from Bruce, in Honduras, Week 3
Tenacious
One word I would use to describe the
Hondurans of the Christian church here is “tenacious”.
In
spite of living in an environment where the odds are stacked against them (no
help from the government, oppression from the gangs, 60% unemployment), they
appear to face each day with an attitude of commitment that says “Today will be
a good day”.
We
attended worship at Pastor Juan’s church last Monday night. This little
building is perched high on a mountain side and has a sweeping view of Tegucigalpa When we arrived, there was a small group of young men and boys
playing soccer in the street on the only semi-level piece of land in the
neighborhood.
There is no parking lot here that fills up with vehicles easing
in and families spilling out. Here people arrive in small clusters, walking
down and up the steep uneven mountainside to spend time in worship of the God
that sustains them. Eventually 50 or so were present, standing or sitting on
benches around the outside of this simple one-room church building. Two of them
are a grandmother in her 80’s with a handicapped granddaughter in her 20’s.
Worship begins at 4 so that no one will need to walk home in the dark. This
hillside is under the oppression of the MS-13 gang and walking home in the dark
is just asking for trouble.
The
worship started with singing lead by Brother Juan playing amplified acoustic
guitar and singing by his stout wife whose sincerity shown brightly through the
language barrier. Everyone joined in and the singing was loud and strong with
praise and thanksgiving. The singing leads to movement and movement leads to
dancing and the raising of hands. The Spirit in that time of worship was thick.
Because the people here have few options for coping with their situation. Join
a gang perhaps, pay the taxes the gangs enforce, suicide. Or, run to the One
who promises that even in the presence or our enemies he will restore us and
provide his protection.
I
have attached some pictures that, to me, represent the level of tenacity that I
have witnessed here. It was on the third day of hand digging the footing trench
for the church addition that it was decided to tackle this big 6-man boulder
that had been dug around and ignored previously.
The ground here is a funky mix
of dark gray clay mixed randomly with rocks of various sizes. It digs hard and
you are constantly slowed down by the rocks along the way. And it’s hot,
averaging 90 degrees.
Personally, I would have just left that boulder in place
and poured concrete over it but the men here would not compromise. They took
turns digging around its edges with a pick and bar until it was lying completely exposed in the
ditch and I am pondering, now what ?
There was no backhoe or other easy way of
lifting this boulder out of the ditch. So again, as a team, they took turns
slamming this boulder with an 8-pound sledge hammer. It took some time and
advice from the older men about how and where to strike. Eventually chunk after
chunk was broken away until this obstacle to our work success was small enough
for two men to lift from the ditch and eventually used as fill beneath a new
slab floor in the room we are building.
This whole
rock busting episode I see as and analogy to the Christian Hondurans level of
tenacity. Their obstacles to success are bigger than any one person, so they
are succeeding by working together and incorporating God’s Wisdom in the course
of facing their everyday challenges. And compromise is not what they are
interested in.
It’s a
privilege and great pleasure to personally experience this kind of living.
Thank-you for
your support,
Bruce
