As reported in the Update, I am taking a week off to join my oldest daughter, Kendal, on a medical and humanitarian mission trip to the impoverished areas surrounding Tela, Honduras. This was her 16th birthday present. There has not been much downtime to blog on our activities as the doctors, nurses and others from our church have treated nearly 1,500 people in three days. The team has provided the people, mostly women and children (more on that topic later), with basic medicines, food and, in some cases, glasses (we had a limited supply of them). Of course, everyone heard and saw the gospel in action. Sunday night I had the opportunity to preach at Antioquia Evangelica Bautista Iglesia in Tela, which is a mission of our home church of Greenwell Springs Baptist.

It has been pretty hot but the afternoon rain showers help cool things off in this subtropical climate. It is a beautiful country and the Honduran people are extremely hospitable, receptive to us and grateful for what we are doing.

One thing I noticed right off in the various communities that we’ve been in, besides the abject poverty, is the absence of the men. I began asking around, talking to the local pastors through our interpreters. Two reasons were given. First, a number of the young men have gone to America (illegally) in search of job opportunities. Unfortunately, according to those I’ve spoken to, few of the men are sending money back in support of the children and their mothers. The second reason given was the influence of the messages sent from the United States through our television programs. It’s not just our families that are affected by what American entertainment puts out.

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