This page has been created to share with you how we find the Lord active in our midst. Our goal is to give you a taste of what we are experiencing through thoughts, pictures and the like. Please feel encouraged to comment on any post or contact both of us by email. We will also update our Pray-Requests with hopes that you would be willing to offer these requests to our faithful God. May our Heavenly Father’s guidance, Christ’s peace and the Holy Spirit’s ministry be alive and active in you.
Our last month in Honduras held several exciting activities. Kristy ended her second season of the Union Biblica soccer league with an exciting championship game. After much difficulty, she had success in reserving the city soccer stadium for the game. One of the local pastors gave a devotional before the game for all the players and spectators that were present. It was a fun experience for the kids to be able to play in the professional stadium. Click here for a video of the champion team’s celebration. (click here for pictures of championship game). In a final meeting Kristy had with the coaches they expressed their satisfaction with the way the ministry is reaching adolescents and bringing them into the church. They felt so strongly about getting more churches involved that during the break before the next season starts they plan to go visit other pastors, and share together the changes they have seen in their youth to encourage other churches to participate. This was extremely encouraging… to know this ministry will continue and perhaps even be stronger after we are gone.
In the end of January our church received a large delivery of shoe boxes from Samaritan’s Purse “Operation Christmas Child.” The organization asks each location that receives boxes to hold an event with an evangelical message to hand out the boxes. The week beforehand, each child in our Sunday School ministry was given invitations to bring two friends the next Sunday. The Sunday of the event the church was packed FULL of children and some parents came along as well. They enjoyed a morning of singing, a message and a snack before they each received a shoe box. The kids were of course very excited. They were told the boxes came from the States and therefore many of the children that were not from the church—and so did not know us—thanked us for the boxes on their way out! After having participated in the filling shoe boxes at Christmastime side of the equation before, it was interesting for us to see the other side of Operation Christmas Child. (click here for picture slide show of the event)
The weekend before we left we led a two day training seminar for the regional directors of Union Biblica’s children ministry. We spent time on an interactive journey through Matthew, taking the place of Jesus’ disciples in the text. We explored what it means to be a disciple by actively following the teachings of Jesus. We ended the time with Jesus’ assertion that he came not to be served, but to serve. We then closed the evening with foot-washing and worship. Afterwards, many of the directors expressed that it was a very powerful time for them. At the end of the seminar the regional directors (many of whom we had worked with several times this year) expressed their gratefulness for our work with them, and then they spent time in prayer over us for our next step in ministry. (click here for pictures)
The night before we left there was a going away service at our church. The majority of the congregation of Sala Evangelica came as well as other people we knew that did not attend the church (including coaches from the soccer league!). It was a lovely service with both worship music and “open mic” times for people to share. (click here for video they put together to show that night). A few of the people from the praise team Jonathan led changed the words to a few songs and sang them for us. (click here for video) We felt extremely honored by the outpouring of thankfulness and emotion that was expressed. Saying goodbye was extremely difficult. It was hard to imagine not seeing the faces that comprised our community day to day. Many people expressed thanks for how much we touched their lives and taught them. But we feel like we are the ones who have been extremely blessed to have been so fully accepted into that community. Through this experience we have been equipped with vital tools for our future ministry here in the states as well as life experiences that have forever changed us.
Yet we are not only thankful for them, but also for each of you that have followed us on our journey this past year. By God’s grace your every thought, prayer, and support helped carry us through this year… Especially when our surroundings felt most volatile and dangerous. As we take a few deep breaths before our next step we pause to give thanks to God both for our Honduran friends and for each of you. Que el Señor les bendiga.
One year ago today we landed in Honduras. In 18 days we will be on our way back to the States. Yet our work is keeping us from looking too far ahead. We still have much to do in these final weeks. In fact, one of the largest items on our radar does not take place until a few days before we leave… We have been asked to give an eight hour training the weekend before we leave to the regional directors of UB’s school ministry. In the meantime the soccer league is also coming to its end this next weekend, church school restarts this weekend, and we have plenty of general loose ends to address.
