Thoughts from Honduras
2006
Contents
Harold
January 17, 2006
Harold is one of the guys who works at the farm, Finca Alfa y Omega. He and four others soon will be owners of their own business, renting the property for their farm from Asociación Alfa y Omega.
Beginning several months ago, as Harold and I drove vegetables to market, we had time to talk about lots of things. We have developed a good friendship. He began confiding in me concerning his girlfriend, and other concerns.
One day he asked me if I thought it was wrong to be a sports enthusiast. I asked him what he thought. He said the pastor of his parents’ church said it was a sin to play soccer because it took him away from church. Harold loves soccer, and is a local star. His parents’ church meets 6 nights a week, and both morning and evening on Sundays. Attendance is considered mandatory to remain in good standing in the church.
Sunday is the big soccer day in the community. Inevitably there are conflicts with church attendance due to soccer practice and away games. Therefore, to avoid being considered a sinner and being put under church discipline, Harold chose to play soccer and stay away from church.
Harold has been a regular attendee of our youth ministry, Alfa, and has shown real interest spiritually.
I told Harold the real issue was not soccer, but was his relationship with Jesus Christ. Because Harold’s pastor had put up this barrier, Harold decided to put Christ off until his soccer playing days were over. I told Harold he could follow Christ and play soccer, but he had trouble with accepting that possibility.
A couple of months later, Harold went to a weekend youth retreat. He came back excited to tell me that he had decided to follow Christ. The retreat was sponsored by a city church in his denomination that was much less legalistic in their approach to Christianity. The speaker at the retreat told Harold that he could follow Christ and play soccer; actually that he should continue to play soccer and use it as a ministry to help others become followers of Christ! That was just what Harold needed! He jumped in with both feet!
Once he returned home, he talked with his pastor who reluctantly agreed to give it a trial. He expressed his pessimism that Harold could both play soccer and serve Christ! Harold has demonstrated a transformation in his life that has electrified his church. Due to his popularity, his example has been a strong influence. A few weeks ago, Harold and 18 other young people from his church were baptized in a swollen river during a rain storm! Nothing would stop them, even though I expected the weather to cancel the event.
Harold has assumed spiritual leadership at the farm as well, demonstrating a good work ethic, and desire to learn. Due to his interest, we began a Bible study on Fridays that is attended by the five partners and two guards at the farm.
Currently I am spending even more time with Harold as I am teaching him to drive! I enjoy Harold’s enthusiasm but am struggling to lighten his lead foot, or as they say in Spanish, his itchy foot.
12 February 2006
People often ask us what we do as missionaries. I fill our reports for my mission every six months and describe our ministry. Although it has always been a big part of what we do, this year more than ever, our lives are best described by the word ”teaching”.
Becky’s full time job since we have had kids has been that of a teacher. I have watched with interest, amazement and admiration the job she has done preparing our kids for the future. Adam and Abbie are natural learners. They love to read and learn. Becky has taught them to think for themselves and guided them through the process of developing their own identities and formation of their own internal standards. Our kids know what they believe and why they believe it.
It is with both sadness and joy that we make preparations for Adam to head for Atlanta to prepare for college. He desires to study civil engineering with the goal of using his training as a missionary. His departure will leave a void in our home, but also a sense of satisfaction of a job well done as he moves out to follow Christ in the path God is leading him.
Jake, our youngest has provided a challenge to Becky. His learning style is very different. He hates to sit still. But Becky has adapted her teaching methods to Jacob’s needs. Even though Jake will tell you he doesn’t like school, he in reality shows excitement about many of the learning activities and books that Becky has selected to teach him. He is choosing more and more often to spontaneously sit down with a book and learn something on his own.
Becky also regularly teaches a women’s Bible class, and English classes when there is an interest. Recently she began teaching a high school student how to bake cinnamon rolls to sell, so that she could earn the money necessary to buy her school supplies. It would have been much easier to give her the money and be done with it, but as a good teacher, Becky desired to instill something with more meaning into the life of this young lady.
The role as teacher has trickled down. Adam and Abbie are both involved in teaching music to Hondurans and North Americans. Adam has begun a discussion group with several Honduran friends as they read through “The Purpose Driven Life” together. He has also taught in the youth group, and even spoke in church recently.
My life has been more focused in teaching as well. Mike Yost, another missionary living in Balfate, and I began a men’s Bible study. I also am preparing two men in our church for leadership, one as pastor, another as deacon.
