Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode
of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla and this week
as you can see I have a full room of folks who
are recently back from Honduras where they went
on a trip with Trinity, but also with our partnership
with World Vision. And so I'm really excited
to hear more about what that trip was like for
each of these folks and yeah, how God has been
working there and in each of our lives here as
well. So let's start with some introductions.
Maybe you can give me your name and what made
you interested in being part of this trip. Okay,
we'll start over here. Sure. Good afternoon.
My name is Heather, and what led me to want to
go on the trip is I've heard about the work of
World Vision for many, many years, and I've always
been impressed with what I've heard, but an opportunity
to go and see firsthand what they were doing
was what led me to decide to participate. Okay,
cool. My name is Petra, and I wanted to go on
the trip to meet my sponsored child and to just
experience what it's like in the countries that
aren't as wealthy as Canada. Okay. Cool. And
here. Ah, yes. I mean, I was brought on to capture
the trip, so I went two years ago, and it was
kind of a continuation of that, being able to
kind of film everything that was going on. So
it was also just, I like being there. It's a
meaningful trip, yeah. And what is your name?
My name is Alex, for those at home. All right.
And at the end here. My name is Adrian. And when
I got the email about it, it sounded interesting.
So I chatted with Rob a bit. And he mentioned
that Women's Empowerment was going to be kind
of a focus of the trip, which is a real passion
of mine. So I kind of got on board then. Okay.
Cool. So you spent about a week -ish in Honduras
with some travel time on Monday and Friday. So
in general, what did that week look like? What
were some of the things that you were doing?
Yeah, do you want to start, Adrienne? So, well,
we visited several schools. We got to see the
kids, what World Vision is doing at schools.
We also went to a farm. We went into a community
and got to see a couple of different ways that
people live in those communities. What else?
So a lot of traveling. So it was a good distance
from the hotels where we stayed. up into the
mountains where the villages were on very rough
roads. And our drivers did a great job taking
care of us, but it was a lot of rough and rocky.
They told us that was a Honduran massage being
bounced around in the vehicles. We also went
to like a daycare center, a child's care center,
and they showed us like... They painted with
coffee and they made us paintings and they showed
us around. So you talked about going to some
of these firms, going to some of these schools
and places to see what World Vision is doing.
So what was it that you saw? What are they doing
in the schools and firms in different places?
So a lot of what they're doing is child education,
but they have a holistic approach to education.
So a lot of what we saw were a unit they had
done around personal hygiene, so around how to
wash their hands and how to know what was safe
food and how to know what was safe water. And
the curriculum that they had used to teach the
kids that. And the day we were there, the kids
got their certificates, having learned about
eight different aspects of personal hygiene.
Okay, cool. And you mentioned, you know, women's
empowerment being part of the trip. So what did
that sort of look like? I didn't go to the farm
visit. You guys did. But one of the things we
did was the female farm cooperative. So it was
11 women, one man to make 12. And World Vision
does a lot of, I don't know if I'd call it agricultural
coaching maybe, for lack of a better term. But
they have a lot of experts that were helping
people maximize their crops, figuring out markets,
things like that. And even in the community,
the lady that we visited, I can't remember her
name. Gracie. Yes, Gracie. So she talked about
the leadership training that she also gets from
World Vision. So apart from, like, we saw lovely
new bathrooms that had been built at two of the
schools with running water sinks, flush toilets,
and then we also saw a computer lab that World
Vision had built. So aside from those tangible
things, the ongoing coaching was something that
I certainly wasn't aware that World Vision did
that was really awesome to see and see people
take advantage of that. And not just coaching,
too, but I think there are... big portion of
that as well was like changing their minds too
i guess right like it was the empower world view
i believe that's what it was and their thrive
program as well so the thing where like they
had to actually change the mindset that a lot
of these people were in to be able to like have
those trainings really stick um if they teach
them how to do things or they they teach them
how to grow certain like products and stuff that
has to actually be like backed by some inspiration
so that they feel motivated they they know they
can do this they're really pushing for it and
so that was like a big aspect of the trip too
is like seeing how in each of the areas that
we were around like how that was taking effect
which looked a little bit differently where it
was if it's in like the farming communities or
schools and whatnot too it's having that it's
a big aspect of it Yeah. And so Petra, did you
go visit the farm? Is that what I heard? Yeah.
