Frontera visits Honduras

Mission trip was successful

     Over the summer break, most students were off relaxing at a beach, sitting in front of the television, or hanging out with friends and family. However, North Harford junior Michael Frontera was hard at work moving dirt and rocks in Honduras.

    Thanks to his church’s mission trip, Frontera was able to visit Honduras for the second time, and was able to see familiar faces. He wanted to help in Honduras to further his future goal in becoming either a missionary, or joining the Peace Corps. He spent most of his days in Honduras “visiting children’s homes and doing various vacation bible schools for the kids.”

    Honduras is located in Central America, between Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. According to Frontera, “the climate is very hot, humid and it rains very frequently.” There is also “a lot of drug and gang related activity, and it is actually the central hub for a lot of drug trade.”

   For most, mission trips are very rewarding. While Frontera was in Honduras to help others, he actually gained something for himself. When asked what the most rewarding thing was about the trip, Frontera answered with, “the whole experience itself. The whole reason I go down there is not only to teach the kids, but to learn from them as well.”

    One “cool moment” Frontera had experienced was when he got back was that he “felt more at home when [he] saw [his] friend Efrain, and was actually able to communicate with him.” When volunteering, he met many different people, all with different backgrounds. For example, Frontera met a man who is originally from Honduras and moved to Texas, but the man was deported from Texas and has never seen his family.

   When talking about his trip overall, he says, “it’s a real eye opening experience and it gave me a whole new perspective on things like border patrol and stuff,” referring back to the man that was deported from Texas. While Frontera has no plans to visit Honduras again in the near future, he wishes everyone could have an opportunity to do something as rewarding as this.