What to Expect: Honduras Mission Trips So you’re going on a Mission Trip to Honduras and want to know what to expect? Here are some details of what your trip will look like!
Region: The Agua Viva Internacional Honduras (AVIH) offices are located in the city of La Ceiba, an ideal location for the work currently being completed along the North Coast in the Sonaguera Valley. Each year the AVIH team partners with many mission groups from North America to make generational change through the gift of clean water and through the grace of the Living Water that is Jesus. For one-week, team members traveling with LWI will use an LS300 drill rig with our in-country drillers and work alongside our health and hygiene team teaching proper sanitation techniques. They will play witness to the faithfulness of God. They will return home transformed.
Weather: Honduras is hot and humid almost year-round. Temperatures vary by altitude rather than season. The average high temperature nationwide is 90°F and the average low is 68°F and temperatures are coolest in mountain areas. Mission teams working along the Caribbean coast can experience a lot of rain, the heaviest being from September to February. In Tegucigalpa, the capital, the climate remains more temperate and the dry season takes place from December to May.
Lodging: Dependent upon the community selected for drilling, the team traveling with LWI will spend the week at different hotels: Palma Real in Sambo Creek, Hotel Doamar in Saba or the Hotel Casa Blanca in El Progresso. Team members will share rooms, each complete with full bathroom, towels, soap and shampoo, and sheets. The Palma Real is located on the Atlantic coast and the team will stay here Saturday and Thursday nights. Feel free to pack a swimsuit as there is pool and ocean access.
Food: You’ll get to dine on some incredible foods while in Honduras. Most meals will be typical Honduran cuisine, consisting of plantains, rice, and if you’re lucky … iguana! (Don’t worry, it’s great… tastes just like dinosaur!) Breakfast and dinner will be prepared at the hotel. During your time in the community, you will be blessed by the ladies of the community who will fix lunch for the team each day. These generous women work hard from morning until mealtime to lovingly and sacrificially prepare our lunch! The smile on their faces as we eat is a memory to last a lifetime. These lunches are prepared with clean water provided by LWI.
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Tentative Itinerary (Subject to change…be flexible!) Saturday: Emilio, our in-field director, will pick your team up at the airport in San Pedro Sula. He will drive you to a restaurant for lunch and then on to the first hotel. Once there you will have opportunities to relax and swim. There will be more opportunities for tourist activities at the end of the week.
Sunday: After breakfast, you will go to an evangelical church. Remember, do not wear shorts. Please be receptive to different worship styles and languages. After church, the team will go back to the hotel for lunch and relaxation time before heading to the site hotel.
Monday: This is the first day you will visit the village!! Remember, this trip is about relationships, so much more than the well. You will head to the village in the morning, where you will be greeted by members of the community. This is vitally important relationship‐building time. You will shake hands with everyone – smile if you do not speak Spanish to show your care. Often the people will take time to tell you how much they appreciate you doing this for them. Our in‐field staff will offer some words or pray. Then, for the drill team, our staff will instruct on how to prepare the drill site. The goal today is to drill a borehole and take soil samples to determine the best water aquifer. The hygiene team will go with our hygiene trainer and meet with women and/or children of the village, often visiting their homes. Anything you can find to comment positively on will help build relationships. These women are often shy that a fancy American would come to their humble home. You have the opportunity to build them up and communicate their worth even if you don’t speak Spanish by being warm and welcoming with body language. Our staff is also willing to communicate for you.
Tuesday: Today, the drillers will drill the hole wider, put casing in, flush the well, put in gravel pack, and maybe do some developing (e.g., cleaning). The hygiene team will meet with the women and children of the village.
Wednesday: On this day, the drillers will have a greater chance to interact with the community and play with kids. Remember, building relationships is the main goal. When you lay your head on that pillow at night, you shouldn’t see pipe going down a borehole, but faces of those you are serving. In the morning, the team will help with developing, and in the afternoon with cleaning up all of the tools, pipes, rig, etc. Sometimes our wells take longer or there are complications – be patient and cover everything in prayer. Flexibility is key, and when in doubt remember: our in‐field staff are the expert drillers. Never take action without their permission, and if a problem arises, follow their lead. With the blessing of God, you will see a successful well. In the unlikely event that you are unable to bring water, rest assured that our in‐field staff will
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return to this same community to attempt another well. We will not simply leave without trying to assist the community in every way possible. The hygiene team will continue to meet with the women and children.
Thursday: You will arrive at the site, put the final touches on the well, and then there will be a dedication service. It is a time for the community to thank God for the blessing of the well and thank you for your part in bringing the water. Relax and let yourself worship with the people. Remember that this is a life‐changing day for them. It can also be emotional to leave the village and say good‐bye to these people that have become very dear to you. Please do not leave behind any gifts or make promises; while this feels instinctual, it can be damaging. The relationship should not be just about what you can give them – it is much greater to share your heart and let them see your care in your words, Children at a well dedication ceremony your face, your actions. Please do not provide your contact information except email, and only provide your email if you are willing to commit to writing bilingually over a long period of time. Also be aware that you might be opening yourself up to requests for money or to travel to the states.
Friday: You will turn back into tourist. Various activities are offered – it is nice after that hard week of work to relax and enjoy. Remember that you can continue to pray for the village – trust those precious people in God’s hands, as he is the one who was there before you came, and he will remain there after you leave, caring for them like the tender father that he is. After lunch, you will be picked up by Emilio and Yadira and they will take you to a souvenir shop in La Ceiba for some discounted shopping. Afterwards they will drive you to the third and final hotel which is about 25 minutes from the airport. Here your team will have dinner together.
Saturday: You will get up early in the morning, have a nice breakfast and then head to the airport.
