Each year, tons of people from Terra Nova answer a call on their life to engage in some form of short term service trips. Below, you will find some details from Louise Duffus’s trip to Honduras during the summer.  Louise is involved in community and service at Terra Nova and is on staff at RPI with the athletic department.

This past August 16 of us made the journey to Honduras with the purpose of serving/supporting the Bullocks, a missionary family working under the umbrella of Biblical Ministries Worldwide. They have been serving in Honduras for 15 years equipping and training natives to minister and care for their own people so that they are not completely dependent on handouts, but instead are working to get ahead with a helping hand. The Bullocks recently moved to La Joya, Honduras, a mountainous region 3.5 hours northeast of Tegucigalpa, the capital city. At La Joya, the Bullocks are bringing back to life, a medical clinic that was originally constructed by another missionary family over 12 years ago that then deteriorated after that family left. They’ve got the clinic running again, but that was the easy part. The greater challenge lying ahead is supporting the clinic financially since the patients it serves cannot afford the care. That’s where our help came into play.

 We assisted with several construction projects on the property, some of which will create revenue to offset expenses (such as a chicken barn and a fish pond). When we weren’t working, we were getting to know one another better and worshiping together. These times were true blessings as we’d all come together with members ranging in age from 16-66, with backgrounds as diverse as, well there’s me, a girl from Panama, to a high school student who’d never been out of the state of Vermont! It was incredible to get to know a group so intimately in a short period of time, knowing we’re all part of one body loving and serving an incredible God who has blessed us with unique gifts and talents to use to further his kingdom here on earth wherever we’re called. The US is just as great a mission field as Honduras or any other country.

This experience was exactly what I needed, even though I didn’t know I needed it; proof that God knows us better than we even know ourselves. The trip left me inspired and re-fueled, challenged to “step up my game” living for Christ each and every day. I’m excited to be back at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute here in Troy for my second year of coaching on the track and field staff; with confidence that God has me there for a reason.