Smooth Sailing - New Road to Las Lomitas

After 8 years, the national government of Honduras returned to repair the dirt road that leads to our house. The work was more than satisfactory. The difference is best told in the following video of before and after the construction.

Capacity Creation

Stories from Honduras continue....

At Heart to Honduras we have made "capacity creation" one of our core values. Here is a story from the young women's group in Las Lomitas.

When we talk about capacity creation we talk about individuals and groups of people finding their true identity as children of God.  As children of The King we ALL have many gifts, talents, and resources to offer.  Many people would say that a group of young women from a rural, materially poor community could never come up with $35 per person to attend a weekend youth camp.  But, when encouraged that they "can do all things through Christ who strengthens them" and empowered to think creatively and confidently about their God given abilities and local recourses- all is possible.  

This past year, 2015, the young women's group (ages 14-21) in Las Lomitas had a desire to go back to Heart to Honduras's "International Extreme Camp."  They worked together to do fundraisers like family movie nights at the church (charging for entry and selling popcorn and soda).  When asked the local church wanted to support this idea for spiritual, social, and emotional growth and made a donation from their general fund.  To reach the final goal each family of the girls also pitched in to advance their daughter's holistic development.  After a year of focus and teamwork, they were off to camp. These girls went to camp, not taking it for granted and with a dignity and confidence they never had before and would still be been lacking if all were provided from outside/international funds.

They are off and running again this year, already have done 3 fundraisers!

Here is a picture of a recent endevor. Creating, baking, decorating, and selling their own sugar cookies for a fundraiser on Valentine's Day (here known as "The Day of Love and Friendship").  They sold all 32 they made locally!

Coturnix Quails in the Tropics

One morning in January, I awoke to a strange sound outside of our bathroom door. As close I can guess, it would be spelled.

"arickaa-REHR"

A Wolf in Shepherd's Clothing

Man of God - there is no more dangerous title. No other three words with the capacity to empower one to accomplish great good or great evil. Since we arrived in the banana republic, this suspicion has been confirmed time and time again.

We have lived among Men of God that inspire entire communities into humble, sacrificial action - working with no thought to personal gain or potential pain. These men often accomplish more good in one month that most of will in an entire lifetime. Speaking words of truth, hope, and liberation, these men and women break bonds of oppression that have trapped families for generations. Exhausted, taken advantage of, without support, often despised, threatened, and assaulted, they live to free others from the lies of within and without that whisper and then shout that they are worthless, abandoned, and forgotten. And then, there are the others...

Photos to Start the Year 2016

Everyone always seem to like pictures, so here are a few from the first 6 weeks of this year...

Saving Face

Stories from Honduras Continue...

I think you will all agree that what you see is not always the way things are. In our personal lives, we smile and laugh even when we are sad and rotten inside. We say “yes” sometimes when we mean “no.” We avoid embarrassment and protect our own. So why would we think this doesn’t happen in other countries and other cultures? The truth is that it does, and oftentimes much more profoundly.

“Saving face” is a large part of Latin culture. Most Hondurans would rather bend the truth than tell an embarrassing truth about a family member or friend. One would rather lie than say how they really feel if it would oppose, or worse, disappoint or disrespect someone else in a face-to-face conversation. This leads to incredibly-dedicated, loyal friendships and family groups and alarmingly-polite interpersonal reactions with a new person. However, a sad part of this cultural phenomenon is that if we asked anyone in our community to lie for us, I know they would. Without a second thought. In general, politeness and peaceful appearances are valued over truthful and frank interactions. However, these nobly-told untruths that start with the intention to protect or avoid embarrassment can and do lead to a lifetime of hiding secrets. People go to the grave with things that they could have let go.

New Kid in the Yard

On Sunday, our uncomfortably-wide goat, Lechita, was starting to seem exceptionally miserable. A few basic check later, and I was certain that she was beginning labor. Since she seemed like she was just beginning her misery, we decided to go out to lunch with some friends before coming back to settle in to watching and waiting. We asked Argelia and the twins to kind of keep an eye on her for an hour or so until we were back and let us know if anything happened... which she did an hour later... with a text that read...

Oppression

Stories from Honduras continues...

Isaiah 58 is one of our most ardent passions. Oppression is seen in many forms, but one of the most devastating ones that we have experienced first-hand has been by local leadership. A few short stories…

The local pastor has oppressed the village spiritually, not allowing them to develop beyond the point that he is at. He has not practiced what he preaches and far, far worse, implicitly giving liberty to others to do the same in their lives, thinking that it is just one variation of the Christian way.

The local president of the community counsel has oppressed the village socially with major alcohol, marital, and violence problems, occasionally ending with a visit by the local police or to the local magistrate's office. He has attempted suicide multiple times.

The local “sheriffs” that are installed to protect the community have oppressed the village socially, emotionally and potentially physically because they are regularly-drunk (all together and with the entire community's knowledge) at critical times that intervention is needed.

2016

Hello and Happy New Year!

First of all, please forgive our lack of blogs.  Life, as always, is busy.  We mean well and don’t always get it done.  We would like to continue our “Stories from Honduras” series in the very next blog.  So, stay tuned.

We enjoyed the month of December visiting friends, family, and catching up with Stateside work and coworkers. It was the first time we were back all year and was much needed. We actually feel refreshed this time!