Alabare A Mi Senor

Alabare A Mi Senor: I Will Worship My Savior

Nothing but love...

Pamela



Sunday, August 7, 2011

Just Do It!!!

In his book You Can’t Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe tells the story of an author, George Webber, who writes a best-seller which makes offensive and distorted references to his home town—i.e., he revises history—to the point that George is unable to return to his hometown without death threats! “You can’t go back home to your childhood... back to old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time...back home to the escapes of Time and Memory,” writes George Webber, Thomas Wolfe.


This short book report has been brought to you by my own revisionist history “aha!” moment as the last eight days have been filled with eye-opening encounters.


The past week my husband and I had the honor of being part of the Eddins 2011 Honduras Mission Trip. As many of you know, I am a missionary kid, and spent a large part of my formulative years in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. My parents never isolated us from this beautiful country or people; so we attended Honduran churches, had Honduran friends, and practiced many of the Honduran customs.


When the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to accompany this mission group, I was emotionally taken back to a place in time in my childhood, and for some reason, as an adult, expected to return to my version of history.


In fact, on the very first day in Cequaca, I was absolutely stunned by the differences between reality and my memories—so much so that I became very emotional and nearly non-functional. Thank goodness my incredible bunk mate Sandy (Nelson-Bunch) gently reminded me that in 30 years lots of changes have occurred everywhere—even in the U.S.! Everyone has acclimated, so I should jump on board! Sandy is not aware of this, but she became my reality gauge during this trip—I could always trust her to see things as they were, not colored by my memories or hypersensitivity. I am very grateful to her.


Cequaca, Honduras is not a small or impoverished town, by any means. The population is between 5 and 6000, more like 6000 after seeing all the expectant mothers in line at the clinic! Most families own a TV and at least one mobile telephone, so the personality of the town is different than it would be in a much smaller, less “wired” town.

This was certainly reflected in the children, where I served during this mission trip. We held our children’s services 3 times per day under a tent at the bottom of a hill. At best, children’s attention is difficult to maintain, but under a tent? Next to impossible. Further, it became a mob scene during the rain storms under that tent! There was one incredible theatre moment under this tent, though...the second day, as Marina was telling the story of the birth of Jesus, at the exact moment in the story where the shepherds were visited by the angels, a very large herd of cattle lumbered through...big cows, baby cows, mooing, pushing, shoving, pooping...we felt like shepherds! It was great! And even though the children were very difficult to “quiet down” 51 made professions of faith by Wednesday night. No matter the circumstances we must diligently tell the story of Jesus to children! In Matthew 19:14 Jesus said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” It’s so important to plant the seed of Christianity among these children, so that one day, they may bring others to Christ and rely on their knowledge of Jesus to be leaders in their community.


And speaking of kids…I am so very impressed with our own Andrew Eddins and Miranda Johnson who accompanied their fathers…to be so young to be incredibly adaptable and hard working. What a blessing to have them both along! I truly enjoyed seeing things through their impressionable eyes. Both are lovely, lovely, kids, even though they're both probably hatin' on me right now for calling them kids...


There were approximately 60 of us on this mission trip, to include translators and a group of New York Southern Baptist Koreans. Now, if that concept is hard for you to “wrap your arms around” as Larry Grace observed, imagine how difficult for the group from New York to “wrap their arms around” chronically smiling, friendly, happy people from Alabama who drank sweet tea! How presumptuous of us to make the tea sweet!  And grits!  "What is a grit?" one observed. Freddie and Velma, that sweet tea was my saving grace on several occassions!  Thank you so much for that sweet tea! We embraced the differences and not one personality squabble occurred! And believe me, under our living conditions, I truly expected squabbles to happen! Imagine 60 folks from diverse cultures using the same 3-4 latrines (quite honestly, a HOLE in the ground would have been preferable!), three metal open-air showers all located within 5 feet of our also, al fresco dining facility...all I’m going to say about that, um...took some acclimating!  But in the spirit of missions, with God's help, I came around! 

Our sleeping arrangements consisted of 6 or 7 small, crowded classrooms in a school, a foam mattress, and a sleeping bag.  Fortunately, my wonderful husband had shipped ahead two inflatable air mattresses, and I had, at-the-last-minute, stuffed a flannel sheet and pillow case into my suitcase, so my accomodations were a little less...rustic, and I was farther away from the floor than most, so I felt a little pampered, but I handled the pampered feeling quite well, I feel! 


I said no squabbles, but I lie. To tell you the truth there was considerable squabbling coming from the rooster population. Boy, those roosters rocked everybody’s world—even scared the dogs! Right outside our window 4 roosters homed themselves on a tree and were chronically squabbling and attempting to out-crow each other, all times of the day. These roosters were clearly having a large time keeping us informed of the time. As in, it’s ALWAYS time to crow. Goodness. I began having visions of what I’d like to do to those roosters. I take that back. I started having visions of what I’d like Daniel to do to those roosters for me. It wasn’t pretty!


One night I was able to sneak out of Children’s Church and listen to my husband Daniel speak. It was especially moving to see all of the church leaders gather around my husband, embrace each other, and pray for the service and for Daniel. As the worship service began, old “coritos” were sung and I found myself singing old familiar choruses, and even discovered that newer ones were now in Spanish. “Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save!” I was so humbled, and overcome with emotion as I watched my husband passionately declare God’s love, and as I heard his words translated into Spanish, it occurred to me, that, even as I sang those same choruses so many years ago as a kid, God in His awesome knowledge and power knew that one day, I would be singing these little songs again in a worship service in Honduras, as my husband spoke! Oh His love is so amazing, and His knowledge and judgment so powerful! It’s almost too much for my heart to hold.


I came back from Honduras with some Mayan pottery which I’ve always loved, and a few bobbles...a cap for Daniel (that’s all he ever wants!), but emotionally I came back with so much more. I love that God has allowed me to get to know my wonderful UBC brothers and sisters better. And I'm so thankful that my history is intack, and that I've learned so much more about Honduras!  I pray that as UBC mission-minded folks, we're able to sustain our love for each other, because this love and a heart for missions is what builds churches at home, and in a 3rd world country, and God knows we need church building right here, right now.


I strongly encourage each one of you to take that step, and become part of a mission team. Just do it. As Judy Eddins Darby said, “I hear people say all the time they’re waiting for the call...but we’ve already been called! Jesus instructs us in Mark 16:15 to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. That’s the call!” I’m with Judy on this. You don’t need to wait for the call—Jesus has already done that! Just do it!