Days in El Salvador seem long. Really long. It´s not bad, just an observation. In fact, it relaxes me to know that there is so much time in a day. Every week feels like two.
Well, if days are long in El Salvador... they´re even longer in Honduras. Our weekend there felt like a week. The journey over is beautiful, through mountains and wide spreading countryside. The air turns cooler as we get higher up, and instead of the murderous heat, there´s a nice mild temperature and beautiful breezes.
The town we visit is high on a mountain, and the journey to the nearest town takes us on a beautiful paved road (which is slowly washing out) that overlooks a valley. Now THAT´s a sight in the morning.
So we visited, and found our brothers and sisters in the Lord doing quite well there. Marvin, a new brother in christ (only 10 months old in the faith) greeted us warmly. He´s 27, and he and his wife, Daisy just had their fourth child, a beautiful little girl.
Yet things are not all well. Villagers continue to be threated with fines and fees if they´re caught attending church. But in spite of their difficulties, the church has grown to about 16 to 20 members in only a year. Their prayer and worship is a beautiful time. And despite the persecution and hardship from hard work or bad health, they´re not only surviving, they´re thriving.
That´s why James writes that we should count it all joy whenever we face trials and persection... because the trying of our faith produces perseverance.
On Saturday, we held a morning seminar where we covered some biblical truths. Mike covered sessions on Jonah and how to please God, and I had the privlage of teaching on Luke 6:27, loving your enemies. They drank in every word, eager to learn.
Then in the afternoon, I was able to go to the market in the local city with Antonio and Laticia, as they shared the gospel with many there.
Finally, we visited Oscar and Valentina´s house. Oscar is a dear brother in the Lord who lost an eye and nearly all his sight when he had a brain tumor. He knows Mike from Mike´s time teaching english in the states. So here he was, young in the faith, and eager to bring the gospel back to his homeland when he´s struck down with a tumor, leaving him nearly helpless. He has no sense of balance and is unable to work, but he remains strangely joyful.
The quesion I have to ask myself is... would I be so joyful if such a thing happened to me? Would I make the most of my time? Am I making the most of my fully functional body now?
In any case, pray for Oscar and his family. Not a month beofore, a man was stabbed six times with a machete on his street because he was a Christian. He´s naturally somewhat fearful for his family, so pray that the Lord would protect them.
In any case, I look forward to telling you more about the mission there, but my time here is short. So next... my battles with scorpions!
Grace and peace,
- Pablo
Here´s a photo of the brothers and sisters in Honduras.
