Groups ranging from 10 – 50 individuals volunteer with HOI. These may be churches, families, athletic teams, professional groups and more. Mission team volunteers must be at least 13 years old to participate if accompanied by an adult relative of the same sex (or 10 years old if accompanied by an adult relative on a Family Week trip).
SAN LORENZO
WHEN ARE TRIPS AND FOR HOW LONG?
Mission trips are available year-round. Trip length can vary, but most service trips, including travel, are 8 days (Saturday to Saturday).
WHAT IS THE COST?
The cost of participating in a mission trip to San Lorenzo, Honduras is $950 per person which covers all costs except airfare. There is also a $1,000 fee per group to cover work materials.
HOW DO VOLUNTEERS SERVE?
You will be working side-by-side with the villagers of San Lorenzo on projects that they have chosen to help improve the conditions of their living environments.
The type of work done while volunteering will vary depending on individuals’ skills and preferences. Most of our service teams work in construction – building chimneys, latrines, room additions, and other projects to improve quality of life and health for residents. You will have an opportunity to include a spiritual component to your trip, by putting together Vacation Bible Schools for the children of the village for part of each day. You may also participate in home prayer visits with families in the communities. Together, HOI’s staff and local village pastors arrange for visiting teams to meet and pray with families and individuals who express a desire to pray together. This builds a profound and loving relationship, opening the door for more discussions throughout the work week and for the mission team’s return the following year.
WHO DO VOLUNTEERS INTERACT WITH WHILE ON A TRIP?
Each group is met at the airport by members of our bilingual staff who accompany volunteers throughout the mission trip. Groups are assigned a village to serve alongside by HOI staff or partners. Teams come to know members of the community, from village elders to young children. Volunteers often find that seeing through the eyes of their new Central American friends is the most meaningful aspect of their trip, and many of these relationships continue year after year.
WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON VOLUNTEERS?
Our volunteers are challenged through their mission trip experiences in ways as diverse as the volunteers themselves. No matter the lesson learned, participants return energized with a passion for serving and sharing the Gospel through service.
WHY TRAVEL WITH HOI?
There are many short-term missions organizations doing outstanding work all over the globe, and HOI’s philosophy and work challenge the best. Learn what makes us different.
We hope you will recruit a mission team from your church, school, community or workplace, or will join an existing team as an individual. If you are interested in organizing a trip or joining a team, please contact Candis Hughes at [email protected]
TENTATIVE ITINERARY
Saturday
- Fly in to Tegucigalpa, Honduras (Delta, 3 hr flight)
- Travel to San Lorenzo via private transportation to dormitories
Sunday
- Attend local worship service, visit community where work will be done
Monday – Thursday
- Work projects (community development, VBS activities, home prayer visits)
- Fiesta with village Thursday afternoon
Friday
- Tourist activities
Saturday
- Travel to Tegucigalpa airport
- Fly home
COST BREAKDOWN
The fee to participate in a service trip to Honduras is $950 per person, due at least six weeks before departure.
Included in this fee are:
- Travel accident and liability insurance coverage.
- Transportation from the Tegucigalpa airport to and from Rancho el Paraíso.
- Leadership by a bilingual HOI staff member who meets each team at the airport and stays with the group until its return to the U.S.
- Overnight accommodations for the week, including two hotel stays and five nights at the ranch.
- All meals while in-country.
- Beverages with meals.
- Purified and bottled water while at the Ranch.
- Some building supplies for the work project in the host village.
This fee does not include:
- Airfare: Each team or individual is responsible for purchasing their own flights to and from Tegucigalpa.
- Tips ($1 per bag) at the hotel if volunteer chooses to have a porter help carry luggage.
- Lunch at Tegucigalpa airport upon arrival.
- Souvenirs and snacks en route and at the Ranch.
- Any charges incurred at the hotel in Juticalpa or Tegucigalpa, including items used from the mini-bar and telephone calls.
- Additional travel insurance (strongly recommended).
- A deposit of $1,000 is required from each group to reserve a week on the HOI calendar. Reservations are taken up to a year in advance. Additionally, there is a $1,000 materials fee per team to fund work project supplies in the village during the team’s work week.
MINISTRIES
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
The goal of the Spiritual Development Program is to bring the Gospel to every family by expanding the kingdom. HOI Spiritual Development works in 3 ways:
Missionary Work
Missions teams travel to communities to pray with families or individuals requesting prayer, give children vacation bible school classes and worship with HOI staff during the week.
Marriage and Family Therapy
HOI’s Marriage and Family Therapy Ministry is designed to decrease family problems and bless marriages in Christ. HOI equips local pastors with the knowledge needed to provide counseling to families within their congregations. Pastor and Spiritual Development Director, Selvin Aguilar, along with these trained pastors work to strengthen families and marriages through workshops and counseling.
Since it’s creation in 2016, our marriage ministry has touched 3,500 lives!
HOI also disseminates a marriage and family radio talk which reaches many more communities unable to attend in-person sessions.
