¡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.)
