Outer Banks to Honduras | Travel Mission Photography

I've tossed around this blog post for three four weeks. {Yes, four weeks.} I just couldn't really bring myself to sit down and write out all the sad feelings that I am having. Don't get me wrong, this was the most amazing experience I've ever had and to have had my handsome husband to share it with was truly beautiful. I was teary eyed a few times while we were there but the sheer happiness of the children and families that we were able to help was enough to actually knock you off of your feet. But since coming home, I've just felt sad. Not weepy, just downright sad, cry your eyes out kind of stuff. I wasn't at all prepared for that part of the trip, now I know- it's called "re-entry." How can anyone really be expected to re-enter this pleasantville World that we live in and go on with business as usual? I think for me, the only way to do it is to continue the mission from home so that when we return in a few months with Dream Big Honduras, we have even more to give.

Note: Before you go on a mission-trip, read about Re-Entry.

On our first day in Honduras I truly couldn't wrap my head around the pure love and light that is coming out of these children and their teachers. Contagious smiles and laughter while their tummies are empty and their water is dirty.

Back to the dirty water. It is dirty to the point of making them sick because of the parasites. Dirty because they are drinking muddy river water. They are drinking the same water that they wash their clothes and bathe in. That's their only option. Little distended tummies and sore throats were the common complaints.

So we took children to the doctors office. For $5 a child can be evaluated and treated. $5 is the average amount of money that I add to my weekly bill while trying to get through the grocery store checkout line and sweet Lady P finds 3409234 things that she *must* have.

We bought food and distributed it. {Also, my husband is a hunk.}

We came to work with the school and to build the children a playground. And that happened!

We came to break ground on a new classroom because the school was rapidly growing and more children needed desks. And that happened!

What we didn't know was that God was going to call us to a new hillside where plots of land were divided up among the villagers and they were given 90 days to build their homes and pay $50. We didn't know that when we went up the hill that our lives would be changed and our mission would grow even larger. We saw a dire need for safe homes and clean living spaces but all they could afford were tree branches shoved into the clay of the Earth and garbage bags tied to them for walls. We saw homes with dirt floors where Mother's lay their sleeping babies and we saw families without a single thing to eat.

We met a woman named Marie-Isabel who had three small sons. She suffered from epilepsy and some days she couldn't get out of bed to care for them. She had a tiny house built on a steep hillside and she was falling, and falling often. Her walls were made of garbage bags and when she would fall, her walls would tear. They needed a better option for their home. Her youngest son, Orlando and I kind of fell in love with one another and he would just let me carry him around all week while he rested his sleepy head on my shoulder. I had to know how much a real house would cost in Honduras. The answer just shook me to the core. About $500. Seriously. Five hundred dollars. Five hundred. I've done that kind of damage at Target and I can't even remember what I bought. Five hundred dollars. I talked to Jason and we planned to leave $200 for their house but our funding in Honduras was limited as we couldn't access anymore money at home. So we posted to social media outlets and told our family and friends about this need. And this is what happened....

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...And so the "Dreamers" of Dream Big Honduras got together and decided on other families that needed homes first. Then we prayed about how to make this money multiply and just do even more! Next, Grace, our feet-on-the-ground Honduran Dreamer emailed us. She said that she was able to get a special grant from the local government and we would be able to get the roofing done FOR FREE. Yes, free! Construction has begun on the houses and the new classroom is in the process of being framed and we are dreaming about sustainable community gardens and chickens at the school while we pray for the donations and funding for all of those projects.

I'm starting to feel less weepy because I know that every day another door is opening for Dream Big Honduras and that is because of God's grace and for God's glory! I'm missing our buddy Orlando and about once a week I find myself stopped at a green light on the North Carolina bypass thinking about him and tearing up but I know that the love that his Momma must be feeling is so big and so powerful that maybe she will come to know God because of it. So I blink away my tears and make it to the next green light before I stop my car and start crying again but this time because I realize how much I am loved and how big and powerful God's love is for me and I just throw every ounce into what else we can do to help.

Truth: I know that on my own, I can't change the World. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I'm forever and ever and ever grateful to Brad & Bethany who founded Dream Big Honduras and invited us along and to the rest of our mission team that helped us grow in ways we didn't expect.

We are really looking forward to hosting a party at our home in May to raise money for our on-going projects and most importantly we are looking forward to going back to Honduras very very soon! Lots of LOVE. xo- Audra (and Orlando, too!)