Adam In Honduras

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

2008-05-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-17T15:19:00.000-08:00

¡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.)

Photos

2007-12-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Adam´s world in Honduras.

Hopefully in order: My first few weeks in the office with the ladies of the office; at one of the hotels/plantations with the owner & 2 other MCC volunteers; MCC´s aid of canned meat in one of the small villages; a beautifully large locust; a cuttie at the other hotel site; Azacualpa´s central park; Cesiah (one of the girls from the office) and me hiking; site for the CASM National Retreat; site of the first hotel (again); my 2 bellas that live with me; part of the team on a project; ¨the guard of The mountain¨; tiny village of the 2nd hotel from a distance; my immediate family here; 2 beauties and David Beckam (as I am sometimes refered to here not because of my great skills on the soccer field but mostly because I play, have blonde hair like him, and we´re both famous in our own ways).

Click once on the photo to enlarge, and it may take a minute or two to display all the pictures...
Just be patient.

Has it been three weeks already?

2007-09-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

The pictures here are of the soccer field and my host sisters - can you spot them?-, a cultural dance the night of Dia de Independencia, my host mother- in her beautiful garden- and my good friend, Oscar, and last, y definitely least, the baño (bathroom)... for Abby to remember the adventures of using the facilities. (Click on the picture to enlarge)

Gracias a Dios (thanks to God) I am here in Azacualpa and have most of my sanity. As I write this update it is hard to comprehend that I have been here three weeks already. Still my spanish is quite poor but I have been blessed with some tutors here. I will say that as I continue to struggle, the relationships that seem to build themselves, do not recognize language barriers. The children in my host family (including some of their cousins, half-siblings and neighbors) have both been my teachers and my friends. The youngest ones talk to me just as if I can understand every word they say when most of the time I can´t. My companions in the office have been a little frustrated at times with my inability to understand them... after the third time they repeat the same phrase, which I already told them I don´t understand. Still, things are coming along.

It is incredible when I think back to my expectations and naive understanding of where I was coming and the work that I would be doing. I half expected a much different world, not just a different culture and language. I have learned a great deal already about managing the environment here and different methods of farming. At times, with the exception of the language, when driving through some of the pine forests of the mountains, I think back to my time in Oregon. Or when driving through the fields of corn or cow pastures, I realize that things are not so different here. The small villages up in the mountains are made up of the same type of people you and I are. I quickly lost the disillusionment of seeing people as anything other than who they are instead of what they have or do not have. They experience the same joy that we do and I often wonder who is happier in the end, those with more or those with less... but one thing is clear, those with less are often much more willing to share what they do have. This is a convicting topic, I think, for many of us. How have we treated visitors, not only to our house and our town, but to our country? to our churches? People have literally gone out of their way to get me something they only ASSUMED that I desired. How many of us do that with people in our lives?

I will say that for me, the living situation has been quite an adjustment. I learned soon after I moved into my ¨own¨ room that I was actually sharing it with many flying and crawling creatures. Well, last week I had to have a talk with these roommates. I told them all that as long as they did not bite me, crawl on me or just freak me out, that for these ten months I could tolerate them, with the help of a fan in my room... thank the Lord. Well apparently the city of Azacualpa was unaware of this compromise and came through the streets (and even into the houses with gas powered pumps that spray a sort of insecticide). The word is that the hurricane may have pushed many of these mosquitoes from the east side of the country our direction and that it has been a bit worse than usual. The bites are not what they worry about, its the dengue fever that can lay a person up for a few days that they are trying to avoid. For me the shower and the toilet are the two most vulnerable areas for mosquito bites. Also last night when I went to the bathroom, I was unaware that anyone else was using it and as I opened the door, was almost trampled by a large, equally shocked, cockroach.

Doña Maria, my host mother, is an elderly woman who is extremely attentive and has a heart of gold but also is well respected in the community. There is no one that I would rather live with... and it helps that her back yard is adjacent to the soccer campo where they have games every Sunday. Instead of paying the entrance fee to watch from the bleachers, I climb the mango tree with a few of my young friends and watch the game perched in the tree. Last weekend, the power went out again, as it seems to daily, during the game and when it returned an hour or more later and we returned to our perches, it seemed as though everyone had just waited at the field for it to return. This surprised me for 2 reasons: 1) most of the time the power takes a lot longer to return and 2) it showed me how many people´s weekend revolves around the game.

This is the younger of the 2 sisters, Jisbela, in her beautiful ¨Independence Day¨ dress her mother made for her.

