Teamwork That Impacts A Community
May 20, 2026
Day 1
Today has been a long day. We started our day meeting on campus at 3:30am and finally wrapped up the day with a team devo at 9:30pm at our hotel.
Today's travel consisted of two plane rides, each around 2 hours long or more, and then a 6-hour car ride from the airport to the hotel. Within the chaos of travel, there were some highlights our team enjoyed.
During our layover in Miami, we ran into a few familiar faces. The Guatemala team's gate was just across from us, and we were able to catch up and say hello for a while before they departed. It was exciting to see another trip and all be excited together.
Another incredible highlight was some very providential seating arrangements from Miami to Honduras. On our very full flight, Mary Ann sat down in her assigned seat and struck up a conversation with the nice woman next to her. It did not take long for their conversation to reveal that the woman was Camila Reina, the CEO of Honduras Outreach International (HOI), one of the Peugeot Center's longest host partners! They continued their conversation the entire flight. The odds of this happening? 100%, God certainly had that planned.
Other highlights included good conversations throughout the day, laughs on the bus, and a delicious dinner along our journey to the hotel.
Today was long and eventful and we are all thankful to be in comfortable beds tonight.
We are thankful for your continued prayers.
- Justice and R'Mani Martinez-Nauta
Day 2
Today the team started with a great breakfast, followed by heading to Predisan Christian Hospital at 8:30. We were welcomed by Dr. Eadie, Gabriel, Elmer, Wilmer, and Gadiel. Dr Garbiella Tover briefed the team on the work of Predisan: at the hospital, in the schools, in the communities, and at Cerepa (the center for helping individuals with addictions). They are an amazing organization that has a wonderful ministry.
We worked with our host to fully coordinate requirements and plans for our extension of their oxygen system and then split our group into three teams to start execution. The busiest team began the process of cleaning the 26 sections of copper pipe needed for our work. The cleaning process required: 1) Mixing a cleaning solution; heating it to 135 degrees and flowing it through each 6m long section of pipe for then 20 minutes; 2) Flushing the pipe with water; and then 3) “squeegeeing” the inside of the pipe with special foam plugs driven by pressurized nitrogen. A favorite quote was Juan explaining a part of the process by saying, “You just need to do that Bernoulli thing in your head.”
A second team focused on visiting the location for each of the 22 new oxygen outlets that Predisan requested. Their highest priority was their emergency rooms, next was their hospital rooms, and then multiple rooms used for various medical procedures (endoscopy, etc). Others worked on configuring the control panel and building up the oxygen outlet boxes.
After supper, the team celebrated a productive day with ice cream. Our team closed the evening with a great devotional led by David Bass on developing spiritual community.
We are blessed to be with a wonderful host partner and I am blessed to be here with such a great group of team members. Tomorrow, we hope to continue our pipe and fitting cleaning efforts; building the control panel; and starting to install mounts for the piping. Also tomorrow, Mary Ann Peugeot, Dr. Nuria, and David Bass plan to travel to HOI to visit another one of our Honduran partners. Please pray for continued safety and wisdom for our team and blessings for our host partners.
Take care,
-David Elrod
Day 3
Today started a little early as we got on the Predisan van at 8 AM.
After a short drive, we split back into our teams from yesterday, with a new team forming to prepare our control panel. Justice, Allyanna, and Daniela created a beautiful assembly line that helped us efficiently complete all the controls for each line.
On the other end, Dan and Mark did some incredible planning for how the three lines would be connected, navigating some interesting architectural challenges along the way. With the help of the amazing Predisan maintenance team, Wilmer and Elmer, we were able to finalize all the plans. By the end of the day, they had successfully installed about 70% of the ER pipeline with the help of Allyanna, Daniela, and R’mani, which is currently our highest priority.
Meanwhile, Juan, Mariam, and I continued working on the cleaning process for all the pipes and were able to completely sanitize every pipe we will be using for this mission.
We ended the night with a delicious dinner and an even sweeter surprise from Nuria’s mom, who brought us fresh mangos to enjoy afterward. We also tried the mangos with salt which is a common Hispanic snack.
All glory to God!
Please continue praying for the safety of this incredible team, and that God may continue to bless this mission so we may see it through to completion with great success.
Goodnight everyone,
Mariz Yosef
Day 4
Hello Friends and Family! This is Allyanna, and I’m excited to share about our day.
We got a lot done today. Dr. Elrod, Mariam, and Mariz tested and adjusted the control panel this morning. Mark, Daniela, Justice, R’mani, Juan, Dan Rucker, and I installed oxygen outlets and finished most of the main trunk line to the emergency room.
When we leak tested lines, we expected to spend a lot of time addressing leaks. Instead, we were pleasantly surprised by how quickly we could eliminate leakage.
