The 17th of March we welcomed the Lundeen family (Max, Angie, Nora, Levi, Elsa, and Ezra) to Honduras to serve alongside us here at the Jungle Hospital. For their first week, Max partnered with our Nurse Practitioners to tend to our patients. Levi helped ‘Macky’ in reception, Nora helped the nurses in pharmacy, Elsa frequently helped her dad, and Angie and Ezra loved on the kids who came to the clinic. The Lundeen family was truly a blessing to have. Each and every one of them looked for opportunities to serve not only our patients but also our staff. Not to mention the joy and laughter they brought with them!
The joy, laughter, and selfless service continued as we welcomed the team from River Valley Church one week later. Although their travel day was painfully long, they came to us with smiles on their faces and a readiness to serve. Sunday we worshiped together, casted the vision of the hospital, and prepared for brigade. Monday we hosted clinic here in Rio Viejo. We started with three providers seeing patients and ended with four or five because of the sheer volume of patients who came to the brigade. Not to mention, we also had a dentist pulling teeth, a pharmacist filling prescriptions, and an ultrasound tech performing ultrasounds. River Valley’s team was unique because they brought enough doctors, nurses, dentists, assistants, and spanish speakers that they could operate fairly independently which alleviated some of the responsibilities from our team.
Tuesday we took the bus to Toncontin for a brigade in the elementary school. We were able to deworm and give vitamins to almost all of the school children. Although it was a relatively light brigade day, it gave us the opportunity to minister to a mother with 7 children who were not registered in school and were struggling financially. Because of the generosity of River Valley Church, we were able to provide that family with chickens, a rooster, and school supplies. We also connected them with the principal of the school in Toncontin who was able to register them for school. Far beyond medical care, this is what the Jungle Hospital is all about– giving hope.
Wednesday we hiked up to the village of Los Pirineos which is about an hour away from the main road. We had been told the night before that Doctor Martin was unable to arrange for a horse to come and get our supplies, therefore we would be carrying them in our backpacks to the village. When we got to the bridge, a young man and his mother were waiting there for a ride. The mother knew Doctor Martin and asked him to look at her son’s stitches from a surgery he had in the city. It was time for the stitches to be removed so Max offered to do it on the back of the truck. In return, the mother and her son arranged for two horses to be brought to help us carry our supplies to the school. On our way up, we were met by some young men (7-9 years old) who offered to carry our backpacks up the mountain for us. It was so sweet to see how the Lord answered prayers we didn’t even pray through means we couldn’t have imagined.
Thursday we rode the bus down to Las Mangas where we hosted clinic in the local church. There we were able to provide consult for the families of two of our Honduran workers, many of our regular patients, as well as some of our fellow missionaries. However, the most special part of the day was what happened after clinic. Max had the privilege of baptizing one of the team members as well as his daughter in the river there in Las Mangas. It was truly such a celebration of new life in Christ!
Reminiscing over this week truly accentuates how the goodness of the Lord was following us in every village and with every patient. We couldn’t have dreamed up a better week if we had wanted to and are so grateful for the ways the Lord goes ahead of us and makes the path clear.
This blog was written by guest writer McKenzie Mcleod, 2023 HHG Intern.