Culture Honduras is a melting pot of ancient culture. Ethnic people groups include the Garífuna along the Caribbean Coast, Miskito and Tawahka Indians live in the rain-forests of the eastern lowlands, and Anglo-African-Caribbean Bay Islanders live just off the north coast. Many more groups exist throughout Honduras – and with such a diverse population one can expect as many different variances in culture. One thing you can be sure of is that the Hondurans you interact with will be incredibly generous with their love and hospitality to you. If you’re interested in learning more about Honduran history and present day life – we think http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Honduras.html is a pretty great website to check out! Special Cultural Issues to Note: Latin America has proper cultural norms, so, be polite and use good manners. Do not be abrasive, aggressive, and demanding. 2 Corinthians 4:5 reminds us, “For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus.” For this reason, seek to communicate grace and a peaceful manner in your words and actions. Body language communicates so much more than you will ever realize – you can communicate what is in your heart with your face and your body. Latin America also has male‐dominated cultures, whether we agree with it or not; as we are coming into their country, we ask you to respect that. As it says in John 13:34‐35: ”I give you a new commandment: love one Page 3 of 5
another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Women, please be aware that you will need to dress extra modestly. Do not hold extended eye contact with the men, and do not allow your body orientation to become too close as you will communicate something you probably do not intend to. When a male is speaking (especially a mayor, pastor, or other person of influence), talking is considered very rude. Men, please be aware that you can set a great example by your interactions with your female team members and the national women. You are always being watched by the nationals and can effect positive change with your team interactions. Morality is very important to Hondurans and they have very high standards for all Christians. Your Christian witness could easily be hurt by something that might not be considered offensive to North American Christians. For this reason, it is very important that there is no consumption of alcohol or tobacco products/ drugs, and no profanity, innuendo, or public displays of affection (even between married couples).
LWI Honduras History In 1998, Mike and Georgann Gullikson moved to La Ceiba, Honduras, just three months prior to Hurricane Mitch. Honduras, the second poorest nation in Central America at the time, was devastated by the hurricane. The Gullikson’s spent the next one and a half years doing disaster relief work. During this time, it became very clear that providing water wells was the least invasive method of helping each community, preventing a dependency on outsiders, and giving them a foundation upon which to rebuild their infrastructure after the storm. This effort was complemented by building and distributing bio sand water filters, Mike starting a seminary for local Georgann & Mike Gullikson pastors, and Georgann facilitating medical and dental groups from the United States. She found many young children, failing to thrive, that needed a medical visit, parasite medicine and a healthy diet to get them back on the positive side of the growth curve. A drill team began to form around several people from a local church, the Lighthouse Church. Over the next several years, the team caught the vision of a Honduras with clean water and became more skilled with drilling water wells. Emilio, our lead driller, was joined by Yadira who teaches health and hygiene techniques. Alfredo Brown, the associate pastor at Lighthouse, began to teach the Bible to local pastors as each mission team worked with Emilio to bring in the water. In 2007, the Gullikson’s realized that non-dependency applied to them as well and LWI-Honduras would only grow to the next level in their absence. They returned to work in the LWI office in Stafford. The LWI Honduras team continues to facilitate an increasing number of mission groups, introducing them to the reality of developing countries, showing them how they can make a tremendous difference, and sharing the Living Water with all who will listen.
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Honduras Staff Kim Rathgeber is the Living Water International staff member responsible for coordinating mission trips to Honduras. She works in the LWI headquarters and is your primary contact for the mission trip. Kim cares greatly for our in-country staff, the people we serve in Honduras, and is grateful to work with our mission trip teams. Kim also books all travel for LWI, is the very proud mom to Taylor, and has about one million Disney figurines! Emilio is the head of LWI in Honduras and a lead driller. He has been serving with us since 2003 and is responsible for sifting through well petitions and scouting out new well site locations. Emilio is married to Suny and they are blessed with one daughter and three sons. Emilio also serves as a deacon at his church. Yadira started with LWI in 2003 and currently serves by teaching and training the national team in hygiene, assisting Emilio with office management and well reports, and arranging hotel accommodations and meals for the teams while they are in Honduras. Yadira is also a church minister, and she is engaged to be married to Anuar in December 2011! L to R: Abraham, Mattias, Nugget, Alfredo, Roberto Ramos, Deborah & Kim
Abraham has been serving with LWI since 2004 and is a lead driller. He is married to Gisela and they have with one daughter. His brothers, Mattias and Nuggett, serve alongside him in drilling and pump maintenance. The brothers have a great sense of humor and love to joke around! Mattias began working with LWI in February 2011 as an assistant driller with Abraham’s crew. He is married to Jill with a daughter and son and serves as a deacon at his church.
L to R: Abraham, Alfredo, Nugget, Yadira, Roberto & Emilio
Deborah is the lead health and hygiene teacher, working with Abraham and Matthias. She has been with LWI since 2010 and is currently studying graphic design. She is also a pastor’s daughter and a minister in music. Nuggett heads up our pump maintenance crew and has been with LWI since 2003. He also assists Emilio on the drill site with mission teams. Nuggett is married to Kiesha and they have a boy and girl. Roberto is on the pump maintenance team and is our longest tenured staffer in Honduras, serving since 1999. He is married to Rosa. Suny is married to Emilio and has served as the health and hygiene leader for the pump maintenance crew since May 2011. She is also a minister in her church. Alfredo is married to Cecilia and they have two daughters and two sons. He has been with LWI since 2003, serving as an Evangelist with all mission teams. Alfredo is also an associate pastor at his church.
We are thrilled that you will soon be a part of our story in Honduras; get ready for an amazing trip! Page 5 of 5