In parallel to this morning, Maryann Peugeot, Nuria, and David Bass visited Cedeco, a Predisan site. Mrs. Maryann was delighted to see a picture of Dick Peugeot on a trip put up at Cedeco, and it was touching to hear that the project he worked on, a radio repeater, was a turning-point project with an impact that is still known and remembered today.
While we were working, our translator, Keyra, told us that the nurses were excited for this project, saying, “We can’t believe this is finally happening!”
At the end of the day, R’mani, Justice, and David Bass set up the cleaning system again because we bought additional piping.
After working, Mark, Mariam, Mariz, Daniela, Juan, Maryann Peugeot, Nuria and I all went to Cerepa, Predisan’s rehab center, to play soccer with the Cerepa patients and Predisan staff. What some of us expected to be a casual game turned out to be a competitive game complete with uniforms, cleats, and air horns. Mark and Juan played on Predisan’s team while we cheered them on, and Cerepa’s team won.
After, they invited us to join them for volleyball. Daniela, Mark, Nuria, and I played two very fun games of volleyball with Cerepa while Juan got to know two Cerepa patients who invited him to work out with them.
All in all, today was a wonderful day full of learning, laughs, and camaraderie and I look forward to seeing what is in store! We are all very excited to return to Cerepa.
Thank you all for your prayers and support for us in this endeavor, and please continue to pray that we continue to find success in the project, that our work is good and pleasing to God and aligned with His purpose for us, and that we would produce and witness fruits beyond our work.
Many thanks,
Allyanna
Day 5
Hey everyone it’s Mark!
Today was our 5th day in Honduras and our 4th working day.
We started the morning with breakfast and headed to Predisan Christian Hospital at 8 am to start work. I’m super proud of the team and the work we’ve been able to do so far.
Today we were able to complete the installation of the last four oxygen outlet boxes in the Emergency room area and enjoyed friendly competition in installing the piping in the 2 main remaining areas. We were also able to test the newly installed area for leaks, and after many efforts from Dean Elrod, Dan, Juan, R’Mani, and Justice, we were able to clear the area, which was a huge milestone for us.
Meanwhile, Allyanna, Daniela, Mariz, and Mariam were able to install a vast majority of our remaining outlets in the hospitalization area, and the Gastro room, and the amazing Predisan maintenance team members, Wolmer, Edward, and Elmer, made good progress starting on the second and third trunk lines. They have been extremely valuable to this project.
Aside from the amazing progress on the job some other highlights of the day include Dan's challenge for us to calculate the energy required to clean two of the pipes in our system, which had everyone engaged and nerding out, and TWO instances of delicious ice cream
David Bass, R’Mani, Juan, Allyanna, Mariam, Mariz, Justice, and Nuria had a wonderful talk regarding our different faith and theological backgrounds, which was eye-opening and made me appreciate our differences and the wonderful people they are.
At the end of our work day, one of the Predisan Chaplains very thoughtfully prayed for us in Spanish, and we ended the night with a wonderful Devotional led by Daniela and relaxed in the Hotel pool before getting some rest.
Please continue praying that God may be glorified through this work and that he strengthens us throughout this process in serving his name. Have a great night, everyone!
Day 6
Hi everyone, I’m Mariam!
Today, for the first time on this trip, I woke up before my alarm by 4 minutes. Which is crazy because we stayed out in the pool until 11pm last night. We had breakfast as usual, and I was looking forward to the fried plantains, which have quickly become my favorite. We left the hotel by 8am.
Mark, Mariz, and I started the morning by putting up more oxygen boxes in the observation room. Meanwhile, R’mani, Justice, and David Bass, Miss Mary Anne were cleaning more pipes that the Presisan team had gone out super early to pick up for us. Daniella, Allyana, Juan, Dr. Elrod, and Dan were working on installing the remaining pipes throughout the hospital hallways, the gastro room, and the observation room. Eventually, the rest of us joined them, and that’s when I discovered I was scared of heights. My legs were actually shaking on that ladder lol.
In the middle of all that, Kera(from the predisan team) surprised us with Honduran candy, a collection of lollipops, strawberry nougat, and Jell-O.
Around noon, we drove about 15 minutes to a park where Presisan was having their annual staff celebration, and they invited us to join. They served warm, cheesy pupusas, which were AMAZING.. We also played a few games like bingo, Bible questions, and a game where two guys were literally a running piñata. They wore trash bags and they taped candy to it and everyone started running after them. and let me tell you… they are very competitive. Every win was met with table-banging, cheering, and horn-blasting!
After the picnic, we went back to work and finally finished putting up all the bell supports and pipes. Thank God! It felt so satisfying to see everything that was once an idea come together. Then, as if the day couldn’t get any better, we were surprised with more ice cream.
