The Last 6 Weeks: People, Not Projects

I love projects.  I love the challenge of having to design and redesign and configure and construct something that, afterwards, you can look at and be proud of.  I guess that's one reason why I got into construction.  Typically, when I am faced with a project, I devote everything to it.  I spend my free time thinking about whatever it is that I'm working on.  I'll forget to eat.  I won't even stop to go to the bathroom.  This was the case with my most recent project.  I was assigned the task of building the cabinets in a new house that is being completed here on campus.  This house will be a revenue producer for the seminary as missionary families rent it out for years to come.  The first guest arrives in a week and a half, so we're in crunch time.  As I began to prepare to build cabinets, I spent an entire day measuring, investigating, designing, redesigning, and planning for how I was going to build them.  Every time I was in my kitchen cooking or washing dishes I would take mental notes about my cabinets and apply it to my design.  If I was in the middle of dinner and had a thought enter my mind about them, I would get up and investigate immediately.  I was consumed by cabinets before I even began to build them.   I tried to schedule my progress about a week in advance so I would know what I could expect to accomplish each day.  If I wasn't already locked in to what I was doing, once the actual construction began, I most certainly was.  Any distraction was too much.  If I couldn't have a conversation with you while I was working, I would rather it wait.

Pause.

Rewind four and a half months.  I'm at my last small group meeting before I leave for Honduras.  They ask me what is one thing specifically about which they can pray for me.  I respond with the following:

"I tend to get really focused on projects that I'm doing, so I guess my fear is that I will neglect the people and relationships for the sake of whatever project I'm working on.  Pray that I'll focus on the people, not the projects."

Play.

Fast-forward back to cabinet-building week.  As I'm in the thick of it, in walks Lenin, my neighbor and the pastor of my church.  He has a favor to ask of me.  A dentist friend of his has agreed to do some much needed dental work for free  for a teenage girl in our church, Nulbia.  Lenin tells me that he is unable to take her to her appointment.  (As he is talking, I know what's coming.  In my head I'm thinking, "please don't ask me to do it, please don't ask me to do it).  He asks me if I could take her.  I hesitate, smile, grit me teeth, and tell him that I can.  I confess to Laura as we're going to pick up Nulbia that this is really hard for me and I would, honestly and selfishly, rather be working on my cabinets.  She knew that and promptly reminded me of what I asked for prayer about four and a half months ago.

So long story short, I took Nulbia to the dentist, had a nice conversation with the dental assistant while waiting, took Nulbia back home, and proceeded to work on cabinets.  Apparently, however, I wasn't quite done learning my lesson.  I had to take Nulbia to the dentist again the next day, and the day after that, and one more day the next week.  With each trip, and only by the grace of God, my mind eased more and more knowing that she was more important that a cabinet.  You see, Nulbia is in the class that I teach at church.  She is one of the few Hondurans who will occasionally participate in the lesson.  She is rather shy and doesn't usually speak unless spoken to, so even though we sat in silence for most of our trips, the few conversations that we did have only helped to strengthen our relationship.

There was a time that I considered a wooden box to be more important than a human being.  

That's a hard sentence to write, but it is a true admission from the chief of sinners.  I am indebted to God for his undeserving grace that forgives me for believing the lie that my projects are more important.  I am indebted to God for his transforming grace that reminds me daily that construction projects and houses and cabinets are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

I don’t expect this to be the last time I need that reminder, but hopefully, by the grace of God, I can continue knowing that people, not projects, are why I am in Honduras.

The Last 6 Weeks: "Absolutely"

I've taken a hiatus from writing for the past month or so.  I have had visitors here in Honduras for this month, so I decided to take a break.  I missed it though.  Last Wednesday, after I returned home from dropping off my visitors at the airport, I sat down and began to write in a journal and I wrote, and I wrote, more than a few thousand words worth after it was all said and done.  I'll spare you the three thousand words all at once, so in order to summarize the past month, I'm planning on putting up a  series of short posts over the next week or so. Enjoy and stay tuned!

I have failed to mention thus far who my visitors were this past month.  My girlfriend, Laura, came to visit and stayed the entire month.  For the last week of her stay, her dad, John, came too.  I suppose the most important thing I have to share about their stay was that although Laura came to Honduras as my girlfriend, she left as my fiancée.  Yes, I proposed, in Honduras, on a mountain.  I had purchased the ring before I left for Honduras and had been planning the proposal since about last October.  I'll spare you the story, but it's all on Facebook if you're interested.  Instead of the proposal story, I'm going to share with you a play-by-play of sorts.  If you choose not to proceed in reading, let me warn you, there's some pretty embarrassing stuff in here that I can assure you, if nothing else, you'll get a laugh out of.


August 2009: I see Laura for the first time.  I arrive late to my first small group meeting of the year just as Laura is introducing herself to the group.  For some reason, I hear her say that  she is studying engineering (I heard wrong).  Clearly I was interested from the start.

February 2010: Laura is invited to play on the women's Ultimate Frisbee team at Auburn.  I was a part of the men's team, so when she saw me at practices, she would greet me with "Hey, friend!"  She has a way with words.

April 2010:  Laura and I find out that we will be attending the same concert in Birmingham.  At the concert, Laura sees me, and during intermission, comes to say hey.  She was very awkward, but I remember what dress she was wearing, so….three points for Trey?