I am anxious to find my place here. I look forward to speaking comfortably and understanding more about the environment, religions, family, and culture...not to say that I have not already had algun conversaciones sobre los topicos. I could most definitely keep going, but to keep you thirsty for more, I will leave you here for now. Where is your passion??? Don´t suppress it...

Finally on my way to Azacualpa

2007-09-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Maybe time for an update...

I have just finished up language school in Copan with Sarah and received some frantic emails about the hurricane (thanks for caring, though). We are back here in San Pedro Sula, now. We just had a short weekend of team meetings (all those on the MCC team currently in Honduras- there are 10 of us) and were able to build some friendships that will be strengthened through out the year. We all went to a local soccer game last night at the stadium, which is one tier about 50 rows up on 3 of the 4 sides. The stadium was kinda empty because the teams playing were not intense rivals so it wasn't much to talk about. Still the game, for me, was awesome. I'm looking forward to watching a lot of soccer and playing when I can.

The families that you see here are my host mother, Dona Tina (who cooked excellent meals for what seemed to be the entire city of Copan) and her Daughter (who's name I never could get). The other is some other memebers of the family and Sarah's teacher (the stud in the blue named Luis). The little boy, Giovanni (3 yrs old) was fun to watch and try to understand. We became good friends though.

This morning in church I had somewhat of a realization. As usual, I was trying to identify words or phrases that I heard in the service, and trying to not let my mind wander, which it tends to do when you can't understand much. In one of those wandering moments I realized that I shouldn't be frustrated after these 2 weeks of language school because I still can't understand much or still can't remember the Spanish words for things I'm trying to say. This is the area that I need to have faith in while I'm here: that everything will happen in God's timing so that He gets the credit for it and not me. So while I could be jealous of how well Sarah is doing with her ability to communicate, I must not compare and instead lean a bit more on Him, whose power is made perfect through our weaknesses.

Tomorrow at 6:30 am I am being picked up to head out to Azacualpa and get set up with my host family, who I'm sure you will hear much about this year. It's been a little hard transitioning so much these last few weeks that I'm more than ready to settle in and get to know some people who will be around for more than a week or two. My job assignment has a lot of potential for flexibility and having just connected with the other members of the team, I am excited to hear about the work that they will continue to do in their respective destinations.

One thing that I was reminded of this past weekend was something that I meant to mention earlier in my time here that was pretty special. The first day that we arrived in country, Darrin (the husband half of the couple that make up the country representatives), his son (Simon), and Jeff (my ¨boss¨) picked us up from the airport. Julie (the other 1/2 of the country rep couple) didn’t feel well because she was pregnant (due in 2 weeks) and it was a pretty hot day, so she elected to ¨sit this one out.¨ After a full day of hanging out in the city, it was decided that I would be sleeping at Jeff’s while Sarah stayed in the spare room at the office. That night he received a call to come over to Darrin and Julie’s to watch Simon. I learned the next morning that Julie had a little girl that night... our first night in-country!!! That’s such a privilege and must be some sort of record. That day, one of our activities was to go meet little Lucia and her alleviated mother. Thanks for the special greeting guys! Was anyone else welcomed as wholeheartedly??

My updates from here on out will be much less frequent but please feel free to write me an email if you can't leave a comment on here. Thank you all for your support, prayers and friendships. Hasta luego amigos!

Day at the Ruins

2007-09-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone...

No classes today but I still got up on schedule and met some friends (Sarah & two others from the school) and went to the famous Copan Ruins. There is so much history in this area, making it a tourist trap but also attracting many Hondurans for vacation and class trips. The word is that many more Hondurans have ever been to the ruins than have been to the other tourist attraction on the north coast, an island called Roatan. The island are so much more expensive than here but honestly there is more of draw here also due to the fact that the majority of locals could most likely draw ties to the ancient civilizations, either the Mayans (architecture shown here) or the Lincas (who resided further south and east. The Mayans of Copan were estimated to be the most artistic and historically well recorded of all the Mayan world, which spans all throughout Guatemala and into Mexico. It was incredible to think of how much work and the level of sophistication and discipline they had to have to build these amazing structures. We saw many temples, residential areas, and statues that represented the various rulers and historical events carved into these porous, yet solid (seeing that they¨ve lasted almost 15oo years and some longer) with use of dear bones, flint and other rocks. The intricacy of the carvings is unbelievable!

