By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Motorcycles weaved amongst rambled traffic making swift passes. Barbed wire corralled local businesses, and a guardsman stood outside a Burger King entrance.
Joel Boyd said these were precautions the Honduran government took to protect important assets.
On their mission trip bus, Joel and Lexi Boyd of Lake Orion prepared for the week ahead of them, serving those who needed help in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
‘I learned to be grateful for what we have here. It opens your eyes to know that we have so much more than we need,? Joel said, who will be entering eleventh grade at Lake Orion High School.
Joel and Lexi flew to Honduras with about 50 other people from surrounding communities as a part of the Rochester Church of Christ Youth Group for their annual mission trip.
The youth group partnered with other ministry groups in Honduras, including Breaking Chains Honduras and Mi Esperanza (My Hope) aimed at elevating families and community members out of poverty. Mi Esperanza focuses on women by providing them with the tools and resources needed to end intergenerational poverty.
While there, Joel, Lexi, their father Matthew, and the Stuart family also of Lake Orion helped build seven houses in three days. They played with children, fed the homeless, visited a boys? orphanage, and purchased items from the women of Mi Esperanza to get their businesses and lives going.
‘I really liked building the houses, it just gave you this feeling that you were doing something incredible,? Lexi said, a 2015 graduate of LOHS.
The houses were 12? by 12? with tin roofs, and the families they were meant for worked right alongside the volunteers, Lexi said, ‘just four walls, a door and window.?
‘They were trying to serve us as we were trying to serve them.?
The youth group volunteered in the villages outside of the capital Tegucigalpa from July 22 to July 29, and stayed at the Baxter Institute.
‘My favorite thing was spending time with the children in the community,? Joel said. ‘They know the buses that come with the organization, so as soon we got there they came from every direction.?
Both kids would do it again in a heartbeat.
To donate to either organization in Honduras, follow links on their websites www.bchonduras.org/ and http://thewomenofmyhope.org/