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One of the conversations that has been surfacing a lot lately between Orlando, Silvia, and ourselves is that of justice and accountability. As you might imagine, the genesis of these conversations is the readily apparent lack of justice and accountability in Honduras. This, along with poverty, are two of the greatest discrepancies between our two countries. You see, we can speak of the violence one sees here. But, as some of you have mentioned in your comments on our blog, brokenness and violence appear everywhere. Teacher strikes occur both here and there, murderous rampages occur both here and there… But justice and accountability are foreign and unintelligible concepts in Honduras.
Just before Christmas our friend was kidnapped at dark off the major street that runs through our city. He was on his way to be left for dead in the mountains before he managed to throw himself from the moving truck. The head injuries that he incurred from the bat and boots of his kidnappers, plus his fall, were more than enough to kill him. We thanked the Lord in a special service this past week as Eric rejoined our prayer group, to the astonishment of doctors, for the first time since the incident. The day after the attack we saw a picture worth 1,000 words. In front of us in line at the market were uniformed policemen purchasing an entire case of alcohol.
Those who attacked Eric, or those who killed the brother of one of the Union Biblica staff the day after Christmas, will not only never be found… These incidents will never even be investigated.
This really sank in the other night upon catching up on some U.S. news. We receive a Florida news station, and they were reporting on a shooting. The viewer could watch as the police, who had already practically shut down an entire section of the city, attempted to find the person responsible. We called the police the night our church was robbed at gun point. They arrived an hour later with no intention of follow-up. To be sure, it is a deficient system, more than these specific policemen, that creates a culture starved of justice and accountability.
So at first I thought she had said she was selling shoes. I answered that I wasn’t currently in need of shoes. She clarified, “No [don't you understand Spanish!]. I am asking you for a pair of your shoes.”
This took me completely by surprise. I thought of my shoes. I have both a black and brown pair to be worn for formal occasions, then a pair of nice sneakers I generally wear everywhere, and lastly a pair of older shoes that I use for working. To stall I asked, “A pair of my shoes will fit you?”
I thought some more, and heard the scriptures in my head. I remembered recently hearing a Gandhi quote that went something like, “if anyone keeps more than they need they are stealing.” (Certainly a community ethic of the first Christian community, see Acts 2:49 and Acts 4:32-37). She was considering what I said. It seemed pretty clear that she had not thought about wearing my shoes.
I looked down at her feet, which were in a pair of those open toed Crocs, and pointing to them I reiterated, “Would you wear my shoes?” She smiled, and said she would if she had them. Just then, a woman walked by with two other girls the same age. They were obviously all together. I figured they were collecting to sell. So, I gave the little girl an alternative choice: “Would it be ok with you if I kept the pair of shoes I have, and instead gave you some lempiras (their currency)?” She indicated that my proposition would be equally accepted.
I considered what I thought the shoes might be worth in today’s used shoe market, and returned to the child. Although when I returned… there were now three little girls. I asked each their name. One was named Kristy. They all giggled, with Kristy looking slightly embarrassed, when I reported that my wife’s name also is Kristy.
I asked where they live. Surprisingly, they live 45 minutes away in another city (Comayagua). They must be here to make some collection rounds? I asked if they went to church in Comayagua. They said yes, and I asked where. Two of them looked at one of the girls, asking what the name was, and she said the name of the church. At that, one of the girls said, “10 lempiras.” (Which is the common way of saying, “would you give me 10 lempiras?”). I was surprised to hear this. Normally people only ask for one lempira, two when they are feeling bold. But 10? It just so happened that I had brought out 30. So 10 for each one.
I then said something to the following effect upon the request of 10 lempira: God is good. God works through people, and in this case God is looking after you. I am telling you to believe that God is giving you this money, and that He always is with you. Therefore, when you walk away, I want the three of you to give thanks to God for this blessing from God. Ok?
