Click here view a copy of the sermon I delivered at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on August 9th. It attempts to link some of my experiences in Honduras to the teachings of that Sunday’s Gospel. I would welcome your feedback.
Leaving El Hogar was hard for all of us. This is the first mission trip I have been on that, when the day came that we were to depart, I did not want to leave. There is something uniquely compelling about El Hogar, something I did not want to lose or leave behind. I guess this pull is what will keep me returning to what we called the “Oasis of Love and Hope.”
To those of you who kept our team in your prayers while we were in Honduras, I offer my sincere thanks. To those of you who viewed my blog, or the team’s blog which is still being updated at http://arhonduras.webpress.com, I pray you were able to get a sense of the profound effect El Hogar had on all of us.
Should you ever have any questions about this mission trip, or El Hogar, please contact me at aohlstein@trinitylittlerock.org.
Today was marked with discomfort, not from the nature of our mission, but rather the roads we traveled en route to the Farm School. First we faced an hour delay because of demonstrators demanding that the government declare all of Teguchigalpa smoke-free (no where near us, but the ancient road network gets clogged very easily). When we finally got out of the city, the majority of the roads reminded me of Haiti more than I, or my aching back, care to admit. For those of you how have served in Haiti, you know what I mean. For those who haven´t, just imagine roads that look like they have just been destroyed by B-1 bombers.
The Farm School was not only beautiful with its diverse crops and animals, but beautiful in the young men training there and the staff who works with them. While most of the students at the Technical Institute come from the cities, most of the students at the Farm School come from rural areas, and a completely different type of poverty. They are unique as we all are and the School treasures that uniqueness.
My Spanglish is getting to be more like beginning Spanish … some of the time. I find, not surprisingly, that language is really not that much of a barrier in starting new relationships. When we want to communicate, we can … one way or another. Our mission team, school staff, and all the boys have had laugh after laugh at one another´s attempts to speak the other´s language. We are past the embarassment stage and now see the humor in our mutual situations.
Really, we only have one more day here, only one more day to share our lives with these wonderful kids and the teachers and staff that love them so dearly. While I am anxious to return to Little Rock to share what I have learned and seen and experienced, I am more than a bit distressed about leaving the kids we have worked so hard to build relationships with. There are some kids that I will personally miss dearly as somehow we seem to have really connected and seem to be more than superficial amigos. The discomfort of our impending departure is, however, a small price for the privilege of serving these children of God, and allowing God to talk to us through them. Hopefully we have been able to be vehicles for God´s love to each of the kids we have interacted with.
Vaya con Dios mi amigos,
Allen
p.s. Please check out the pictures, video, and commentary on our team´s blog at http://arhonduras.wordpress.com. AO
I can´t believe we have been here 5 days. Time goes all too fast, too much to take in, too many emotions to process, too many questions that seem to be left unanswered.
Today took us back to the Technical Institute for more work and the basketball game of the century … the Arkansas 6 against the Technical Institute 92. Let´s just say that the Lakers have nothing to fear from either team. I STRONGLY recommend you check out today´s blog from the team at http://arhonduras.wordpress.com to view “highlights” of the game and the rest of today´s activities.
When we finished at the Technical Institute, we returned to El Hogar for some rest and relaxation, not to mention healing our aching bodies after the basketball fiasco. We sat down and before we knew it we heard a knock at the door. There stood one of the El Hogar youth. All he said was, “Will you come out and play with us?” We looked at eachother and all we could think was “This gringo is broken” because we could not think of anything else in Spanish. We all got up, dressed, and joined the kids in play for an hour or so … a wonderful sharing of the kids´love with us, and our love with them.
This evening we were privileged to have dinner with our hosts at a local restaurant in Teguchigalpa. Great company, great conversation, and superb food were the marks of the evening. After our humiliation playing basketball, the team totally enjoyed a brief respite from the realities of visiting the El Hogar community. But tomorrow, we hit the road again, this time to visit the agricultural school run by the El Hogar folks. We are all excited about this visit, as many of our future visits from the Diocese will probably be centered on the farm.
One thing is for sure, I want to re-learn Spanish during the next 12 months or so. I desperately want to be able to converse with the El Hogar kids and staff the next time I come to Honduras, and I so very much want to come back for so many reasons. Hopefully, somebody at Trinity will hold me to this promise to stick to my Spanish studies.
I must crash for the evening, or at least try to. I feel every joint and muscle in my body aching … I should never have joined in that basketball game my mind tells me, but my heart says that the basketball game was so important to our relationship with the kids. I would not change a thing about today … I saw God´s face in the eyes of all the kids at the Technical School, and all the kids at El Hogar. Thank you Lord for using your children to teach so much to me and the team.
Until tomorrow,
Allen
Another day, another set of wonderful experiences, and another opportunity to face the previously unknown and grow on my faith walk.
I think the highlight of my day was reading with first graders … in Spanish! They were teaching me and I was teaching them (my pronunciation is better than theirs believe it or not, but their vocabulary is echelons above mine). They seemed to love one-on-one time with someone who obviously cares about them, something that was totally missing in their lives prior to coming to El Hogar. Seeing the light bulb light up in a child´s eyes when they finally grasp something that they previously could not understand is a real emotional keeper … especially when the person facilitating the learning experience can´t even effectively converse with them, at least not in verbal expression. The real teaching took place in our mutual listening, and our mutual reaching out to someone we didn´t know before, but sure know now.
