A prayer for the mission

God of all goodness, grace and peace, bless the work of our hands as we join these people we serve in building a better future. Make us humble when we think we have better ideas, patient when we think we are moving too slowly, careful of the feelings of all who labor together, grateful for their willingness to share their lives, and courageous as we move into places unknown for service undefined. Wrap us in your protection throughout our journey. Remind us of all who pray for us in Cambridge and in other places. Give us images, memories, and messages that we will take back home from these places, and change our lives through this act of offering our lives for others. All this we pray in the name of Christ who offered himself for us. AMEN.

By Joe O. Robinson+ for Honduras Mission Trip 2006

Saturday

Valle de los Angeles is a small picturesque town outside of Tegucigalpa that is home to many artisan co-ops. We traveled there today after visiting Villanueva, where our 2001 Honduras Mission Team worked. We were given a short tour by Maria Consuelo (the head of the Tegucigalpa deanery) before traveling on to Valle de los Angeles. Once we arrived at Valle de los Angeles, we were immediately reminded of how this small Honduran town is truly one of the many Honduran gems. Our bus driver let us out in the middle of the town, where we found ourselves quickly immersed in the beauty and liveliness of Valle de los Angeles. Surrounded by small souvenir shops and large artisan warehouses filled with traditional Honduran trinkets of all different kinds, we knew the next two hours would be filled with...SHOPPING! We were amazed by the selection of gifts. We bought everything from traditional Honduran dresses to beautiful Mayan pottery bowls. For us, each piece of art, truly expressed the hope, love and spirit that beams from every one of our Honduran friends’ faces in San Pedro cerca del Rio.

Even though it is our third year here in Honduras, we continually discover new and exciting people and places. In our last church service at San Pedro cerca del Rio, Maria Consuelo spoke of the hope of the people at Pedro cerca del Rio, and not until this third year can we truly say that hope is not only a figment of the imagination; hope can be made into a reality.

Georgia Wyman, Jane Tingley, Britta Thompson and Elizabeth Lerret

A reflection on how Honduras has changed us

On Monday, July 17th, while riding the bus that took us from the hotel to Kilómetro 9, I asked out loud if anyone knew what we were going to do at the "website." The moment the words left my mouth, I realized I had misspoken. The "website"? Had my world become so virtual that the idea of getting my hands dirty while doing a hard day's work was something completely alien to me?

I began to ponder the answer to this question and, in doing so, thought back to the first time I was in Honduras back in 2004. After spending five days working with the people at Km. 9, and seeing how they live, I came away with the feeling that my concerns and worries were puny by comparison and that I should be more grateful for the things in my life. I remember thinking at the time that this lesson was one I would never forget. However, my "website" question seemed to indicate otherwise. A few days of mud, sweat, mosquitos and sore muscles would help to put things back into perspective.

Now my challenge is to be mindful of what I've learned. When someone is rude or unkind and I walk away thinking that people suck, I want to be able to look back at this time and remember how caring people were to me when I was unwell. When I lament that fact that I don't have enough money for some foolish thing or another, I want to be able to think of the people here who have far less, but appreciate what they do have far more. Alas, as time passes, I will surely lose sight of these observations once again, but hopefully a bit more will stay with me this time around.

Steve Ferrer

Sancta Maria de Los Angeles

Some of Kate Stohlman’s images from the mission

Sancta Maria de Los Angeles, the host church in Tegucigalpa

Discussing work for the day

Discussing work for the day

Steel Foundation for the 2nd floor Meeting Room

Steel Foundation for the 2^nd floor Meeting Room

Cutting rebar

Cutting rebar (Wendy Squires, Doña Ruth, Deborah Collins, Jane Tingley and Anker Lerret)

Tying rebar on the 2nd floor

Tying rebar on the 2^nd floor (Steve Ferrer, Tom Stohlman, Georgia Wyman, Jack Stohlman)

A view of the Church site from the homes up the hill

A view of the Church site from the homes up the hill, ready for pouring concrete

Four girls who love mud!

Four girls who love mud!

Flowers in Donna Ruth’s yard

Flowers in Donna Ruth’s yard (photo taken by Rico)

Tom Stohlman's reflections on the day:

A Prayer To Mud

(verses and response)

Response:

Lord, we give thanks for mud

Let us never be too rich or too poor

To care about mud

---------------------------------------------------------

Lord, we give thanks for the Rain,

Which drenches us and quenches us

And gives us Water to make Mud (response)

Lord, we give thanks for the Earth,

Which gives us the Rock and Steel and Concrete

To protect us from the Rain

And with the rain makes Mud (response)

Lord, we give thanks for the Plants and the Animals,

Which feed us and clothe us and with the sun and the Rain

Comes up from the Mud (response)