Okay. So what was that like? It was very cool.
They were mostly women. There was one guy. Yeah.
They had like this whole like, I forget, it was
like the system so that it would get watered
properly. It was like layered. I don't know how
to explain it. Yeah. They looked very educated
about their farming and stuff. It was good to
see. Yeah. Cool. like as a central hub to teach
a variety of farmers as well too instead of being
able to like go to different areas too and teach
them how to do it being able to have a central
spot where they can just fund that one area too
with like an irrigation system and and all that
is a little bit more manageable too then once
they learn those skills as well then they can
go out and practice that elsewhere as well, if
I remember correctly. And there was also a financial
piece that they trained them on. What was that?
So what they had is they were teaching them so
the money that they earned, they had almost like
a financial cooperative so they could then provide
loans to other farmers. Like a savings and loan
kind of thing. So talking about a passive income.
So the fact that they had this money and the
money could make money for them. So rather than
just the planting and the growing of the crops.
aspect of it as well. And I think to all of us,
just the fact of teaching them those kinds of
skills, that money management, that passive income,
as well as all of the farming skills and just
listening to the ladies talk about when they
had, when they were determining what kind of
crop they were going to grow. And they realized
that, so these peppers that they were growing
is, they're very hot peppers. so they talked
about you know they talked about growing these
peppers but they knew they were going to have
they called it hot hands because i guess just
even picking the peppers and so they were reluctant
to do that but then they went out into the market
and they talked to um where they could sell the
peppers and and they determined that they could
get a better price for the peppers that they
were uh it was less of a drive to get them to
market and and just the the um decision -making
process that they went through to determine and
and in the end the lady's saying so we decided
we're having hot hands this year because you
know that was the crop but just that they had
gone through that process the women of the cooperative
had gone through that process of determining
that and the fact that they had been trained
to do that and they were out there marketing
and selling their crops in the market and i thought
wow that's what a skill that they've taught these
women that they can then go on and next year
determine what crop it will be and, again, go
out to the market. And before that, they were
just, not just, but they were housewives. They
were housewives, yes. The whole mindset thing
that Alex talked about was getting out of the
house, now starting a business with women they're
friends with, maybe some not. They talked about
relationships a lot and having good relationships.
So that was really neat. And not only the mindset
thing, but I think like biblical worldview specifically
is what World Vision is coming in and teaching
them too. Like they're loved and appreciated
and all that too. There's a whole aspect of that
as well with like bringing up children in that
way too. But even just on a business front as
well, having that as the background was another
big focus too. yeah that's so cool like there's
sort of two things that i'm i'm hearing one is
like that this is a really sort of holistic program
right that it's not just giving schooling or
giving hygiene or giving seeds for farming it's
it's all of those things and how do we wrap that
in mindset training in the ability for people
to like keep doing things The end goal, like
World Vision is in there for a specific period
of time. At the end of that period of time, the
idea is that the people they have trained will
be able to carry on without them. So it's not
like we're here to provide for you forever or
we're going to teach you. It's the concept of
teach a man to fish is very much a part of. So
they have going in, they have an exit strategy
and they're working towards that. A lot of it
is just a volunteer run as well, too. And people
being motivated just like out of the potential
of good for everybody in their community as well,
too. So they'll have like some key people that
will be volunteering and we'll get all these
trainings to it and they can train other people.
And it kind of spreads out that way. Yeah, I
mean, that sustainability piece was sort of the
other. part that that really stands out to me
you know like like so i previously worked in
in international non -profits and like i always
thought of it as like the end goal is working
myself out of a job right at least in that specific
location there's always going to be more places
that have need but like the end goal is always
how do we provide what's needed so that the people
can provide for themselves right yeah and that's
yeah that's so cool that's what's happening um
so it was a very full week lots lots happening
um is there one favorite memory or one sort of
favorite moment that stands out to you um yeah
for those of y 'all are listening in the service
you might have heard a little bit about this
but Yeah, there was a bit of a memorable moment
that happened. So I was capturing all the video
stuff for it. And so as a part of that, I was
able to bring a drone this time, which was nice
to be able to get a few shots here and there.
