I’ve been told I would never be the same again. That’s what foreign mission trips do to you, they say.

“I’ve been changed” ... “I look at life differently.” People say these things when they come back home.

But how? In what way are they different? I don’t hear that answer quite as often.

Before I left for Honduras, I was worried I’d have nothing to say. I asked God to move in my heart so I could come back a more mature disciple of Christ.

Now it’s time for me to evaluate. How have I changed, and what has been accomplished?

Continue reading "How my life has been changed" »

Posted by Chansin at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

What a beautiful, fierce kiss my cheek received! It was a kiss that said, “I don’t want you to leave. Please don’t forget me.” The six-year-old girl waved with all her might as our van pulled out of the orphanage. I didn’t want to say goodbye.

During our last afternoon in Honduras, we visited five orphanages. There wasn’t much time to spend at each one, but the children welcomed us and opened up to us within minutes.

I could tell they longed for attention. I didn’t even have to seek them out. At one particular orphanage, as soon as I stepped inside the gates, little Maria in a ruffled purple blouse grabbed my hand. We were instant friends.

Continue reading "The Kiss of an Orphan" »

Posted by Chansin at 12:41 AM | Permalink

All made it back to the US last night (some of our luggage opted for the extended stay in Miami...arghhh!). I believe it is safe to say that we can call the Honduras Mission a success. There are many, many options for projects and service in the region where we worked, and determining future involvement will be a challenge over the next several weeks and months.

Thanks again to all of you who prayed, added comments to the blog, and supported this team financially and otherwise. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You!

The MTSU faculty on the team were a joy to work with (and they are already scheduled for two more trips to the area). Jenny Rogers, the executive director of the KidSake Foundation, has a passion for the mission and ministry in Cane, Honduras that is contagious. As for the Chansin, Nate, and Matt...Belmont has every reason to be proud of the manner in which they represented their institution and their faith...to say that it was amazing to see them in action does no justice to the great things these young people did.

There will be some follow-up stories comming now that we have more accessible/reliable Internet access. Those of you who signed up for email notifications will receive an alert when more pictures, stories, and videos are uploaded.

We are weary. We are blessed. We are greatful. We are Home!

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

We have cleared our first hurdle to make it back to the US. After an early morning breakfast, a meeting or two, and packing the van, we headed down the highway for the two hour trip to Tegucigalpa. I have an official 'Driving Rules of Honduras' t-shirt to honor the event and the week of driving like a Honduran (something that I am certain that therapy will take care of).

Anyway, all of us made it through Houndras immigration and are resting at the American Airlines gate awaiting our departing flight. If we have access in Miami, we'll drop you a note...if not, we'll see you in Nashville (or Dallas).

Adios!

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

When I was younger, I made plans to save the world. Why don’t the rich people just give a percent of their money to the poor throughout the world, I’d ask a friend at school.

He replied with lofty words and political jargon.

I nodded slowly, pretending he made sense. I hated the fact that life was not simple. I was drawn to my friend’s knowledge.

What I didn’t realize was that I was one of those rich people in the world. I should have asked myself: Why don’t you give a percent of your wealth to the poor, Nate?

Continue reading "Got a pill to make it all simple?" »

Posted by Chansin at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Two days ago I wrote about a family of six that had only one broken bed. It was more of a cot than a bed. Their house was utterly bare. The 11-year-old sister, Dania, took care of the younger siblings all day while their mother worked in the fields. The little girl had no more than a first grade education.

We left their house promising ourselves to do something about it. Beds are expensive, we were at the edge of our budget and we didn’t even know where to find a bed for sale. But we wanted to give those children a place to rest their heads. The cold, dirty floor and crowded, broken bed were not sufficient.

Continue reading "“I Know God is Watching”" »

Posted by Chansin at 08:56 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

I have shot over a thousand pictures in Honduras with my digital camera. Each night I upload my memory cards to my computer and scroll through the shots.

There are always one or two pictures that stick out each night.

At the public school in the small town of Cane, close to the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, a shot came to me.

Continue reading "Who are these people in my pictures?" »

Posted by Nathan at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The six children had nothing, and all I could give them were candy canes. I felt stupid for giving them candy when I could see their poverty and see they needed so much more.

Earlier in the day, I had met all the children of the soup kitchen, and I knew they were poor. It looked like their clothes had never been washed. Half of them didn’t wear shoes. Their skin was covered in dirt splotches. The girls’ hair was in a tangled mess, and leaves were stuck in some of them.

I could see their skinny bodies and the way they stuffed the sandwiches in their mouths. None of them complained about the taste. For many of them, the soup kitchen provided their only food each day.`

It didn’t quite sink in, though, how poorly the children lived until I entered one of their houses. The six brothers and sisters and their mother possessed only one small cot for a bed. That bed was broken. There was nowhere else to sleep. All the children had was the empty, dirt floor in which to curl up.

Continue reading "One broken bed for too many children" »

Posted by Chansin at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

I missed the sign at the immigration desk when we arrived at Tegucigalpa. I am sure that it read: Check your type A personalities here, you may have them back when you leave Honduras.'

