I am seriously the worst blog writer ever... this was supposed to be written in four parts... in the four weeks after my trip. And here I am on the eve of my new trip, and I’m just now writing this? Ouch.
So this is going to wrap up my Honduras trip, and be a preview of my new trip...
It’s amazing how the time I spent there seemed so long. I was only there a month, but it felt like several... even a year. Every day, we’d wake up and prepare a full breakfast, study the scriptures, and then head off to encourage a brother or share our hope in Christ with someone in the village.
Then, we’d eat a similarly long lunch and leisurely make our way to a bible study at a village down the road. And every Saturday, we made the trek up to Carisalito, a nearby village at the top of a ridge. We usually held a service there, and I usually spent some time entertaining the kids during the service... which is surprisingly difficult when you can’t speak Spanish.
Still, for the most part, games like ‘tag’ and ‘cops and robbers’ proved to be a universal language. Then there came the Saturday where it rained the entire service. So I sat there, staring at the kids... and they stared right back at me. If I didn’t start entertaining them soon, they’d start to interrupt the service. So I entertained the kids by mimicking different strange voices and doing an impression of an old man. And of course, during all the funny acting, I butchered their language, to much laughter.
Well, not that it took much more work than usual to butcher Spanish. I have a special talent for that, apparently. I studied what Spanish I could every day, and each day, discovered new frustrations as I tried to communicate more and more. Still, I made steady progress – at least in speaking in the present tense. Looking back though, I remember several of the conversations I had clearly in English, even though they happened in a mix of Spanish and impromptu sign language. Just the other day, I remembered a conversation I had about some fruit that grew there, and I could have sworn there was a translator present... but after searching my memory... I came to the strange realization that I was the only English speaker present, and that the conversation was completely in Spanish.
So as my Spanish grew, I enjoyed my time talking to the missionaries and locals more and more. And the missionaries, Antonio and Laticia became my surrogate parents for the time I was there. They took care of me and showed me what it really means to serve others and show hospitality. The food was excellent, and more plentiful than I could imagine. They even joked that my parents wouldn’t recognize me when I got back, because I put on so much weight.
Fortunately, God had other ideas. Our truck broke down in the middle of my time there, which meant that for two weeks, our only transportation was our own two feet. All that walking saved me, and I actually ended up losing some weight by the end of my time there, despite having much more food than I needed. (I have got to start a missions trip diet plan... I’m sitting on a goldmine there.)
And slowly it dawned on me that even in a country wracked with poverty, here I was well fed and taken care of, with shelter, safety, and friends. God is so good to me wherever I go. I know that the day will come when my earthly needs are not so aptly met, but God has blessed me beyond anything I can imagine... no matter wherever I go.
With these thoughts, my concern went to those who are not so blessed. And I started to consider how I could share my blessings with those around me... which is the topic of a future letter on “Fasting for Food”.
During my short stay in Honduras, the church continued to grow. Like any church, it has its share of problems and petty squabbles, but the love that each member has is very clear. Because most of the members are very recent converts who spent most of their time drinking and getting drunk, some still fall into their old habits.
In His grace, God created this church out of nothing. A year and a half ago, there were no believers in the entire region. No brotherhood, no fellowship... only a group of desperate men and women whose only pastime was getting drunk, stealing, and causing trouble. Marvin recalled a story to me where he chopped a radio in half while it was hanging from his friend’s head.
‘Fun’ with machetes...
... while drunk.
Wow. By God’s grace, Marvin never killed anyone... although he came close several times, by his own admission.
But it’s just like God to create something out of nothing. He created the light and separated it from the darkness in Genesis 1, and he’s continued that work in Honduras, where He’s separating people from the darkness and giving them light.
“God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts...”
2 Corinthians 4:6
So be encouraged, the Lord is still creating something out of nothing...
And so, to honor the Lord’s work there, I plan on returning on Thursday... to encourage the brothers and sisters. There have been some issues between some of the brothers and sisters, so I pray that there will be peace. So with that in mind, pray for me that I will boldly share what needs to be shared, and that the brothers and sisters down there will continue fighting the good fight.
Look for an update (no, really) halfway through the missions trip.
Until then God bless!
