Feathered neighbors

Since moving to Honduras I have become far more attentive to birds. This is in part because the range of bird song even in a neighborhood as urban as ours is often astounding. It is also because the birds here are so colorful. My experience of birds in the places I lived in the US is that neighborhood birds come in two colors: light brown and dark brown. This is unfair, of course. Some neighborhoods have cardinals. But birds in Honduras are so colorful compared to the species I tended to see in the states.

Here are some species that we have seen just in our neighborhood. Maybe in a later post I can show some of the species we've seen out and about. (The pictures are taken from various websites; they are not our photography.)

Bushy-Crested Jays

Great Kiskadee

White-eared Hummingbird

White-Throated Magpie Jay

And a species of oriole. I'm not sure it's this one, but it tends more orange than yellow. It might be this one, the Altamira Oriole. 

Some perspective

As some of you know, my (Stephen's) sister and her family have ministered for several years in the Flemish-speaking region of Belgium. They went intending to do church leadership development but have ended up doing as much church leadership themselves as training anybody else to do it. In any event, there are similarities between our work.

However, I must confess that on more than a few occasions since arriving here in Honduras I have had cause to make mental note of certain inequalities in our callings, you might say. Often these are prompted by my brother-in-law's regular picture updates. As I (and most of humanity) am wont to do, I compare our situations.

• They have quaint European villages and shops. We have dilapidated third world style architecture and markets with animals in varying states of life, death and dismemberment.
• They have a cozy farm house in the country. We have a cinderblock condo behind a gate with a guard.
• They have universal health care. We have universal security issues.
• They have relatively easy access to France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, etc. We can take eternal bus trips to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. (Not knocking CA countries, but at least to me they don't measure up to the tourist bonanza that is Europe.)
• They have 300 types of cheese, fresh bread, chocolate, waffles, and fries. We have rice and beans. (For me this one almost breaks even. But not for Debbie.)

As you can see, by my quick reckoning, Honduras doesn't measure up too well. Clearly God loves them more than he loves us, right? But today I have been brought me up short about at least one resource we have that they don't.

Recently my sister and her husband had to address an inappropriate song that was being used in their son's third grade class. After confronting the teacher with their concerns, they ultimately requested permission for their son to sit out of this song and dance routine. This, of course, took place in a public education institution. In general they have been pleased with their sons' education but this is not the first incident that they have had to deal with.

As my wife was telling me all this the realization hit me forcefully that one of the great blessings that we have here is a plethora of quality Christian education options. I have long been of the conviction that there is no one right educational choice and that all of the options--Christian, home, private, public--demand much of the parents in offsetting and addressing the dangers and shortcomings particular to each model. But we are absolutely convinced that our daughter's teachers have not only her best educational interests in mind but care for her spiritual well-being as well. That is a gift.

I won't lie. I will probably always rather visit Switzerland than Nicaragua. And this realization of our blessing is not likely to cure me of my tendency to think others have it better than I do. But it supplies me with a new truth to speak to myself when the lies and distortions come my way.

Greenery

One of our supreme delights here in Honduras is the wide variety of beautiful flora. It seems that something has been in bloom since we arrived in August. Often the colors are just eye-popping to us.

We recently have acquired a few plants by various means.

This one was on the patio when we moved in but has recently blossomed. We find its blossoms humorous (see close up below).

This little guy started growing in the drain in our pila (read: laundry room). We're not sure what he is yet, but we thought we'd at least give him a better home.

Recently a friend bought us a tree. We have long found members of family araucaria. We're not sure exactly which species ours is, but we like it nonetheless. (In the picture below you can also see a recently acquired aloe plant and our latest attempt to get avocado pits to sprout, or "spout" as Ellyn says).

Looking back...a follow up

Lest you were worried after the last post that we might decide to drive indefinitely without side mirrors, I wanted to let you know that I had them replaced yesterday. We have learned several things in this little experience.
1) People steal things that seem to have little value.
2) Driving without mirrors is annoying.
3) Removing the entire mirror from our car is easy and only involves three small bolts.
4) Replacing the mirrors is cheap.

Now, it has only been about 24 hours so I cannot yet testify to the quality of the craftsmanship, but I left the mirror assembly at a shop yesterday morning and picked them up again around noon. The shop custom cut pieces of mirror and glued them onto the mirror adjustment mount so we can still use the motorized mirror adjustment controls in the car.

The charge? 140 lempiras or about $7.00. For both, not apiece. No kidding. I thought it was ridiculously cheap so I gave the guy $10 and told him to keep the change. He looked at me like I was crazy, but said, "Whatever."

