Looking Forward to That Front Porch (and warm weather!)

You may have read this before...written by a team member in 2012, Deb Hume. We can not wait to arrive later today!! The aroma drifting from Isabel’s kitchen mingles with smoke from the village cooking fires. It clings to the warm evening air on The Front Porch of MAMA's mission house in San Francisco de Yojoa, Honduras where mission team members gather after a good day's work. Dogs bark, roosters crow, birds sing and the sound of music from the village mixes with stories and laughter. The construction and medical team members mingle. They relax, share, pray, write, reflect, read, plan and joke together here throughout the evening. They gather here again each morning to watch the sun rise, sip a cup of fresh Honduran coffee and prepare for their upcoming day. The Porch is really an extension of the front of the house with a roof and a tile floor on an open, airy balcony. Lined with wooden rockers and plastic outdoor chairs it is big enough for an entire team to gather together or to break off into smaller groups. It sits on a hill on the edge of the village with a view fit for a king. Standing at the railing one can see in the distance mountains behind mountains behind yet more mountains. Across the field to the east the Honduran staff checks in on the mothers and children at MAMAs Nutritional Center, restocks supplies and prepares for the next day's work. Out front chickens peck around under lemon trees and wood piles, the team vans get cleaned in the driveway, villagers walk by on the street and wave to visitors on The Porch. Honduran staff members come and go up the driveway from the village. Their day starts early and does not begin to unwind until well past sundown. For the visiting mission team members, this is the place where relaxation begins, where stories are told, friendships are made and nourished, where all that happens throughout the day is processed and enjoyed. Here is where a visitor will hear the statistics of the day; how many bags of cement were mixed, how many families will be sleeping on their new cement floors that night, how many Hondurans living in distant mountain villages are enjoying their new reading glasses or were able to visit the doctor or dentist that day. This is where experiences are first re-lived. The medical team talks about villages from the view of villagers' health and well being. The construction team discusses living conditions and family structure. There is always a story about villagers who stood out from the crowd. His hard work helping out, her beautiful smile, the laughter of a group of women getting their finger nails painted, a man with a chronic medical condition, a child identified as malnourished, a young mother and her many children. Village conditions, problems and accomplishments are shared, connections are made: this village had a good supply of livestock, that one has spring water piped house to house, today we saw a lot of villagers with respiratory problems and no outdoor cooking stoves, few had chimneys. An eavesdropper will surely hear stories of the day's travels to and from the remote villages, the scenes passed, the roads covered, the accomplishments of the brave drivers, the praise of grateful passengers.