Seeing God and Learning Gratitude | Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode

of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla and this week

as you can see I have a full room of folks who

are recently back from Honduras where they went

on a trip with Trinity, but also with our partnership

with World Vision. And so I'm really excited

to hear more about what that trip was like for

each of these folks and yeah, how God has been

working there and in each of our lives here as

well. So let's start with some introductions.

Maybe you can give me your name and what made

you interested in being part of this trip. Okay,

we'll start over here. Sure. Good afternoon.

My name is Heather, and what led me to want to

go on the trip is I've heard about the work of

World Vision for many, many years, and I've always

been impressed with what I've heard, but an opportunity

to go and see firsthand what they were doing

was what led me to decide to participate. Okay,

cool. My name is Petra, and I wanted to go on

the trip to meet my sponsored child and to just

experience what it's like in the countries that

aren't as wealthy as Canada. Okay. Cool. And

here. Ah, yes. I mean, I was brought on to capture

the trip, so I went two years ago, and it was

kind of a continuation of that, being able to

kind of film everything that was going on. So

it was also just, I like being there. It's a

meaningful trip, yeah. And what is your name?

My name is Alex, for those at home. All right.

And at the end here. My name is Adrian. And when

I got the email about it, it sounded interesting.

So I chatted with Rob a bit. And he mentioned

that Women's Empowerment was going to be kind

of a focus of the trip, which is a real passion

of mine. So I kind of got on board then. Okay.

Cool. So you spent about a week -ish in Honduras

with some travel time on Monday and Friday. So

in general, what did that week look like? What

were some of the things that you were doing?

Yeah, do you want to start, Adrienne? So, well,

we visited several schools. We got to see the

kids, what World Vision is doing at schools.

We also went to a farm. We went into a community

and got to see a couple of different ways that

people live in those communities. What else?

So a lot of traveling. So it was a good distance

from the hotels where we stayed. up into the

mountains where the villages were on very rough

roads. And our drivers did a great job taking

care of us, but it was a lot of rough and rocky.

They told us that was a Honduran massage being

bounced around in the vehicles. We also went

to like a daycare center, a child's care center,

and they showed us like... They painted with

coffee and they made us paintings and they showed

us around. So you talked about going to some

of these firms, going to some of these schools

and places to see what World Vision is doing.

So what was it that you saw? What are they doing

in the schools and firms in different places?

So a lot of what they're doing is child education,

but they have a holistic approach to education.

So a lot of what we saw were a unit they had

done around personal hygiene, so around how to

wash their hands and how to know what was safe

food and how to know what was safe water. And

the curriculum that they had used to teach the

kids that. And the day we were there, the kids

got their certificates, having learned about

eight different aspects of personal hygiene.

Okay, cool. And you mentioned, you know, women's

empowerment being part of the trip. So what did

that sort of look like? I didn't go to the farm

visit. You guys did. But one of the things we

did was the female farm cooperative. So it was

11 women, one man to make 12. And World Vision

does a lot of, I don't know if I'd call it agricultural

coaching maybe, for lack of a better term. But

they have a lot of experts that were helping

people maximize their crops, figuring out markets,

things like that. And even in the community,

the lady that we visited, I can't remember her

name. Gracie. Yes, Gracie. So she talked about

the leadership training that she also gets from

World Vision. So apart from, like, we saw lovely

new bathrooms that had been built at two of the

schools with running water sinks, flush toilets,

and then we also saw a computer lab that World

Vision had built. So aside from those tangible

things, the ongoing coaching was something that

I certainly wasn't aware that World Vision did

that was really awesome to see and see people

take advantage of that. And not just coaching,

too, but I think there are... big portion of

that as well was like changing their minds too

i guess right like it was the empower world view

i believe that's what it was and their thrive

program as well so the thing where like they

had to actually change the mindset that a lot

of these people were in to be able to like have

those trainings really stick um if they teach

them how to do things or they they teach them

how to grow certain like products and stuff that

has to actually be like backed by some inspiration

so that they feel motivated they they know they

can do this they're really pushing for it and

so that was like a big aspect of the trip too

is like seeing how in each of the areas that

we were around like how that was taking effect

which looked a little bit differently where it

was if it's in like the farming communities or

schools and whatnot too it's having that it's

a big aspect of it Yeah. And so Petra, did you

go visit the farm? Is that what I heard? Yeah.

