NEW HONDURAS MEDICAL MISSION COMING


A team of 20 people providing both medical and support staff will participate in First Presbyterian’s next medical mission to Honduras from April 28 to May 5. This will be FPCA’s third medical mission to Honduras; previous missions were in 2013 and 2016. In 2014, a non- medical mission group from FPCA also dug a well in a Honduras village through the organization Living Water International.


The 2018 medical team will return to the Manos Amigas Clinic in La Entrada, Honduras, in a mission once again coordinated by the Pennsylvania-based organization Serving at the Crossroads. The full-capacity team will be divided so that some participants will work in the clinic and some will travel to remote villages daily.


Enthusiasm among the team is high despite unrest in Honduras after a recent election. Members were inspired to join through a congregation-wide presentation following the 2016 mission; bulletin notices; and, mostly, word-of-mouth from previous participants. Eight participants have taken part in previous medical missions, and some will have gone on all three.


The congregation can support the team and its mission by participating in the church clothing drive March 11 to 18, which will benefit the medical mission; joining in restaurant fundraisers; and serving as mock patients in a clinic training exercise to be held in the weeks before the team departs.


You can also pray for the team: Jessica Barber, Claire Carbonetto- Jones, Juan Dominguez, Scott Gradwell, Ginger Holko, Spencer Jones, Afaf Khoury, Jaime Kisthardt, Mark Knouse, Judi Kramer, Neal Kramer, Shaun Latshaw, Rick MacKenzie, Steven MacKenzie, Dawn Mayer, Brittany Mayer, Bill Moatz, Beth Moore, Victoria Neese, and Elizabeth Stanton.


—Karen Ensley


HOW HONDURAS CHANGED MY LIFE


In 2016, I had the opportunity to travel to Honduras with the FPCA international mission team and work in a walk-in medical clinic. It was an amazing experience to care for and interact with patients, even if we didn’t speak the same language. Not only was this trip great because of the amazing experiences I will always remember, but also this trip made me realize I wanted to pursue a clinical profession. Before traveling to Honduras, I was planning on pursuing a career in public health, possibly working with nonprofit agencies to promote health education and work on developing policies. However, throughout my week in Copan and for about two weeks after, I knew that my mind had been changed.


I realized that I wanted to have a profession where I could interact with people and really be hands-on in their treatment and health care; I wanted to work with people on a personal level like I had in Honduras, not just a larger, more global way that public health would allow me.


The experiences I had in Honduras at the clinic, working with our doctors as well as the Honduran doctors, were incredible, and I truly did not want the week to end. Seeing the individuals coming through our clinic doors in Honduras and caring for them—even in the small ways that I could—solidified for me that I needed to have a career where I could interact with the people I am helping and do things like this each day. Another thing that is really important to me is health education and ensuring that patients understand their own health. In Honduras there were so many opportunities for this, and I want to have the chance to do this all the time through first-hand interactions with patients, all the way


to developing educational programs and resources that can reach a broader population.


I knew going to Honduras would be a new experience, and possibly a frightening one at that, but I did not anticipate that it would change my plans for my future. I think I can pinpoint this one week in May of 2016 as the turning point that made me want to pursue a career in nursing. Because of this, I immediately began looking into nursing programs that I could do after I graduated. I am so happy and excited to say that I will be a part of DeSales University’s Accelerated Nursing program starting this May!


This mission trip impacted me, as well as everyone on our team, in a lot of different ways. It is something I will always remember and be grateful that I had the chance to participate in. For me it wasn’t just a trip that allowed me to venture off to an interesting new place or help out those less fortunate than me; it allowed me to look further into myself and find a passion for something I didn’t know I was even passionate about.


—Allison Emick UPDATE ON MALAWI


First Presbyterian’s Malawi mission started in 2011 when then- lead pastor Tony Sundermeier arranged a presentation by the organization Villages in Partnership (VIP), a nonprofit based in Allentown, NJ, that works in Malawi villages.


In August 2011,


Marlene Merz, Dianne Kareha, and I traveled with VIP to Malawi to see the work VIP was doing there and determine if it was something FPCA should support. We were impressed by the organization’s work and how funds are appropriately spent, and unanimously agreed to support VIP.


Marlene, Dianne, and I shared the Malawi experience in various presentations at FPCA and other area churches, and every year since then, FPCA’s International/


7


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12