Picture Honduras

Rainy season has had dramatic effects on the scenery down here!  This picture was taken at the agricultural school in Zamorano, Honduras, just down the street from the boys' home.

md

Wealth & Poverty

Almost every day, because of my surroundings here, I think about poverty in one way or another.  Now that we're 10 months into our Honduran lives, I have way more questions than I do answers.  One image I will never forget actually comes from our short stay in Guatemala a few months ago.  A favorite nighttime activity of ours was to go to the central plaza, sit on a park bench, and just people-watch for hours.  Tons of locals walked and played in the plaza at night, so it was a great way to experience their culture.  
Our last night in Antigua, as we sat peacefully on a bench, we suddenly got caught in the middle of a crowd of adolescent girls!  Some native Guatemalan girls, dressed in traditional clothing and carrying big loads of materials on their backs, were offering to give hair wraps to a family with several teenage daughters.  Hair wraps, if you don't know, are just small sections of hair that have been wrapped in colorful thread, and are many times a 'souvenir' for tourists to take back home.  
I watched as the seemingly wealthy, Latin teenagers asked their parents for the cash, then picked out their favorite colors of thread and fancy beads.  And then I watched the skillful young hands of the native girls as they wrapped their customers' hair.  Being in a different culture helps me see things in new, and many times clearer, ways, and that night as I observed the native girls - working at 9pm to earn a couple bucks - and the wealthy Latin girls - enjoying all the thrills of their family vacation - I wondered, 'Why is one girl born into poverty, and thus destined to work and struggle in a difficult life, while another girl is born into wealth, with access to opportunity and all she may need or desire?'

And then, of course, I thought about my own life...Why was I born in Edmond, Oklahoma, USA, and not into the slums of some of the poorest nations in the world?  What makes me different... 'the lucky one?'  And now that I have been born and raised in one of the richest nations of the world, what do I do with that?  Many short term mission groups are visiting Honduras right now, especially because it's summertime, and I know that members of those groups often ask themselves similar questions.
One of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen, wrote Gracias, which is actually a journal of his time living and serving in South America.  He was daily faced with issues of wealth and poverty, and I love some of the perspectives he shares.  He explains how, because of the many "safety systems" in his life, he would not be allowed to become truly poor.  I believe the same is true for Bart and me, too, as we live here in Honduras.  He says,

I am not poor as my neighbors are.  I will never be and will not ever be allowed to be by the people who sent me here.  I have to accept my own history and live out my vocation, without denying that history.  On the other hand, I realize that the way of Christ is a self-emptying way.  What that precisely means in my own concrete life will probably remain a lifelong question.

For me, the key words are 'self-emptying' and 'lifelong.'  When we empty self, we strive for ways of being and living that are sacrificial, focused on the good of others.  We ask ourselves, 'Okay, I'm giving this much of my time/energy/resources, but can I give more?'  And when we acknowledge that this is a lifelong question, a lifelong process, we're saying that a regular, honest examination of our lifestyle and future goals will have to occur for the rest of our time here on earth.  
My favorite part of the book - which the title alludes to - is that none of what we do is to be out of guilt, but out of gratitude.  We can joyfully live each day in the service of others, completely out of gratitude for what Christ has done for us!  So inspiring!


md

Pat, I’d like to solve the puzzle...

You know when you’re watching Wheel of Fortune (don’t pretend like I’m the only one!) and somebody solves the Prize Puzzle and wins a week-long trip to some distant, tropical island, and you’re like, “LUCKY!!!”  Well, that just happened to Bart and me, without having to solve the puzzle (or be a part of the Wheel Watchers Club...which I need to join soon)!  Some Honduran friends of ours - two couples around our age who each have 2-year-old daughters - were given a week’s stay in a condo on the island of Roatan, plus the use of a car, and they decided to invite us along.

This is a big deal.  Only a small percentage of Hondurans ever get to visit this island, even though it’s just a short boat ride off the Caribbean coast, so the fact that our friends wanted to share their blessing with us was truly impressive.  Actually, the people who gave them this wonderful gift are a family from Texas who currently sponsor the ministry work of one of the couples, Carlos & Idalmi.  The other couple, Elvin & Mary, are house-parents at the boys’ home where we work.  So each of these Honduran couples work in the ‘ministry trenches’ down here and truly deserved a restful, rejuvenating vacation.

Roatan is a beautiful island.  The weather is warm and sunny.  The snorkeling off West Bay Beach is awe-inspiring.  And the ocean is calm, warm, and bright blue.  I can’t help but see God when I’m there: in the tropical flowers, the amazing coral reef, and the many unusual, brightly-colored fish that demonstrate His creativity and design!  It seemed like an unbelievable opportunity before we left...and now that we’re home, I have to look at pictures to convince myself we were actually there.  So the following pictures are really more for myself than anyone else!