May 3rd, 2010: End of the year small group party. I ask Laura about her engineering degree.  She's studying nutrition.  Embarrassing.  Our small group leaders found out that I play guitar and asked me to play a mini-concert for everybody.  As it would turn out, all the guys left and I'm left playing to 5 girls.  (I would later admit that I was secretly playing to her and didn't care all that much what the other 4 thought).  Laura helps me carry my stuff out to my car afterwards and we talk for 20 minutes.  Later that night, I ask her out (I swore I would never admit this in public, but here goes nothing) via Facebook chat.  If that's not embarrassing enough, here's roughly how the conversation went:

Laura: Hey, friend!
Trey: Hey! What are you doing?
Laura: Studing
Trey: Well good luck.  Hey I have a question: I have some chicken in my freezer that I need to eat before I leave for the summer.  Would you wanna come over and help me eat it?

Embarrassing and awful.  Yes.  But she said yes, so….sue me.

May 6th, 2010:  Laura comes to my house for dinner.  I believe I thoroughly impressed her with the dry chicken, canned green beans (something I found out later that she doesn't like), and burnt dinner rolls that I served.  My sister comes by my house to sign a Mother's Day card.  She is so shocked that there is a girl in my apartment with me that she writes "happy birthday" instead of "happy Mother's Day" on the card.  Laura and I talk until 4 in the morning in my living room.  She leaves when I tell her that I have a final exam in four hours (which I got an A on by the way).  We depart with a authentic, youth-group-approved, awkward side hug.

May 8th, 2010:  Laura invites me to attend a dance recital with her (not exactly the way to my heart, but I obliged).  We go to Cracker Barrel afterwards and played paper football (I won).

May 14th, 2010: Laura comes to spend the day with me at my grandmother's place.  We didn't exactly define it then, but retrospectively, we picked this date as the day we began dating.

May 15th, 2010:  I leave for North Carolina for the summer while Laura stays in Auburn for classes.  What a great way to start a relationship with three months of separation! '

Labor Day, 2010: I tell Laura that I love her.  I had told her before that I wouldn't ever say "I love you" to anyone that I didn't intend on marrying.  Foreshadowing.

May 2011:  Laura graduates from Auburn.   I leave for South Dakota for the summer while Laura leaves for Uganda.

August 2011: I return to Auburn for my senior year and she moves back to Birmingham.

May 2012:  I graduate from Auburn and move to Birmingham.  Until this point, we had spent more time apart than we had spent together.

December 2012:  I spend about a week lying to Laura while I'm preparing to purchase her ring.  In case you were worried, she forgave me for that.

January 27th, 2013:  I leave for Honduras for one year.

April 27th, 2013:

May 10th, 2014:  Laura and I will get married.

Church

Well, as promised, here is the second installment of recent Honduras updates.  Our church doesn't have a name.  In fact, when people ask where I go to church, I'm kind of at a loss for words because I don't feel like I attend a church.  I feel much more like I am a part of a local body of believers, a small body, but a body nonetheless.  So, the body of believers of which I am a part meets in a small house on the outskirts of town in barrio Calan.  The majority of people in this area are very poor.  None own cars, making it difficult to attend a regular church in town somewhere.  Most live without electricity, clean water, ample food, and security.  For example, the sister in whose house we meet makes 600 Lempiras  a month as a maid for a large house nearby.  That's 30 bucks a month.  As is the case far too many times in Honduras, she is a single mother with 5 kids--her  husband was murdered a few years ago.

As it goes, this is the story of many people in my church.  The majority demographic are widows with anywhere from 1-5 kids, all living on scrap income, trying to make ends meet.

For all the sadness and poor conditions that I could tell you about, that's not what I want to focus on, because that's not what they focus on.  These people are growing in Christ.  I can't say that all are believers in Christ, but for those that are, I see them growing in the likeness of Christ, and for those that aren't I see them growing too.  They are committed to prayer and meeting regularly and tithing.  I would say that over 60% of the Hondurans that attend are illiterate, not a very shocking statistic considering that most, since a young age, have worked just trying to support their family, eliminating the possibility of attaining a formal education.  I am proud to say that I am a part of this local body of believers.  Their commitment to growing in the likeness of Christ inspires me each and every week.  I want to share a few stories of recent happenings with people in this body.

Hermana Candida is a single mother with a little girl. (By the way, hermana or hermano means sister or brother and is very common to put in front of names here, just so you're aware).  She lives about a 45 minute walk from where we meet on Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings prayer, but she is always the first to arrive.  I have seen more growth in this sister in the past few months that anyone else.  She, like many, only attended school through the third grade and never learned to read.  Determined, however, hermana Candida taught herself to read using the Bible.  She now reads very well.  He is always the first one to volunteer when a reader is requested.

A few weeks ago a thief broke into hermana Candida's home and stole almost all of her plates and dishes.  The next week, the thief returned….to ask for forgiveness.  He felt so bad about what he had done he had come to return what he had stolen and ask for her forgiveness.  Hermana Candida, in response, told him: "No.  If you had to resort to stealing them, you probably needed them more than I did anyway.  Why don't you just keep them?"  What did Jesus say again, something about "if they steal your shirt, give them your cloak too?"  Talk about Christlikeness!  This story made me beam with pride over her growth in Christ.  How many of us Americans, after having something stolen from us, would suggest that the thief keep what he took if he offered to return it?!

Hermano Geraldo is probably closing in on 80 years old.  He lives with his elderly wife in a house just up the hill from where we meet.  He attends faithfully and is always ready to share, as we do every week, what he is thankful to God for.  A few weeks ago, at our weekly Tuesday afternoon prayer meetings, we prayed that he would find a job.  Two days after praying that evening, he found work.  In fact, he didn't even go looking for it, but the work came looking for him.  I guess that's just God saying, "Hey, look what I can do!"

These are just two examples of the ways that people in my church are growing to be more like Christ.  I would ask that you continue to keep this body of believers in your prayers.  Pray that they would, despite their circumstances, trust that God is faithful to provide all of their needs.  Pray, also, that they would realize the call to follow Christ and do so with their whole life.

As always, stay tuned for more updates soon….