Karla's Story

In 2010 while on a mission trip in Honduras, Ron Mashburn met an 11 year old girl named Karla who touched his heart.  Karla would not smile.  She was embarrassed because she was in desperate need of dental care.  To help her, Ron found his only option was costly and repeated trips to San Pedro Sula two hours away.  During that process he began to think "what if we could prevent this?"  And Karla asked "what about my sisters?" Having worked on the hospital in Sula, Ron knew that there was a clinic in disrepair.  Seeing the needs of Karla, her sisters, and the other children in Sula and the surrounding communities, he made it his mission to renovate the clinic.  He spent the summer of 2011 in Honduras working on the clinic.  He secured donations of equipment and supplies and then recruited the first dentists and hygienists to go.  The clinic opened in 2013 and yearly missions provide dental care and oral hygiene education to the people of Sula and surrounding areas.  Tragically Karla lost her life in 2017 at the age of nineteen.  SulaSonrisa Dental Clinic is dedicated to the glory of God and in memory of Karla Patricia Urias, who by her inspiration changed the lives of so many.

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