formed a sort of co-op with his neighbors. He offers horseback riding tours and pays his neighbors for the use of their horses.

There were 10 of us riding through beautiful mountain countryside. As we rode into the mountains, we began to see pine trees - it looked a little like Georgia except that right next to a pine might be a large palm tree. Two of our translators actually bought pine trees to plant in their homes it was so unusual for them.

I am not sure of the relationship of the restaurant where we ate to the horseback riding, but on the way there we picked up a woman who guided us to the farm and when we came back, we went in for lunch. Before a menu ever came, they served us a great meal of steak, rice, beans, a fried burrito and drink. That saved some time from having to choose something from a menu, but I had no complaints.

Since it was Julio’s birthday, we all celebrated with ice cream, then walked to a t-shirt store close by. Not much selection for shopping, but it was a nice opportunity to get a look at the town where we will be doing our medical mission in February. We also took a few minutes to run into a farmacia to get everybody a dose of Abendizol (parasite medication - you know…just in case).

Once we got back, we packed for our flight out and said goodbye to many of our friends who left for Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Tennessee.

I’ll post a picture of the house with the roof once someone sends it to me. It will be great to visit Pastor Tomas in February to see how the house has shaped up. Why don’t don’t you come with us and check it out?

Forest Park is taking an adventurous mission team to Honduras in September to build a house for a local pastor. We are purchasing all materials and providing some of the labor as well. We have already sent money ahead, so the foundation has been laid and work is continuing even now as we prepare to go. It’s the rainy season there, so work is dependent upon the weather, but we hope to be able to put the roof on the house and finish up the construction while we are there.

In addition to construction work, Ronnie will be preaching at least 3 times and some of our folks will be giving testimonies or talks in local churches. We may also do some health screenings for the police department in Choluteca, Honduras.

The pastor that we are building for is a man named Benjamin Tomas. He is a zone pastor for Open Eyes Ministries and pastors a local church. A "zone pastor" is a point of contact in an area of the country that the missionaries serve. He co-ordinates cell group meetings in the area, pastor’s conferences sponsored by Open Eyes and hosts short term mission teams from the states doing building, medical, dental or evangelistic work.

Pastor Tomas has opened up new areas in Honduras for Open Eyes to minister in, so Terry and Arlene Dupont have given us the opportunity to bless him with a home from which he can minister and raise his family.

This mission trip will encompass many "firsts" for us. It is our first construction project, the first time we will be flying into Tegucigalpa, and the first time we will be going without a partner church.

We do not do feel-good missions, we select projects that will change lives and give maximum exposure to the salvation message that we bring. We have been able to take medical teams into Nicaragua for the past 3 years with supplies and medicines. We’ve also helped to supply a dental clinic in Leon, Nicaragua. We’ve sent evengelistic teams for the past 4 years into churches, orphanages, doing street ministry, youth camps, and helping to move Open Eyes Ministries into Honduras.

Sign up for a mission trip

This is a good time to begin thinking about working on a mission team. We will be going to Central America again February 17 thru 24 to conduct our annual medical clinic. Whether you have medical experience or not, you can contribute to this team as a pharmacy worker, triage nurse, eyeglass dispenser or any number of other things: pack mule, candy-hander-outer, or traffic director in the clinic.

The cost of the trip will still be $1250 which includes travel, food and lodging except for our last day. Other out-of-pocket expenses won’t exceed $100.

I can promise it won’t be a vacation, but I can also promise you will love it more than any vacation you’ve ever had.

Click here for more information on the trip.

And then click here to sign up online.

If you have more questions, click here for our contact information.

The youth group spent the past week in New Orleans cleaning up from Hurricane Katrina. Mike and Susan Luka rented a van and took 15 teens and a bunch of tools. Susan says:

Michael and I are back from New Orleans! We got back Saturday around 7PM. Thank you to all those who were praying for us. We could feel those prayers and we had each request answered by God! He gave us safe travel there and back. God gave us safe travel while we were there. The Lord kept us drivers sane and focused! The Lord worked on all our hearts and did a lot of transforming! The trip was truly amazing.I encourage all of you to try to make it down there just once in the next 6 years. There is so much work to be done. We went through an organization called CrossRoad Missions. All they ask is $100 per person coming. Which is amazing, because that is your meals, lodging, tools for work! You just have to provide transportation to and from sites for you people! I recommend them. For now, they are gutting houses, but soon they will also have a rebuilding division where people can come and rebuild someone’s home. I went in, wishing we could have gone Mississippi instead. In fact, both need us. However, I am glad God opened up New Orleans for us because it dispersed a lot of my prejudices against them. They are just people there too. They are known for many bad things, but they are people just like the rest of us who have gone through a disaster. Many still have no power. Where we stayed we had no AC, just a generator that was able to run AC window units and a fan. Across the street many bigger businesses had power, but our side of the street had none, unless you had a generator.The homeowners were wonderful and brought so much clarity to our lives! We were able to gut 3 houses that week. Our group came in second out of all the groups that have been there. The only other group that had the highest amount of gutted houses in a week was 5 houses. We did really well and our team (us and another church) really got to see the power of Christ work in us in very rough situations! We had to wear long sleeves and jeans and shoes. We had to wear the respirator that takes up practically your entire face. All this had to be done in 102 weather and 80-90%humidity. In all that, we sweated like pigs, but were able to see what the power of God can do do through earthen vessels! It was a marvel to watch!We hated leaving. We wanted to just keep gutting houses and work with those precious homeowners! Know this above all. God was glorified and God has a plan for the people of New Orleans. "What was meant for evil, God will mean for Good"! I trust that. There is a lot of good being done there. Don’t give up on them just because of what they are known for. Instead pray for revival and hope to be brought there! God will hear and answer!We love you all and can’t thank you enough for your prayers. To those who supported a teen going financially, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Your financial gift brought blessings into a life of a teen that you can never imagine that it would bring! Thank you to all of you. We love you and we look forward to going back next summer!