The Adventure Continues

Our Church Council granted me a sabbatical for three months during the summer of 2010. My intention was to learn Latin American Spanish and to explore Latin American cultures here and abroad. Now that I have had some opportunities to lead mission trips to Yuscaran, Honduras, and to visit Mexico three times, the adventure continues.



Seeking New Horizons

Seeking New Horizons

Monday, December 3, 2012

A Clinic in the Mountains

This morning we visited the Emmanuel Clinic Episcopal, They serve 2000 local people in need of medical treatment each year. I don't know how they manage this with the lack of resources and medications that I witnessed. Heart breaking.....
How can we come along side....
Might be time for a medical/dental mission.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

On to Yuscaran

   Worship today was at Iglesia Cristo Rey in Danli.  The people are SO friendly: passing of the peace included hugs and kisses.  The music was excellent.  They had a praise band with five musicians, who sang songs everybody knew  The Lord:s prayer was sung to the tune of "Sound of Silence" and it was very moving.
   From there we went to Yuscaran.  The work on the church has been progressing, and the ceiling of the sanctuary is going into place.  (See the pictures.)  This will be the floor of the third story of the building, and will have rooms for the pastor:s family so rhe very crowded quarters can be expanded.  It was great to see Pastor Dagoberto and Ediberto again.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Getting Specific


   We began breakfast this morning with a discussion of some of the things we had seen yesterday.  We have been wondering if there is a better way to evaluate the projects in which we participate before we begin working on them.  We want to make sure that the projects we help to build are really helping the community in which they are built.  One resource for thinking about this is the book When Helping Hurts, by Brian Fikkert.  Our first priorty is building lasting relationships with the people with whom we are working..
   One excellent project has been the rebuilding of the church in San Marcos.  The church was destroyed when an earthquake ripped through the sanctuary.  We promised to help rebuild the sanctuary if the local people would take responsibility for tearing down the destroyed one.  Partners from New England then supplied money and labor to work with the parishioners to rebuild.  We toured the property and it is quite beautiful, and the people there know some of us by name.  Our next step is to strengthen the relationships by communicating more fully what our respective communities are doing in our own places.
   Another excellent example has been the construction of the new church in Yuscaran.  People from St. Andrews in Charlestown, RI helped the local people to first dig the foundation.  Later, other people from New England joined in this effort alongside of the vibrant community here.  Last April the walls were completed, and this coming April we will be helping with the floor of the sanctuary.  The completion of the roof will be left to  the skilled workers here in Honduras.  Scolarships that have been provided to the pastor here, Rev. Dagoberto Chacon, have been well used and children are doing well in school.
   Bishop Allen has also been working on keeping our projects effective and accountable, and he now has two new people on his staff, Rev. Lura Kaval, and her husband, Rick Harlow, who will be helping to coordinate the projects in the future.  They are the missionaries we mentioned in  a previous blog.