Paige Taylor saw houses fashioned with tin, people without clean water, and others walking across a river for firewood to cook meals.
“I kind of knew it was a poor country, but … I didn’t expect that they had it that hard,” the New Palestine resident, now a freshman at Lutheran High School in Indianapolis, said of a mission trip to Honduras.
But Paige also saw children. They gathered, crowding around the bus she and others from Zion Lutheran Church and School rode to an orphanage in Tocoa, Honduras. Her older sister, who’d been on this trip before, told her they would be there.
“One or two would take your hand and show you around and play with you,” Paige said. “They … act like you’re part of their family.”
Paige was on one of two Zion teams who traveled to Tocoa in May and June. A team visits annually, but this year there was so much interest, two teams went on different weeks.
The teams from New Palestine help with repairs and maintenance at the campus that includes an orphanage, girls’ home, church and school, and they visit hospitals and feeding centers in the area.
During hospital visits, team members prayed with new mothers and gave them blankets made by Zion Quilting Group, along with onesies and a Bible story book in Spanish.
At feeding centers, mission team members helped prepare and serve the meal. Sometimes they also offered a craft project to children who may be receiving their only meal of the day.
“The streets just line up with kids. They have to bring their own bowl,” said Zion Lutheran School Principal Kristie Sombke. “Sometimes they eat part of it and take the rest home to someone.”
In past visits the help at the campus has included a water system. This time the team brought a system to help the electricity be more steady, passed out LED bulbs, began building a chicken coop, and scraped and painted the front gate, among other tasks.
But much of the trip is spent at the orphanage, spending time with the children.
“The most exciting part is to just play and interact with the children,” Sombke said. “They love to have visitors.”
Amanda Steward, a former Zion student who’s now a freshman at Lutheran High School, said the children were part of the most memorable times of the trip for her.
There was that moment they came out to greet the bus, and there was the glow party the team had for the children with glow bracelets, glow-in-the-dark balloons and special treats after the sun went down.
“They got ice cream and popcorn,” she said, which they don’t have often.
Sombke said the team tried to also care for the teachers, cooks and house parents. The Zion principal led some professional development sessions for the staff, who live on campus.
“We … just remind them how important their work is there. That’s a hard, hard job,” she said. “It was great to have that opportunity to encourage them.”