So the downside to living in Honduras? You're likely to get your mirrors stolen.

The upside? It only cost $7 to replace them.

In the news...

If you see Honduras in the news in the US or Europe it is probably not a good thing. The last week has been particularly traumatic for the country.

First, on Tuesday night a fire claimed the lives of over 300 prisoners at a prison in Comayagua, a city about 60 northwest of Tegucigalpa. It will likely be some time (if ever) before the truth of the matter comes to light.

Then today, another fire broke out in an open-air market in Comayagüela, a sister-city to Tegucigalpa. Several of the ministries represented in the church are located not far from where this fire took place and minister in this area. Currently, reports indicate that there were no fatalities but that upwards of 500 merchants' stalls were destroyed. Many people rely on this market for both their livelihoods and their goods. A photo gallery of this fire can be seen here. The images of thick, black smoke rising over the city are sobering.

To my knowledge, neither of these fires have impacted congregation members directly. I know of one member who has a stall at a market but in a different location. However, many of the ministries in the country will be seeking to offer relief to those in special need at this time.

Pray with us for the peace of Honduras.

Wiki'd Weather

I have the weather for Tegucigalpa on my Google desktop, though I'm not sure why. The sample to the left is representative. Don't be fooled by those different temperature predicted for Friday and Saturday. The guy at Google weather just adjusted by two degrees to convince us he's doing something. I've been told that it will get hotter and drier in March and April and that may be so. But if one takes a close look at the climate averages one discovers a rather monotonous pattern for the weather here in Tegus.
According to the wikipedia article for Tegucigalpa, the average monthly highs and lows for the city vary very little. The lowest monthly average low (57.7 in Jan.) and the highest average monthly low (64.8 in May and June) differ by a whopping 7 degrees. Similarly, the highest average high (86.4 in April and May) and the lowest average high (77.7 in Dec.) differ by fewer than 9 degrees. The yearly averages are nicely symmetrical:

Average High - 82
Daily Mean - 72
Average Low - 62

No point in even having words for the seasons.

If you take another look at that chart though, there is a datum that does show variation: precipitation. The rainiest months (June and September) have over 9 more inches of rain than the driest months (January and February).
The color-coding highlights another pattern, that the rainy season is not an undifferentiated period of wetness. A wet May and June give way to a moderately wet July and August followed by another month of heavier rain in September and October. Kind of reminds me of this:

"Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains." James 5:7

Things I don't miss about America

At this point in our sojourn in Honduras (5 months and counting) you might be expecting a reasoned analysis of aspects of life "back home" for which we long wistfully. I might be able to write that post; I haven't given it much thought. I have thought about a few things that I don't miss about "home."

• Politics. Being at a distance helps me control just how much of the political wrangling (all the more pronounced in an election year) I am exposed to. When you're in the states avoiding political talk is a bit like avoiding air. Through TV and the web I get as much as I want and no political TV ads at all!
• Football fans. I don't care about NFL or college football. But I have lived the last 15 years in Wisconsin and then Nebraska, two of the most football crazy places in the country. The problem with football season as opposed to, say, baseball season is that there is far more talk about football than there is actual football. Wisconsin radio stations spend the entire 165 hours between Packer games reviewing, analyzing, anticipating, complaining, and whining. Since we spend a fair bit of our time with North Americans we do have contact with some football fans but not too many. I have never heard a Honduran talk about American Football.
• Car Commercials. There are car commercials on TV here but they seem to be far fewer than in the states. I don't know what it is about car commercials that bothers me but I have long disliked them. Of course, the trade off here seems to be that we have more perfume commercials which I can't say I'm fond of either. That and they seem to cycle the same commercials more often.
• Telemarketers. My Honduran phone line just never rings. Ever. Praise be.
• Junk Mail. For all intents and purposes there is no mail system here. Bills are delivered by hand by an employee of the company sending them. Accordingly, we get no unwanted mail at all. No credit card offers, no insurance offers, no contest entries. Nothing.

There are probably more, but this is what comes to mind today.

