Email 3 July 29, 2007
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San Pedro Sula,
Honduras
Friday, August 24, 2007
Hi everyone,
This update is volume one, issue three from your correspondent in Honduras. I've added several more people to the email list so I'd like to quickly catch those of you up to speed. I arrived here in the city of San Pedro Sula exactly one month ago to work as an intern for Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief organization. The internship will continue through mid-November, at which point I will return home.
The main "business" news to share with you is that there have been some alterations to my original assignment. My assignment was to work with five Garifuna communities on the northern coast to help strengthen their local churches in evangelism and discipleship. Due to changes in SP staff and heavy government oversight, SP must focus more directly on the "Garifuna Hope" project, which means that the church program is on hold for now. Garifuna Hope is a community health education program in response to HIV and AIDS. The Garifuna people are descendents of Africans who were brought to the Caribbean by the slave trade. I will be assisting Monica, the project leader for Garifuna Hope, with her work. I will, fortunately, be able to spend some time with the local church leaders, to begin to get an idea of what their ideas and needs are and to hopefully organize some programs with them. All said, I'm glad to have clear direction, since the last several weeks have been slow-moving as decisions were being made. Jonathan and I were able to travel with Monica last week to Travesia (a Garifuna community) for a community volunteer training conference. A side note: one of our duties has been to act as "bodyguard" for Monica when we go downtown, a title which I am rather proud of.
The main "personal" news I would like to share is that God has been working in me. These four weeks I have been in Honduras have led me to reflect quite a bit on faith and this past year. If you know me very well, you may know that I have struggled at times in the area of faith and doubt. Yet through this, God has convicted me that I am unable on my own to be "good enough," which is why I need a savior. His grace is renewing and building my trust in His goodness and His plans for me and bringing me to trust in Him more. I'm learning to say with Paul in 2 Timothy 1:12, "Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed..." This reminds me of a powerful 3 minute video that I have seen a number of times called "That's my King!" at this website: http://www.ignitermedia.com/products/iv/singles/4/Thats-My-King
If you have a Facebook account and would like to see pictures of the first month in Honduras, here is the link:
http://marquette.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071432&l=67457&id=20300569
Thank you for your continued prayers! I greatly appreciate them. One prayer request that comes to mind is that I will have a servant's heart and be humble.
God Bless, Dios le bendiga!
Stuart
P.S. I realized recently that I was saying to people "Dios se bendiga," which means "God bless Himself." I have since used the correct phrase.