They responded, “Sí.” Even though I handed one of them the money in the middle of my message, they never stopped watching me and listening intently to what I was saying. When I was done talking… there was a peace-filled silence. The four of us simply stood there for a moment. When I sensed that the silence had done its ministry I simply said, “Alright then.” And as we naturally were to now go about our day I said the typical farewell: “God bless you.” And they responded the same in return. And we both turned to walk away.
Lastly, I am not sure if I still should have given her actual shoes. On the one hand I feel now that it would have been, for me, a deeper act of trust in the Lord and His word. On the other hand, what transpired also felt right. I’ll listen intently to the Lord now in the short-run to see if I am indeed to give up my shoes…
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So I’m just finishing up with pretending to be a car mechanic in the front yard. I’m now planning to go in and edit the above section of this post. When, as I’m about to shut the car door, the doorbell is rung. I look over my shoulder and a woman is standing there…
Just the facts:
Mother of 8 (Dona Blanca-Rosa)
Father died 4 years ago
Wants a little something to help the food cause
I bring back a few small bills to buy a small meal for the family
We talk for 5 min
Find out the eldest boy needs new work shoes
She all of a sudden stops and asks if I would have a pair of shoes
I ask what size he wears
She tells me a number; about one size smaller than me
I say let me check
I go inside and look at my shoes, suffer for a moment, and bring them out
We talk for another 5-8 min…
Turns out, work jeans are also a need (she once again pauses like with the shoes, then asks if I have any)
I get the pair that I was already not planning to take back home
Come back and I pray for her family
She cries (muttering her agony that she cannot always provide bread for the children)
After that, she is like a different person, and we make small talk about the community and such for another period
She leaves (saying once again sorry for the hassle) (and that she will pray for our security), and I go back to finishing with the car.
And that’s that.
Allow me to finish by saying there may be few things that penetrate/pierce/probe the soul quite like that of a young grubby and unkempt Honduran girl asking for your shoes… Or an obviously malnourished woman begging on behalf of her children. I may have never felt more naked and vulnerable before the Lord.
One of the new experiences that living in Orlando and Silvia’s house provides (we’re house-sitting) is needy people knocking on our door. The other morning a woman with her little daughter came by. When I (Jonathan) greeted her she explained that she did not have anything to feed her little girl. Most recently a very dirty young girl (around 7 years old) was asking for my shoes.
In the first case I prepared a bag of food. We talked for a little bit.
The second case created a much deeper tension within me. As the little girl simply and plainly asked for my shoes, scripture poured into my mind: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me,” “Give to the one who asks you,” and “He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” (Mat 25:40; Mat 25:45; Mat 5:42; Luke 3:11).
So, do I (should I) give this girl one of my pairs of shoes? What do you think?
After two and a half great (but quick!) weeks in California, we find ourselves back in Siguatepeque, enjoying all the Christmas decorations that sprung up while we were gone. Our time in California was wonderful. We were able to spend quality time catching up with family and friends, and enjoy the blessing of living in our country.
As we readjust to life and schedules here, we are realizing how very quickly our last few months are going to go by. We find this early realization helpful in centering our focus on our work for the time that remains. In November we are looking forward to various activities…
We arrived just in time for one more class in the elementary school, to say goodbye to the kids as their school year ended last week. Kristy made the kids a treat from the states (brownies) that were not very attractive looking—due to pan greasing problems—but the kids loved them.
Jonathan is getting his schedule back in order with countless music lessons and meetings with the worship team at church. He will be very busy with the group in the next two months, planning end of year services and activities. Our church here traditionally does not celebrate the liturgical season Advent, nor a Christmas Eve service. Jonathan has worked together with the worship team and other church leaders to design and develop Advent services culminating in a special service for Christmas Eve. Also, he just started a teaching series on preaching (Sat. evenings) with the several people that preach at our church.
We will be busy for the rest of this month into the next helping plan for the church’s traditional Christmas dinner, graduate recognitions, closing program for Sunday School and end of the year fair for the Sunday school children where they spend points (earned for attendance and Bible memorization) on games and buying snacks.