Young Life
With young men and women normally completing their public education at the end of sixth grade, there is a shortage of employment and community involvement for young people. Our desire is to provide biblical leadership and instill Christian values in young men and women in order for them to become leaders in their villages and country.
Through partnership with Young Life, HOI has transformed the lives of 200 vulnerable teens!
HEALTH
For 3 decades, HOI has partnered with the Honduran Ministry of Health to provide affordable healthcare to 33 communities across the Agalta Valley. Our HOI staff and medical mission teams provide patients quality care treatment in 4 clinics across 4 areas: dentistry, physical and emotional therapy, primary care, and nutrition and child weight monitoring.
All of our clinics provide vaccinations, health information and serve the basic health needs of over 16,000 patients annually. HOI staff and mission teams also travel to communities to educate the public about best health practices and prevention. Our goal is to create a healthcare system that can serve as a model for all of rural Honduras.
HOI has increased the vaccination rate in the Agalta Valey from 15% to 98%, which is higher than the United States vaccination rate! Our health services have decreased the infant mortality rate from 69 infant deaths per 1,000 live births to zero!
Join us! We invite all medical professionals, medical and health students, and healthcare organizations to partner with us to continue to provide a healthier future in Central America!
EDUCATION
Our kindergarten, middle school, and elementary schools provide children across the rural Agalta Valley a quality formal education. Our schools have many advantages over other schools in the region because we provide 1 teacher per grade level, provide all students with schools supplies, have a library and computer lab (both with Wi-Fi access!), and provide English classes, art, and music! Our school is the only school in the region that provides these perks, which is why many students are choosing to travel hours just to attend our schools.
For over two decades, parents and students alike have chosen to pursue their education with us. Through kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school, we educate over 300 students from 30 villages across the Agalta Valley. HOI has helped to establish 44 kindergartens in the Agalta Valley, providing early education to over 900 students!
For less than $2 a day, you can give hope and opportunity to the life of a child. By becoming an HOI education sponsor, a child will have the opportunity for a quality education at the HOI school or to continue with their education at the high school level.
Impact a child’s life by becoming a sponsor today.
MISSION TEAMS
We welcome a variety of mission teams to Honduras and Nicaragua each year. We offer trips to (1) Rancho Paraiso in northern Honduras [primary site], (2) San Lorenzo, Honduras in southern Honduras, and (3) Los Robles, Nicaragua.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Economic development is becoming a growing priority in order to create opportunities that will benefit and sustain communities for years to come. Our program encourages the creativity and initiative of budding entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams by teaching them business skills and by helping get their products to market.
There are currently several areas in which HOI focuses these efforts. In the village of El Aguacate, a woodworking co-op works together using peddle-driven bandsaws to produce beautifully carved crosses and ornaments. In the village of Las Delicias, a pottery co-op produces hand-sculpted pottery items, tiles for floors, and materials used to construct chimneys for adobe stoves. HOI is also involved in assisting the Agalta Valley Coffee Growers Co-operative, which creates opportunities for farmers to roast their beans and sell their coffee locally.
In 2014, HOI began training village committees to look for opportunities already within their reach, taking an inventory of their community’s current skills and assets, and creating plans to utilize those skills. After 4 months of research, business education, and budget preparation, the community of Santa Ana partnered with a US church who travels with HOI to begin constructing a chicken coop. Now, the business owners are selling eggs to the HOI ranch, their own community members, and surrounding villages as a small business named “Huevos el Rey”. They have also opened a bank account to manage the funds. Santa Ana’s commitment and vision to improve the lives in their community is becoming a reality and HOI hopes to continue replicating this impact in other villages of Central America.
You or your church can partner with HOI to help get projects like these off the ground and functioning. Your investment in economic development helps lay the foundation for generational transformation and instills a new level of dignity in the Honduras business owners. Contact Laurie Willing to discuss how to support these efforts.
SAFETY
Volunteer safety is a top priority for HOI, and our staff does all that it can to ensure that all travelers remain out of harm’s way. In accordance with U.S. State Department recommendations, HOI takes the following precautions (among others) to ensure the safety of our mission teams:
- Team members are prohibited from going out after dark and are instructed to stay together in groups when they leave the hotels during the daytime.
- Team members are reminded not to wear clothing or jewelry that will attract attention.
- Team members are discouraged from displaying electronic devices.
- Teams travel together in HOI vehicles with trained, armed and uniformed security personnel. All have electronic communication capabilities.
- All vehicles are marked as belonging to HOI, which is recognized as a well-respected, non-governmental organization.
- Local police in the Agalta Valley (Gualaco and San Esteban) frequently provide additional security when driving through mountains or unpaved roads.
- We work exclusively by invitation in very small villages where community members have a vested interest in looking after our safety. Security personnel are present throughout the work week as well.
- Both HOI personnel and visitors are encouraged to always be on guard, attentive and careful to follow all safety rules, as is necessary in any developing country as well as in many parts of developed countries.
Detailed safety information, including health precautions, are listed in the Team Member Manual.
