Dr. Martin, Wendy and the children of Las Minas.

Armed with our two new interns, 300 donated Christmas gifts and a 4-wheel drive 1983 Land Rover driven by Scott Ledford of Missionary Ventures we took the family and headed out to the rural village of Las Minas to bless the children of the area with toys for Christmas.

We partnered with La Ceiba Bilingual School (LCBS) who collects new toys from the students every year at Christmas. We asked them to donate toys for the children of Las Minas. The school showed up big time! They donated more than enough toys to cover the area and give us a start on the many prizes we need for our community education visits in the elementary schools.

Each event like this is a bit of a logistical challenge but we worked quickly to find the best place to set up and begin distributing toys. The children and parents had been patiently waiting all morning for us to arrive. After passing out the toys we were able to mingle with the kids and chat with them about the gifts they received. It was amazing to see the reactions of the kids as they played with their gifts.

We learned a lot about pulling off an event like this one and there are definitely things we will do differently next year, but we all agreed that it was an incredible honor to be a part of something like this. We saw a need, we used the resources and connections God gave us, and we made ourselves available to be used by God.

We have high hopes to partner with LCBS again next year. We truly believe that our best days are ahead of us and as we continue to be an active part in the communities around us. We pray that God will make up for our weaknesses with His unlimited strength and that He would give us creative ways to make next year even better.  

                               Heather and Allison enjoy spending a few minutes with the children of Las Minas after the toy give away.