After 12 years of reading and hearing about Christ the King’s mission to Honduras, I felt it was my time to go and see for myself what the Little Rock parish has been doing to witness the love of Christ through their medical, construction and school projects each summer.
When I arrived in Honduras June 20, I immediately came to realize that this parish is part of a growing trend of short-term U.S. missionaries who want to share their talents in third-world countries. On my plane were four other groups that flew into San Pedro Sula international airport and were about to spread out all over the country for several days of work.
 A mission of love in pictures Click here for photos from the mission |
As I waited to get through customs, a missionary from Memphis looked at me and said, “It seems like there are too many.”
Even while I was waiting for my luggage (which ended up arriving three days later), I saw two more missionary groups.
After working in that country for nine days, I quickly came to realize that thousands more long-term missionaries would be needed to greatly improve the life for people in the second poorest country in Central America.
Christ the King Church began going to Trujillo, on the Caribbean coast of Honduras, in 1997 after Deacon Don Greenway, a gastroenterologist, then-pastor Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert and former parishioner Tim Dolan were inspired by reach beyond the parish boundaries to help the poor.
Dr. Fred Nagel, a physician in North Little Rock, was among the first doctors to be recruited for the mission and has been on all 11 trips. (The 2005 mission was cancelled because of safety concerns after 28 people were murdered on a bus on the road between the airport and Trujillo.)
“Our goal was not just to help them but to teach them to help themselves,” Nagel said.
Few missions can compare in size and scope to the one hosted by Christ the King Church. The mission began with 95 people and has continued today to be one of the largest missions in the country. Most churches that organize missions bring 10 to 30 people, not 97. Most missions focus on small projects, such as installing a water filtration system or operating a medical clinic. Christ the King missionaries worked at more than 16 locations over 21 miles this year.
The mission is assisted by a local volunteer director and more than 100 Honduran volunteers and translators.
| 97 people give a week to serve the poor Click here |
For the Christ the King mission, their secret weapon for effectiveness and influence are the volunteer mission directors, Sandee Haslauer, formerly a registered nurse who works out of the Little Rock parish office, and Hector Mendoza, who lives in the Honduras capital of Tegucigalpa but frequently makes the eight-hour drive to the Trujillo region.
When Mendoza is not working with his wife Jessica, an attorney, or managing his dairy farm, he is assisting Christ the King’s mission as well as several other missions in Trujillo.
Mendoza said he is impressed with the Little Rock missionaries because of their “great love for the poor and the faith in the Lord.”
“They all try to help us with the many problems we have,” he said.
Missionaries are amazed by Mendoza’s energy and commitment to his hometown.
“Hector is the problem solver for the whole village, for the whole state,” missionary Jim Martine said.
“He’s the patron saint of Honduras,” missionary Ron Clayton added.
| Little Rock family bonds with Honduran child Click here |
With Mendoza’s assistance, many of the missionaries have deepened their connection to families in Trujillo by hosting children in their homes while they have surgery at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, serving as godparents during their children’s baptisms and financially assisting them.
“It makes us all stronger and (helps us) believe in each other and to think that there is hope ahead of us,” Mendoza said of the lasting bonds.
Missionaries who have repeatedly visited Trujillo said they are seeing improvements in the health of the people and their living conditions.
They are seeing more Hondurans respond to their plea to work together to build new churches and schools.
Construction team member Jim Martine, who has been on five missions, said, “I have noticed improvements in the whole country. Now you see chubby people. That means not only they have enough to eat, they have more than enough.
“There is a lot more paint on the houses, less mud houses and more concrete on the houses.”
This year the construction team completed a youth center next door to the Catholic radio station in Trujillo. The room was outfitted with donated items, including computers, television, kitchenette and pool table. The diocese surprised Haslauer by announcing the center would be named after her.
On June 23, I visited the construction team at Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Church in Trujillo. When the Little Rock missionaries first learned of the church two years ago, Haslauer said, “It was covered with black mold and the roof was leaking.”
