Tour of Honduras
A lot has happened since the last post: we´ve spent a couple short weekends in Quimistan and went on ¨the tour¨ of Honduras with Ron Drumm, from the Henderson Boulevard Church of Christ in Tampa, Florida. I won´t recount everything, but the following was our agenda for the past week:
Sunday we visited three churches: San Pedro Sula (SPS), El Pedregal and Rivera Hernandez.
Around 50 saints meet with the church in SPS, where your brother Julio Cesar Aguilar preaches full-time. The rented upper room which serves as the church´s meeting place was overflowing as we listened to two sermons preached by Ron Drumm and Jerry Faulk. The singing was wonderful and, as usual, the hymn titled¨Bienvenido¨ (¨Welcome¨) was entoned with enthusiasm.
The church in El Pedregal is much smaller. Approximately 10 brethren meet for worship in this shantytown, which is illegally constructed on the grounds of a nearby university. Around two weeks ago, authorities were sent into this community to remove some of the shacks on the property and a couple of the brethren were affected. Based on Romans 13 and other passages, it is clear that the saints living in these conditions need to consider how to correct their standing with the government. At the same time, they need mercy and the teaching of the gospel as much as anyone. I made one contact with the youth leader of a local institutional church of Christ after our assembly and we have been e-mailing to keep in touch.
Rivera Hernandez is a large suburb of SPS and is home to the largest faithful church in Honduras. Their membership is in the range of 60-70 and they enjoy the convenience of a large church building which they constructed next door to the home of Adolfo Briso, to whom has been entrusted the regular preaching.
After worshiping with these three churches, we got together for a fiercely competitive (but good-spirited) game of soccer at a rented field. I admit, this is always one of my favorite parts of the tour (even if my team has lost two years in a row!).
Monday we drove 3 hours to assemble with the churches in San Fransisco de Platillo, Hicaque and Tela.
San Francisco de Platillo is only accessible by foot (a two hour walk from Tela), or by a vehicle with off-road capabilities. Every year, Antonio Osorio, a Christian at the church in Hicaque, loads us all into his Ford F250 and navigates the ragged road, which requires the crossing of several streams and climbing a long, sharp grade. This small, very poor community is always incredibly welcoming, handing us carved coconuts and straws upon our arrival. After more than an hour on the road in the hot truckbed, those coconuts are extremely refreshing. The homes in San Francisco de Platillo have very limited electricity, if they have it at all. Don´t even think about indoor plumbing. The saints prepared us a delicious pork meal with horchata to drink. I was so thirsty I actually drank three glasses of water ¨from the mountain¨, probably from a nearby spring. This is a tourist ¨no-no¨, but I really didn´t care at that point. Thankfully God prevented me from getting sick. The most exciting thing about our visit to the village this year was the baptism of our new sister, Cynthia, after our period of worship. Adolfo Brizo submerged her in the mountain stream, and God forgave her of her sins. Praise be to him.
Tuesday we went to Quimistan and La Estancia.
We had a slim crowd in Quimistan, because of the time (2 p.m.), but the brethren were encouraged by the preaching of Jerry Falk.
La Estancia enjoys the cooler climate that comes with its elevation. I think all of us were relieved to escape the heat and the brethren here fed us well.
Wednesday we drove for about 10 hours, leaving our hotel in Gracia early in the morning and arriving in Catacamas late in the afternoon.
Catacamas is a large town and is home to what is perhaps the most isolated church in Honduras. Brother Hilston, who is blind, has been preaching here for many years. I asked him as we were leaving how he studied the Bible, since he can´t see. He told me that he had learned how to read Braile, but he only has two books of the Bible in that medium: a copy of Matthew from the New World Translation (a corrupt version produced by the Jehovah´s Witnesses) and a copy of Romans (the version is good, something like the Reina Valera). He at one time had some audio tapes of the Bible but says that those tapes no longer work. It is amazing that he has not been discouraged by these limitations and God had continued to use him in this community. I want to collect money to buy him all the books of the Bible in Braile. If anyone reading this is interested in helping, please let me know.
Thursday found us with the churches in Comayagua and Siguatepeque.
Florentino Maldonado lives in Siguatepeque and preaches for the church there and the church in Comayagua. Florentino has been preaching the gospel in Honduras for a longer period of time than any other man. We met in the hotel lobby in Comayagua, and in the backyard of one of the sisters in Christ in Siguatepeque. Incidentally, this sister has a ¨Royal Lemon¨ tree in the yard which provides shade for the congregation. I asked her for one of her lemons, which she happily provided. We shared it among our group. It was definitely a lemon.
Friday night we had our annual studies at the hotel in San Pedro Sula.
For these studies, the men and women separate into groups. The men talked about evangelization and the women talked about Mary and Martha. William Bean (a young Christian living in Tampa) and I talked about what motivated us to travel to Honduras. Afterward, Jerry Falk presented some thoughts on evangelism and the men in the audience (around 40) asked questions and made some comments. I always feel that this is an excellent use of our time since it gives the men an opportunity to talk about subjects that are important to them and to learn interactively.
It was a great week. In many ways, I felt like this trip was even more effective than the one last year. We had with us Jerry Falk, who has extensive experience working with Latino groups. He has a Spanish accent since he spent 16 years on the Iberian Peninsula. I met him last year in Alabama and really enjoyed getting to know him better during the trip.
Saturday the American brethren flew back home. Jeronimo, Digna and I drove to Quimistan to meet with the church there that evening. Sunday morning, Daniel, Danny, Michelle, Paquita, Mariita, Cristian and ¨Danielito¨ came to be with us that afternoon.
