You don´t have to travel to be apart of another culture... Let´s make one ourselves called The Body of Christ

My family (plus some) at a famous hot-spings water park in Gracias, Lempira.

A common one-room school in one of the mountain communities called Campo Alegre (Happy Rural Place/Camp).

One of the locals tying on his basket that they use to pick coffee on the impossibly steep terrain.

Two beautiful friends sorting the green coffee bean from the ripe, red ones.

A beautiful flower, one of many that my host mother cares for and loves on behind our house.



It´s strange how the time seems to fly and die at different points in our lives. I´ve had weeks that seem to drag on forever but then others that have passed without even realizing it. But both good and healthy in their own ways. One thing we can´t escape is that time passes. With about a month and a half left, the mix of emotions grow stronger as I try not to pine over things in either Honduras or Honesdale... as the cliché goes, I´m just trying to ¨stay in the moment.¨ At times I´m better at this than others.

Just 2 days ago I dropped a wonderful friend and sister off at the airport here in San Pedro Sula after a quick 5-day visit. I´ll admit it was rushed but full of fun experiences for both of us. It´s always nice to have deep conversations when I get the chance (this culture hasn´t seemed to quench my thirst for those types of talks other than in bible studies). Susan was able to experience, absorb and even squirm a bit with rural Honduran culture, along with the language barrier. But I have to admit how impressed I was with her comfort, confidence, self-awareness, and humility wherever we went. This sort of traveling always promises more lasting memories and, more importantly, offers unequaled opportunities for character building.

As far as my work/church/life goes, I just realized last week that there is an easily overlooked and under appreciated mile-marker in most of our lives where a job or a certain lifestyle change finally sets in and becomes the norm... becomes accepted, and even enjoyed. It was nice to return to the routine, while my attention was called to the feeling of walking into my home, debriefing the family on the last few days of travel and noticing a level of comfort I´ve felt only a few times in the last 8 months. I was home again. So onto something else...
Just a way to think about things a bit differently for you an I... I´ve changed what I call myself down here.
I used to say that I´m a ¨volunteer.¨ And that´s what I´d be in the eyes of most Americans but the fact is that I receive more personal spending money than a large portion of the laborers make to take home. My food, room, medical, and even telephone is paid for by MCC (to which I am forever grateful to those who sponsored and supported me financially) but with the ¨living stipend¨ that we are given each month, I´ve met few Hondurans that can spend as much on personal enjoyment or pleasure. It´s fair to say that although a dollar usually goes further here, the pay is much less as well. We could say that a soda costs 50 cents(US) but that´s a lot when some workers only make the equivalent of $5 a day. But all that to say I cannot, in good conscience, call myself a volunteer to those I talk to here. I´ve conceded to calling myself a service worker.

I´m continually amazed on the roller coaster we take ourselves on/God takes us on to get to points we´ve wanted to get to but didn´t know how to get there. That to say that whatever it is that we´re struggling with, we´ll come out of it, with His permission, and be stronger for it. I was at a meeting a few weeks ago where we were talking about how sin in our lives as leaders (but not only leaders) affects the entire body and how lack of discipline is one of the root causes why the church is not growing or the spiritual lives of many are a bit stagnant. Also the lack of authority in the church. How many will be in sin and yet will not be confronted about it (in a loving, constructive manner) and how this gives way to false testimonies and excused hypocrisy. So what the pastor proposed is that all of us that are leaders in the church either confess and repent of what we are in that is keeping us from living out the fullness of the Lord´s call in our lives, or step down from our position of leadership. Too often leaders are not held to higher standers and in these cases it is better said that the blind are leading the blind... That was pretty convicting for me and hopefully will continue to effect the way I see my life and actions. We also talked about the importance of small groups and personal relationships within those groups and how our priorities to the things of the family of God, truly show where our hopes and dependencies are.

Many people have asked me what I have planned for this next step. I always tell them: ¨Not sure. I have to talk to my church.¨
As I think about what I would do when I come home, I think to my love of the west and almost definite job opportunities out there but have come to realize- in my time down here- that beyond my career, my personal desires, and my deep ties to Oregon, my home church is and should be most important in my life. If we are trying to do this ¨church-thing¨ or be a true family or team, how can we do that without any sense of self-denial or commitment? Having said that, I am looking forward to coming back and sharing my experiences and learning what God has been doing in the lives of my church family in the past year. I´ll be looking for where I can plug in an use the gifts He has given me in His and their service.
I thank you all for the support and love you´ve shown me in my time down here and pray that just as HE has taught and changed me, that you were/are open to what HE desires of your lives; that you would not let past experiences, laziness/apathy, stereotypes or mere doubt block the potential of the best relationship we´ll ever know... the one He´s offering each one of us.