My main focus at the moment has been preparing nine individuals to run their own businesses. I am teaching Adam and a Honduran young man from our farm how to drive. And most recently, I began teaching medical interns at the government hospital in La Ceiba.
Teaching Adam and the medical interns has reminded me of something I already knew but had not consciously thought much about recently. Adam and the interns know how to learn. They have developed problem solving skills. They work through mental algorithms. They think ahead concerning the consequences of their choices. They are eager to learn. I just need to present them with the information, and they process it. They in essence are the cream of the crop, demonstrating ability, ambition and initiative.
But generally, in the rural town of Balfate, the cream has been skimmed off. The folks with initiative and ambition, with a few exceptions, have left for more education and better jobs. This has left us with good folks, but those who are not quite so ambitious. They are more apt to take life easy. They don’t have the same desire to learn, nor the problem solving ability. Teaching them is more difficult. They are not ready to receive information. They need first to learn how to process information, to think ahead, to make good choices with the consequences in mind. This at times leaves me frustrated. Things that seem so obvious to me are totally missed. Problems are left unaddressed, often times to be magnified due to lack of early intervention.
But there is progress. I have at times had to sit on my hands and bite my tongue, letting events play out with adverse consequences. Experience is at times the best teacher. I have at times needed to make our future business owners a bit uncomfortable to make them aware. They don’t enjoy that part of their learning process. They generally would rather be my employees, putting in their hours, taking home their pay, instead of working through the tough issues and challenges of ownership.
So we are teachers. It is not always easy, but it is rewarding. There will not always be successes on a human level, but investment in lives for the sake of Christ will have eternal yields.
February 18, 2006
Rony (see photo) grew up in Balfate without the presence of a father. His mother runs a small general store from her house, attends a local church, and has instilled good values in her children. Rony, despite the odds against him, is a student in the university in La Ceiba, studying industrial engineering. He has at least 2 ½ years to go before graduation. He is a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ.
Rony has initiative and intelligence at a level that is rare among those who live in our community. He is also an artist. He has a dream to have his own business producing artwork and souvenirs, and would like to do it in his home town of Balfate. Rony is a partner in our retail business, Tienda Alfa y Omega, and the recognized leader when it comes to ideas and organization. He works on weekends and during vacations from the University, maintaining our accounting and working in sales in the tienda. He is also a member of Asociacion Alfa y Omega.
For one of his classes, Rony needs to develop a product, produce and market it. He combined his skills as an artist, his education, and his position in the tienda to come up with a great idea! Rony, via Tienda Alfa y Omega is in the process of producing book bags with hand painted designs. A family in our church that does sewing has made a few prototypes. Rony is producing the patterns and teaching others how to paint the bags. We are looking for the best prices on raw materials to keep the cost down and the profit margin reasonable. We will likely retail the standard size bag at about $5.
Several local folks have put in orders already for custom designs and sizes. We are looking at a larger beach bag size, and a smaller Bible size, with different length handles to put over the shoulder or hold at the wrist.
We are excited to be a part of Rony’s life, helping him achieve success in obtaining education and becoming a Christian leader in the community. It is also exciting to see his plans unfold and positively influence others in the community, providing meaningful work in a setting that honors Jesus Christ.
February 26, 2006
Soreida is a young lady who attends our church. She is sweet, shy, but very friendly once you get to know her. She is somewhat slow mentally, can’t read, and is easily frustrated by little challenges. She faithfully attends Becky’s Bible study.
Soreida’s boyfriend, José, also attends our church and our men’s Bible study. He too is a little immature, but not so obviously. He is friendly and rides a bicycle decked out with all the extras. He has tried working for us in a couple of capacities, but quickly bores of the job and leaves with a big smile on his face. He mostly does odd jobs and tends a house for his aunt who lives in The States.
Several months ago, José announced that he and Soreida were going to have a baby. They moved in to live together. About that time, we were planning a baptism for our church. Both José and Soreida wanted to be baptized. Our acting pastor at the time wisely held off on baptizing them until they could be better counseled on what it was all about.
José and Soreida have grown in their understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. They both desire to be baptized and married. We have begun talking about the timing of the events, especially in light of the imminent arrival of the baby.
Today, Becky hosted a baby shower for Soreida at our home. It was a full house and fun event! (see pictures at www.ayohonduras.org/iglesiaayo.htm) The ladies of the church recognize Soreida’s limitations and are concerned with her ability to handle a newborn. It appears that Soreida may have several “moms” to help her through the process. It may be a good bonding experience for our church.
