A LIGHT THAT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS

In this little part of the world houses of tin crowd together in what are called "bordos."  The English word for that is "slums."  Cement walls, now moldy from the winter's rains will soon crack from the summer's heat.  Floors of cement are worn smooth by the traffic of little feet that are often kept indoors all day and night because of the lack of safety in the streets.  There are no backyards filled with swing sets and sandboxes.  Soccer is played in any little spot where it might be flat enough to kick a ball around.  Rutted roads of mud soon turn to dusty pathways as the rains end.  Few streets are paved after you leave the central corridor that runs through each tiny pueblo.  But amid all this the Church of Jesus Christ of Letter-day Saints has erected chapels that shine as a light in the darkness. Hundreds of thousands of dollars given freely by the faithful saints throughout the world are spent to try to give the people of Honduras a clean, quiet and peaceful place to worship.  Almost always they are the nicest buildings in the city.

(Chapel in Fesitranh)

(Chapel in Valle de Sula.  No "gringos" have been permitted in this area for four years)

(Chapel in Progresso Norte)

Another view of the Valle de Sula chapel

(Chapel in El Benque)

These chapels become the center of activity for the members of the Church in these areas.  In El Carmen where we spend our evenings they have seminary Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights of each week. Mutual activities begin for the youth of the area each Wednesday after seminary ends. Typically, some sort of a ward activity (dinners, dances, movies etc.) will be held on Friday nights, baptisms are on Saturdays and, of course, worship services are held on Sunday.  They are proud of their chapels.  The members do a good job of keeping them clean and attractive.

One of the many duties that we have each week is to drive a great big circle through the city of San Pedro Sula stopping at these, and other, chapels to deliver letters and packages to the missionaries who are gathered together in District meetings.  We load our little Toyota Corolla up to the brim, and head out.

The traffic in San Pedro Sula is frightful!  Four lanes of traffic squeeze into a two lane road.  Often this road will narrow to one lane without notice causing amazing traffic jams.  Bold and selfish drivers will whiz past on sidewalks, the wrong side of the road, or wherever they can cram their vehicle.  Every time we finish this route we offer a word of grateful prayer that we made it safely.

This week Wayne's financial reports were audited.  David Hernandez, the area's chief financial officer, came to visit and train for two days.  He went step by step through the financial reports.  There is so much that Wayne still has to learn, but Brother Hernandez was kind and patient.  Learning the financial lingo is an entirely new language, and to learn it in Spanish is causing Wayne to stretch.

Brother Hernandez (right) is like so many of the latter-day Saints in Honduras.  He, just like the chapels, is a light that shines in the darkness.  He is a young, 28 year old stake president in Tegulcigalpa.  Here he is meeting with Elder Douglas Ordonez, a missionary that left from his stake nearly two years ago.  Elder Ordonez will be finishing his two-year mission and will be going home to his family and friends this next week.  To see the love that existed between Stake President and missionary was awesome!  ("Masisso," as they say here.)  The gospel of Jesus Christ changes people.  It enlightens their life in a way that nothing else can do. We love these people, and they are accepting the gospel in droves!  Each week as we pass by the chapels to deliver mail we also retrieve the financial reports for the week and baptismal records.  The record that is pictured above came from the Choloma zone this past week.  It lists those who have been baptized during the week.  LaRae will then take these reports and enter them all into the computer.  With more than 200 people being baptized each month it takes her two full, 10-hour days each week to input these records  She could do it faster if she didn't have to still do all the other normal stuff like entertain elders as they come to the office, answer phones,  solve the myriad of problems that arise each day and more. We are busy, but we know that we are in the work of the Lord. This church, this gospel, this way, is the only way! There is no other reason on earth that could cause us to depart from our precious family for two years.  We're busy, happy and well.