| Honduras
Newsletter One April 21, 2004 Dear Friends, Hello from Tegucigalpa! I have finally arrived in Honduras. I pray that Holy Week was a blessed time of praise and reflection. I flew into Teguc the Saturday before Palm Sunday and began one of the most breathtaking Holy Weeks I have ever experienced. I spent the first part of the week with one of the families in the Church. The Saturday I arrived, I went with Luis Alfredo and Mary up to La Cuñada, one of the church communities north of the city. Up in the cuñada, in the deepening evening we came together and softly waved our palms and sat in a small circle in the church building singing with the guitar, talking about that day long ago when Jesus rode the donkey through a crowd of gently waving palms. I spent the evening falling in love with the children and getting to know Maurico, the 60 year old man that plays the guitar, and Maria, the small woman that lives next to the church with her family. The next day, we headed up to a small town in Olancho called St. Nicholas. Somehow in one pickup, we managed to fit 8 children, five adults, and two mattresses! We arrived and again, up in this quiet highland town, sat together in a circle and talked about the Passion while the children played outside, waving palm branches. I was immediately welcomed into the community, into tiny family of Luis Alfredo and Mary and also into the larger family of the church. Later in the week, I left with Don Guillermo and Dona Lina (a pastor couple in the church) for Northern Honduras. We spent Holy Thursday making our way towards La Ceiba, a small city on the Mediterrian. Our drive was interspersed with countless stops. Again and again, Don Guillermo would turn the pickup off onto an obscure dirt road and we would find ourselves in someone's home, sitting on buckets, random chairs, and in hammocks outside, sipping coffee, catching up on the struggles of life and finally sharing a message of Easter hope. throughout five days of traveling, we spoke about the women that went to the tomb early Easter morning to look for Jesus. Surrounded by children and families, Don Guillermo would slowly say, '...and they rolled back the tomb and what did they find^' 'the tomb was empty!' Some kid may yell, Jesus wasn't there!' 'Yes!' Don Guillerrmo would reply grinning. Again and again, we talked about the simple significance of the resurrection and the simple truth that if you search for Jesus, like the women in the bible, you will find Him, as the women later did. We stopped at 5 homes the first day. Sometimes, we found 35 people, other times, only two. But in all cases, the groups were waiting for us, smiling when we arrived, ready to share with us, ready to listen. Several days later, deep in the mountains where the need is severe, I watched as Don Guillermo started two new small churches. We sang with the people, held hands in prayer, and shared the profound and fantastic news of Jesus' resurrection. It is a simple but often difficult task, I am learning, to share with the poor, with the young mothers, and tiny street children, that God loves them... My first week was breathtaking and humbling. I was welcomed sincerely and offered friendship during a Holiday time when I was really missing my family. I can't thank you all enough for your support. I have received so many words of encouragement. For every email or message passed through my family I thank you. The financial support I've received has been generous and an enormous blessing. Thank You. My time in Guatemala was successful and I'm starting to get my head around this language. Work begins quickly here. I'm working at a local and national level with the youth and I'm assisting with communications in English. I will continue to be in touch and in pray for the community back home. With Peace, Lindsay |