…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
Matthew 25:40
16 April 2006
We have a new neighbor that we are a bit uncertain about. We are afraid to get to know him (or her) too well. He / she may have a grumpy disposition, and we really don’t want to find out. Because of our new neighbor, the kids quit swimming in the river in front of our house.
As missionaries, that is a strange attitude to have toward a neighbor, if he / she is human, that is. This new neighbor is a reptile. It looks to be about eight feet long. Our nature manuals tell us that in our area we can find both alligators and crocodiles. Since we are not experts, like the guy from Australia, we need to guess. It makes a better story to call it a crocodile, but we don’t know for sure.
Adam saw it first a couple of days ago, and got some decent photos. Yesterday, he came running in for his camera and announced that our neighbor was back. Becky and I headed out with our camera too. When I first saw it, I thought it was a tree stump on the sand bar in the middle of the river.. Even after I took my first picture, I wasn’t convinced. I had once taken a picture of a “toucan” that turned out to be a dried up branch when we enlarged it on the computer. Then it moved, and I was convinced! He slipped into the water, swam upstream to a grassy area, and crawled ashore, well camouflaged.
Beware all you neighborhood dogs,
and kids too!
June 2, 2006
“T” is for transition! At long last, the time is here! June 16 is the last day for Inversiones Alfa y Omega to have employees! Three independent businesses will be born!
Over the last year, we have tried growing a variety of things for market. Some didn’t do well. Some were so-so. Some did great: bananas, platanos, papayas, radishes. Due to the growing Hispanic population in the US, there is a growing demand for platano bananas, the “potato” of Latin America. We have been working with a USAID agriculture engineer whose job is to match up producers with the market. His recommendation for our soil, location and climate is that we should grow platanos for export. The market is already well established locally.
So, three of the men from the farm will go independent, leasing the land, and expanding production of platanos. USAID had a very detailed budget prepared for them. Asociacion Alfa y Omega will supply the funds needed for start up via a loan.
Our retail business will give birth to two businesses. Rony, our artist and university student, will take the souvenir business and use it to pay for his college expenses. His long term goal is to return to Balfate and run his own business producing artwork and handcrafts for sale primarily via the tourist industry.
The young ladies in the retail shop decided they really don’t have the desire to become owners. They were happy to be employees, and appreciated the opportunity to learn and experience something different. However two men from our association do want to continue the business, supplying copies, phone service, school supplies, and a variety of other goods and services to the community. They hope to develop the ice cream distributorship, and eventually add an Internet café.
Inversiones Alfa y Omega will soon cease to exist. As soon as the final government approval of our non profit association is granted, Asociación Alfa y Omega will carry on the same purpose to assist the development of the Balfate area in the name of Jesus Christ!
June 25, 2006
Sunday was a very significant day for our church in Balfate! We came to Honduras with the goal of making disciples for Jesus Christ. That is coming to pass.
Sunday five were baptized, including our son Jacob. It was a joyous occasion in which to participate, especially for our family as Jake made his commitment to be obedient to Jesus.
Later that evening, we formally appointed our new pastor, Vicente. Vicente grew up in the community, having a youthful life of self indulgence in alcohol, drugs and sex. He left for the city to find work, and more excitement. While working in a factory, he met a woman, Nidia, and brought her back to Balfate to live. They had two children while living together.
Then things began to change for Vicente. He and Nidia began attending a new Bible study in Balfate organized by a Mission to the Americas missionary. Vicente also was hired to work in the pharmacy at the hospital. As the Bible study grew and began to consider becoming a church, Vicente and Nidia decided to become followers of Christ. We had the pleasure of hosting their wedding at our house, and seeing them baptized in the river that runs by our house. This became the event that defined our church as The Church of the Alfa and Omega.
Over the years, Vicente has been a sponge, soaking in the truth of the Bible, attending men’s studies and church leadership training. Several months ago he announced to our church body that he sensed God’s calling to become a minister. He began teaching on a regular basis in our church, and has had remarkable development as he has participated in pastoral training classes.
Our church agreed that the time had come for Vicente to officially become our pastor. We formally appointed him, dedicating his ministry and our church to Christ. Vicente will continue to participate in pastoral training classes, and be mentored by an experienced Honduras pastor who is relocating to Balfate.
As every six months I fill out my report to our mission, I am asked how I define and measure success in my ministry. I have consistently responded that I am looking for fruit, for changed lives. Vicente, and those just baptized, are a success story, a testimony of the grace and power of Jesus Christ to transform lives. It has been a joy to be a part of this process.
