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November 07/year 2
in Honduras
--Janet Alcántara
“…they had no leisure even to eat.” —Mark 6:31
I knew that November was going to require an all-stops-out push, with added activities spilling into December, too. Some of the extra events halting visits this month to the communities were:
AMEXTRA TRIP—(reported in last month’s letter). Co-worker Josefina and I didn’t return from Mexico until Nov. 3rd. After attempting to land in Tegus on the 2nd, the pilot gave up and turned around. Instead of arriving home as planned, we ended up spending a free night at a posh hotel in El Salvador!
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Newly baptized: Inmer comes from Chacalapa and Nicol from Búfalo, La Ceiba, both mission points in the north.
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THEOLOGICAL RETREAT — we celebrated Christmas in November at a theological retreat focusing on the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany! A team of Minnesota Lutherans sponsors training workshops with us twice a year. Eager, hard-working, perceptive and thoughtful youth--the young face of the ICLH—substituted expected participants at the last minute, surprising us with joy. An unexpected bonus: two people requested and received baptism.
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At the NATIONAL ICLH WOMEN’S CONFERENCE in La Ceiba, we were the only church in a march against violence. (We made the 11:00 TV news!) We also listened to how-to information on organizing small businesses, about gender issues, and domestic violence. I gave a presentation on “Discipline in the Bible”. Some moms and kids even spent an afternoon at the beach--under a steady rain!
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Marching for peace and justice and against violence against women in La Ceiba.
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No sooner were we done with the conference, when it was time to host—and interpret for--VISITORS from the New England Synod, exploring possibilities of establishing a collaborative ministry relationship with ICLH. (More about that next time). Their first evening in Tegucigalpa, I took them to supper at a small restaurant. The President of Honduras walked in and sat with his family at the table next to ours. I gave him a politely indifferent, “Buenas noches”.
In faith and service in Christ, --janet
Deaconess Janet Russell Alcántara/Iglesia Cristiana Luterana de Honduras/ dcsjanet@hotmail.com
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A sustaining hope during all the sweltering months of 2007 was the anticipation of end-of-year cold weather. Guess what? We haven’t gotten any…
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On the second day of our Women’s Conference, we received news that a woman living near the Buen Pastor Church in San Pedro Sula was murdered that morning. As her four children are active in the church, one of her 7-year-old twin daughters, who witnessed the killing, fled in terror and shock to the arms of Julio, the evangelist re-sponsible for the pastoring that congregation.
One of the sons had been hurrying his mom as she readied to leave for his 6th grade graduation ceremony, so also observed the woman who came in and shot his mother. The only thing that saved his own life was that the shooter ran out of bullets.
Three years previously, the family’s father was murdered; now the four children are orphaned.
My SPS conference roommates were terrified and in indecision whether to run back to their families. After prayer and phone calls home, they decided it was safer to stay put.
Please pray for Julio, as he pastors during these times of increased gang violence in his parish. Pray for Marlon (21), Maicol (12) and Solanch and Cici (7), and for the grandparents who must now care for them.
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Janet Alcántara,
I.C.L.H., Apartado. 2861,
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, C.A. |
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