Honduras: Day Seven

It's getting kind of late tonight, so this update won't be as long. Lisa Anderson-Umana, a long time missionary in Honduras supported by North Way, visited with us at the hotel tonight. We had a great time catching up, and I know her kids enjoyed the swimming pool. This was a full day. We visited a church and Buckner community transformation center in a barrio by a river in Tegucigulpa. In just one year of being opened, the community center has served over 400 children. They also reach out to the families of the kids who are involved in the center. The center is mostly built upon volunteers from the community, the church, and people from outside the community who work together to meet the holistic needs of the people living in poverty. I noticed a great sense of hope in the people I interacted with, even though the center has not been around very long. I was able to interview kids, parents, business owners, and many other people involved in restoring the shalom in this neighborhood.

I really enjoyed interviewing the pastor and his wife at their church after we had walked through the community. He has been a pastor in one of the poorest communities in Honduras for 13 years, and he has been through a lot during that time. He has personally led gang members to Christ, and led them to life change through God's transforming power. He has also built relationships with gang members who terrorized the community and died violently. I had a meaningful conversation with him about how difficult it can be to work with high risk youth. He wept as he shared about the burden that he has for the kids in the community. I share his sense of burden in my interactions with some of the high risk youth in Homewood. Young men die violently in my nieghborhood just as they do here. I really respect this pastor for moving his family into the neighborhood where he pastors in order to be an incarnational presence. Being in the midst of difficult environments helps us to reach the people in the community more effectively. I will have much to share about the many different people I have met today, but for now I need to get some rest because tomorrow is going to be another intense day.