Newsletter Article

This is a reprint of a letter to the people of our church that I was asked to write for last week's mailing...

What an incredible week! As I sit in my comfortable office and write this letter my mind is spinning with the events of the last several weeks. The final preparations for the Adult Vision trip to Honduras occupied my mind and activities prior to our departure. There are thousands of things that must be thought through, arrangements made, contingencies planned for, things to be confirmed and reconfirmed, and with the distance, language, and cultural barriers, it can sometimes be frustrating. I sometimes ask myself why I do all of this when I have two other full time jobs, and yet in the midst of my self pity I'm always brought back to reality with one look at my office wall. There hanging where I can see them are pictures of the first trip I took to Honduras. The eyes of the children who I knew would “get” me. The eyes of the parents of those children who took me by surprise. I didn't think they would “get” me. But now, along with both of those are the memories of the adults and young adults from this trip, and previous ones, who were “gotten” and continue to “get” me.

Many factors contributed to the success of this trip and as I recount some of the experiences we had I hope you can catch a glimpse of the great, wonderful, and world changing things this church is doing.

After we arrived in Tegucigalpa and got our luggage loaded up we headed out to a city called Comayagua where we spent the first night in a very comfortable bed and breakfast. We went to one of the cathedrals in the city that is over 400 years old. Imagine that. Almost 200 years before we were a nation this cathedral was built. Amazing!

The following morning we loaded up and began the trip out to La Masica. The roads are difficult and travel is slow and dirty, but we made it to the river crossing where we were to leave the van. As we rounded the corner there were members of the community there to greet us. This is about a mile from the village and the people had walked down to meet us like you would to greet your family that you hadn't seen in months. The difference is that there were only 4 of us who had ever seen these people before. It didn't matter. Everyone was greeted as family.

The first order of business after we made it into the village was to set up camp. However, the villagers had other ideas. They called all of the people together in front of the school they had built last summer and proceeded to welcome us to the community. Joseli, the president of the community, and Fausto the policeman gave us a welcoming address and used the words brothers, sisters, and family numerous times. These people are our family!

Once the welcoming ceremony was completed we began the task of setting up the tents. Yes, I said tents. Our plans were to stay in the community and we brought 4 large tents along with us. No sooner had we begun erecting the tents when Jamie Tucker and Jennifer Jackson were attacked by the children of the community. These two wonderful young ladies had kids hanging off of them the entire time they were in La Masica. The love they have for these kids is heartwarming.

One morning I woke up before any of the others and as is my habit, I went off to be alone for a while so I could visit with a dear friend. As I was walking down the road I saw a large rock overlooking a beautiful valley so I climbed up on the rock and sat down to supervise the sunrise. As I was listening to the water dancing over the rocks and the birds singing their greeting to the new day my heart was filled with gratitude. Gratitude for a church like ours that would be so amazingly generous that it would give many, many thousands of dollars to help people who most of them will never know. People who for no other reason than pure luck of the draw were placed in a land where the struggle to merely exist is a daily battle. People like 89 year old Jorge who lost his wife last summer and misses her dearly. It was Jorge's home that we were working on in our time in La Masica. Gratitude for people who are not only willing to pay their own way to travel to a “developing country” to sleep in tents, risk insect bites, intestinal problems, and many other potential maladies, but are willing to love unconditionally. This group of people had such a humble and loving countenance about them that one night after working hard all day, they decided to give up their dinner and serve it to the people of the village instead. I have tears in my eyes as I write this thinking about the love and bonding that took place within this group of virtual strangers from North America. Bonding not only with each other but with the people of La Masica. This group was complimented after this dinner in a way that is amazingly meaningful. Several of the community members, who are very shy and hardly ever speak in front of people, stood and thanked the group for the work they did, the things they taught the villagers, but most of all they thanked the group for their humility. Well done my friends! This is huge because most missions groups are perceived by the people they are sent to help as arrogant in post mission trip debriefings.

My heart was also filled with gratitude for the seeds that Pastor Dale planted in my heart. He gave me the freedom to dream, to listen to God, to implement the plans God placed in my heart to reach out to these the poorest of the poor. Gratitude for the transition and restructuring that is taking place in our church to position us to move ahead with even better ways of ministering to not only the people in our faith community, but to the world. Gratitude for Pastor Bryan and Tami, and Thomas. For Pastor Marty, and Phil, and yes Pastor Dick my mentor. Perhaps someday I can tell that story.

Oh yes! Did I mention we did some work too? My heart was also filled with gratitude that we had the ability to repair and recondition some machines that would make blocks out of dirt. These machines are remarkable. They take soil after it had been prepared and compress it into a block that can be used to build comfortable, safe homes, and do it quite inexpensively. Our plans are to offer these homes to the people of La Masica and with their cooperation and participation, we hope to build about 20 homes.

After I had finished my conversations with my friend, still sitting on the rock I heard a noise down the road. I looked up and saw a familiar face. He was walking toward the village. He exclaimed, “Muy buenos dias don Tomas!”. He had left his home in another village on foot at 4am to come help in La Masica. Muy buenos dias indeed.

Often people ask me if there was a “spiritual” aspect to the trip. To answer that I'd like to relate this story:
Francis of Assisi once invited an apprentice to go with him to a nearby village to preach. The young monk quickly agreed, seizing an opportunity to hear his teacher speak. When they arrived in the village, St. Francis began to visit with the people. First he stopped in on the butcher. Next a visit with the cobbler. Then a short walk to the home of a woman who'd recently buried her husband. After that a stop at the school to chat with the teacher. This continued throughout the morning. After some time, Francis told his disciple that it was time to return to the abbey. The student didn't understand. "But we came to preach;" he reminded. "We haven't preached a sermon." "Haven't we?" questioned the elder. "People have watched us, listened to us, responded to us. Every word we have spoken, every deed we have done has been a sermon. We have preached all morning."

The following people preached some of the very best sermons I have ever heard.

Tonya Callies, Dick Sanders, Rosie Sanders,Teri Tucker, Jamie Tucker, Jennifer Jackson, Jacquelyn Serrano, Andy Serrano, Danny Rezendes, Lee Celski.

Thank you all!
Tom