We brought back some key ingredients to help with a Thanksgiving dinner (i.e. gravy, stuffing mix, etc.), only to find the local grocery store had set up a Thanksgiving table with most of the things the “gringos” in the area would be looking for to make Thanksgiving dinner. We shared the tradition with the group of 10 Hondurans that comprise the worship team at church. The experience was meaningful, particularly for us.
As we sat down to eat we encouraged all to share “something” for which they could give thanks to God. Each person went on to share for 5-10 minutes. We did not expect the depth of expression and faith that poured out as we shared the Turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes.
We do not highlight this to suggest that we are happy that our grand American tradition was meaningful for a bunch of Hondurans. Rather, we found them to be exemplary. They seemed to have more desire to give thanks—filled with depth and breadth—in this spur of the moment then we usually do knowing what the holiday represents well in advance. They may lack many things that we in the United States of America may have. One of them is not thanksgiving.
We are thankful for the opportunities that the next three months will present and are eager to see how God will work in our lives as well as Hondurans’ lives as we partner together in ministry. Click here to see pictures from the past few weeks.
As we begin this post, we are looking out the window 31,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico. For the first time in nine months we are returning home for a visit (two weeks). We are excited to have this time to connect with family and friends. We will certainly be packing a lot into the next two weeks!
Leaving Honduras has caused us to reflect upon the past nine months. There is no way to name all that we have experienced, all that for which we are thankful, and all the fresh ways the Spirit has opened our eyes, mind, and heart. We hope you feel the same.
Three weeks ago was Jonathan’s birthday, and it was celebrated with a typical Honduran fiesta. The amount of love the Hondurans poured into the event, and as such on to Jonathan, will never be forgotten. There is no question that the community has welcomed us in as an intricate part of the whole. We are blessed to have been so accepted and loved.
It would probably not surprise you to hear that both of our birthday parties we have had here were different than those in the States. For people not used to the type of celebration here, e.g. North Americans, a birthday party can actually produce a fair amount of anxiety! At the heart of the party (and any social gathering in general) are dinamicas. These are interpersonal games… think “ice-breaker.” Oh, and a dinamica is always predicated on making you look silly. This goes double for the guest of honor. We bring this up to illustrate how the center/foundation is person to person interaction.
It is no secret that Latino culture is often found by North Americans to be more relational, to be person-oriented. This is distinct from being, say, task-oriented or result-oriented. Now, is this a sweeping generalization? Are there plenty of exceptions? Yes and yes. One of the more enlightening aspects of our time here has been learning of the many exceptions–that which you do not have the opportunity to see when you are here on “short-term” trips. Yet speaking generally the culture is highly relational and person-oriented.
This is how someone that visited Honduras from the States this summer described it, “They have time for you. They always have the time for you.” This is a good word for those of us (we are certainly included in this) that are too often task-oriented and result-oriented to the extent of not having the time for people. Even when we see our task as God’s will, we need be wary of letting the “task” at hand hijack our person-oriented calling exemplified by our Lord Jesus. See how Jesus stops everything to be person-oriented, even given that he was in route to an emergency healing (doing God’s will)!
Mark 5:22-34
22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Part 2: The Inbreaking Into Brokenness
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A few moments ago while reading through Isaiah 11:
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
While finishing the last verse, “for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover…” Blam Blam… Blam, several shots were fired. The short concussive spouts echoed through our neighborhood. Yet in the next moment while the echo was still discernable… Ck-Ck-CRACKBOOOM! A roaring peel of thunder covered the valley of Siguatepeque. The sound of the shots was utterly consumed.
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It immediately seemed as if the reading of Isaiah had been sealed with the experience.
As if the echo of the shots were symbols of brokenness, the thunder spoke out with authority. Its rumbling filled the air; it penetrated every recess. As if the thunder was a symbol of “the knowledge of the LORD,” it filled the valley as “waters cover the sea.”
