Apr 9

CALLING ALL SHORT-TERM MISSION GROUPS!!

April 9, 2024

“The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few; so ask the Master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest!” - Luke 10:2

The longer we live in Honduras, the more we learn about the needs of the communities here. There are so many ways to serve and so many projects to help with - more than what our one family can do. Over the past year, many of you have asked us how to go about doing mission work, or about putting together a group of people to volunteer for a week or two. So we are expanding the scope of our volunteer work in such a way that we are now organizing and hosting short-term mission groups here in this beautiful but very needy part of the world on the remote northern coast of Honduras.

Along the road from Trujillo to Santa Fe

Santa Fe waterfront

The biggest hurdle to considering a short-term foreign mission trip is all of the details that need to be handled, often while working through language barriers. Transportation, safe drinking water, housing, etc. were the cause of anxiety for us too, when we were considering this type of work. However, now having been here for 8 months, we know a lot more about visiting (or living in) a developing country. We have identified the best private transportation options and accommodations for mission groups, we’ve collaborated with established humanitarian efforts on the ground, and have met with local leadership to prioritize the needs that can be best served by short term mission groups of all ages and skill-sets. We're partnering with friends (a Canadian couple who have been here for 16 years and who own Tranquility Bay Beach Retreat and formed Operation Backpack Honduras), and we will be using their beachfront facility as a base camp to host American and Canadian mission groups. We handle all the details here on the ground (except for flights) and provide lodging, all food and drinks, insurance, all in-country transportation including to and from the airport and work sites, and work site materials. We can also coordinate tours and cultural experiences, if the group would like that, as well as translators if necessary. We can also arrange for meetings with local officials and humanitarian workers to add an educational component in addition to the actual mission work, to help your group really understand the challenges here. And the advantage of our particular location is that at the end of a hot, dusty work day, groups get to retreat back to Tranquility Bay and take a refreshing dip in the beautiful Caribbean and enjoy the fresh mango juice! There are 5 seaside cabanas for 5-6 people each, so we can accommodate groups of up to 30.

Tranquility Bay Beach Retreat cabanas

Inside one of the cabanas

Tranquility Bay beachfront area

We recently hosted a group from Franciscan University of Steubenville who were here on an evangelization mission in the mountain villages, another group of adult professionals (doctors and dentists) with a group called Mountain Medics that provided free clinics in the area, and a church group from Tennessee who were here to support the building of a church in a village outside of Trujillo. We can take groups for a variety of projects, and because this area just needs so much, there are endless possibilities for which we can tailor the work to the particular group.

Vivian helping serve dinner for a large group

Seaside Mass with students from Franciscan University

Mountain Medics, after providing a week of free clinics in the surrounding villages

As we expand our ministry to provide for the needs of this impoverished and underserved area of the world, we would love it if you (as our biggest supporters and advocates) could spread the word about this opportunity to serve. If you have contacts at schools/universities/organizations/churches that might be interested in putting together a group of 10-30 volunteers to come to Honduras, we would be happy to speak with them and share more about this opportunity.

The needs here are so diverse that you can tailor the trip according to your desired goals, but if you wanted to specifically help us with some of our current projects, here is a sampling… We need groups to help build a fence and medical bodega in the mountain village of Colonia, we need groups to repair and paint a school in Sante Fe, and we need groups to help finish building a school outside of Trujillo. Experience is not necessary! The locals have told us that they are accustomed to working with untrained volunteers, so please do not be intimidated! If you have an open heart and mind, and a desire to work with a very joyful population of people, then we can use your group! High school students, university students, adults, professionals, amateurs, anyone!

Coras Alta school, in need of expansion and repairs. Currently, grades 7-9 use the open air hallway for classes.

And if manual labor isn’t your thing, we can use medical professionals to do clinics, teachers to run special programming in schools, catechists to lead a mission or youth ministry retreats, music groups to do free concerts, etc, etc. So, if you have an idea for a mission trip, chances are we know a village, school, or church that would love to have you come.

Pat teaching music to 4th graders at Centro Básico Dieciocho de Mayo school

Please consider either putting together a group to come and serve the people of Honduras, or please send this along to anyone you think may be interested. You can either email me at shannon@cumbrefamilymissions.org, or call (or WhatsApp) me at 315-528-5372.