Okay. So what was that like? It was very cool.

They were mostly women. There was one guy. Yeah.

They had like this whole like, I forget, it was

like the system so that it would get watered

properly. It was like layered. I don't know how

to explain it. Yeah. They looked very educated

about their farming and stuff. It was good to

see. Yeah. Cool. like as a central hub to teach

a variety of farmers as well too instead of being

able to like go to different areas too and teach

them how to do it being able to have a central

spot where they can just fund that one area too

with like an irrigation system and and all that

is a little bit more manageable too then once

they learn those skills as well then they can

go out and practice that elsewhere as well, if

I remember correctly. And there was also a financial

piece that they trained them on. What was that?

So what they had is they were teaching them so

the money that they earned, they had almost like

a financial cooperative so they could then provide

loans to other farmers. Like a savings and loan

kind of thing. So talking about a passive income.

So the fact that they had this money and the

money could make money for them. So rather than

just the planting and the growing of the crops.

aspect of it as well. And I think to all of us,

just the fact of teaching them those kinds of

skills, that money management, that passive income,

as well as all of the farming skills and just

listening to the ladies talk about when they

had, when they were determining what kind of

crop they were going to grow. And they realized

that, so these peppers that they were growing

is, they're very hot peppers. so they talked

about you know they talked about growing these

peppers but they knew they were going to have

they called it hot hands because i guess just

even picking the peppers and so they were reluctant

to do that but then they went out into the market

and they talked to um where they could sell the

peppers and and they determined that they could

get a better price for the peppers that they

were uh it was less of a drive to get them to

market and and just the the um decision -making

process that they went through to determine and

and in the end the lady's saying so we decided

we're having hot hands this year because you

know that was the crop but just that they had

gone through that process the women of the cooperative

had gone through that process of determining

that and the fact that they had been trained

to do that and they were out there marketing

and selling their crops in the market and i thought

wow that's what a skill that they've taught these

women that they can then go on and next year

determine what crop it will be and, again, go

out to the market. And before that, they were

just, not just, but they were housewives. They

were housewives, yes. The whole mindset thing

that Alex talked about was getting out of the

house, now starting a business with women they're

friends with, maybe some not. They talked about

relationships a lot and having good relationships.

So that was really neat. And not only the mindset

thing, but I think like biblical worldview specifically

is what World Vision is coming in and teaching

them too. Like they're loved and appreciated

and all that too. There's a whole aspect of that

as well with like bringing up children in that

way too. But even just on a business front as

well, having that as the background was another

big focus too. yeah that's so cool like there's

sort of two things that i'm i'm hearing one is

like that this is a really sort of holistic program

right that it's not just giving schooling or

giving hygiene or giving seeds for farming it's

it's all of those things and how do we wrap that

in mindset training in the ability for people

to like keep doing things The end goal, like

World Vision is in there for a specific period

of time. At the end of that period of time, the

idea is that the people they have trained will

be able to carry on without them. So it's not

like we're here to provide for you forever or

we're going to teach you. It's the concept of

teach a man to fish is very much a part of. So

they have going in, they have an exit strategy

and they're working towards that. A lot of it

is just a volunteer run as well, too. And people

being motivated just like out of the potential

of good for everybody in their community as well,

too. So they'll have like some key people that

will be volunteering and we'll get all these

trainings to it and they can train other people.

And it kind of spreads out that way. Yeah, I

mean, that sustainability piece was sort of the

other. part that that really stands out to me

you know like like so i previously worked in

in international non -profits and like i always

thought of it as like the end goal is working

myself out of a job right at least in that specific

location there's always going to be more places

that have need but like the end goal is always

how do we provide what's needed so that the people

can provide for themselves right yeah and that's

yeah that's so cool that's what's happening um

so it was a very full week lots lots happening

um is there one favorite memory or one sort of

favorite moment that stands out to you um yeah

for those of y 'all are listening in the service

you might have heard a little bit about this

but Yeah, there was a bit of a memorable moment

that happened. So I was capturing all the video

stuff for it. And so as a part of that, I was

able to bring a drone this time, which was nice

to be able to get a few shots here and there.