Lord, we give thanks for the Children,

Who teach us to love out condition,

And Play without care,

Those kings and queens of Mud (response)

Lord, we give thanks for the Adults,

Who Worry and Work for the Children,

Who care and clean them,

And keep them from the Mud (response)

Lord, we give thanks for Our Life

And Remember Those who have passes Before Us,

And remind us that we are Born,

And shall return to Mud. (response)

Thursday

It was another early start for the mission team. The day began at 6:45 for even the latest sleepers. We were joined today by Esmerelda, who many of us got to know last year and on the mission trip in 2001. There had been a strike, so that had delayed the cement truck from delivery. For the better portion of the day we, the kids, had nothing to do but play with the Honduran children. None of us seemed to mind. The most popular activity is playing "futbol," or for those of you who are not familiar with the term, soccer. Soccer is the Honduran sport of choice. The youth are not equipped with a soccer ball, so there is no way they can play when we are gone. It seems as though the children are born with natural talent for soccer. When Kevin or David see the ball they instantly start doing fancy moves with the ball.

When the truck with the bags of cement finally arrived, the mission workers were less help than we hoped to be. Each bag of cement weighed 100 pounds. The Honduran children, many a foot shorter and more, were carrying the bags of at least their weight on their shoulders with no hands. Some of the stronger men could even carry two at a time. The missioners had a tough time, struggling to carry one bag from the entrance to the church.

It is Thursday, and as crunch time approaches for the mission, we all feel hopeful that we can help these old and new friends to a better life.

Jack Stohlman, Solomon Montagno, Mark Lerret, Matthew Lerret

St. Mary's Tegucigalpa

The 2006 Honduras Mission began with Sunday morning service at Iglesia Santa Maria (St. Mary's Church), the largest Episcopal church in Tegucigalpa.

San Pedro cerca del Rio

This was our first view this year of San Pedro cerca del Rio. The new extension is on the left in the rear.

New construction

Britta Thompson, Sara Sclaroff, Steve Ferrer and Mead Wyman start work on the rebar on the new addition.

The Christ Church Cambridge cement mixer

This is the cement mixer purchased with funds from Christ Church Cambridge several years ago. Normally it would be towed down the hill behind a truck, but the treacherous road made this impossible; it had to be taken down by hand.

Hauling the cement mixer down the hill

The group hauls the cement mixer down the hill. The trick was to accelerate through the mud puddles (to keep the wheels from being trapped in the mud) without sending the massive machine plunging headlong down the steep road.

The morning haul

The missioners haul material to San Pedro cerca del Rio.

Bending rebar

Mark Lerret, Georgia Wyman, Jack Stohlman, Solomon Montagno and Matthew Lerret bend rebar.

Jump rope

Play is an important part of our mission. Kate Stohlman and Sara Sclaroff jump rope with three young parishioners. Soccer is also popular.

Cutting wire

Wendy Squires works with a local boy to cut lengths of wire.

Tightening rebar

Anker Lerret, Wendy Squires, Elizabeth Lerret, Tom Stohlman, Jack Stohlman tighten rebar. The rebar is laid in a grid and wires are wrapped around the junctions. The final step, being performed here, is to tighten the wires.

Placing rebar rings

Kate Stohlman places rebar rings on a second story column.

Mead and Luis

Mead Wyman talks with Luis Brenes Vargas, the rector of San Pedro cerca del Rio.

Tuesday

We call this the Christ Church Mission to Honduras, but it is really just the opposite. We are learning far more from the people here than they are learning from us.

Arriving at the airport with Jane, we were greeted warmly by Luis, the pastor of San Pedro Cerca del Rio, who was making his third trip to the airport. (This after his car broke down earlier in the day). Yet, there was no trace of the impatience that I know that I would have been showing by then.

At the service at the main Episcopal church on Sunday, the sermon, or what little I could understand , mentioned our work as part of their vision for Tegucigalpa. After the service, many people came to greet us, and seemed truly happy to see us.

At the worksite, our foreman, Marcos, shows no limit to his willingness to teach us how to do something. It was interesting to watch him cut five lengths of rebar at a time after we had struggled for an hour to do the same. But he seems happy for our help.

Our friends in the community have been at the site working with us, when they clearly have much work of there own. I am impressed by their faith and perseverance in coming to the small church there.

At home, we felt that we were busy with our preparations for the trip. But I think we sometimes overlook that, here, water is at the hotel, a bus comes to pick us up, materials are already at the site waiting for us. It seems that in a way, it is the people here who are on a mission to us. It is through their work that we are able to be touched by what we see and experience here.