Monday, Jeronimo headed back home to Guatemala. He will be missed, as he quickly won the hearts of everyone he talked to here.
Sunday we visited three churches: San Pedro Sula (SPS), El Pedregal and Rivera Hernandez.
Around 50 saints meet with the church in SPS, where your brother Julio Cesar Aguilar preaches full-time. The rented upper room which serves as the church´s meeting place was overflowing as we listened to two sermons preached by Ron Drumm and Jerry Faulk. The singing was wonderful and, as usual, the hymn titled¨Bienvenido¨ (¨Welcome¨) was entoned with enthusiasm.
The church in El Pedregal is much smaller. Approximately 10 brethren meet for worship in this shantytown, which is illegally constructed on the grounds of a nearby university. Around two weeks ago, authorities were sent into this community to remove some of the shacks on the property and a couple of the brethren were affected. Based on Romans 13 and other passages, it is clear that the saints living in these conditions need to consider how to correct their standing with the government. At the same time, they need mercy and the teaching of the gospel as much as anyone. I made one contact with the youth leader of a local institutional church of Christ after our assembly and we have been e-mailing to keep in touch.
Rivera Hernandez is a large suburb of SPS and is home to the largest faithful church in Honduras. Their membership is in the range of 60-70 and they enjoy the convenience of a large church building which they constructed next door to the home of Adolfo Briso, to whom has been entrusted the regular preaching.
After worshiping with these three churches, we got together for a fiercely competitive (but good-spirited) game of soccer at a rented field. I admit, this is always one of my favorite parts of the tour (even if my team has lost two years in a row!).
Monday we drove 3 hours to assemble with the churches in San Fransisco de Platillo, Hicaque and Tela.
San Francisco de Platillo is only accessible by foot (a two hour walk from Tela), or by a vehicle with off-road capabilities. Every year, Antonio Osorio, a Christian at the church in Hicaque, loads us all into his Ford F250 and navigates the ragged road, which requires the crossing of several streams and climbing a long, sharp grade. This small, very poor community is always incredibly welcoming, handing us carved coconuts and straws upon our arrival. After more than an hour on the road in the hot truckbed, those coconuts are extremely refreshing. The homes in San Francisco de Platillo have very limited electricity, if they have it at all. Don´t even think about indoor plumbing. The saints prepared us a delicious pork meal with horchata to drink. I was so thirsty I actually drank three glasses of water ¨from the mountain¨, probably from a nearby spring. This is a tourist ¨no-no¨, but I really didn´t care at that point. Thankfully God prevented me from getting sick. The most exciting thing about our visit to the village this year was the baptism of our new sister, Cynthia, after our period of worship. Adolfo Brizo submerged her in the mountain stream, and God forgave her of her sins. Praise be to him.
Tuesday we went to Quimistan and La Estancia.
We had a slim crowd in Quimistan, because of the time (2 p.m.), but the brethren were encouraged by the preaching of Jerry Falk.
La Estancia enjoys the cooler climate that comes with its elevation. I think all of us were relieved to escape the heat and the brethren here fed us well.
Wednesday we drove for about 10 hours, leaving our hotel in Gracia early in the morning and arriving in Catacamas late in the afternoon.
Catacamas is a large town and is home to what is perhaps the most isolated church in Honduras. Brother Hilston, who is blind, has been preaching here for many years. I asked him as we were leaving how he studied the Bible, since he can´t see. He told me that he had learned how to read Braile, but he only has two books of the Bible in that medium: a copy of Matthew from the New World Translation (a corrupt version produced by the Jehovah´s Witnesses) and a copy of Romans (the version is good, something like the Reina Valera). He at one time had some audio tapes of the Bible but says that those tapes no longer work. It is amazing that he has not been discouraged by these limitations and God had continued to use him in this community. I want to collect money to buy him all the books of the Bible in Braile. If anyone reading this is interested in helping, please let me know.
Thursday found us with the churches in Comayagua and Siguatepeque.
Florentino Maldonado lives in Siguatepeque and preaches for the church there and the church in Comayagua. Florentino has been preaching the gospel in Honduras for a longer period of time than any other man. We met in the hotel lobby in Comayagua, and in the backyard of one of the sisters in Christ in Siguatepeque. Incidentally, this sister has a ¨Royal Lemon¨ tree in the yard which provides shade for the congregation. I asked her for one of her lemons, which she happily provided. We shared it among our group. It was definitely a lemon.
Friday night we had our annual studies at the hotel in San Pedro Sula.
For these studies, the men and women separate into groups. The men talked about evangelization and the women talked about Mary and Martha. William Bean (a young Christian living in Tampa) and I talked about what motivated us to travel to Honduras. Afterward, Jerry Falk presented some thoughts on evangelism and the men in the audience (around 40) asked questions and made some comments. I always feel that this is an excellent use of our time since it gives the men an opportunity to talk about subjects that are important to them and to learn interactively.
It was a great week. In many ways, I felt like this trip was even more effective than the one last year. We had with us Jerry Falk, who has extensive experience working with Latino groups. He has a Spanish accent since he spent 16 years on the Iberian Peninsula. I met him last year in Alabama and really enjoyed getting to know him better during the trip.
Saturday the American brethren flew back home. Jeronimo, Digna and I drove to Quimistan to meet with the church there that evening. Sunday morning, Daniel, Danny, Michelle, Paquita, Mariita, Cristian and ¨Danielito¨ came to be with us that afternoon.
Monday, Jeronimo headed back home to Guatemala. He will be missed, as he quickly won the hearts of everyone he talked to here.
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