And one of the shots that I wanted to get, because

we were traveling in a convoy of like three or

four or whatever vehicles, like off -road. trucks

and whatnot because the roads were kind of crazy

but I wanted to get a shot of seeing that in

the landscape because I was just filming from

inside the car all the time and so we were coming

back from Jorge's coffee farm so we were pretty

high elevation and I was like last day too I

was like hoping I can get something so I was

like cool I want to get a shot of the trucks

going down I can just like fly up and so that's

what we're doing and I was flying outside of

the window of the truck and It was going good.

You know, let's get some shots. And the drone's

going around. And then I get a warning on the

screen, which I don't even know if it's a warning,

but it was like a notification. Extended flight

time recognized. I'm like, yeah, I don't care.

Whatever. And then it's like, get going. And

then. The drone, so I'm following the trucks,

and then the drone just kind of, like, stops,

like, going any further. And I'm like, okay,

this is interesting. And then on the bottom of

the screen, I see, like, the distance. It's,

like, 800 meters, and then it's red. And it's

like, okay, what? It won't go anywhere? So what

was happening is it wouldn't go any farther that

way. It could only backtrack. So I was like,

okay, well, this is the whole thing. So I had

to tell the trucks to slow down. And then I tried

to see, okay, maybe I run down. I get a little

bit closer. Like, the 800 meters will go down.

Didn't happen. And so basically I was standing

like on the road and I could try to like look

for the drone. I like made it go up a little

bit. I could see it was like 30 feet like off

the road and it wouldn't go farther. It was like

literally I could see it. It was hovering above

a tree. And I was like looking around to see

if anywhere else I could drop it down. There's

like a little path there. I didn't know. It was

like even harder to access if I was to put it

down there. And I had recovered drones before

if they'd like fallen into a tree. And it's not

the end of the world. i was like well all right

battery starts going down like two minutes and

whatever left and then inevitably starts like

lowering itself so i basically just have to watch

this from the road like 20 feet away just like

thing happening and i knew in my mind i was like

okay it's gonna become a whole thing now it's

like well now it's gonna be like a 20 minute

whatever like thing like looking for this thing

and uh yeah so i was like all right Goes down.

I have to go down the dry. So there's a little

dry river bank there. I had to go under a barbed

wire fence and then across the river bank up

the like hill into the like forest or whatever.

And I'm trying to do this because if I, it's

like another like two or three minutes left of

the battery. Otherwise like the GPS signal gets

lost and I can't really find it again. And so

I have to go like really quick. So I'm going

around the GPS only updates every 30 seconds

as well. Okay. I go too far and update. Okay.

Too far again. So I knew it's in this like area.

I was like pretty close. And then I looked across,

I'm like scanning across the ground and I see

like a pair of boots standing. And I'm like,

oh gosh, I don't want anything bad to happen

here. So I immediately run back and then go back

over to like the road and the others are coming

to meet me. And I'm like, yeah, well, so the

drone's over there, but there's like somebody

over there. I didn't even see who it was. I just

saw the boots. I'm like, I'm out of here. And

they're like, oh, no, it's fine, it's fine. Okay,

so then our translator or one of the drivers,

World Vision, guy Tony, love Tony, shout out

Tony. Rob goes under, so I hold the barbed wire

fence. Everybody goes down. And they started

talking to this guy. I think his name is David.

He's a coffee farmer there. He's nice. He's super

nice. He has a machete, of course, as you do.

I didn't even notice the machete, too, when I

was in there. That would have been even scarier

if I saw that. And so I was talking to him. He

was like, oh, yeah, I heard this buzzing. In

Spanish, of course, it's great to have people

that speak a native language. First of all, I

also think it sucked having a language barrier.

I think we all felt that, too. I was like, man,

I wish we knew the language more. But we did

have a translator there. Anyway, so we were all

looking for it. I told him, we can leave it.

It's fine. I was expecting to possibly lose the

drone. I swapped the SD card out ahead of time

just in case I lost it. Didn't expect it to happen

like that. But anyway, so he whistled over. He

had found it. And yeah, we got it back. I got

a picture of it as well, which is really funny.

