Baptist Medical & Dental Mission International was founded by Charlie and Carolyn Herrington in 1974. While serving in Honduras for six years, the Herringtons saw many of their brothers and sisters in Christ suffering from lack of medical and dental care. This led them to asked the Lord if there was something that could be done to ease the pain and suffering.

The Lord began to give them a vision of what could be done with the help of volunteers from across the United States, willing to pay their own expenses and work for seven-day periods in poverty-stricken villages of Honduras. These teams of volunteers would draw the people to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then offer them medical and dental care free of charge.

In the last decade. the BMDMI has opened Christian schools, permanent medical-dental clinics, vocational training centers, and a children's home. To oversee the work, BMDMI has accepted God's call to commission and send out full-time missionaries.

The Honduras Mission Team returned home Saturday, February 22^nd, after spending nearly a week in the country. After a good night's rest at the mission home, the team traveled 4 and 1/2 hours to the village of Jesus de Oroto where they would spend the next 3 and 1/2 days. The team quickly got the clinics set up and began seeing patients that afternoon. This is the first time BMDMI sent a team to the village and as a result the first day was a bit slow. However, word got around to the villagers about the ministries available and the clinics quickly became busy the next three days.

A total of 2739 patients were treated by the medical team of doctors, nurses, dentists, opticians and pharmacists. There were a few critical cases that required hospitalization and follow up in Tegucigalpa. In addition, the team included evangelism, children's ministry, clothing ministry, veterinary and cooks.

An important mission for the team was to establish a church in the village. Revival services were held each night at the community center. Three ministers on the team spoke the first three nights - their messages were translated in Spanish by an interpreter. The last service was special - the local minister spoke, children showed what they learn in Children's Church with a musical performance and the Mission Team members were recognized and given a special thank you at the close of service. By the end of the week there were 170 convictions and the community was committed to building a church.