mission team // nicaragua emi project trip

The next few weeks are so are definitely going to liven up the blog as we have, and will have, plenty of “the interesting stuff” to write about. We have officially started our mission trip schedule for 2015 – first, with a trip that we went on!

We had several friends say to us, “What? Missionaries on a mission trip?”. But yes, that’s what we did. Jamey joined the team of an Engineering Ministries International (eMi) project trip last week and I (Lesley) more or less tagged along as his wife. When we attended their annual conference back in November to learn a thing or two, we heard about the trip and decided we’d like to see what project trips were all about since we would only be one country away. And before we knew it, off we were to Nicaragua! 

Mountains of Nicaragua

We stayed in the mountains in a place called La Finca, which is close to Matagalpa, and is at a higher elevation than we are used to. It was COLD! I mean, the emails warned us that it could get “cool” but we barely saw the sun that week and we all constantly kept on hoodies, fleeces, and jackets. Thankfully we each had one warm item a piece with us here in Honduras to take with us… but with all the shivering I did, I honestly would have loved to have had more. We stayed in the cabins of a Young Life (or “Vida Joven”) camp where the team was working.

The La Finca Vida Joven Camp

Over the course of the week, three separate teams to our group tackled their various projects that we would be doing in order to help out the camp with their upcoming expansions. Jamey was on Team Stormwater, and they were tasked with assessing the water sources on property and giving a report of recommendations for stormwater management, both short and long term. The team of architects creating renderings and designs to help model what the proposed expansions would look like, and the bridge team assessed the bridge need, decided on a bridge type, and designed the bridge needed all in the week we were there. Collectively, we are very proud of the work the whole team accomplished and pray that this will greatly help the Young Life camp, will assist the staff that constantly works so hard there, and will bless the youth that will be attending the camp, and hopefully through the camp coming to know Christ in a more personal way.

Tour of the camp grounds /project sites

Makeshift "central office" set up by the eMi project team

Now, you also might be wondering what a non-technical spouse might be doing on a trip like this? Well, originally, we (another wife and I) had hoped that we would be able to get to know the people we were doing the project for while the engineers were busy plugging away on their computers in a time crunch. But, as there were no campers on site at the time we were there, we were only able to meet the camp staff and staff that works with their coffee production. So, Alli (the other wife) and I went to work at the most useful place for us that week – to roast coffee! We helped Isa, a woman who works with the coffee, to roast, weigh, package, and grind 300 pounds of coffee. It was awesome and Isa was so kind to us. (Unfortunately, Alli did more roasting than I did, because for a day and a half I was stuck up in the cabin super sick!)

My coffee roasting buddies, Isa and Alli

During our time in Nicaragua, there were also a few times where we left the over 120 acres of camp property and got out to see more of Nicaragua, which we absolutely loved. We got to go to Matagalpa, a nearby city, to attend church (which was a wonderful and uplifting service!) and then when out for pizza. The restaurant gave our huge group of the team, local missionaries, and Young Life staff, the top floor and we gulped down the tasty natural juices that were available there. Lesley's favorite: orange carrot juice! It was excellent. On Wednesday night, we had the opportunity to go to a Young Life club in Matagalpa and get some amazing homemade ice cream after. Then, to wrap up the trip, on Friday we had our adventure day. 

Pretty drive to Managua 

View from the pizza restaurant in Matagalpa 

For that day, we did probably one of the best canopy tours in Nicaragua. Not only was in beautiful, had lots of lines, and was a long course, but it also included the best guides ever. They were making the funniest jokes, earnestly helping us have a great time, and took our cameras to take our pictures for us so we could enjoy the experience. They also encouraged some crazy moves on the zip lines to like "Superman" (head first with another rider holding your feet behind you) and "Freaky Monkey" (upside down with your legs crossed and arms out). It was a blast, which was followed by a visit to the local artisan market, lunch at the pupuseria, and a wrap-up session at our hotel in Managua before everyone flew out the next morning. 

Canopy Tour!

Our friend Jamal doing the "Superman" -- his arms are so long
that he did hit a few trees along the way!

Watching the magic at the pupuseria.

Thank you to everyone who knew about our trip ahead of time and prayed for it and our travel. It was our first time crossing the border by bus, but it went very smoothly -- with the exception of a quick taxi hop to make our bus and Lesley having to hold her bladder for 6 hours with no bathroom! Normal for Latin America :) Thanks to eMi for letting us expats, and another local missionary Brian, join on the team with you all. We loved it! 

mission team // the rock church 2014

Honduras 2014 from Anthony Lagoon on Vimeo.

Just a few days after we arrived back in Honduras from a trip, we welcomed a mission team to our church, Iglesia Gran Comision Danli, from The Rock Church in Salt Lake City. We were anticipating this trip quite a bit, simply because we had heard so much about them from our friends here in Danli. This church started bringing teams one year after our sending church, NLCF, so you can imagine the bond they've been forming with the church in Danli.

