| Honduras
Newsletter Six September 14, 2004 Dear Friends, Greetings from Honduras! The first thing I have to share with you is a word of thanks for all your fantastic support over the last month. I so appreciate your notes, your thoughts and your encouraging words. This is a time of transition for so many people I love with school starting and new jobs, I am thinking of you all. Life has been fantastically busy down here. I’m still waiting for this whole “tranquillo?life to slide into motion. We’ve had workshops and meetings at the national level and visionary planning for the next three years. I’ve also been very involved in several communities, assisting with worship and youth and offering pastoral care where I can. It’s a gracious blessing to pass my time with the talented and passionate leaders in this church. I’m going to share a few thoughts from one of our most recent Lutheran Identity workshops we had with youth. Berta again told me, “share the words, Lindsay. Share how this life is. Tell them what we’re doing? and so... …I eat frijoles with mantequilla everyday. Right now, at the beginning of the harvest, we’re making sweet, new corn tamales, tamalitos de lote…And I am studying psychology. I promise myself that I will graduate. My father sees no value in this education. My boyfriend thinks I’m crazy, but God help me, I’ve come this far and nothing will stand in my way. Whatever it takes…How I love to BILAR! We dance the punta, the salsa, and the meringue …but I don’t go out at night. I am scared by the violence. My brother was shot and killed by a gang member in San Judas last month, just down from the block from our home. He was the man of our house, and now, I have to step up and fill his place…I’m glad to be here now, today, but tomorrow, I return to my work in the maquilla. We have a quota of shirts we have to make every day. The work is hard and I’m so tired at the end of the day, but I’m lucky because the pay is a little better with this company…yes, I work, but the church is helping me to finish my studies. I have been in the Lutheran church since I was chiquitita. I was baptized in this church. They helped me get to where I am in school and now I am the leader of the youth group…I love our youth group because I can dream of a different world. I dream that we are stronger and that together we can come together and talk about this violence and our educations and this government that doesn’t listen to us. I know that Jesus was one of us and that God doesn’t want people to have to live like this? I, Lindsay, sat on a rickety white table, with one of its legs an inch shorter than the other three, in front of a group of 23 youth and listened with other leaders of the church as they candidly expressed their reality in Honduras. And then, we talked about what it means to be Lutheran, to be a Christian. Grace, Scripture, and Faith. The three central theological principles that allow these youth to read the bible and respond to its call to social justice. “You have the right, as the Lutheran church of Honduras,?we told them, “to be concerned about your world.? When I arrived at 7:30 the second morning to prepare for the day, the small groups were gathered around the plastic tables in the conference center huddled over their proposals and discussing their ideas. I was dumbstruck and laughed shaking my head. We had been awake until at least 2am the night before dancing and telling jokes, but none the less, since 7am, these youth had been at work on their proposals. A full hour and a half before we were to begin! They were determined and they knew we would take them seriously. The truth is, much of the vision of the ICLH comes from the youth. The youth are teaching Sunday school, planting church gardens, visiting the hospitals, praying with community members in homes, and talking about globalization, the government and economy. In this tiny gathering in tegucigalpa, these talented and interested young people found a place to express their thoughts and be heard. September 18 and 19 marked the first of three Lutheran Identity youth workshops the ICLH youth is planning. Perhaps we take for granted the average level of theological education we have in the States. The ICLH has recognized the need to teach their youth what it means to be Lutheran: to be Christian. As we talked about Christian, Lutheran identity, we began to hear vision, dreams, and hopes. I look forward to the next workshop in November. This workshop was the first in a series of three that will take place over the next few months. The next workshop, following the pattern of this initial meeting, will be another gathering with youth leaders. The final meeting is planned as a national youth gathering, an event of solidarity with 90 youth from around the country. Many of you know that we are still praying for funding for the final youth gathering. If you have questions about how to help, please email me or David Lerseth at the ELCA,dlerseth@elca.org. Please remember in your prayers the Honduran youth. In peace, Lindsay Iglesia Cristiana Luterana de Honduras Tegucigalpa, Honduras |