world missions
Focus on HONDURAS MEDICAL MISSION
A medical team has gone from St. Philip's Church to work with our missionary, Suzy McCall,
in Honduras each year since 1997.
Led by Ken and Pat Holden, this group has taken medical care and the love of Christ to numerous regions of the country.
2010 Honduras Medical Mission Trip Diary
The Honduran Medical Mission Team from St. Philip has left Charleston at 6:00 a.m., and arrived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras at midday to work with our missionary, Suzy McCall. Here’s what will be happening on the mission trip, told in the first person by Pat Holden:
After transporting luggage to Mision Caribe, where we will stay, we will visit the construction site where the new residential complex is being built for the increasing number of children for whom Suzy has full responsibility.
Sunday morning, we will worship at Christo Redentor, the church that Suzy helped plant as a member of a previous mission team. In the afternoon, we will have a small clinic for the staff and church members of Mision Caribe.
Monday through Thursday, we will hold clinics at the LAMB Institute, located in Flor Del Campo, a very poor barrio of about 1500 people. We will see all of Suzy’s residential and day care children (about 200) and see as many hundreds as we can from the neighborhood.
On Friday, January 26, we will travel about 30 minutes out of town to Las Moritas., a little village where Suzy is helping an Episcopal priest, Elvia Madrid, plant a church. Elvia is also a physician and joins us on our clinics at Las Moritas. To get to Las Moritas, we have to cross a river—minus a bridge. When we’re not in a vehicle that can go through the river, we have to cross over on the river rocks—difficult when we’re carrying all the pharmacy! After the river is a steep uphill climb to the village.
On Saturday, we will see all the staff, women, and children associated with Jericho Ministries. Jericho is a ministry to rescue prostitutes from the streets of Tegucigalpa and teach them sewing skills they can use to support their children.
Saturday afternoon we will visit the residential home, where the 45 children will have dinner and entertainment for us.
Except for Ken Holden, who stays an extra week and teaches at the only medical school in the country, the team will return home Sunday, January 28. The team will have spent many hours helping people in need of medical care, but they will take home with them a sense of accomplishment and the memories of the smiling children in Honduras.
Thank you for your prayers during this mission. The team visits Honduras every January. You may want to consider planning to join them next year. You won’t regret it!
Along with her husband, Ken, Pat Holden (center) coordinates the trip each year.
The team collects used eyeglasses and distributes them to patients at the clinic.
Dr. Ken Holden and missionary Suzy McCall consult with patients.
The staff prays for a patient.
Team members always offer prayer
For those who wish it.
Several weeks before the trip,
Pat Holden organizes
a “Pill Packing Party”
in the St. Philip’s Parish Hall.
Volunteers count and bag
Thousands of medications
for the patients.
The clinic is always a busy place.