Heather Wittig, second from left, recently completed a mission trip in Honduras with the Living Waters program. She and a team helped repair water wells in poor communities. Wittig is pictured with Pastor Kyle Gunderson, Joe Draxler, and Scott Demers.A young girl named Cici pumps water for the first time from the new well.Community members attended the well dedication ceremony December 6.

Mission trip offers eye-opening experience

The people there were so poor, yet so thankful and appreciative of the smallest things...

For one local woman, a mission trip through church was an amazing, eye-opening experience.
Heather Wittig, who lives in Eau Galle and attends Cedarbrook Church in Menomonie, recently completed a week-long mission trip in Honduras with the Living Waters, International, program.
"Cedarbrook sends a group three or four times a year," she said. "At one of the services at church they talked about going out and doing something—stepping out of your boundaries. It was like a little nudge from God to go and try something new."
Wittig said she thought about the mission trip for about four months, then signed up for the November trip, not knowing anyone else who was going.
"There wasn't much leading up to the trip," she said. "We had a few fundraisers, including the Run for Water 5k and 10k, and a few meetings."
Wittig said the meetings were mostly to prepare the group for the trip, talking about why they were going and what to expect. The trip spanned from November 28 to December 7.
Wittig said she and the group from Cedarbrook, a total of four people, flew into Texas and met with another group of three from Denver, Colorado.
"They were the well drilling team that would drill a well for a community," Wittig said. "We were working with Living Waters people, repairing wells in different villages."
From Texas, the group flew into San Pedro Sula, Honduras, then took a four-hour bus ride to La Ceiba, on the east side of Honduras, where they stayed for the night.
"It rained the whole time we were there, and it had flooded the week before," Wittig said. "We weren't able to get where we were supposed to go because the main road had washed out, so we went back to La Ceiba and went to church there. It was so cool and different."
Wittig said the group went back to the resort with the intention of heading out the next day.
"We did a lot of praying, and group activities," she said. "We took a bus the next morning, and 20 minutes into the drive we got stacked up in traffic 30 miles from the washout. We moved five feet in two hours."
Wittig said the military guards came and stood by the bus while they were stuck, so they eventually turned around and went back to La Ceiba again.
"The other team got split from us and went to Progreso to drill a well for a community in a banana plantation," she said. "We stayed at a nice hotel in La Ceiba, and went to a village seven miles out to fix their well."
Wittig said the water that ran out of the ground was orange, malnourished cats and dogs were tied up nearby, and chickens ran free everywhere.
"The people were so thankful and happy to have a working well," she said. "None of them spoke English so it was hard to communicate, but a smile and a hug went really far. We got to play games with the kids in the community, too."
Wittig said the group went back to the hotel for more praying and group activities.
"We couldn't be in touch with the other team for a while, and it was hard, because we had gotten close in the three days we were together," she said.
Overall, Wittig described the trip as an amazing experience.
"It was really eye-opening," she said. "The people there were so poor, yet so thankful and appreciative of the smallest things that we in the United States take advantage of every day. They had to pump to get water, live in houses with dirt floors and no glass in the windows, with chickens running around. They're lucky to have a bathroom in the house."
Wittig said the school was one room, and the community was very family-oriented and connected.
"It definitely taught me to slow down and think about what we consider to be problems," she said.
Wittig said she encourages people to try something new, and put themselves out there.
"Let God work through you," she said.
Wittig said she wants to do another mission trip, and wishes she would have signed up for the February trip.
"I think if I could move there, I would," she said.
On the last day of the trip, The Cedarbrook group met back up with the team from Denver to see the new well.
"They had every problem under the sun," she said. "They didn't think they'd finish the project, but they did."
Wittig said the group was supposed to fly out December 6, but they got up early and drove to the plantation to do a well dedication. Prior to the well being installed, they had no running water since an earthquake in 2011.
"It was a complete surprise to the community for someone to show up and do this for them," Wittig said. "The whole community was there, and said we were angels sent by God to help them."
Wittig said the community had to carry water from the river or use rain water before having the well.
"It was so cool to see their faces light up when they were able to get water, and it was really unbelievable to see," she said.

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