And one of the shots that I wanted to get, because
we were traveling in a convoy of like three or
four or whatever vehicles, like off -road. trucks
and whatnot because the roads were kind of crazy
but I wanted to get a shot of seeing that in
the landscape because I was just filming from
inside the car all the time and so we were coming
back from Jorge's coffee farm so we were pretty
high elevation and I was like last day too I
was like hoping I can get something so I was
like cool I want to get a shot of the trucks
going down I can just like fly up and so that's
what we're doing and I was flying outside of
the window of the truck and It was going good.
You know, let's get some shots. And the drone's
going around. And then I get a warning on the
screen, which I don't even know if it's a warning,
but it was like a notification. Extended flight
time recognized. I'm like, yeah, I don't care.
Whatever. And then it's like, get going. And
then. The drone, so I'm following the trucks,
and then the drone just kind of, like, stops,
like, going any further. And I'm like, okay,
this is interesting. And then on the bottom of
the screen, I see, like, the distance. It's,
like, 800 meters, and then it's red. And it's
like, okay, what? It won't go anywhere? So what
was happening is it wouldn't go any farther that
way. It could only backtrack. So I was like,
okay, well, this is the whole thing. So I had
to tell the trucks to slow down. And then I tried
to see, okay, maybe I run down. I get a little
bit closer. Like, the 800 meters will go down.
Didn't happen. And so basically I was standing
like on the road and I could try to like look
for the drone. I like made it go up a little
bit. I could see it was like 30 feet like off
the road and it wouldn't go farther. It was like
literally I could see it. It was hovering above
a tree. And I was like looking around to see
if anywhere else I could drop it down. There's
like a little path there. I didn't know. It was
like even harder to access if I was to put it
down there. And I had recovered drones before
if they'd like fallen into a tree. And it's not
the end of the world. i was like well all right
battery starts going down like two minutes and
whatever left and then inevitably starts like
lowering itself so i basically just have to watch
this from the road like 20 feet away just like
thing happening and i knew in my mind i was like
okay it's gonna become a whole thing now it's
like well now it's gonna be like a 20 minute
whatever like thing like looking for this thing
and uh yeah so i was like all right Goes down.
I have to go down the dry. So there's a little
dry river bank there. I had to go under a barbed
wire fence and then across the river bank up
the like hill into the like forest or whatever.
And I'm trying to do this because if I, it's
like another like two or three minutes left of
the battery. Otherwise like the GPS signal gets
lost and I can't really find it again. And so
I have to go like really quick. So I'm going
around the GPS only updates every 30 seconds
as well. Okay. I go too far and update. Okay.
Too far again. So I knew it's in this like area.
I was like pretty close. And then I looked across,
I'm like scanning across the ground and I see
like a pair of boots standing. And I'm like,
oh gosh, I don't want anything bad to happen
here. So I immediately run back and then go back
over to like the road and the others are coming
to meet me. And I'm like, yeah, well, so the
drone's over there, but there's like somebody
over there. I didn't even see who it was. I just
saw the boots. I'm like, I'm out of here. And
they're like, oh, no, it's fine, it's fine. Okay,
so then our translator or one of the drivers,
World Vision, guy Tony, love Tony, shout out
Tony. Rob goes under, so I hold the barbed wire
fence. Everybody goes down. And they started
talking to this guy. I think his name is David.
He's a coffee farmer there. He's nice. He's super
nice. He has a machete, of course, as you do.
I didn't even notice the machete, too, when I
was in there. That would have been even scarier
if I saw that. And so I was talking to him. He
was like, oh, yeah, I heard this buzzing. In
Spanish, of course, it's great to have people
that speak a native language. First of all, I
also think it sucked having a language barrier.
I think we all felt that, too. I was like, man,
I wish we knew the language more. But we did
have a translator there. Anyway, so we were all
looking for it. I told him, we can leave it.
It's fine. I was expecting to possibly lose the
drone. I swapped the SD card out ahead of time
just in case I lost it. Didn't expect it to happen
like that. But anyway, so he whistled over. He
had found it. And yeah, we got it back. I got
a picture of it as well, which is really funny.