I also am, as I¨ve mentioned before, in language school right now. The school is called Guacamaya, the Mayan word for the Macaw, the national bird of Honduras. Speaking of flying creatures, the picture of the bats (sorry mom, I know your fear of these ugly creatures) was taken just after I almost had my head taken off by one when I intruded upon their sleeping quarters down in a little "shaft" in one of the ruins trying to see where it led. Needless to say, as soon as I heard the flapping of their wings I was out of hole redfaced and trying to control the racing of my heart... (sorry the picture's on its side)

When I returned home I was given a meal that I have had twice since I¨ve been in country. Along with the traditional rice, tortillas, and (the atypical) mashed potatoes, was a small fish...head, tail, fins, and all. I¨ve learned that using your fingers to eat and using the tortilla as a utensil is the norm and much easier than trying to be polite and using a fork to delicately pick the meat from the bones. Its very flavorful after being fried up and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Also I'd like to refer all of you to Sarah's blogsite ( sarahsalt.blogspot.com ). On there she has other pictures and some stories

that we have probably shared together since we go mostly everywhere together...Don't worry boys (Riley, Tim, Pookie, Danny, Kenny, Tyler, Mike, Nicolas, and Dirk), she's only a friend!

Also I guess many of you haven't been able to post comments on my blog so if you want my email....get it from someone else!!!

no just kidding you can use the whereseve2 at hotmail. Thanks for the love and the prayers. (i'm gonna need it this coming week as I start my last week of language school and leave next week for my assignment location in Azacualpa.

Hasta mas tardes!

Can anyone find the monkey face in this picture?

First Days in Language School

2007-08-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well these days are wonderful. I have been in Copan (town of many ancient Mayan ruins) for three days now staying with a wonderful family here. My host family has been here for a long time and my fellow volunteer (Sarah) is living with the sister of my host mother, Doña Tina. She is very patient in teaching me all the different words for different expressions and the names of various vegetables. Speaking of food, I did get a little sick last week after eating some warm salad but it was only for a few days and nothing Pepto Bismol couldnt take care of. Also talking about food, one thing to note is that lunch almuerzo, is the more important and more formal meal here where everyone takes off to eat and rest and is not rushed. But then dinner is whenever you feel like or get the chance to eat and many of my cenas have been eaten alone with my host mother, struggling to communicate in Español.
I am working on my spanish as well. Its coming very slow but today was my first day in language school and I can already sense the beginning of a wonderful relationship. My teacher is a really nice and patient local, not originally from Copan. He is married and lives here now. Almost the entire lesson was in Spanish but there was some times it was almost impossible so he would help me understand in English. We are taking horses on a trip tomorrow but i have no idea where to, but its for free with the school. So things are really looking great and the weather here is much more tranqillo than in the rest of the country. The Mayans really knew what they were doing!

Orientation and First Week in Country

2007-08-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Honduras! Already things are going much better than anticipated. God is good. To fill you all in a little about what my orientation was like, I will start by saying that it was an experience in itself. It was perfect preparation for what was to come. It was also a great introduction to other cultures and languages, as my awesome roomate, Jorge, was from Columbia. If you look above, the picture of the 2 girls (in white and pink) are from Honduras. As of now, I´ve met both of their families. The friendships I made there were so unique and I hope to keep in touch with some of those from other countries that we grew so close to in such a short amount of time.

The understanding that our perception of what we will be doing is probably much less than what we will receive was the thing that stuck with me the most from that week. But the oportunity to be with so many young adults of like minds, hearts and lives is something not taken lightly.

There are two of us from MCC´s SALT program in Honduras. Sarah is the other and for the last week (which I might say has seemed like a month already) we have been traveling and getting some in-country orientation. It has been kinda crazy cuz we´ve been traveling all over the northern part of the country and been doing a lot. We went to visit both of our sites that we will be working at and the families we´ll be living with. Mine in a bit more rural than Sarah´s but both are very nice and very different. We were able to meet the people we will be living with and share a meal with them both (in opposite sides of the country, almost) and meet the people we will be working with on a day to day basis. It has been a little crazy just traveling so much and has also been amazingly beauiful and educational.
Now as we find ourselves in Copan for 2 weeks of language school, it will be strange to be settled for more than a week somewhere. I must admit that speaking is very difficult and understanding almost as hard. When people speak slow it´s much easier but it still takes a couple of times for me to really get it. While we are here we are staying with 2 different host families on the same block so it is kinda convienient for us to do things together. I must admit it would be harder for me without another SALTer but, regardless God would\will provide. I could use prayers that my language education goes well enough that I could at least not continually struggle to understand anything. I´ll probably write more this week and maybe find out how to get pictures on here. Take care all and be in touch.