Mission Lazarus Honduras, August 2019

Jarrod Brown, Mission Lazarus

“The KeHE Cares partnership with Mission Lazarus has not only help transform daily life for many Hondurans and Haitians it has also been a tremendous encouragement for all of the Mission Lazarus staff in both countries.  The KeHE Cares service trips have focused primarily on our community health outreaches in extremely remote villages, it’s a project that isn’t glamorous but leaves a lasting impact.  One of the great things about this project is that it isn’t dependant only on US Dollars but also on the benefactor’s personal investment which in turn promotes dignity and self reliance, traits that money can’t buy.

A team recently helped rebuild a home for Juanita Ordonez.  Juanita was widowed as a young mother in her 20’s, nearly 30 years ago, when her husband was killed in a shooting.  Resilient and hard working, Juanita never remarried and set out to provide for her children who are now grown.  Juanita’s husband didn’t leave her much but he did leave her a humble house in the city of Choluteca, paid for.  This house has served Juanita and her family well however heavy rains over the past few years caused the foundation of one wall to fail, splitting it from the corners, making the home too dangerous to live in.

Juanita, now a grandmother, provides for herself working in her sister’s tortilla shop, and only earning about $8 per day.  $8 per day meant repairing her home was impossible.  So Juanita prayed, and she prayed for two years that God would make it possible for her to have her house repaired.  Not only did God repair her house, he built her a new one with modern construction techniques and modern construction materials thanks to KeHE Cares and a group of hardworking KeHE employees.  Juanita is the most humble and soft-spoken woman you’ll ever meet but she gets an enormously proud smile on her face when she tells how all of her neighbors comment on how nice and modern her house is!  In fact she says, “I now live like a princess!”  Juanita thanks God for sending her new friends from KeHE, who’ve transformed her life!”