We ended the day by running a few tests and decided we’ll continue tomorrow. Overall, today was fun, and lots of memories were made.
I ask that you pray for the safety of everyone on the team and that God may give us strength, wisdom, laughter, and the opportunity to serve others tomorrow. Lord Thank You for the people we’ve met, the work we’ve accomplished, and the memories we’re making together. Please continue to guide our team, keep us safe, and help us serve with joyful hearts. Amen.
With lots of love goodnight everyone!!!
Day 7
Hello family and friends, this is Daniela!
After a busy week of hard work and fun fellowship, today the team got to enjoy a little bit more of sleep. Last night my parents, Rogelio and Zoila, finally arrived to Catacamas after driving for 5 hours from the capital city, Tegucigalpa, to visit me and meet the team. I had the blessing of enjoying breakfast with them as the smell of the food and the familiar faces brought back nostalgic memories. My parents also got to enjoy of joyful laughter as David Bass, Dan, and Allyanna joined the table to engage in the conversation. After heading to Predisan Christian Hospital at 8:30am, the team finally kicked off the work day by challenging themselves to think about the best ways to flush the system as Dan and Dr. Elrod lead the discussion and provided feedback.
Some moments later, my parents arrived at the hospital with a pleasant surprise of fresh sweet bread called “borrachos” (a traditional pastry from Catacamas) and popsicles to share with the team. I was very happy to hear that the snacks were pleasant to the team, especially to Dan, who ended up eating 2 popsicles and exceeding his carb consumption of the day. After spending a wonderful morning looking at the progress of the oxygen system across the different areas of the hospital, getting to know the team members, sharing meaningful faith stories, and catching up, unfortunately, it was time for me to say goodbye to my parents once again, as a long drive back home awaited them. Saying goodbye never gets easier.
Most of the rest of the work day today consisted of flushing the system to get rid of water and debris in the pipes, checking for leaks in all the fittings and connections using soapy water, and ultimately tightening them up to ensure their proper functioning. I want to dedicate a special shoutout to Juan, who struggled with a connection in room 3 of hospitalization for the majority of the day, but after persevering and keeping a positive work spirit, he successfully fixed the leak!
As part of our testing procedures, the oxygen system was tested at 85psi and it passed so we brought it higher to where the relief valves went off at 90psi as expected. On a side note, Wilmer finally replaced his old, rusty ladder with a brand new one that has a “mucho macho” seal of approval on it (I have attached evidence of this).
Today we had a carnivore dinner at a restaurant with some of the staff from Predisan, which was a nice change of location from the usual. We wrapped up the day by heading back to the hotel to have our daily devotional lead by Mariz, share silly gifts to appreciate each other, and some even enjoyed of friendly competition by playing tips and ultimate handball in the pool.
As we head into the end of our trip and our time together, please pray so that everything works well as we finish testing the system and as the date for return to the States approaches. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support, which have made this opportunity to serve others possible. Thank you, Lord, for this amazing team and for the memories we keep making together.
With love,
Daniela
Day 8
Today (Sunday) we completed our installation, testing, commissioning, punch list, and packed our bags. It’s a win for Predisan: A win for The Peugeot Center: A win for Lipscomb University and the students and faculty: And a win for patients now and in the future who may need Oxygen to heal and recover. It’s all being delivered by the newly installed oxygen delivery system without the use of large and more dangerous K bottles in the patient areas. There is Oxygen being distributed in all areas of the hospital where it was requested in addition to the existing Surgery area. Oxygen is now available in multiple outlets for patients in the Emergency Room, Critical Care rooms, Hospitalization rooms, Observation rooms, and Gastroenterology area. Flows were tested up to 70 L/min at the furthest outlets, and the normal operating pressure is set at 70 psi.
The project is complete after 7 days of work by our team of 14 and Predisan staff, who were essential to making it all possible while treating us as royalty. It just could not have been accomplished without them. The system includes 730 ft. of cleaned copper piping, countless fitting ELs, Tees, and connectors, 22 oxygen outlets at patient beds, flow meters, and three new separate distribution lines routed from a new control panel manifold complete with isolation valves, pressure gauges, and relief valves, and four area isolation valves.
Just after a Smashburger lunch with fries, which left us all literally speechless, we celebrated 3 student birthdays: Aliana, Daniella, and Yasa. We then made celebratory project photos and a Happy Snoopy dance led by Mary Ann Peugeot, and packed our tools. The younger set and Dan headed for the hills while the others headed for rest or naps. To be more precise, we headed to Cerro de la Cruz, or Hill of the Cross. As we neared the top, it became a bit of an unofficially declared race, and I am proud to say, I was not last to the top. (But was last of those who chose to run). After the climb of the 571 steps, we stood at the foot of a large cross and had a breathtaking 1875 ft high overlook of Catacamas, our home away from home for the last 7 days. The swing there became a favorite Photo Op for us. Despite the guard rail opening up on us Yyikes!) No one fell, and all made it back to the hotel with full hearts and ready for pool games. It was a good place to be on The Lord’s Day… at the foot of a cross. I took advantage of that moment together with fellow believers and will remember it for a long time.