But yeah, I was surprised we were all kind of

looking for it for that long. There was a hornet,

massive hornet as well too. We were standing

on the road and watching them in the jungle and

forging around and just looking at this massive,

massive hornet's nest just right above where

they were. I can't imagine what would have happened

if the drone had crashed on there. Into the hornet's

nest. Yeah, but it was funny too. And I was like,

dumb thing we're like praying like no it'd be

really cool to like get it back you know it might

be nice and then but it's funny because like

you wouldn't expect someone just to be like in

the forest like right there like i had no idea

like that somebody's right there so it was convenient

that we got we got that little little win gifted

to us okay very cool very cool um yeah adrian

what about you favorite memory So I work with

a charity called Days for Girls, and we make

menstrual hygiene kits that last like two to

four years. And so I had mentioned it early on,

then I was told a week before it was arranged,

so I was good to go. So I had never done a distribution

before. I have never worked with a translator

before. I have never been to a country like Honduras

before. So I was like, what a great idea. So

Tony, again, Tony is awesome. He did it with

me, the presentation. So we had a classroom of

about 25 grade 6 girls. So through him, I did

the presentation. It was awesome to see how much

they knew. A lot of places that we go to, they

know nothing. Girls were very well informed.

I gave them the kits. We chatted. Tony was an

excellent sport about it. And then I was able

to leave 25 kits behind that they're going to

give out to the high school students. So I also

left a Spanish flip chart for them. And then

Days for Girls already has a partnership with

World Vision. So hopefully going forward, we

can keep doing that. That's awesome. Yeah. Petra,

what about you? Favorite memory? For me, it was

playing soccer with the kids at Children's Center.

It was just, like, even though I couldn't really

understand them, we could still play soccer together

and we understand that. Nice to connect with

them even without speaking Spanish. Yeah, because

like play is like a universal kind of language,

right? Yeah. What about for you? I think for

me it was the children's party that we did and

just seeing all of the children. Everywhere we

went, the children were so happy. They were so

engaged. They were so excited to see us. But

at the children's party that we got to meet our

sponsored children, but also we got to meet,

well, all of the children there were children

that were sponsored by Trinity. So those of us

who were there, we met our individual sponsored

children. But then there was a group of families,

children sitting off to the side, obviously waiting

for us. And these were kids whose sponsors hadn't

come on the trip, but they had gifts to send

back. So they gave us gifts to bring back to

the families that were sponsoring them. So it

was lovely. It really was. We look at these kids

and the poverty that they live in, and yet they

want to give back to us. And that, just their

wanting to give to us was so genuine and so encouraging.

Yeah. That's awesome. So I'm wondering how this

experience has sort of shaped your faith. If

there are things that you learned about God through

this experience or that God has shown you. Yeah.

What are some of those interactions like? Adrienne,

do you want to start? Oh, great. For me, it was

more encouraging, I think, my faith and seeing

the people there and just how faithful they were

and how reliant on God they were and how hopeful

they were. we're fairly privileged here relatively.

And I was like, wow, I am not grateful enough.

I am not hopeful enough. So yeah, for me, it

was a real encouraging piece. Sure. Yeah. What

about for you, Alex? Yeah, well, it's interesting

because I think the first time I went a couple

of years ago, then I especially noticed a lot

of differences too. Because the first time I

was going to a country that was different than

Canada, I think, or like much different. And

so, yeah, I think the privilege thing was...

has been a really big thing as well where we

don't even really clock how we live our life

on a day -to -day basis and how much like and

I mean Honduras is very like Christian like country

as well which is great too so not like as much

persecution I guess I suppose but like like there's

not really any stakes for us right now in Canada

as well and like we have such a good life and

having seeing these people and seeing how much

they rely on their faith and god is to like just

survive and even the role of the church in honduras

as well is a lot different too like they have

to take the role of doing a lot of the good in

the the communities as opposed to um like how

it's the countries are set up too so like they're

going in and teaching kids how to like prevent

violence in their communities or like the whole

like thing of just like taking growing making

sure everybody grows up well it's like that's

a role that the church is taking on too like

there's so much more that they have to do or

like that they are taking on then that we have

to do here is come on a sunday right and so like

it's really obvious like how motivated they are

to benefit the good of their community and yeah

just relying on god's guidance for that i think

yeah for sure and like In Canada, for better

or for worse, we have a lot of government services

and a lot of nonprofit agencies that do some

of that work and do it really well most of the

time. So as a local church, we don't necessarily

feel that same pressure, like you were saying.

