It's a long way from SPAMTOWN USA to Tegucigalpa.

Even longer to El Guante and soon, Orica.

How long? North America to Central America, the United States to Honduras, southeastern Minnesota to the mountainous interior where travelers go through rivers and not over them because there are no bridges.

Paul and Monica Tschann and their children, Isaac, 9, Emma, 8, Jacob, 7, and Rachel, 5, have been in Honduras for a year now.

Recently, Monica Tschann described the family's trip to a river. She described how the family enjoyed a picnic, watched nearby villagers come to the river to wash clothes and collect drinking water, while teenagers and young boys dived into the cool waters and herds of cattle and horses came to drink.

"The river is the heart of the community," she said. "It gives life to everything

around it. It is a gift to be shared and well cared for. We were thankful to have the opportunity

to share this wonderful gift."

The Tschann Family Mission to Honduras is about sharing gifts.

"We continue to be healthy, safe and do the work God has sent us to do," she said of the Minnesota family's life in Honduras.

Paul is the son of retired Austin firefighter, David Tschann and his wife, Delores. He met his wife, Monica, while they were both students at then-Mankato State University. They married in 1990 and lived and taught at Dawson for two years before moving to Zumbrota. Paul obtained a nursing degree and went to work at St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester.

He made his first trip to Honduras in 1995.

Something touched him deeply and when he returned he began convincing his wife, the couple and their children should return to the Central American nation.

There are no less than 20 missions to Honduras. The Tschann Family Mission to Honduras is one of them.

The mission of the Tschann Family Mission is to provide healthcare to the under-served people living in remote areas of Honduras.

The couple provide public health education, distribute basic medical supplies, research outcomes of medical treatment, host mission teams throughout the year, provide nursing services for an orphanage, distribute eyeglasses and provide computer training and education.

They are in the Central American nation under the auspices of the International Health Ministries organization. The IHS has been serving Honduras since 1983.

Money is one opportunity to help the mission. According to the couple, $2 buys amoxicillin for two children, $3 will buy clorimazole for treatment of yeast infection and $14 will buy mebendazole to treat 200 people with parasites/worms.

Small groups of visitors can also assist the couple in their mission work in Honduras.

Among the medical supplies the IHS/Tschanns need are cough drops, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, antifungal creams, anti-bacteriums, anti-biotic ointments and school supplies, including notebooks, pencils, colored pencils, black pens, markets, metric rulers, glue, Crayons, scissors, and paper and health an beauty aids, including soap, shampoo, toothpaste and lotion. Also, baby clothes, cloth diapers, baby blankets, caps, AA and AAA batteries, umbrellas and tablecloths are also needed.

The couple and their children live on a budget of $24,000 a year.

The couple communicates with their relatives and friends in Minnesota via email. Their Web site is updated monthly with both Monica's journal entries and a newsletter about the mission.

In a recent e-mail exchange with Monica, she offered additional insight into their one-year mission to Honduras, which has not been expanded to another year of life away from home:

"Paul made his first trip to Honduras in 1995 with a group called International Health Service. He was invited by a Catholic nun, Sister Donna, who was working here at the time, to consider a long term mission here. That was the spark that started everything. It took five years to convince me that this was a good idea and another two years for planning and fund raising. I have to admit, it was a good idea.

"The year we have had here in Honduras has inspired us to stay another year, but serving a different community. In August, when we return from a month long visit to Minnesota, we will be living in a community called Orica."

Donations may be sent to IHS

Family Mission, 749 South main St., Zumbrota, MN 55992.

Rob and Janet Weber, Zumbrota, are mission administrators (1-507-732-5878 or e-mail jrweber@sprynet.com

The Tschanns can be reached at capra2e@hondurasmission.org.

Lee Bonorden can be reached at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com