After returning to the hotel, it was time for some competitive pool games, but no one really kept score. We were treated to a seated and served dinner, and our Predisan brothers and sisters came to join us. Speeches were made, and our hearts were overflowing. It was all a bit emotional as we feel we have bonded with them and with each other on multiple levels.
It saddens us to leave tomorrow, but we are also ready to begin our trek home and be reunited with those we love in the States.
As a non-enrolled student (but I’m still a learner), I am amazed by these students; their talents, their critical thinking, their deep spiritual thinking, their love for God and love for each other, their love for all others, and most of all, their willingness to serve. I am so blessed to know them and have grown to love each and every one of them. I share with you my prayer for them based on Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1…
Our Father… Since I heard about the faith of these people in the Lord Jesus and their love for all God’s people, I continue to give thanks for them and remember them in my prayers. I ask you, God of our Lord Jesus Christ, our glorious Father, that you may give the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to these, so that they may know You better. I pray that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened in order that they may know the hope to which You have called each of them, the riches of the glorious inheritance in Your holy people, and Your incomparably great power for us who believe. The power that is the same as the mighty strength you exerted when you raised Christ from the dead and seated him at Your right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
I will continue to pray that prayer for them in the days ahead.
I would say we did it! But we all know it has been God all along. Jesus told his disciples, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” We know that to be true for this project as well. He has sustained us each day. He has provided us with solutions to each challenge. He has given us strength and His Spirit. He has provided us with every good and perfect gift, each other, and that includes those who have helped fund the project. It is all really God’s work, and He has allowed us to come participate in it. That in itself has been such a blessing.
We, and those who read this blog, have asked for God’s blessing for us and the project. When God’s people ask Him to bless what he already wants to do, well, it’s a WIN-WIN.
So, this is when and where we say, it is all for His Glory and His Glory alone. “To God Be The Glory, Great Things He has done!”
Soli Deo Gloria
Dan
Day 9
Hey everyone, it's Juan! Today we had our last breakfast at Hotel Papabeto. Some of us enjoyed omelets, some of us enjoyed the coffee, and some of us enjoyed every last minute of sleep.
Once we finished eating, we packed up and headed over to the Predisan Hospital to say our final goodbyes and to check the operational state of the oxygen system one last time. We were thrilled to find everything looking great and fully operational, with each line steadily maintaining pressure between 50–55 psi.
It brought a lot of joy to the team to see that the hospital has already started using the medical oxygen in the ER and hospitalization rooms. The hospital staff expressed how incredibly grateful they were for the system we installed, but we made sure to thank them right back for giving us this opportunity and for the huge blessing they are to the surrounding community.
After leaving the hospital, we made our way to Cerepa, Predisan’s rehab center, for a short, informative tour. We learned about their 12-step treatment process and methods for overcoming addiction, and they showed us the rigorous weekly schedule the patients follow to aid their recovery.
While there, I was reunited with the two guys I had met on Wednesday, and I was able to give them my final goodbyes. Visiting the rehab center really put things into perspective; it made me realize not only that our personal problems are not always as big as we make them out to be, but also that there is always hope—even for those who think they have lost it all.
With our farewells completed, we boarded the bus to leave the city of Catacamas and began making our way to Comayagua, where we are staying for the night. On the way, we stopped at the Mennonite Café for lunch and a bit of souvenir shopping, picking up lots of sweets, pastries, and other goods to bring back home with us.
After lunch, we settled in for the remainder of our 6-hour drive to Comayagua. During the trip, we had great, deep conversations about music, religion, and our future careers. Eventually, exhaustion caught up to us, and it didn't take long for most of the team to fall asleep for the bulk of the ride. Mary Ann and Dan were the only ones who stayed awake for the entire drive, earning ultimate bragging rights!
Once we made it to the hotel, we checked in and got ready for a wonderful team dinner. The food choices were diverse—some of us had steak medallions, others had teriyaki rice bowls, and a few literally ordered an entire fried fish served with fries (Allyanna even ate the eyeballs!).
We ended the night with a final devotional led by Mary Ann, where we exchanged heartwarming gifts with one another.
Thank you all for your continued support throughout this journey. The success of our mission truly would not have been possible without your help and your prayers. May the Lord bless us all!
— Juan
Not a Trip
Category: Student Life