After the mission put in a new front door and ceiling and replaced the windows, the Hondurans responded by building a portico over the front door.
“It is such a joy to help people who want to help themselves,” Haslauer said.
For this mission, the work was continued with installing with new lighting and fans.
Parishioner Barry Thomas, a well-known Little Rock artist, added his artistic touch over the windows and even painted a mural of downtown Trujillo, all with hardware store brushes and house paint.
| 359 days of planning for six days of work Christ the King’s mission is a full-time operation, but has no paid staff members. Volunteers and donors work year-round to collect supplies and ship them via two 18-wheeler trailers on banana boats. The containers are packed tightly with various donated and purchased supplies. Among this year’s shipments were: $65,000 worth of medicine 5,000 toothbrushes and 5,000 tubes of toothpaste A holy water font for the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Two statues Commercial oven for the hospital in downtown Trujillo School supplies to support 10 schools Wheelchairs and walkers |
Thomas, whose father Dr. Jerry Thomas had been on 10 Trujillo missions, has been tapped to once again design the 2009 mission logo and plans to return himself, next time with appropriate paints and brushes.
Santa Rita (St. Rita) Church in Agua Amarillo and Cristo Rey Church in Guadalupe Carney are examples of Little Rock Catholics working with Hondurans to build and finish churches. In 2001 St. Rita Church was dedicated in memory of Rita Wells, the mother of Catholic High School teacher Steve Wells. In 2007 Cristo Rey was built with financial assistance from Deacon Greenway. This year Hondurans added a bell tower. Greenway brought along a cast-iron bell to finish it out. Parishioners Patrice and Greg Wolfe donated a large carved statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which now graces the sanctuary.
“We raise the money, the locals build it and we finish it,” Haslauer said of the mission’s procedure.
Following the June 23 Mass at St. Rita, Mary “Sissy” Johnson, a Little Rock public school Spanish teacher and member of St. Edward Church in Little Rock, reflected on the progress made since she first came on the mission seven years ago. This year St. Rita Church was filled with parents and children from the nearby school.
“I was thinking back to the first Mass,” she said. “Some times there were more dogs than people. (This year) the children already knew the song about the Holy Spirit (we taught them). … I am personally seeing improvement. It encourages us.”
The school team’s reach is growing each year. Now they support 10 schools with teacher education, supplies, computers and desks. Sports equipment for each school is on everyone’s wish list.
“I am working on getting a TV and DVD for each school,” school team leader Jan Pipkin said.
In addition to financially supporting the schools, the team visits classrooms in the mornings, teaching a lesson the Holy Spirit and sharing pen pal letters from Christ the King School students, and leading workshops for the teachers in the afternoons.
The work done by the medical team is probably the best known and was the primary reason the mission was started. In addition to working in the hospital, the mission also operates three medical clinics, an eye clinic and dental clinic.
On June 25, I visited the clinic in Santa Fe, a coastal city populated mainly by Garifuna people, members of a black Caribbean community with their own language, music, dances and customs. The mission takes over a community center and turns it into a general practice clinic for six days. Three doctors see patients for a wide variety of ailments. Many have simple symptoms, like a sore throat or headaches, but are treated with the same compassion as someone who has severe arthritis or vision problems.
One pharmacist and three “pharma-quacks” dispense basic medicines. Most patients are automatically given vitamins and medication to treat parasites. Other common ailments are skin infections, arthritis, lice, scabies, diabetes and high blood pressure.
When patients arrive for their appointments, they are first given an overview of dental hygiene and evangelized on the mission theme, “Come Holy Spirit.” While patients wait to see the nurse, children entertain themselves with bubbles and coloring sheets.
Dr. Janet Lord, the “jefe” or leader of the Los Leones clinic who now lives in Brookings, S.D., said the doctors and medical professionals in the clinics like the camaraderie and support they can give each other without worrying so much about paperwork and patient confidentiality. Medical student Floyd Howell from the University of Maryland is often invited into the examination areas by the doctors where he can hear what a heart murmur sounds like or offer his input on a difficult diagnosis.
