There are many Southeast Texas Christians who go on mission trips each year. Sometimes just mom gets to go. Other times just dad.
It is something special when a Southeast Texas family is able to experience a mission trip together.
Orange resident Doug Manning and three generations of his family – plus members of their church family at Community Church Orange- will be traveling together to Honduras for a family mission trip.
Doug works as a Civil Attorney with the Orange County Attorney’s Office. He will be travelling with his wife Shelley, their three children, John’s father and step-mother, and their three children for the Honduras mission trip. There they will join his brother, Mark Fitz, who is also originally from Orange. Mark has been a missionary in Honduras for several years.
They will be joined by several members of Community Church Orange.
Last year Doug went on the trip, and he is excited to be able to share the experience with his entire family, particularly his children, this year.
One concern of Doug’s children was not being able to speak Spanish. Doug’s children are still very young, but learning a foreign language is wonderfully valuable to all Southeast Texas Christians who feel called to foreign missions work.
Spanish in particular is valuable as many of our churches support missions in Mexico, Latin America, and Spain. You don’t have to do foreign missions to benefit from Spanish though. You could be called to assist a Spanish family attending your church, to assist in setting up a Spanish speaking campus for your church, or to assist Hispanic families right here in Southeast Texas.
Many of our Southeast Texas libraries, and some of our churches, currently offer introductory Spanish courses. There are also professional foreign language schools in Southeast Texas.
Dentist Dr. Nina Leifeste is a member of Community Church Orange. She annually goes to Honduras to assist with dental needs, helping those in need from daylight to dark.
The area where the Community Church Orange mission group will work is in the mountains.
The women from Community Church Orange bring school supplies and soccer balls to give away.
The women visit schools and hold Vacation Bible School activities every day for the local children.
The men will be helping with construction projects.
Manning’s father and step-mother will be spending a month this year in Honduras staying with the Mark Fittz family. Mark has served as a missionary with Camino Global in the country for a number of years and started Hope Coffee in 2009.
The company’s website said American people working on missions took home the locally-grown Honduras coffee as souvenirs. They liked the coffee so much they wanted to buy more. Fittz set up the business with Honduran farmers and pickers producing the product at fair wages. The coffee is packaged and sold, mostly to churches in the U.S. Net profits go to the mission work including providing water and housing to Hondurans. Dozens of churches in the U.S. are regular customers.
Thank-you to all of the Southeast Texas Christians who will serve in the missions field this year – and to all of the Southeast Texas Church congregations who support them with prayer, with logistics, and financially.
Would you like for SetxChurchGuide.com to tell the story of a missionary from Southeast Texas? Does your church support an interesting mission, in Southeast Texas or abroad? Do you know a Southeast Texas Christian with a special mission calling?
These are the stories we enjoy sharing on SetxChurchGuide.com.
Just e-mail us the information and please do include any photos or images that will help the story come alive for other Southeast Texas Christians when they read the story. Our e-mail is SetxChurchGuide@gmail.com .
Thank-you to KOGT radio for sharing the lead for this story.
Best wishes to the members of Community Christian Church Orange and to Doug Manning and his family. This trip will surely create memories that will last a life time and will be a wonderful experience for your family.
