Riding in the twin red vans, down the rutted, dirt road, dodging ever-present bicycle riders, jostled and hot, the team arrives for their first glimpse of the work site. Foundations are in, adobe bricks stacked in the middle of the four future classrooms. The San Diego First Church Work and Witness team is assigned to build desperately needed classrooms for the Bella Vista Church of the Nazarene in Danli, Honduras.  Already home to a sanctuary, parsonage (built by SDFC in 2000), and seminary building, the new classrooms will provide a place of learning for the nearly 300 children the church reaches out to feed and educate.  

By the end of the week, after hours of work, six VBS sessions, ministering to the immediate community and local hospital, masons and team members are working hand in hand, finishing the adobe brick classroom walls. Other team members are covered with small children, laughing and playing

At the final church service, many are tearful. Can it have been only a week we have known many of these amazing, vibrant, hard working Christians? So much has happened.   A team of 21 gringos will never, never be the same.

Eighteen members of the First Church team landed in Maputo, Mozambique on August 1^st after 30 hours of travel. The main project was to start building a house at the Nazarene seminary. 

 After seven long days of work the now-experienced brick layers had made a lot of progress in building the walls. Some of the team members taught Bible lessons to the forty children whose parents attended the seminary. The voices of the African people worshipping through song in our two Sunday services will not be forgotten. 

 Near the end of the trip, two hospitals were visited in Swaziland and the team stayed at Mercy Air Station in South Africa.  The final days were

“I marvel that my God is at work in Africa, from the hands of a skilled surgeon on the eyes of a simple bush woman to the skills of a Mercy Air airplane mechanic’s conversion and work for the African people, to the work, by our team, with the children and building at the Maputo seminary.  I also saw God’s hand with our team’s consideration and care for each other.  This was a lifetime and eternity experience.”  - Gerald Lashley

  “A love for our brothers and sisters in Africa has been etched on my heart forever. I no longer see Africans as a desperate people, but a joyous people accepting their station in life (be it poverty and/or illness) and surviving through the Grace of God and by helping each other – from the very youngest to the eldest.  They are a people of graciousness, community and relationship - and wear the warmest smiles you will ever see. There is much to learn from them.”  - Pat Jafry