But when those services are lacking, the church

really becomes a community center just as much

as a place of worship. yeah, is really helping

people. Um, yeah. What about for you, Petra?

How's this sort of shaped your faith? It definitely

has encouraged my faith just to see how I think,

um, God still blesses those people, but just

not in material ways. Like even when I see them

living in their poverty, they're still joyful.

They're still faithful. And so it just shows

me that like, sure. Um, like living in poverty

is horrible, but they're still like faithful

and they're still blessed by god and they're

still just i don't know um yeah yeah for sure

there's that real sense that like god like sometimes

people will say you know like that god blesses

us through material wealth, right? And your experience

is showing you that that's not true, right? God

blesses all people regardless of their material

circumstances. I think for me as well, the whole

gratitude piece, the fact that here are these

people living in what we would consider abject

poverty. And yet they're hopeful. They're all

talking about, we do this for the children. They

want to make the lives better for their children.

And just the faith that they have, the hope that

they have, it amazes us. And the whole idea that

there is no social safety net like we have here,

and the church being that, and how much more

the church needs to be, just really opened my

eyes to a lot of how things... are um how things

actually happen in other parts of the world sure

yeah yeah yeah and so cool to see yeah again

the church's role in that and how really like

i think back like even to scripture in like acts

you know it talked about there was no need among

them because they provided for each other's needs

and they cared for the widows and all of these

things right and like that's what the church

should be i think right yeah yeah yeah so cool

that you get to actually see that in in action

Is there anything else, like, if folks are, like,

thinking about this sort of experience or they're,

you know, they say, okay, what's, like, one thing

that you want everybody to sort of know or remember

about Honduras or about this partnership with

World Vision? What's one final thing that we

might want to leave folks with? Do you have anything

to add there, Alex? Yeah, I guess one thing,

too. Like, it was obvious to see how here, too,

you don't really see the, effects necessarily

of the support that you give for countries like

that but it's like if you go on a trip like this

and you actually see even like this yeah world

vision taking us around to places that they're

involved in and interventions that are taking

you can actually like see how that money is being

used like in the physical space instead of just

being like oh yeah i could sponsor a child or

whatever like seeing that that's very real like

there's people on the end of that as well and

that they and even kids that have sponsors too

like they like not necessarily want a connection

but like they're like you're not just like a

nobody to them too like you're a physical person

like it's these are real people and your need

like the needs are very real and the the money

there is just it's all It's all there. It's very

clear. So if you go on a trip like this, this

makes it more obvious and it really puts that

perspective into place. It puts it in 3D. And

for me, I think of World Vision as such a giant

organization. the boots on the ground there were

really impressive. Like the people that we met

at the world vision office that would come with

us to locations, like the kids knew them, the

teachers knew them. They're very ingrained in

the community. So it's not just like, you know,

some overarching thing that doles out money to

different programs. They are there, they are

working, they know people. Um, so, you know,

we were able to plug in a lot easier because

they already have those relationships. So that

was really, really nice to see. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. I'd say very similar. The fact, that if

anyone had ever had a concern or questioned where

their World Vision dollars went to, or should

they participate in sponsoring a child in the

chosen program, to know that absolutely, as Adrienne

said, the staff there were just so amazing. They

knew the kids by name. The kids would see them

coming and come running up to them, give them

hugs. They are doing an amazing, amazing job

down there. you know our support can only enhance

that right and so if if anyone has ever questioned

based on what we saw the dollars that we give

are are making it to where they need to be and

and the kids who are there the families that

are there are benefiting so gratefully from every

dollar that we give And it was really cool, too,

with the sponsorship party as well, just being

able to see a lot of the kids that Trini has

supported all in one spot. When I was filming

that, too, I was like, oh, man, this is a really

special kind of thing. Everybody's right there.

Yeah, for sure. Anything else you wanted to add,

Petra? I think that's it. Okay. Just agree, agree,

agree. Good. Well, thank you all so much. This

has been a really fun conversation, a really

great way to sort of get an insight into what

God is doing around the world and how we get

to partner with World Vision, but ultimately

partner with God in doing God's work in the world.

And so thank you for giving us an insight into

that. And thank you for tuning in to this week's

episode of Trinity Talks. I hope that you've

also found some encouragement and comfort and

maybe even a little bit of challenge in these

stories. And we'll see you again next week.