Chad, Madison and I (Julie) travelled to the Philippines in 2005 for a short term mission trip. We were on the island of Bohol working with predominantly deaf children. While we were there we met a young girl name Jocelyn who touched our hearts. She is deaf and was enrolled in a school for the deaf, but needed financial support to stay in school. We decided to support financially for the remainder of her education, even through college if she chooses to go. We write back and forth regularly and have established a rewarding relationship.

While we were there our team visited schools around the island, played games, made crafts, performed drama and ministered to their hearts. We spent time in the local village building a daycare and planting fruit trees so the village would have fruit every year.

Chad even got to attend a local city council meeting in the village. It was an awesome cultural experience for Chad. 

In this area of the Philippines, American’s are like rock stars. Everywhere you go, the children want your autograph or their picture taken with you. You can imagine what a hit Madison was with her blonde hair and blue eyes. They don’t see many little girls that look like her! The Philippines was an incredible and eye-opening experience and we want to go back soon.

Honduras
We have been to Honduras six times in the past two years. On our first trip there the first place we stopped was a little orphanage off the beaten path. This is where we met Melissa. I fell in love with her the first time I met her. Chad and I have always wanted to adopt children. Our heart is filled with so much love for these kids. When we left the orphanage that day Chad and I knew we were going to adopt Melissa. She was our daughter. We may not have conceived her, but that day she was born in our hearts!

Our mission team drove around the country of Honduras working in villages and up in the mountains. We played with the kids, taught stories and crafts and worked in the local villages. We were able to bring blankets to families in the mountain regions. Many were provided by residents from Merrill Gardens in Monroe. For me it was one of those moments I will never forget. It was almost as if I could hear sappy theme music playing in the background as I watched our team deliver those blankets. The mountain people have nothing. And to know that members of our community made those blanket and we were delivering them to little kids who were freezing at night changed my life forever. If I need a blanket I run down to Fred Meyer and pick one up. But they can’t even afford a blanket. How blessed we are here in our country and community.

With Melissa still in Honduras waiting for the adoption to complete, our heart is still there. We go back to visit her as often as we can.

We had to spend January, April, May and August of this year in Honduras to work on the adoption. During that time Chad was not able to attend city council meetings. But he joined some of the meetings via phone when he was able to and spent countless hours working on city issues long-distance.

Living in a developing nation will make you appreciate the small things we have here; like toilet paper, carpet, and edible vegetables. But we still love Honduras. We plan to go back on another mission trip soon, but hopefully this time with Melissa as our daughter.

If you’ve never been to another country to do mission work, I highly recommend it. It will change the lives of those you help as well as your own.

Sincerely,
Julie Minnick

See a Herald article on some of our church’s Honduras work.

This bridge was pretty scary. We emptied the bus of people just in case it didn’t make it across the bridge.