When I get back, remind me to tell you the story about Pedro, a boy now a man found in the forest abandoned, who is now on support staff here … and about the two teachers who started their journey´s here at El Hogar many years ago, as students … and the two university students I have met who also started their new lives at El Hogar, and about Martha, a 12 year old girl abandoned by her family in the Montana. This place, this ministry, is unlike anything that I have experienced thus far in my 60 years of life. El Hogar really changes lives, and I must admit it is changing mine.
The week is going too fast and I know I must grab each and every second of it and take it to my heart. I hope to return to you all a better Deacon, a better spouse and dad, and a better man.
Peace,
Allen
Each day brings new and wonderous surprises about God´s work here in Honduras done by the staff at El Hogar and the Technical Institute.
In the morning we shared morning devotions with the children. We then had the privilege of meeting with Sra. Claudia Castro, the Director of El Hogar. The children view her as a saint, and I have to agree with them. She has devoted 20 years of her life to a theologically-based ministry of bringing God´s love and hope to the poorest of the poor children in the area. She shared her own faith journey, one I could identify with and then shared the heartwrenching stories, told by the children themselves, of four students currently enrolled at El Hogar. Our entire team, whether a first-time missioner or one with several mission trips under his or her belt, were both touched and impressed by this magnificent Christian who has devoted her life to kids who are really in need, kids who otherwise would be without a future.
We then travelled to the Technical Institute. En route we saw the real Teguchigalpa … not the one that is seen in tourist materials. While not as horrific as that which I experienced in Haiti, we saw vivid examples of the abject poverty that all too many Hondurans face as their daily life. We will see more later in the week, including a house visit to the home of one of El Hogar´s students, but it became evident even this early what the nature of the world was to the kids we see at El Hogar every day.
We finally got to work today, scraping and cleaning the wrought iron work around the Technical Institute´s main building. Tomorrow´s task will be to paint all the wrought iron. While our work will help the Technical Institute, a program which provides certified instruction in the electrical, welding, and wood working trades (soon to expand to include automotive repair), our real contribution here is to bolster the feeling of Institute staff and students that people who are not related to the Institute do indeed care and value what is happening there. More thoughts about the Technical Institute after I return to Little Rock.
Tonight was a really memorable experience. Torrential rains washed out our plans for outdoor evening play with the El Hogar kids. We gathered up various games we had on hand and swam our way up to the dorm, and then spent 2 exhilerating hours playing with the kids indoors. From games like Trouble, Uno, and Twister, to very creative arts and crafts projects, to being beaten by the kids in indoor soccer using a tennis ball, to just playing and talking in our fractured Spanglish, we felt totally accepted and welcomed by all the kids. The highlight of the evening was being “adopted¨ by a young boy who appeared to be about 6 but turned out to be 10 who latched on to me when I arrived and would not leave my side until I had to bid him buenos noches. For those moments at least, it appeared apparent that he felt he had a dad-figure who cared for him and he liked being with. I hope someone in the group took a photo of us … the time with him made the trip worthwhile no matter else what happens.
More tomorrow. Peace and blessings to all back home in the Estatos Unidos.
Allen
Travel to Honduras on Saturday went smooth except for 2 team members losing luggage (they got it on Sunday, don´t worry). The approach into Teguchigalpa was hairy to say the least … flying down a valley so that you could see homes very close to you on your level from windows on each side of the plane, was a new experience to me.
El Hogar, our home in Honduras, is totally different than I expected. The difference is far too complex to share here. Suffice it to say that I have discovered a form of outreach ministry totally different, and every bit as important, than the ministries I experienced in Haiti. I will write more about this when I return.
We were able to join in worship with some of the kids and the congregation of St. Mary´s Episcopal Church in Teguchigalpa. The Rite 2 service was in Spanish (obviously) but I was able to participate fully as they stick to the form of the BCP we use in the US (after all, they are full members of The Episcopal Church). The service was among the most inspiring I have participated in. We took the kids for a treat after the service … with Happy Meals at McDonalds! They had a blast, and we did also, each trying to communicate with the other in the other´s language. I am finding that the El Hogar program is doing a superb job in many ways, including English instruction.
As I had hoped, I have already learned much from the kids, the staff, and my fellow missioners. I have heard stories that bring tears to my eyes, and at the same time warm my heart. The El Hogar program is the first of its kind I have encountered … and they are truly turning the lives of the poorest of the poor around, giving them hope and the tools necessary to make their dreams reality for them.
We eat what the kids eat (for those of you who know me, my real surprise is that I like fried bananas … the first time I have eaten bananas in 55 years!), worship with them, spend a great deal of time playing with them. Tomorrow we will be ¨guest listeners¨ as they practice their reading. Surprisingly, we are already forming personal relationships with the kids. It is hard to believe that these beautiful, laughing, loving, inquisitive, and endearing children all come from the deepest poverty in Honduras.
Tomorrow, we head out to work at El Hogar´s Technical School. We are all openly awaiting new, and love filled experiences.
Allen