One great thing about this church is they are able to bring such a wide variety of people and ages on their teams -- from teenagers and their parents, to nurses, to previous longer term missionaries, to photographers and engineers. That dynamic makes for a very unique experience between the members of the team each year, and it's very cool to get to witness the amount they have to teach other, and the people that they encounter here in Honduras. We were lucky enough to be the "host parents" of one of the translators from Tegucigalpa and the team leader, who was thankful to be in a house with good internet since he and his wife had welcomed their first baby 3 week prior!

We had several people on the team that had been on this same trip before, so we were able to immediately bond with them, even on the ride from the airport back to Danli, by sharing our stories together. Between these stories and us comparing the similarities and differences between Virginia and Utah, we never ran out of things to talk about!

The week began with a classic Honduran Sunday, a day of rest and fellowship. We went to what we call "the mountain" (the actual name of the mountain is "La Roca", which means "The Rock" ... appropriate for this team!). We ate carne asada for lunch, went for walks around the beautiful property, rigged some homemade fishing polls, and then rigged a rope for a Honduran version of volleyball. It was a beautiful day!

The rest of their time here was very busy; filled with evangelizing in different communities, working at under-funded government run daycare centers, and visiting the very poor hospital and giving out supplies. The team also raised the funds to build the third wall at the church (!!).  We're only lacking one wall to completely close in the church!

The face on this little boy was pure joy when he got his new shoes!
Also proud of these young boys from our church going out to help share the gospel.

On Friday, the team spent the morning with our CDI kids, which of course the kids loved. The highlight about this was one of the team members is a sponsor to one of our CDI students, and the two got to meet for the first time. It was an awesome thing to witness! Tim, the sponsor, also gave Brayan, the student, a few gifts; Brayan, however, realized that the other kids didn't get to meet their sponsor that day, and he chose to share his bag of candy with all of the other students and the teachers. It was precious!

Brayan meeting his sponsor, Tim, for the first time. 

The CDI kids making crafts with the mission team.

On Saturday, while part of the team was at band practice, the other part of the team made two beds to be given to two CDI students that needed them most. Now our students Anner and Angel both no longer have to share their beds with their two other siblings.

One of the beds being delivered to Anner's house. He now has a bed to himself!

As we said, there was a variety of people on the team and two of them specifically are the very talented folks who made the recap video above, as well as kept up with a great photo/video blog for the people following them back home, which you read more specific stories from the week here.

We're already looking forward to seeing you next year, you guys! Thank you for everything.  You're such a blessing to the GCLA church here in Danli!

newsletter // in case you missed it...

Here is our February & March 2014 newsletter that goes out to our friends, family, ministry team, and prayer team. If you would like to be added to this list, please feel free to email us at jamey.smith@gcmweb.org.

Click here to read the newsletter!

mission team // nlcf at virginia tech 2014

New Life Christian Fellowship Mission Team 2014

To write about this particular church's first mission trip to Danli since we have lived here is completely surreal and wonderful, because this was the trip. The trip that started it all for us. It's what brought us here. And now New Life Christian Fellowship serves as our sending church. There was a lot of excitement for us going into this trip, even though we had only been living in Danli for a week and a half before they arrived and even though we only personally knew a few of the people on the 18 person team!

We were so happy to be in the position to host two of the team members in our new home, one of which was our dear friend Steve (you know, the one who was both a groomsman and the pastor who performed the ceremony in our wedding; we kind of know him well), who has been leading this trip with NLCF for several years now. Both of our "host sons" (just kidding, that's just what the Hondurans like to say!) were very patient with us during some running water outage problems that we'd been having, and we were very grateful for that!

On Saturday (3/8) when the team arrived, we went on the church bus to receive them at the airport, headed back to Danli, and went to the regular Saturday night church service. Sunday was a church event day at the park, filled with some swimming, basketball, soccer (of course), card games, and more. Lots of hanging out, lots of getting to know people from the church, and lots of sunburn! The rays seemed to be extra strong that day, and Lesley got her first (of sure to be many) good face burn with a sunglasses outline. It's documented in many pictures from the beginning of the week. Also, the church had baptisms in the pool of the park as well, with so many congregation members and the whole mission team there to see. It was wonderful and such a blessing that we got to see one of our friends be baptized by her dad just 2 weeks after us arriving in Danli.

Church park day and baptisms.

Throughout the week, the team had the opportunity to go to several different communities on the outskirts of Danli to share the gospel, as well as give out food provisions and Spanish Bibles to those who didn't have their own. Some of the team members also got to build beds to give out to those in most need of them as well. We particularly loved getting to join the team in evangelizing because this year the church taught the team about GCLA's new vision of sharing using "Multiplica Multiplicadores". Through it, each team member was encouraged to tell a short version of their personal testimony first, before sharing the gospel using the bridge diagram in the home they visited. We both felt so blessed to get to hear so many of the stories of the team members that we normally would not have gotten the chance to hear. It added such a new dimension to sharing with others so openly as well as connecting to people on a personal level.