It's the economy, stupid

Winston Churchill famously described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." I feel somewhat similarly about the Honduran economy. On the one hand, many financial indexes rate Honduras as one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. It scores much higher than many African nations, but lags behind many of its neighbors. But I don't need the numbers to tell me that. I see evidence of poverty and a depressed economy everywhere I go here.
  However, there is another side. The other day I was at Toncontin International Airport here in Tegucigalpa and it was absolutely mobbed with people. Now obviously many were there to send off or receive family and friends, but the lines for check-in were busy too. Flying costs money. Flying out of Tegus costs even more because of the unique challenges of take-off and landing. And it can't be possible that ALL or even MOST of these passengers are foreign visitors going to and fro. Some of these must be Hondurans that are departing and arriving.
  I then went to one of Tegucigalpa's malls, the one with Walmart (Mall Cascadas). It, too, was lousy with people. Some of the traffic was doubtless attributable to the holiday but I have been in that mall at other times when it has been similarly crowded. From this mall one can actually see another of the city's malls (Metromall), and nearer the church there are two more more sharp, clean malls with upscale stores (Mall Mutiplaza and Mall Novacentro). The food court at one of them is constantly busy. On top of that, they are building another mall near the airport. (All that and I haven't even mentioned StuffMart, I mean, PriceSmart.)
  What gives?
  Latin American economies are notorious for having a small upper class living in luxury and a large lower class, mired in poverty. As compared to the US economy, this is still probably true of Honduras. But I don't think such an imbalanced system could possibly sustain the level of commerce that one sees here in Tegucigalpa. There must be a middle class of some sort to sustain these businesses.
  That said, there is certainly poverty in the city and the economy outside the main cities is another matter altogether. But the poverty here is still different than that in places like Africa. In those places the daily effort to find food, never mind pay for it, is burdensome. As near as I can tell, there is no shortage of food here. The produce is generally plentiful and beautiful. The open air markets teem with people and the spread of seasonal fruits and vegetables is a sight to behold.
  Such is the mysterious, enigmatic riddle of the Honduran economy. I am glad that it is not mine to unravel, though perhaps, as a minister here my task is no less mysterious.

Fired up, powered down

On and off last evening I was hearing noise from surrounding neighbors and neighborhoods. I didn't think a great deal of it until about 9pm when it rather abruptly got crazy. Fireworks were going off incessantly and people were shouting and screaming. At first I figured that there was some festival or other; I have yet to have a real handle on Honduran holidays--when they are or how they are celebrated. Then it occurred to me that there may be a more simple explanation. A brief search online revealed that Club Deportivo Olimpia had just defeated Real Club Deportivo Espana 2-0 in the League championship (3-0 on home-away aggregate). This was somewhat unexpected I believe, because Real España had dominated in the regular season. Olimpia is based here in Tegus while Real España is from San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras. Needless to say, fútbol  being the official national religion sport and Olimpia being one of the home town favorites, there were some fired up people in town. 

Though I doubt that there was any relation, last night's excess of energy was followed by a shortage today. For the first time since our arrival, the electricity was intermittent this morning at church. The church has a generator for such circumstances but the noise of the generator and the instability of the electricity it provides made for a different sort of service. Fortunately the congregation did not seem too bothered by it and, as most of my friends know, I have a big enough mouth to make up for the lack of amplification.

As I explained in a previous post, today we also said "Goodbye" to a good friend and fellow minister Jesse. It was good to hear him present his decision to the church and to pray with him and for him. He will be sorely missed but we rejoice with the direction that he is moving for the good of the kingdom.

How my life got better by moving to Honduras

I am sure that one of the first thoughts many people had upon hearing that we were moving to Honduras was to assume that this move would involve a change in quality or comfort of life for us. Our imaginations find it easy to run wild with this sort of speculation about places we have never visited. Tegucigalpa, Honduras sounds remote (but not exotic) and the common assumptions about Central America conjure images of burros laden with sacks of coffee beans on their way to markets made up of colorful tents and awnings festooned with recently beheaded chickens. I will admit that I have seen the beasts of burden (though it was loaded with bottles of soda) and the meat section of the central market is not for the weak of stomach. However, Tegucigalpa is not all that far behind in the services and luxuries that most North Americans regard as necessary for life. In fact, there are distinct ways in which I am living better here in Honduras than I ever have in the states and it is not primarily because of where my salary places me in the Honduran economy (which I don't really know other than that I'm better off than most but far behind many). Let me give a few examples.

• We have a bigger home than we ever have. Except for the year spent house sitting and the year with my parents, this is the largest place we have lived. It is not lavish and the rent is reasonable, but by its layout and design, it is a spacious place. (Except for the kitchen. If both Debbie and I are in the kitchen it is a bit like the circus routine of the guys riding motorcycles inside the spherical cage.)
• We have a bigger and better TV than we ever have. Up until a year ago we were using the 13" TV we bought a year after we got married. I probably wouldn't have spent the same amount on a set in the states but a friend from church was leaving and offered a good deal. (People are coming and going constantly and the speed with which the vultures gather people reach out to support the departing by relieving them of their earthly possessions for rock bottom prices is remarkable.)
• My banking is more convenient than ever. Once we finally got our bank account set up here it is very easy. The online bill pay is more intuitive than any I've used in the states. I can do banking from my cell phone and I don't even have a smart phone.
• Beans and rice are readily available. I love beans and rice. Obviously these things are available in the states but here, virtually every restaurant offers beans and rice as a side dish.
• I have a nicer office than I ever have. The church building is made of brick. This includes the interior. I love brick. My office is brick with two walls of shelves. It is spacious, well ventilated, well lit, and comfortable. I have had other comfortable places to work from in the past but this certainly surpasses them.
• I have a better view than I ever have. Tegucigalpa sits in a valley and is surrounded by verdant hills. We have yet to tire of the scenery, the hills, the play of clouds upon the summits in the morning. This is a beautiful country.

