For more than 20 years, St. Peter’s in Lake Mary, Florida, has been sending mission teams to a remote mountain village in Honduras. Initially, St. Peter’s was asked to help build a church in Quince de Enero. At the time, there was no electricity, no running water; little more than a dirt road running through the center of town. So St. Peter’s built them a church.
Iglesia San Pedro, Quince de Enero, Honduras
Next year, St. Peter’s returned, and doubled the size of the school in Quince. Without education, there is no hope for a better future. Following that, a village woman told someone on the mission team: “Our children are sick and dying. We need Doctors and Medicine.”
The Medical Mission
Upon returning to the states, members of the mission team began asking doctors and dentists if they would be willing to travel to Quince to start a medical mission. Once a few agreed, the mission gained momentum. A year later, 65 people returned to Quince, among them ER doctors, nurses, a dentist and an optometrist and medicines. Word spread in Honduras. Some people walked an entire day with their children, for their first visit to a doctor. Over 3,000 new patients were seen that week.
Mountain of Hope
Mountain of Hope, Inc., in partnership with St. Peter’s Lake Mary, is a separate 501c3 non-profit organization which was formed to oversee the day-to-day operations of the Clinica Montaña de Esperanza. Mountain of Hope also raises money for, and oversees the drilling of wells in this remote region of Honduras.
Medical Missions at Clinica Montaña de Esperanza, Quince de Enero
The Clinica
It soon became clear that one week a year was not enough. So St. Peter’s Mountain of Hope set out to raise the money, and build, a medical clinic in Quince. Staffed with a local doctor, dentist, nurses, pharmacist etc., Clinica Montaña de Esperanza (Mountain of Hope Clinic) has treated tens of thousands of villagers over the years who have no other access to healthcare.