Vacaciones, La Ceiba y La Oficina

¡Feliz Año Nuevo a todos!! How time is flying. July (the end of my term) will be here before any of us know it. I can’t express how enjoyable the last 2 months have been for me. We had one month off from the office for the holiday vacations. I know it sounds like a lot considering I am only here for a total of 11 months but in that time I was able to enjoy many experiences. Honduran Christmas includes lights, a Christmas tree (artificial), the making and consuming of tamales (kinda like cornmeal with meat inside it that is wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked in a large pot over the stove) and bread (using the large clay oven seen in the pictures and turns out more like a cake due to the texture and its sweetness). The family spent both the 24th and 30th of December preparing these 2 holiday treats. The time with the family is what I loved most about being down here for the holidays. Apart from the loads of fireworks that were set off both nights, there were NO gifts exchanged between members of the family. Christmas day came just like any other day and left just the same. There was no overwhelming excitement by the kids nor was there any rush, competition in gift giving, or value placed in the material things of the day. Neither was there a Christmas Eve/Day service at my church but interestingly enough, of the 2 holidays the New Year was celebrated more within the community. It is seen as a time to think about the last year and start afresh.
The first weekend in January I arrived in La Ceiba (that is said to be the city for those who like to play). As the largest city in Honduras that has a beach, I enjoyed 2 weeks in this beautifully tropical location studying Spanish in the morning (now that I had a good comprehension of the basics, I wanted to advance my knowledge) and touring the town or going to the beach with new friends in the afternoons. I was thankful to have had the chance to do some touristy things that I might not have had apart from this vacation. I must say, it was pretty torturous. You all would have hated it. Haha ;^)
Things have gotten back into full swing in the office and there has been much change. I have a good deal more responsibility with other projects that I had not anticipated last year, having lost 3 coworkers, 2 of which were unexpected. (That left 6 of us in the office of CASM. The woman, Carmen (age 37?), that I spoke of in previous posts, has taken over as temporary coordinator and has been struggling a bit to delegate responsibilities and desperately wants to keep working in the mountains but is forced to be in meetings more often than not. The other 4 are Franco(46), working with the politics and I’m not really sure what more he does still (he has a lot of meetings); Ingrid(25), works on an internationally sponsored cattle program; Karla(23), the office administrator working with the finances and other resources of the office and Denis(49), a Canadian volunteer through CUSO.) One of those additional responsibilities will be working with a group of young adults from the communities through the local church. The office without a coordinator has been a bit chaotic since I’ve been back. All these things considered, I still enjoy the office more this year more than before, partly because I can understand what is going on now. Still, every day is like an adventure. Like Tuesday, Jan 29th for example: we (myself along with an economist from the main office in San Pedro and Denis, the Canadian think-tank and a good friend) left the office a bit early to meet with a group of a few women to continue a workshop of small business formation/management. Their business is the sale of roasted organic coffee beans. I accompanied them to talk specifically with one of the women (who is the owner of one of the 2 ecological hotels I am working to promote) about a group that will be coming to visit her plantation, hotel, and community in a few weeks and start planning for that visit. After a lunch of soup (very salty -which seems to be customary- with potato like vegetables (pataste) not to mention rice on the side that you put in the soup with a bit of slightly chewy, undercooked chicken) we travel the muddy mountain roads to a slightly larger community. This one has energy and is only a few miles outside of Azacualpa. Here the same workshop was begun with a group of 14 women who have started a small business in natural medicine. For me it was interesting how the economist presented the option and yet continued to confirm that it was not he that was going to do this but them. This group was much more motivated and decisive than the previous group. With the afternoon snack as rice filled tacos covered with cole slaw/salsa along with a passion fruit juice, I was thankful for my day ¨pregnant with interest¨, as I expressed in Spanish.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN THE DEEPER THINGS OF ADAM´S WORLD... I was just asked yesterday (Feb 16) if when I go back I’ll live or think differently. That is a question I had yet to consider. Obviously the answer is YES but I couldn’t give any description about what I would like to change until I’d thought about it. I’ve been reading an incredibly challenging draft to a book by John Alexander called ¨Stop Going to Church: Start Being the Church.¨ It, more than anything, is making me think critically about how the majority of us DO church within western culture. His reflections on how we are to live as the people of God are overwhelmingly biblical and yet radical. The individualistic cultural glasses, through which we read the Bible, have accompanied the majority of missionaries who founded churches in Honduras. The Baptist church that I have been attending is a place for people to gather on Sat night, Sunday morning and evening and occasionally one night during the week. The bible never speaks of the church being a place but a community of believers...a united body. I hear sermons about my individual decision to cleans my heart or mind and renew my spirit but seldom do I hear about the incredible sacrifices we should be making for our brothers and sisters in the faith. I hear about the emptiness of both our hearts and the church building, but training and practicing along side one another to be The Church -as the unique group in which to find loving, redemptive, forgiving relationships- is seldom highlighted. We Christians are used to hearing that God should be top priority in our lives (and that is true) but that is only half of it. The New Testament talks more about us being a part of a believing community than it does about our individual beliefs OR how we are to treat others outside of our church.
This has been difficult for me to swallow and has made me long for my church back in Beach Lake (I’m realizing how much I miss you guys and being a part of a close community but also how we even have a long way to go... sorting through theology that we’ve adopted from our culture and trying to start our own culture as ¨The Church.¨) but also had me thinking about the various churches that I have been involved in. I also think back to my days in Baker Valley and LaGrande and the believers there. In the end, these thoughts -mixed with those to come- will help to shape how my life will be different when I return to the States. (I would love to be in touch with anyone that has more comments on this topic.)