Q & A - 2nd Edition

Welcome to the second part of my Honduras Mission Trip Q&A.  :)  I forgot to answer one question that pertained to Olivia on the last post, so I will start with that one today and then move on to questions about the orphanage itself.

1.  What will Olivia do there?

• Mostly, Olivia will play with the kids.  I am going to look into having her eat all her meals with them one day, and also to help in the kitchen duties, which is what I did when I was there, but since I am not in charge of this trip, I don't know if that will pan out.

Now onto questions about Orphanage Emmanuel.

1.  Where in Honduras is this orphanage?

•  The orphanage is in Guaimaca, Honduras, which is about two hours northeast of the capital city of Tegucigalpa.  I found a picture for you!

2.  How many children and staff are there?

• According to the orphanage web site, there are currently 460 children and 24 staff.  This number does fluctuate, though, as new children can be brought quite often.  There are also a fluctuating number volunteers there.

3.  What structure is used in the orphanage?  Family style, boarding house style, live in parents, rotating nannies...

• I'm not quite sure what to call it...there is a toddler house, where the littles live (I believe up to age 6), then they move into a house, that one older child is in charge of.  I'd estimate there are about 15 to these houses.  They bunk in the rooms together, usually the older one in charge has her own space. 8 years ago when I was there, this is how things were run. Its possible there have been some changes made.  (If there is a SWO person that is reading this than can confirm, correct or clarify any of these details, your input is welcome!)

4.  What is the expected future for these children?

• This is a tough question.  Some of them will return to the streets.  When I was there we got a 9 year old girl in that ran away days later.  Some of them will always run back.  The orphanage provides education (when I was there it was up to 8th grade and they were working on high school - again, its been awhile since I've been there and these are details I haven't kept up with as well as I could have) so they will at least be schooled, whereas if they were living with their parents that is not a guarantee.  Some of them go to Bible college in Costa Rica and other places.  Some of them stay on and assist in the running of the orphanage. A few come to the US and go to college.

5.  What is the hoped for future of these children?

• Personally, I hope (and I think I am in line with the orphanage itself on this one) that the children will become Christians during their time at Orphanage Emmanuel and take the gospel into their country and live as light and salt among their people. 

6.  Do they necessarily speak Spanish, or are there other languages used?

• They speak Spanish, but English is taught by the school and by the groups and volunteers.  I worked with one girl on her English during the time that I was there.  There is also some connection to Denmark there, and I served with at least 6 Danish volunteers while I was there, so the children get exposed to Danish as well, but really they mostly speak Spanish.  This is one area where I could use prayer.  I am trying to cram language preparation into my days right now.  Haha.

7.  How does the local church interact with this orphanage?

• There is a pastor from one of the local churches that is involved with the orphanage.  When I was there, David Martinez, called "Papi" by the children, did all the preaching in the orphanage's church.

8.  What is the long-term impact of this trip on the orphanage?

• There are two parts to this answer.  Snowbird takes a trip to Orphanage Emmanuel every year, providing a consistency of involvement.  They focus on strengthening the children in their understanding of the gospel, growing the ones that are already Christian and evangelizing those that are not, they work and play alongside the children, and just seek to give them attention.  This is vital to the kids and provides something that the staff and volunteers alone are not able to do with the ratio of staff to children that there are.  So the long term impact is measured more by the consistency of Snowbird returning and the relationships that are developed there, and obviously the eternal implications of the gospel being proclaimed.  
• The second part is more personal.  There are three specific girls that I have been in contact with since I left there.  As recently as within this month, one of them has expressed that she misses me and wishes I could come back and see her again.  She recently got married and had a baby and lives with her family at the orphanage.  Another sends me a letter back with one of the girls that visits with Snowbird every year.  And the other I chat with on Facebook sometimes.  I believe that these girls will be encouraged and strengthened simply by me coming (I hope that doesn't sound arrogant!).  I have a friend that visits me with frequency, and it means the world to me because I really don't have the ability to pick up and go see her.  I treasure our visits and thank God that He allows that for us.  I think it will be the same for them.

I think that pretty much wraps it up for now.  I'm not afraid to run another one or two of these, so if you did not get your questions in or answered, please feel free to email.

To update you on the financial outlook, so far I've had many people express a desire/commitment to give.  So far, I've been given $125 out of the around $2,000 that I need.  I am not worried, our God owns all the resources in the world!  I am currently in discussions with several people regarding fundraising, trying to figure out the best way to go about getting this money together.  Please pray that God will provide for all our needs (and some of it soon!  :)  I gotta get these passports mailed off!)

Thanks so much for following our journey.  It really does mean so much to me.