But yeah, I was surprised we were all kind of
looking for it for that long. There was a hornet,
massive hornet as well too. We were standing
on the road and watching them in the jungle and
forging around and just looking at this massive,
massive hornet's nest just right above where
they were. I can't imagine what would have happened
if the drone had crashed on there. Into the hornet's
nest. Yeah, but it was funny too. And I was like,
dumb thing we're like praying like no it'd be
really cool to like get it back you know it might
be nice and then but it's funny because like
you wouldn't expect someone just to be like in
the forest like right there like i had no idea
like that somebody's right there so it was convenient
that we got we got that little little win gifted
to us okay very cool very cool um yeah adrian
what about you favorite memory So I work with
a charity called Days for Girls, and we make
menstrual hygiene kits that last like two to
four years. And so I had mentioned it early on,
then I was told a week before it was arranged,
so I was good to go. So I had never done a distribution
before. I have never worked with a translator
before. I have never been to a country like Honduras
before. So I was like, what a great idea. So
Tony, again, Tony is awesome. He did it with
me, the presentation. So we had a classroom of
about 25 grade 6 girls. So through him, I did
the presentation. It was awesome to see how much
they knew. A lot of places that we go to, they
know nothing. Girls were very well informed.
I gave them the kits. We chatted. Tony was an
excellent sport about it. And then I was able
to leave 25 kits behind that they're going to
give out to the high school students. So I also
left a Spanish flip chart for them. And then
Days for Girls already has a partnership with
World Vision. So hopefully going forward, we
can keep doing that. That's awesome. Yeah. Petra,
what about you? Favorite memory? For me, it was
playing soccer with the kids at Children's Center.
It was just, like, even though I couldn't really
understand them, we could still play soccer together
and we understand that. Nice to connect with
them even without speaking Spanish. Yeah, because
like play is like a universal kind of language,
right? Yeah. What about for you? I think for
me it was the children's party that we did and
just seeing all of the children. Everywhere we
went, the children were so happy. They were so
engaged. They were so excited to see us. But
at the children's party that we got to meet our
sponsored children, but also we got to meet,
well, all of the children there were children
that were sponsored by Trinity. So those of us
who were there, we met our individual sponsored
children. But then there was a group of families,
children sitting off to the side, obviously waiting
for us. And these were kids whose sponsors hadn't
come on the trip, but they had gifts to send
back. So they gave us gifts to bring back to
the families that were sponsoring them. So it
was lovely. It really was. We look at these kids
and the poverty that they live in, and yet they
want to give back to us. And that, just their
wanting to give to us was so genuine and so encouraging.
Yeah. That's awesome. So I'm wondering how this
experience has sort of shaped your faith. If
there are things that you learned about God through
this experience or that God has shown you. Yeah.
What are some of those interactions like? Adrienne,
do you want to start? Oh, great. For me, it was
more encouraging, I think, my faith and seeing
the people there and just how faithful they were
and how reliant on God they were and how hopeful
they were. we're fairly privileged here relatively.
And I was like, wow, I am not grateful enough.
I am not hopeful enough. So yeah, for me, it
was a real encouraging piece. Sure. Yeah. What
about for you, Alex? Yeah, well, it's interesting
because I think the first time I went a couple
of years ago, then I especially noticed a lot
of differences too. Because the first time I
was going to a country that was different than
Canada, I think, or like much different. And
so, yeah, I think the privilege thing was...
has been a really big thing as well where we
don't even really clock how we live our life
on a day -to -day basis and how much like and
I mean Honduras is very like Christian like country
as well which is great too so not like as much
persecution I guess I suppose but like like there's
not really any stakes for us right now in Canada
as well and like we have such a good life and
having seeing these people and seeing how much
they rely on their faith and god is to like just
survive and even the role of the church in honduras
as well is a lot different too like they have
to take the role of doing a lot of the good in
the the communities as opposed to um like how
it's the countries are set up too so like they're
going in and teaching kids how to like prevent
violence in their communities or like the whole
like thing of just like taking growing making
sure everybody grows up well it's like that's
a role that the church is taking on too like
there's so much more that they have to do or
like that they are taking on then that we have
to do here is come on a sunday right and so like
it's really obvious like how motivated they are
to benefit the good of their community and yeah
just relying on god's guidance for that i think
yeah for sure and like In Canada, for better
or for worse, we have a lot of government services
and a lot of nonprofit agencies that do some
of that work and do it really well most of the
time. So as a local church, we don't necessarily
feel that same pressure, like you were saying.
