Hola! My name is Anika and I recently had the privilege of going on a mission trip to Honduras with Casa de Esperanza Ministries. I feel the need to start off by saying God is so good. I went into this trip thinking I was going to be changing the lives of many (not saying that I didn’t), but I feel as though my heart was completely changed as well. This trip was definitely an experience of a lifetime and allowed my faith to grow.
Something that I thought was going to be a big issue was the language barrier. I have taken Spanish, but I definitely let it slip away by lack of practice. At first I thought it would be very difficult to connect with the Honduran people, but we shared a common language of joy and a love for Jesus through their constant smiles and laughter.
During the first few days of work we spent our time up in the mountain villages east of Lake Yajoa delivering water filters with the organization Good Justice, providing a way for over 170 homes to have access to clean water for cooking, cleaning, hygiene, and drinking. Honduras has very little access to clean drinking water. This leaves many people with parasites, diarrhea, and a number of other health risks. We went door to door explaining how to operate the filters so that they get properly used and if they allowed us to pray over them we would. This is when I first realized that the language barrier was not going to be a problem at all. When we would pray with the families we would pray in English and they would often chime in with their own language. And I could still communicate with the children even if I was asking them the same questions over and over again.
“¿Cómo se llama?” – What’s your name?
“Cuántos años tiene?” – How old are you?
The language barrier didn’t matter…because instead of being frustrated about not being able to understand me, they were laughing at me struggling to communicate with them, which made me smile and laugh too. I have never felt so welcomed into a community in which I was a complete stranger.
When we made our way to Siguatepeque, we visited the church- Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal. They prepared an entire service for us and even had the children of the church sing us a thank you song. At one point another member on the trip leaned over and said, “I never expected to tear up in a service that I only understood 10% of.” He was completely right, everyone seemed to be tearing up even though few could understand what they were saying. It didn’t matter because deep down we all knew that they had put tons of effort in to preparing a special service for us. God is so good.
It’s astonishing to me that these people have so little, yet they are the happiest people I have ever met. It was truly an eye opener that allowed my faith to grow with each and every person I met. This trip was an experience of a life time and I would 100% recommend that you go on a mission trip when the opportunity comes up.
