Garrett Dungy, 12, a seventh grader at Gallatin Middle School, will give a follow-up presentation to the congregation of First Baptist Church on Sunday, Oct. 15, to describe the time he spent on a mission trip to Honduras with Teen Missions International.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
Garrett was part of Teen Mission International based out of Merritt Island, Fla. from June 20 to July 28 with 16 other pre-teens and several team leaders. He visited the impoverished Central American country from July 2– July 23. His home church at Gallatin First Baptist paid for much of the expenses of the trip, and Garrett worked at odd jobs to earn the rest of the funds.
Before travelling to Honduras, Garrett attended a two-week boot camp at Merritt Island, Fla. to prepare him for life on the mission field.
“We put all we learned at boot camp into practice,” Garrett says. Those lessons included washing clothes in a bucket and taking rainwater showers. Classes on drama, singing and puppetry were employed in actual situations when the team went out to evangelize, mostly to children.
Garrett and the team spent three weeks in Honduras. The gregarious Garrett was chosen by team members to do the preaching. He preached five sermons during his time in Honduras when they would evangelize in towns and do their presentations to churches. He learned to appreciate the Bible in a new way and even discovered a few more favorite passages.
Garrett found the people of Honduras warm and welcoming as they greeted him and the team members like old friends.
Garrett put his back into part of a ‘chain gang’ which repaired a road to the Teen Missions Honduras base. The Teen Missions Base, where the team was staying and working on the road, is a Bible missionary work training center associated with Teen Mission International. The Bible, Missionary & Work Training Center trains missionaries. Those who attend can graduate and go right into the mission field. The team was also able to relax a couple of days to see the sights and to visit a private school. They got to see the Pulhapanzak waterfall, which he and many team members zip lined over.
“Honduras is very beautiful, but I was very sad to see the poverty that the people live in,” he says.
Garrett and the Teen Missions returned to Florida to debrief for the final week. He says ice, air conditioning, hot showers, indoor plumbing and meals without beans and rice were a welcome relief.
“I was happy and blessed to travel to Honduras on the mission trip,” Garrett said. “Thank you for the support and prayers.”
Picture: Garrett and teammate Selah with Honduran boy