Over the past few months, I and the Honduras ETHOS team have been preparing for our trip to Honduras (Pictured above is our team, from left to right; Milena Pisani, Joe Schmidt, and ME). Our project basis has been to improve the current homes that are being built by Heart to Honduras. We worked with another group on the University of Dayton's campus, the Berry Scholars, to develop a set of construction plans for the new homes. The one thing we were told is to expect changes to the project....
We recently met with our contact at Heart to Honduras, Steve Delisle. He ran us through what he thought was going to be the work we would complete this summer. The one thing he emphasized is the importance of not solving a problem we thought needed to be solved but to first listen to the Honduran people. Service can be such a great thing but often it seems that our attitudes can be to serve the way we want to serve and ignore the people we serve.
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 14:12 AND Proverbs 16:25)"
It has always been encouraging to me that this passage shows up twice in the Bible. It is a great reminder to put myself behind and ignore my selfish ambitions and to listen to God first and then others. After meeting with Steve, our project seemed a little less oriented towards engineering and that a good portion of my time spent in Honduras would be gathering information from people by surveying what they need. At first the news jolted me because I wanted to spend my time serving the way I wanted to serve, by building houses. Later I began to be thankful for the opportunity I will be given to really learn about the culture and the Honduran people. My prayer for this trip has been that our team will be able to listen well and serve well.