“It is so much fun,” Lord said. “It’s the team aspect. It’s the ideal.”
Many of the doctors seem most concerned about the lack of follow-up available to the patients. Some patients do visit a local nurse at the health center, but many fall through the cracks. The mission started a chronic patient program for those with diabetes and high blood pressure. Diabetic patients are encouraged to attend one of four classes held at the Sante Fe and Los Leones clinics.
“We can give medication for up to six months for each patient,” Dr. Greenway said. “It is working in Los Leones. The patient has to keep coming (to the health center) to get their medication. … We are not just helping them for a week.”
When Greenway organized the first mission in 1997, he admitted it was an emotional and tiring job. He had 120 applications, but only 90 slots for missionaries.
“I had to decide who couldn’t go. It was the worst thing I had to do,” he said, admitting he erroneously thought that older missionaries would not be able to handle the trip very well.
With the military providing protection to the missionaries, the medical and construction missionaries primarily worked in the hospital.
“Everyday there were 500 people on the streets (waiting to see a doctor),” he said. “I didn’t know what we were coming down here to … We brought morphine in our pockets (on the airplane). All of the narcotics we had on us.”
He said he slept very little each night of the mission because he had to plan what was going to happen the next day.
“I didn’t know how we were going to get things done … It was a bit of a wild west in those days. We learned where not to go back to.”
Greenway said he is proud of the progress made in Honduras and how the mission is helping more people.
“It’s much, much more organized,” he said.
The evangelization team is at the heart of Christ the King’s mission. Each year a different priest travels with the team. This year Father Richard Walz from Subiaco Abbey, who served in Belize for many years, celebrated daily Mass for the missionaries, visited the homebound, sick and imprisoned and heard confessions following special Encuentros (Encounters) in three locations.
“I couldn’t imagine doing a mission without a priest,” Haslauer said.
Local delegados (lay delegates or leaders) and catechists were taught about the Holy Spirit by Father Juventino Mendoza, rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and given Bibles and other materials. With the approval and support of Bishop Luis Sole, the Diocese of Trujillo incorporates the mission’s theme into diocesan activities each year.
Throughout the mission, I could see how the medical and spiritual progress of the Honduran communities was intertwined. During the Mass at Cristo Rey Church in Guadalupe Carney, Father Juventino delivered the homily and Sissy Johnson translated for him.
“The doctors can heal us physically, but it’s the Holy Spirit that can heal us spiritually,” he said.
Next year’s mission theme is “Following Jesus.” It will be held June 20-29.
97 people give a week to serve the poor
The Christ the King mission June 21-29 included the following professionals and support team members: 1 priest 17 doctors, including an orthopedic surgeon, general surgeon and wound care specialist 2 pharmacists 3 dentists 19 nurses and assistants 3 teachers 2 speech pathologists 18 construction team members 9 teenagers 23 other support personnel
Christ the King’s mission has expanded over the years to include many services that might not be available to the average family in Trujillo. Sixty-one surgeries were performed. Another 3,600 patients were seen in three medical clinics. Three dentists pulled 736 teeth. More than 500 children and adults had their hearing screened. This year 10 people were fitted with hearing aids. Prisoners were visited by a doctor and a priest heard their confessions and celebrated Mass for them. More than 1,500 pairs of prescription and reading glasses were handed out. Three school teachers taught 680 children about this year’s theme, Come Holy Spirit, and even reached out to boost the confidence of the teachers there.
“I find it amazing that in just six days our missionaries can touch the lives of over 6,000,” Sandee Haslauer, mission director, wrote in her report to the parish. “But numbers only tell part of the story. It is seeing the face of Jesus in the people we serve that makes our mission such a spiritual adventure. What a joy to see the fruits of our labors: healthier people at our clinics, life-changing surgeries, the gift of sight and hearing, churches and schools restored, improved curriculum and effective faculty in our schools. All bringing hope and empowerment to those who were powerless.”
