On our very first trip to Honduras this grizzly old dude showed up and went with us. That trip was sponsored by Baptist Church in Hurst, Texas, since I would get a church to sponsor each of those medical teams that I took down there. This old dude had been the only medical doctor in a small town in Oklahoma for many, many years. His wife had died and he had retired, but he was convinced that God wanted him to be a medical missionary to Honduras.
He had already been down there to attempt this but could not get permission to practice medicine without having to go completely through their medical school. At his age, he did not think he should do that. However, when he heard that this church was sponsoring a 60 person medical team to go there, he decided that he could at least use that opportunity and go with us.
We were staying in a town on the east coast in the compound that had once been the headquarters for United Fruit. They still shipped their bananas out of that town, but no longer used this compound which was now converted into a hotel there on a lovely beach with most of the rooms being in the large houses where the officials of United Fruit hadonce lived. So it was that old Dr. Motes roomed with me and a few other guys. Right away I noticed that he had a12-string guitar with him, and I asked him if he could really play that thing. He said sure, and every morning he would play and sing praise music for us, whether we wanted it or not.
He was very effective as a doctor there and could speak some Spanish.
The pastor of that church in Hurst, Texas had been a pastor for many years in Honolulu. He took an old building that was abandoned and donated by the Salvation Army there and built it into the largest, most thriving church in Honolulu. I had originally encouraged him to go Hawaii since the population was mostly Buddhist, and supported him financially for years until his church got big enough.
He was not a typical pastor. Many pastors talk about sawing the limb off and expecting God to catch them, but very few actually do it. This guy would really do it. Anyway, one day he was going across the country to meet the new President of Honduras and his Pentecostal wife in the capitol city of Tegucigalpa . Mutual friends had arranged the introduction.
I asked him to see if he could arrange with the President for permission for Dr. Motes to practice medicine there. Sure enough, he came back with full written permission for Dr. Motes to practice there as a medical missionary. Dr. Motes just stayed. He did no even come back with us. However, before we left I took him aside and said: “Look dude, any one of these pretty young ladies would love to marry you for the security they so desperately want and need down here. When we come back next year I want to see you married to one of them.
Sure enough, before we left the States I heard that he had gotten married, so I was anxious to meet his new bride. Blanca was not that young, maybe a little past middle age, but she was lovely. So, I asked Dr. Motes to tell me all about it. He said: “Well Ronald, after you left I sat down and wrote out a long list of everything I needed a new wifeto be……..Like she should speak English, she should have a medical background, she should be dedicated to the Lord, she should have a heart for service, and many more things.” And I said: “So you just married her when she showed-up.” Dr. Motes said: “I had to. She fit ever single item on the list. I knew God had sent her.”
So every medical team trip I took down there after that, Dr. Motes and Blanca would come and be part of the team all the time we were there, no matter where they might be have been working across the country.
True Texan Tales 
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