Northeast Texas Missionaries Making a Difference in Honduras
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HONDURAS - A retired Pittsburg salesman, Leon Philpott got his start in third world concrete work by becoming a missionary.
Retiring from her Mt. Pleasant travel agency after a previous career in insurance, his wife Lela works the cash register during the noon-time rush at a lunch counter in their new home town, Catacamas, Olancho
A funny thing happened in the wake of the October, 1998 hurricane that dumped 36 inches of rain one day on the second largest Central American nation. It became the destination for globe-trotting Mt. Pleasant members of the North Ridge Church of Christ who went to help rebuild.
"It's a mountainous place," said Hall Hix, one of the church members moved to action by the plight. "People live in mud brick houses on the hillsides. In recent years, the forests have been cut so in addition to the wind and flooding, the hurricane brought mud slides that swept away what homes they had."
Besides becoming one of the church members now making annual trips here, back in East Texas he organizes presentations for any venue where the church might recruit new mission workers or pass the collection plate for a people who live for the most part without luxury -- cars and refrigeration, for example.
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Thrifty families save up and get a bicycle.
"You'll see two and three people on one," Mrs. Philpott said. Raw sewage is routed through open ditches along dirt paths and streets.
There's electricity. Most people have a TV, Mr. Hix said.
As a laborer finishing new concrete to replace dirt floors, helping with home repairs, or helping remodel churches -- the way Mr. Philpott spends his days -- if he got paid he'd make "about $5 a day," Mr. Hix said.
The Mt. Pleasant congregation has joined forces with Escuela Biblica Honduras (EBH), a school whose three year program trains missionaries in a place where education comes at a premium.
Schools are private. Tuition runs about $200 a year. Fewer than half of students finish the fourth grade.
It's easy to help here just because so much is needed.
"Bad health, malnutrition and homelessness are all common," North Ridge Minister Jim Parker said.
"There's no Dr Pepper," Mrs. Philpott said.
It's not advisable to drink the water and you shouldn't go barefoot.
"There's some sort of parasite everybody picks up by going barefoot," Mr. Hix said. "One of the things we routinely pack in health packages we distribute is worming medicine."
Toothpaste makes a big hit.
Chartered in Honduras, EBC has a supporting American sister organization. Last summer, the North Ridge group helped with building a new school facility.
Construction sites are different here.
"It's strange because there's no equipment," Mr. Hix said. "The foundation for the building was excavated by men with picks and shovels trenching five feet down into solid clay and iron ore."
As a travel agent, Mrs. Philpott did some globe trotting of her own - London, Hawaii, Cancun, Xtapa, New York.
"Now this is home," she says of Honduras, where roads turn to mud in the rainy season, making travel difficult at best.
Even during pleasant seasons, mass transit services often require hiking a couple of miles to catch the bus.
"This place is the graveyard for the world's old yellow dog school buses," Mr. Hix said. "They're everywhere."
The Philpott's four wheel drive pickup is routinely pressed into service for medical transport to the closest town with a hospital.
Catacamas is about the size of Mt. Pleasant, Mr. Hix said, about 20,000.
About 30 have signed up for the next trip down, in March. The $1,000 a head, all inclusive price tag includes money for hundreds of tubes of toothpaste and worming medicine.
"We've learned to specify accommodations with hot showers," Mr. Hix said.
The upcoming flight to Honduras will touch down in touristy Teguicigalpa, a city of five star motels.
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The bus ride to Catacamas follows a major thoroughfare, a twisting highway about like a Texas farm to market road, said Mr. Hix.
"With potholes," Mrs. Philpott said.
For church members coming to visit, the fun starts the minute they get off the bus.
Women make brick, men mix mortar. Bed assembly is big.
There's a Honduran family portrait in Mr. Hix's power point show, everybody beaming, some seated, some just clumped up behind the new bed. Good light in that shot. Made it out in the yard.
"Most children sleep on the floor," Mr. Hix said.
For anybody who might wonder what money can buy in Honduras, this North Ridge bunch is pumping out beds at $40 a shot.
Want some?
That number's 572-3202.
Lord only knows why anybody would want to live in a country like this.
Him and the Philpotts.
"It's the people," she said.