For the last two years Cheryl and I have been serving on the missions mobilization committee at our church. This church family has always been very generous in their support for local and international initiatives, but we felt as a committee that it was time to re-engage in some hands on service projects.  Since we have connections in Latin America, Cheryl and I offered to check with our PAOC global workers to see what might be possible. Two significant opportunities came up and when we shared these with our church family, we had so much interest we were able to form two teams. One team of eight would go to Honduras to install water filters (with Rick leading), and a second eight person team would join Cheryl in piloting an intensive English program for high school students in Colombia.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras - May 5-14, 2019

Since 2010, Schools of Hope has been working in a very impoverished area on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Cheryl and I spent two months with this team back in 2016 and were impressed with the incredible work the team does in helping kids stay in school, providing some supplemental feeding and support for families, and generally bringing Christ's love to this community. There is no sanitation or running water in this area, so clean and safe drinking water is a huge need. A project was initiated with the support of a local Mayor to provide bio-sand filters in homes that will allow families to have a long term supply of safe drinking water. Installation takes a few hours and the filters last for 8-10 years.  Filters cost about $100 CAD and households requesting one must pay the equivalent of $5 as their contribution.  The first phase of the project was to install 300 filters and it was completed early this year. Phase two is now under way to add 600 filters in the next two years.  The role of the church in Canada is to provide funding for the filters and send teams to help install them. Phase one was well supported and there is growing interest in this project.  In fact, Schools of Hope has already received all of the funds to purchase the 600 filters!

Completed installation of a biosand filter. Several jugs of water per day can be filtered as needed.   

When a short term team comes down to assist the project team, they greatly multiply the number of filters that can be installed. The Canadian teams also cover the cost of the filters they are installing that week.  Normally there is a small team from Schools of Hope that installs filters and one or two per day would be the best they could do along with their other responsibilities.  During our time there, our team was able to install 31 filters in four days. 

Our team washing the sand and coarse rock for the filter install 

 Victor was our leader for the week.  He is a Schools of Hope staff member and lives in the community.  He is a pastor as well and it was inspiring to see him relate to his community.  Everybody knows him.  As he drives around the community he is constantly encouraging people, stopping to say hello and asking them how they are doing.  He is on the phone making arrangements with families for filter installs while sharing information with us and navigating rough and narrow streets. He is the heart of the ministry and shows his love for his neighbours in a myriad of ways.  He is a true example of how Christ followers should represent Jesus.  Whenever we would stop to do a filter, a crowd would soon gather, some just to chat while others came to order a filter with their 100- lempira portion in hand.  Cheryl and I got to know Victor in 2016 and are blessed to have him as a friend and colleague.  Most of us would soon tire of all the attention and interaction, but Victor's extroverted personality serves him well.

This was the first short-term missions trip for two of our Regina team members. It was gratifying to see how these men stepped into the work and embraced the culture. The Teguc team is very experienced in hosting Canadian teams and provide excellent accommodations and two amazing cooks who serve wonderful Honduran food including fresh tropical fruits. Some of us came close to overdosing on pineapple, and team intervention was necessary to keep it in check!

Our Parliament Church team - Tilly, Ken Tim,Joanne, Les,Peter, Rick and Larry

The Schools of Hope Team has more than 20 staff members working in various parts of the ministry which provides employment for local believers and enables them to improve the lives of families in their own community.  A couple of the original sponsored kids are now working in the ministry part- time as they attend university. They are committed to serving because of the impact this ministry had in their own lives and they want to give back.  This is the kind of real change that can occur in communities such as these when God's people decide to show up in tangible ways such as providing water filters, after school tutoring, sponsorship so kids can go to school, and  showing love and care to kids and families that are struggling just to meet basic daily needs.  Cheryl and I see great value in this work and are committed to supporting our colleagues in Tegucigalpa and other parts of Latin America as we have opportunity. 

An amazing privilege for me was to be able to meet our sponsored student - Isaac and his family.  If you want to understand how much difference sponsorship makes this family lives only on the funds we send them.  Thankfully a second sponsor was found for Isaac's sister.  The mother is very ill and unable to work. Without sponsors life would be very different for this family.

Meanwhile back in Canada . . . we want to let everyone know that our home base has changed. After I returned home from Teguc, we emptied out our Regina condo and moved the last of our household belongings to Saskatoon. We are still getting settled in our Saskatoon town home and enjoying what we consider a dream location close to the riverbank and downtown. Although our Regina condo did not sell, we are happy to be renting it to a young couple from our previous church. Our phone and emails stay the same so for those of you inclined we would love to share a meal of offer a bed and breakfast experience for you!