Honduras (better late than never)

On Saturday 3-12-11 at 6:00 am Creekside’s Honduras Home Build Team departed from Seattle, WA. We were traveling to The Island of Roatan, Honduras. A long exhausting Day of travel to be sure. When we landed we were met by Tom Hackett, director of Alternative Missions and Dwellings. This was our second home build with Tom. Last year we built a home in rural Mexico.
We were also met my Carlos, the owner of Casa Isabella, the hotel we stayed at for the duration of our trip.

As the leader of this group I was nervous about how we would all get along, if we would get in each other’s way with the home build, if we would even get the home done, if we were all going to get violently ill with explosive diarrhea. Only one of those things was a problem for our team. I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with iarrhea.

Something that I learned from last years trip was the importance of a daily group times for reflection, prayer, and bible study. This year I came to Roatan with a plan, and I was determined to stick to the plan.

I’m not a builder. I can lift heavy things and that’s what I did on the job site. I don’t have many skills beyond that when it comes to anything construction-y. So I can’t really speak to how quickly and efficiently the house was built. I can say it was quick and efficient and we were able to work on 3 houses in one week which was awesome!

What I can speak to is how well the team related to each other. I’ve been on enough church related trips to know that they don’t always go smoothly. Some trips have a lot of interpersonal drama. Some trips have individuals who are sent home early. Some trips you come home from committed to never do a trip like that again.

I’m happy to report that this trip was not one of those trips. Our team got along excellently. We all still like each other. And we became better friends in the process. At Creekside I oversee missions, serving, community and spiritual growth. It was amazing to see all of these things happening on this trip. We would have really great conversations at the end of the day about the book of James. We were able to take some time to get to know each other and build community. And we did all of this around a project of serving the poor in another country. It was amazing.
My prayer moving forward is that all of our trips would be experiences where we grow together, serve others, and strengthen community.

We came home 3-19-11 and I know that this adventure was life changing for all involved. Many are looking forward to the next opportunity to serve like this again. My prayer is that we would not wait for an official opportunity to serve but that we will see the opportunities all around us everyday.

Brea Bursch put together a great slideshow