Maybe. Maybe Not.

"Why don't they...?" That's a question we all ask ourselves when running into Honduran customs and practices. Why don't they mow their grass to look like our suburban lawns? Or drive less aggressively? Or follow our construction codes? Or do something about their tap water? Or the astonishing rate of early pregnancy? Surely we could help them better their ways, couldn't we?

Maybe. Maybe not.

(Arrogance check. There are probably immigrants and foreign tourists who are right now wondering why we aren't doing things the right way in the USA.)

To one of those concerns about Honduras. Yesterday we may have helped the ODM orphanage take one step toward good drinking water out of the tap. Team members arrived at 6:00 a.m. to work on several concrete projects, one of which was a pad for future placement of water purification equipment. One member spoke what the rest of us were thinking: "I'm glad to know I was a part of making that happen!"

Open Doors Ministries is a step by step attempt to make a difference. Team members who have come on earlier trips notice small improvements. Ceiling fans in the church. Structures put up one after the other, one floor at a time, as funds and labor allow. New sidewalks laid just yesterday--a literal step by step improvement.

Those improvements only serve the real work. That work goes on here, with or without our help, in small increments. Concrete, fans, and paint are easily noticed and appreciated. The daily, hour by hour work with individual children is not so easily noticed. The long term effects on each child at ODM, or on each child given food, clothing, and parasite medication at the feeding stations team members visited yesterday, cannot be easily seen with a tape measure.

We who have been here before notice more than just the facilities. We see the growth, physically and otherwise, in the children. Although we are privileged to see that, it's doubtful any of us will ever know the full long term effect of what this mission is doing for any Honduran child. Or what future effect any of these children may have on their family or their neighborhood. Perhaps some day one of them will establish better building practices, or hospital procedures. Perhaps one of their grandchildren will benefit large numbers of Hondurans through his or her character and service. God only knows.

Meanwhile, we'll descend today from lofty thoughts to a septic system trench that was dug yesterday and to more daily doses of medication, food, and the Honduran way of life.