Idalmi, me, Mary

Elvin, Carlos, Bart

My swimming buddies for the week: Shelly and Ellen

Roatan!

After a day of snorkeling on West Bay Beach

md

Enjoying our Alameda Family

For their 2nd annual trip with an organization called TORCH, over thirty members of the Alameda Church of Christ in Norman recently visited Honduras.  It's hard to believe that Bart and I attended this congregation for almost 4 years!!  Saying goodbye to them was difficult last September, but we knew we'd be seeing many of them during their short-term mission trips here.
Most of their group stayed for 2 weeks, so we were able to spend some of our work days as well as our down-time with them!  They were really fired up about Honduras, so they encouraged both of us with their positivity.  Plus, they helped make Bart's birthday special, which was so thoughtful.

We really love the Alameda Youth Group kids, and these girls really

impressed me with their ability to make fun things happen for the kids

in our church...even at the end of a tiring work day.

We were blessed to work with almost everyone who came from Alameda,

building a house for a family in our church's community.

Some fellow TORCHers helped us paint trash cans for

our church property.

And...always a favorite project...the futbol cancha!

These guys are laying block for the goals.  And though we're 

a few steps away from being completely finished with the cancha,

we're pretty close to being able to play on the field!!

md

Good Humiliation

This morning I had the pleasure & privilege of speaking with a man I really respect, Howard Norton, who is the current president of the Baxter Institute here in Tegucigalpa.  He has lived a long life of faith, serving as a missionary for many years in Brazil, and preaching and teaching at the university level in the U.S.  Now that he and his wife, Jane, are serving here in Honduras, they are adding a third language to their repertoire.  To me (especially now that I’m experiencing the struggles of learning a new language), this task they have joyfully chosen to take on is truly impressive.  

During our chat Howard said something great: “Learning a language is humiliating.”  He is so right!!  Standing in front of a native Honduran, knowing my mumblings and mutterings make me sound like a 3-year-old, is stressful, tiring, and often embarrassing!  And while I’m so grateful for the seemingly endless patience of the Hondurans that we’re around (they really support any effort we make to speak Spanish), it has been so frustrating to know what I want to say to someone and not be able to say it.

But the gift in this ‘humiliation’ is that I need to be humbled!  I need to be reminded that I don’t have it all figured out.  And I need to be in a place where I have to rely on God and on the people He’s put in my life.  When I finished school there was a big part of me that believed I wouldn’t have much more to learn in my life.  And now, thankfully, God is showing me that it would be a sad, sad existence to stop learning and challenging myself.  Not only because my brain would get bored and my life would be a yawn, but also because my faith needs exercise. 

Having said all that, I must also say that being in the midst of the learning-spurt is very difficult.  At the end of a bad-Spanish-day (sort of like a bad-hair-day, just your brain & tongue don’t function well together), I find myself yearning for an easy day, a day when I know how to do what I need to do.  

But today (thank you, God!) I’m encouraged by Howard and Jane, who, in their late seventies, are still continuing to seek after God’s next challenge for their lives.  Truly inspirational!  

md

Happy to Have the Dodsons

This month Bart's parents were able to make the trip from Colorado to Honduras to see us and the things we do here.  They experienced some of our typical, day-to-day tasks, as well as helped us with some special, one-time events.  Pictured below are some of the events.

Susan and I held a ladies brunch for all the women employees at Jovenes en Camino.  These are some of the hardest-working women I know, so it was great to honor them with a morning of food & crafts.    

To help reinforce some of the English classes Bart & I have been teaching at JEC, Barry & Susan helped us play an English BINGO game with all three groups of boys.  Barry will now forever be known as 'Bingo Gringo.'

Thanks to a donation of reading glasses from the States, we had the opportunity to help those in the community of Mateo who needed a pair of glasses.  

And we also got to tour some of the pretty places in Honduras, like this great park on the north side of Tegucigalpa.

Thanks, Barry & Susan, for making the trip!!

md

¡Guatemala!

A few months ago we found out the law had changed which had once restricted visa-renewal travel to countries outside the CA-4 (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador & Nicaragua). This was great news for us, both because being able to travel to one of these bordering countries would be cheaper for us and because we were really interested in seeing parts of these great countries. 

So last week we visited Antigua, Guatemala. It was a beautiful city, filled with old architecture, gorgeous fountains, tasty restaurants, and lots of international travelers. We were so thankful to have the opportunity to take a short break from our daily routine and experience the rich culture of Guatemala. 

I just posted pictures on my Facebook, so enjoy those...and for now here's a self-portrait in front of an old cathedral on the main square.

md