But when those services are lacking, the church
really becomes a community center just as much
as a place of worship. yeah, is really helping
people. Um, yeah. What about for you, Petra?
How's this sort of shaped your faith? It definitely
has encouraged my faith just to see how I think,
um, God still blesses those people, but just
not in material ways. Like even when I see them
living in their poverty, they're still joyful.
They're still faithful. And so it just shows
me that like, sure. Um, like living in poverty
is horrible, but they're still like faithful
and they're still blessed by god and they're
still just i don't know um yeah yeah for sure
there's that real sense that like god like sometimes
people will say you know like that god blesses
us through material wealth, right? And your experience
is showing you that that's not true, right? God
blesses all people regardless of their material
circumstances. I think for me as well, the whole
gratitude piece, the fact that here are these
people living in what we would consider abject
poverty. And yet they're hopeful. They're all
talking about, we do this for the children. They
want to make the lives better for their children.
And just the faith that they have, the hope that
they have, it amazes us. And the whole idea that
there is no social safety net like we have here,
and the church being that, and how much more
the church needs to be, just really opened my
eyes to a lot of how things... are um how things
actually happen in other parts of the world sure
yeah yeah yeah and so cool to see yeah again
the church's role in that and how really like
i think back like even to scripture in like acts
you know it talked about there was no need among
them because they provided for each other's needs
and they cared for the widows and all of these
things right and like that's what the church
should be i think right yeah yeah yeah so cool
that you get to actually see that in in action
Is there anything else, like, if folks are, like,
thinking about this sort of experience or they're,
you know, they say, okay, what's, like, one thing
that you want everybody to sort of know or remember
about Honduras or about this partnership with
World Vision? What's one final thing that we
might want to leave folks with? Do you have anything
to add there, Alex? Yeah, I guess one thing,
too. Like, it was obvious to see how here, too,
you don't really see the, effects necessarily
of the support that you give for countries like
that but it's like if you go on a trip like this
and you actually see even like this yeah world
vision taking us around to places that they're
involved in and interventions that are taking
you can actually like see how that money is being
used like in the physical space instead of just
being like oh yeah i could sponsor a child or
whatever like seeing that that's very real like
there's people on the end of that as well and
that they and even kids that have sponsors too
like they like not necessarily want a connection
but like they're like you're not just like a
nobody to them too like you're a physical person
like it's these are real people and your need
like the needs are very real and the the money
there is just it's all It's all there. It's very
clear. So if you go on a trip like this, this
makes it more obvious and it really puts that
perspective into place. It puts it in 3D. And
for me, I think of World Vision as such a giant
organization. the boots on the ground there were
really impressive. Like the people that we met
at the world vision office that would come with
us to locations, like the kids knew them, the
teachers knew them. They're very ingrained in
the community. So it's not just like, you know,
some overarching thing that doles out money to
different programs. They are there, they are
working, they know people. Um, so, you know,
we were able to plug in a lot easier because
they already have those relationships. So that
was really, really nice to see. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. I'd say very similar. The fact, that if
anyone had ever had a concern or questioned where
their World Vision dollars went to, or should
they participate in sponsoring a child in the
chosen program, to know that absolutely, as Adrienne
said, the staff there were just so amazing. They
knew the kids by name. The kids would see them
coming and come running up to them, give them
hugs. They are doing an amazing, amazing job
down there. you know our support can only enhance
that right and so if if anyone has ever questioned
based on what we saw the dollars that we give
are are making it to where they need to be and
and the kids who are there the families that
are there are benefiting so gratefully from every
dollar that we give And it was really cool, too,
with the sponsorship party as well, just being
able to see a lot of the kids that Trini has
supported all in one spot. When I was filming
that, too, I was like, oh, man, this is a really
special kind of thing. Everybody's right there.
Yeah, for sure. Anything else you wanted to add,
Petra? I think that's it. Okay. Just agree, agree,
agree. Good. Well, thank you all so much. This
has been a really fun conversation, a really
great way to sort of get an insight into what
God is doing around the world and how we get
to partner with World Vision, but ultimately
partner with God in doing God's work in the world.
And so thank you for giving us an insight into
that. And thank you for tuning in to this week's
episode of Trinity Talks. I hope that you've
also found some encouragement and comfort and
maybe even a little bit of challenge in these
stories. And we'll see you again next week.