Jane Tingley and Deborah Collins

Monday

We Wymans - Ann, Mead and Georgia enjoyed our first visit to the worksite today. We are the oldest, age 65 and youngest, age 12 inclusive in the group of 18. We all rode out in the yellow school bus and took lots of sandwiches made by the boys -tuna fish -and girls -peanut butter. We all walked the quarter of a mile down the road with water and tools and food. We were greeted by Dona Ruth who lives next door. She told us that she was very sad because her father had died two weeks ago. The warmth of all the folks at San Pedro is heartening.

We were excited first by our group itself. In the group of 18 eight are teenagers. We old folks knew we would not have to do all the energetic heavy lifting, as the youngsters have lots of strength and energy.

Marcos, the head of the work crew, conferred with Anker, being often translated by Steve, about our tasks for the day. They are putting on a second story behind the church to use as a Sunday School room. They are preparing to pour the concrete for the floor of the second floor and then the concrete forms for the support pillars will be formed. Our assigned tasks were cutting wire and straightening and cutting rebar for the preparation for the forms. That took us all day. Kate and Sarah found another useful task in weeding the yard of the church.

Luis visited for our lunchtime service. He brought ingredients for tortillas and cooked them at the back of the church.

We were assisted by several children nearby. Kevin and Eddy helped in the assembly line in straightening 60 long rebar rods. Georgia and Jack became experts in straightening in one or two presses of the lever. The heavy lifters, Solomon and Mark, helped move corrugated panels to the second floor.

We had diversions from a visiting turtle and puppy. A couple of rain showers cooled us off. We look forward to seeing real progress this week in the beginning of the second floor of the church.

Ann, Mead and Georgia Wyman

A reflection on third world poverty

As a summer reading project, I'm reading about third world poverty. I'm discovering that there are as many opinions on the causes of widespread poverty as there are economists. This brings to my mind the New Testament story of the man blind from birth (John 9:1). The disciples ask Jesus, "Whose sin caused him to be blind: his or his parents?" Jesus says (I'm paraphrasing...), "Neither. His blindness is to show forth the power of God," and heals him.

The Honduras Mission uses a poor Honduran parish to manifest the power of God. The power of God is not manifested by lightning bolts or pillars of flame. In fact, it isn't even manifested by bending rebar or pouring concrete. There are three concrete (heh heh...sorry, I couldn't resist the pun) ways that the Christ Church Honduras Mission uses a poor Honduras parish to manifest God's power.

First, we apply the financial resources of Christ Church Cambridge. It's clear that our sister parish, San Pedro cerca del Rio, wouldn't be able to enlarge their church building without the financial support of Christ Church donors and the Mission Committee.

Second are the friendships formed across thousands of miles. We discuss construction details. We ask about the health of family members. The Cambridge teenagers play soccer with their Honduran peers and help the tots draw pictures. All of these small things bond us to our Christian brothers at San Pedro cerca del Rio.

Finally, we manifest God's power merely by our presence. Luis, the rector of San Pedro cerca del Rio, has told me that our visit is a high point of parish life here. The parish prepares for our visit for the entire year. When we arrive, potential members come to see what the overseas visitors are doing; some stay and join the church.

We won't be solving the problem of third world poverty, but I'm grateful to Christ Church for the opportunity to show God's power in a tiny parish outside Tegucigalpa.

Anker Lerret

Welcome to the Honduras Mission 2006 Blog

Welcome to the Christ Church Cambridge 2006 Honduras Mission blog. Thanks for joining us.

The mission trip started on a happy note as we arrived at Logan airport and discovered that Joe Robinson had sent Dunkin' Donuts gift cards so that we could have breakfast on him. Thanks, Joe! A few hours later we deplaned at the completely renovated airport in Tegucigalpa. We spent the rest of Saturday settling in at our hotel and having dinner with Luis, the rector of San Pedro cerca del Rio, and Kim McClain, our liaison with the Diocese of Tegucigalpa.

Sunday we attended church at Iglesia Santa Maria (St. Mary's Church), the largest Episcopal church in Tegucigalpa. The gospel reading was of how Jesus sent the disciples out two by two to preach the gospel. Luis gave the sermon and focused on "two by two," saying that God never sends us to face challenges alone. He told of being assigned to San Pedro cerca del Rio a little over two years ago--just before the 2004 Christ Church Cambridge mission arrived--and how lonely and overwhelmed he felt. Our arrival made us partners and our support has helped to nurture the parish since.

On Sunday afternoon we went to a nearby shopping mall (Don't be surprised; Tegucigalpa is now quite a modern city.) for lunch and groceries. We finished the day with sight-seeing--a trip to a Honduras national park at the edge of Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa is in a huge bowl-shaped depression surround by mountains. The national park is at the high point of the ridge that surrounds Tegucigalpa. It features a large statue of Christ that looks down on the city. The views are spectacular and we enjoyed picking out landmarks in the city stretched below us.