Today was the final day of our four day fact finding trip to La Ceiba, Honduras. Mike, Sean (our teammate), Mark (our boss) and Bill (ex-missionary to La Ceiba) explored La Ceiba to better prepare us for our move to Honduras on June 25th.
We toured possible rental homes, toured two hospitals, priced furniture and appliances, viewed short-term housing options, organized work opportunities at the public hospital, compared grocery prices, explored housing options for short-term teams, visited a senior center, toured an orphanage, visited the local college campus, registered Madison for school, had meetings with several locals and several missionaries, and met with an attorney to start the process for immigration and the forming of a legal corporation.This was a wildly successful trip. We move to La Ceiba, Honduras in less then two months. These four days were so important to prepare us for success. Much anxiety was lifted and replaced with mountains of hope. This is the third time Mike has visited La Ceiba. This trip has made us feel so much better prepared for service in Honduras.
Today was a great day. Madison was successfully registered for school. A tour was taken at the public hospital to organize a visit by a U.S. medical team that we are organizing. An attorney met with us regarding immigration issues and the initial residency paperwork was filed. We toured several possible rental homes, unfortunately, none of them were satisfactory. The evening was concluded with a meal with other missionaries.
Mike and our teammate Sean McCann are in La Ceiba, Honduras for four days. They are joined by our boss, Mark, and Bill Noonan, ex-missionary to La Ceiba. The purpose of this trip is to gather information and set up some important details for when we move to Honduras on June 25th.
Today we drove through several neighborhoods looking at possible rental homes for our family. We toured D’ Antoni Hospital to see if it would be a good place for Sean and Lindsey to have their 2nd baby. We toured a place for temporary housing. We also had dinner with a few Honduras missionaries that we have never met before.
Our original objective was to better understand the needs of the people in La Ceiba and learn how God can use us to fulfill His plan. After our brief trip we clearly gained a better understanding of the needs of La Ceiba. But, by no means do we believe we know it all. We know that it will take many months, even years, of intimate interaction with the people of La Ceiba before we begin to comprehend the most basic of needs.
However, this trip was clearly a positive step and greatly helps us formulate a better outlook of how we can impact those that call La Ceiba home. Erin and Mike believe that we are called for a lifetime of service in Honduras, so we intend on doing everything we can to continue to prepare ourselves for that journey.
While in La Ceiba we had meetings with five missionaries, viewed four neighborhoods, toured three hospitals, looked at two orphanage projects, entered one local prison and walked through one senior center. Personnel at almost every location were very willing to provide guided tours and answer our many questions. This is the type of research you can only do in person.