Also, some of the team (mainly guys) got to help with a construction project at the church, which was extending the concrete floor of the church out to meet where the roof ends. It was long and hard work, but it was so worth it! It is going to be such a blessing for the church as this was the final step before the next goal of closing in the church with 2 additional walls.  The church still needs to raise funds in order for the walls to happen.

Final product of the completed floor, far left. 

Making the beds (left), and getting having a little helper to deliver them (right). 

We also took the team to visit a local public hospital, which was a first for us too. There is a huge difference between private and public hospitals here in Honduras. You hear about the bad conditions in public hospitals, but you don't realize really how terrible they are until you are inside. Patients have to provide their own bedding, medicine, clothing/gowns, and in some cases, food, and most cannot provide these things for themselves. It is practically required that a friend or family member stay with the patient to be able to attend to them. The hospital is not clean by any means, and smells even worse. It is very hot inside the building, and everyone must share a room with 2 to 3 other people with no room dividers or privacy at all. Many of who went to visit the hospital left completely wrecked and devastated of what they had just seen.

One 16-year-old boy at the hospital that particularly made his way into our hearts. 

On Saturday, we went to visit a nursing home to deliver food and spend time with the elderly people there. It was amazing to be in Honduras and see birth dates of patients born in 1919. We talked with, prayed with, and played music for the patients. They especially loved that the musical group would come around to their bed and play a song "just for them". The NLCF team was also able to attend a second regular church service on Saturday night, and blessed the church by creating a worship band for the night made up of the musically talented members of the team, since the church here in Danli does not yet have their own live band (but they do have the instruments and are working towards having a band soon!). It was fun for us personally that we got to worship in BOTH English and Spanish! What a joy!!

Visiting the nursing home; one lady was particularly happy to see a baby around!

NLCF-ers playing worship at Iglesia Gran Comision Danli. 

As they do every year, the tearful goodbyes came on Sunday when it was time to head back to the airport. Because we have only been in Danli for a few weeks, it felt a little weird to be herding the NLCF team on to the plane (though they didn't want to leave) but then being one of those people who stays, smiles, and waves until they get to the security point where we can't see them any more. Oh yeah, we live here. We don't go back to classes and midterms, Virginia Tech, and NLCF. We stay!

Quick snapshot from the "touring" day the team had, here seeing one of the church member's fields. 

We were with the team for about fourteen hours every day, so we were as tired as they were, but we loved the busyness and joy that they brought. We also loved getting to see things through brand new eyes again, through those who have either never been here to Danli before, or who have never even left the country. Thank you, Hokies. You left you mark on this great city once again (and filled it with even more orange and maroon shirts for us to spot). We love you! Can't wait til next time.

mission team // step program trip

We are so glad to be able to write about the first team we've planned a trip for and hosted ourselves in Honduras! Funny enough, it actually happened to be a team that currently lives in Honduras already. Yes, you read that right!

We met our friends Jim and Sonia Bridge at our training in Colorado before we moved to Honduras, and we were thrilled to find out that they were also moving to Honduras! They live in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, and their ministry is serving as the leaders of the STEP program here in Honduras that is part of the BIC churches. It is a program that designs team internships to give young adults realistic, intensive and developmental cross-cultural ministry experience for six months. As the new leaders of this program for the first time this year, Jim and Sonia have been searching earnestly for opportunities for their participants to learn and serve throughout all different parts of Honduras, and it just so happens that we live in a very different part of Honduras than them. We were so glad that we were able to help host one of their many trips they will take to the edges of Honduras and show them around the ministries that we have going on here in Choluteca.

This first team that Jim & Sonia are hosting consists of all girls, ages 18-21. They all traveled down from Tegucigalpa last Sunday, and we enjoyed having them serve at the children's nutrition clinic and the family home orphanage during the five days that they were here. This was their first time serving in a more rural Honduran setting as a team, which gave them new experiences and challenges to work through. They were certainly a blessing to the under-staffed CDI, and prepared several fun activities for the the children to do! The kids, in combination with the much hotter 100F degree days, definitely wore out the Steppers by the end of each day.

Along with serving at both children's ministries, we were able to give the group a tour of other projects that Iglesia Gran Comision Choluteca has, including the Casa Hogar Vida community, the block factory, the CHV coffee brand roasting site, the "Manualidades" crafts store, and one of the rural communities that the church is doing a lot of outreach in, Las Bresas.

Here are some wonderful pictures from the week, documented by the very talented Nikki, who is one of the participants in the program. Enjoy!

Everyone needing hugs at once. :) 

The girls showed the kids how to make paper frogs that jump!

We all helped serve lunch for the kids each day!

Bryan is pretty awesome at soccer!

All of the Family Home kids got involved in the soccer game -- 
even the little twins who kept running into each other!

Vilma, the oldest at the Family Home, with her balloon flower. 

Lesley loving, but being a little afraid of, Bryan making his own balloon design!

Elias, the youngest at the Family Home, with his awesome dino face paint!

Water balloons at the family home for a hot, hot day!

Children in the rural community we visited using old bed springs as a trampoline. 

Visiting one of the families that the church here has built a strong structure home for. 

Visiting the Casa Hogar Vida coffee brand roasting site.