This Isaiah reading is a potent description/image of the Kingdom brought near in the incarnation of God. The Inbreaking of this Kingdom is the hope that sustains amidst the darkest brokenness. Jesus proclaimed, or rather demonstrated, how to live in his Kingdom. Yet not only did he come to demonstrate, he came to leave. Orlando recently said it like this:
When Jesus returned to Heaven the angels greeted him with a big hoopla.
After a little while Gabriel went over to Jesus and asked, “So what’s next?”
Jesus replied, “I left my 11 disciples in charge.”
Cringing slightly Gabriel asked, “Ooo, and plan B?”
“There is no plan B,” Jesus replied simply..
So what is a faithful and measured Christian response to brokenness?
The important first step: take up your cross, take up your Jesus-given responsibility, be the Inbreaking into brokenness.
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Switching gears, we want to wrap up by first letting you know school re-started this past week. There was enough of an agreement reached that the teachers started up their classes again. They are working to make up some of the lost time by not taking days off this week, which they normally would to celebrate the country’s independence day. They are also holding class on Saturdays and are getting the kids to come by having Saturdays be the days exams are given. This impressed us, God is good.
As the first half of the sports league came to an end last month, Kristy was given the opportunity to design and run a camp for all the participants in the league. Though the weekend was exhausting, as could be expected running a camp for a large group of adolescent boys, it was a great weekend for the kids. Along with games and a soccer training workshop from a professional coach, the boys experienced God through spending time with their coaches, working through Bible studies and listening to powerful testimonies. As the second half of the league now begins we are thankful to see how God is Inbreaking into the brokenness of society.
Click here to browse through the new photos to see pictures of the sports camp along with other recent activities including: the inauguration of the NEW location and fresh look of the Union Biblica bookstore.
Part 1: Brokenness
Every Tuesday we (usually Kristy) teach “Bible values” to two sixth grade classes at a local school. One month ago at Union Biblica’s weekly Monday devotion we were told that there was a chance school would be suspended the following day. Sure enough, as teachers stayed home to strike there was no school across the country.
The following Tuesday Kristy went to the school. Like many weeks she found the large gate at the entrance locked. She proceeded to call the teacher so that she might be let in, but discovered instead that the teachers were still striking.
“Do you know how long this strike will last?” Kristy asked.
“I do not know, you have to listen to the news at night to know if there will be school the next day,” she replied.
Therefore, the children had now missed over a week of school, and it was uncertain when classes would resume. Yet we must also remember that students here are in school for a total of four hours each day; this is close to half of the time students spend at school in the States. There is no potential to make up lost time. Rather, the children are being sacrificed. They will simply never learn what they have missed. It would seem the basic and foundational intelligence of each child (reading, writing and arithmetic) will have holes.
This was one month ago. To this day school has not resumed. Not only does it remain uncertain when classes may resume, but as we write there are now daily skirmishes ensuing between the army/police and teacher protesters in the capital. Each day the violence rises one notch, this was yesterday. And if you’re wondering what will eventually happen with the students… when a similar lapse in school occurred last year in the wake of the presidential coup, every student simply received a passing grade at the end of the year.
Such brokenness with an uncertain end is, unfortunately, an accurate description for many (seemingly all) of the major sectors of this society. For example:
Public safety: Depending on the source, Honduras is either the second or first most violent (by homicide rate) country on the entire planet. In the past year for every 100,000 people there were 67 homicides. For a reference point, last year the United States came in at 6 and the global average was under 10. Furthermore, as recent as 2005 Honduras’ number was 35; the number doubled in four years!
Government: Corruption’s roots run so deep… that it appears much of the political scene is a puppet show. And since the puppeteers are the few profit-focused persons who own all of the major corporations, the Honduran people like pawns are consistently sacrificed in strategic moves to make a buck (well, a Lempira).
Despite everything, we work with Hondurans that are moved by their faith, by their hope, and by their Lord’s calling.
Before we go any further with this post, we are interested in hearing your thoughts. What might you imagine to be a faithful and measured Christian response to brokenness? We are interested what you think in general, not necessarily just for us. Please add your voice in the comments (click on “leave a comment” below).