One basic tenet in Honduran society is that the person is always more important than the event. In the US, a 30 minute trip to the hardware store for a gallon of paint means parking close as possible to the front door, running in, perhaps asking a clerk for a particular color formula, waiting as patiently as an american can, and then leaving just as soon as the bill is paid and the paint is loaded into the vehicle. In Honduras, the same scenario might include a 15-20 minute drive on the Honduran version of a public NASCAR roadway (including farm animal obstacles). You park somewhere near the city square and greet the locals as you stroll through the market place passing a couple of hardware stores closed for no apparent reason. The owners of the open store give the americans a quizzical look and break the ice with a typical Honduran welcome, of 'hello and how are you?'

Continue reading "American have 'the clock', Hondurans have the time" »

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 08:51 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

We thought we had little in common.

The Honduran children sat close to me on the school grounds as they waited for other children to arrive. In 45 minutes we would begin Jenny’s research project. They were excited about the opportunity to take pictures from their own, new cameras, but they were quiet as they waited.

I didn’t know what to say to them, and they didn’t know what to say to me. At least, we didn’t know how to say it to each other. The language barrier was quite frustrating.

Balloons solved our problem. Out of my backpack I pulled balloons and passed one to each child. I quickly realized the kids were no different than my little friends in the United States.

Continue reading "Balloons burst barriers" »

Posted by Chansin at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday was one of those mission adventure days when the schedule flies out the window just as soon as the ink dries on the paper. It was a day of finishing up the service project for the school library, for launching a photography project with the MTSU team, for working through lunch, and for a generally hectic race to return to our lodging before the dining facilities closed. Every one is doing well and each member of the team is working hard. The number of influential contacts in the area continues to grow and the list of projects and mission opportunies seems to increase exponentially with every turn in the road. Thanks to one and all for your prayer support!

Obviously, our schedule yesterday prevented us from getting Internet access...remember, there is one Internet access point in the entire town of Cane. Today, the owner decided to rewire the four computers hooked up with the satellite and unforunately, that means that we are down to one coputer for now. Chansin and Nate have stories ready to load in, so I am outa´here!

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 04:01 PM | Permalink

Prayer requests –

·Many of us in the group have been feeling ill. Please pray for our health. Especially pray for Jenny´s health. As our leader, she has the most taxing job and it is essential for her to feel well.
·We are painting the school´s library. It has turned out to be a big job. Please pray that we finish in good time tomorrow and that we do a satisfactory job.
·Tomorrow we begin Jenny´s research project with the children. Please pray that the kids understand what to do, get excited about it, and take photographs that are meaningful and give us a better idea of their lives.

Posted by Chansin at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have never been so comfortable around prisoners before.

Perhaps the bars that separated us put me at ease, or perhaps I’ve just never been around many prisoners in my life to know how they make me feel. I do know that the Honduran men in the jail we visited yesterday seemed like normal, easygoing guys.

I don’t think I have ever met such artistic prisoners before either.

Our group went to the town of Marcala. We wanted to meet the men at the prison there, find out their stories, and buy some of their products. They weave purses, hammocks, and necklaces. And their work is quite pretty. I bought two purses for myself.

Continue reading "The Prisoners of Marcala" »

Posted by Chansin at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

File this under the "Oh, I forgot to warn you" category: Early moring milking in Cane, Honduras is a process that includes a 30+ minute hike across a rocky plane...without any light other than the sunrise peeking from behind a mountain range. Monday's award for moving way beyond the 'journalistic comfort zone' goes to Chansin who discovered that what dairy farmers do on the business end of a milk cow isn't as easy as farmers make it look. The answer to 'why were we up at 5:00AM to capture milking pictures?', is a story that is ends around dusk with a block of cheese. Part of today's adventure was filling in the story gaps between the pasture and the cheese press.

Continue reading "Monday Update" »

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

What a party!

The village of Cane was crawling with people. Yellow, school-bus like, busses dropped off teenagers from surrounding towns. Mounds of speakers blared upbeat Spanish tunes. Two mechanical spinning rides gave children a thrill. Boys walked around selling necklaces that flashed blue and red lights.

Every New Years Day the people of Cane hold a huge festival. It actually reminded me of fairs similar to ones in the United States.

French fries, or “papas fritas”, were a popular food, just like they are at home. While we were walking past the food stands, Pedro, one of our two interpreters, stumped me with a question.

Continue reading "Hondurans Know How To Party" »

Posted by Chansin at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Roosters rule the night in Cane, Honduras.

By two a.m., the birds from all across the village were calling to each other.

And it didn’t stop. Bird after bird crowed to each other in succession. One was right outside our window.

Needless to say, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to go milk a cow.

That’s right. For the first time in my life, I milked a cow. Senor Martinez and his 9-year-old helper, (Ramiro) wake up every morning before the sun rises to hike to the pasture and milk Martinez’s # cows. This milk is then delivered to another family member to be made into cheese.

Continue reading "Roosters Rule the Night" »

Posted by Chansin at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)