There are probably more I could list, and, of course, there are downsides too, but I will not dedicate a post to them; it would smack too much of complaining. And besides, they are not that significant a part of our lives. We are truly blessed and want you to know it!

Suppose he's house broken?

We discovered this furry little fella in our patio area the other day. He was softer than he looks. A few hours later he was gone and we're not sure where he went.

Catracho Pride

Hondurans, or catrachos as they self-denominate, love their fútbol. This past week has seen some important games between rival teams in the national league. But there is also considerable pride in la selección or national team. Internationally Honduras is currently ranked 54th though they are 5th in their region (CONCACAF) behind México, USA, Jamaica and Panamá. There is a particularly strong rivalry between Honduras and El Salvador for reasons having more to do with politics than soccer. Qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brasil is underway and Honduras is hopeful to secure a spot though only three from the region are guaranteed spots in the final 32 teams (the fourth place team enters a playoff with a team from another continent for a possible spot).
All this by way of prelude to displaying my Honduran pride with the national team jersey that my wife purchased for me. You know who has been included as gratuitous cuteness.

It's beginning to feel a lot like...Memorial Day.

People frequently ask us how our transition is going. We can answer completely honestly that it has gone very well. We have been healthy, have had relatively few difficulties in establishing a home and various services, and even anticipate that our residency paperwork will go through soon. We are very happy in our home and find our church home equally comfortable.
The only "problem" is that Christmas is 20 days away but my brain thinks it is late spring because the sun shines every day and the temperatures are in the 70s. Having lived almost our entire lives in places where there are four distinct seasons this two-seasons-only-really-differing-in-the-amount-of-rain-that-falls thing will take some getting used to. It was helpful that last week a cold front came through and temperatures dipped occasionally into the 50s. We could pretend that it was autumn. (It was also humorous to see the Hondurans bundling up as if an Arctic blast had struck.)
But if this is the only thing we have to complain about, we're doing pretty well, no?

Your next question

I am sure that the last post raised questions for you about our security. If you have those questions (and especially if you're related to us) I'm not sure there is much that I can say that will completely allay your fears. However, I can tell you how we live with the reality.
   I would say that I don't feel perpetually insecure though we are always wary. Car doors are always locked, including while driving (Ellyn often serves as our reminder). If we have to leave something in the car while we are in a store or whatever, we try to stow it out of sight. As in almost any city, there are neighborhoods that we just don't visit or even drive through. We don't do much after dark (which can be a challenge as the sun sets relatively early here).
   While no place is completely secure we do feel safe enough where we are living. There is restricted access and a guard posted there around the clock. Entrance to our neighborhood doesn't lead anywhere--there are two cul-de-sacs--so we don't have traffic, including foot traffic. Debbie and Ellyn regularly walk around the corner inside our neighborhood (maybe 100 meters) to an enclosed playground and swimming pool area accessible only to members of the community.
   We regard these and other steps we take as the better part of wisdom but we don't regard them as our ultimate safety. We pray regularly (and invite you to do the same) for our safety and that of our friends because we believe that we move and live in the domain of the Great Protector of the sheep.

Just facts

This is not a feel good post nor an especially informative one except insofar as it will tell you something about Honduras. And I only tell you this because you can find the information elsewhere and I want you to know that we are not ignorant of it nor would we gloss over its importance. These are just the facts.

In one of the local newspapers the other day was a report indicating that Honduras was on schedule to qualify as the world's most violent country for the year 2011. The statistic that seals our ignoble victory is 86 violent deaths per 100,000 people. I will testify to the fact that a day does not go by that one reads in the news of murders and assassinations, some of them obviously opportunistic and others meticulously planned. Many are attributed to narco-trafficking or gang activity.

The above statistic is tragic but another number in the article left me truly disturbed. It is estimated that as many as 98% of those crimes are never brought to justice. This is for various reasons: lack of investigative resources, lack of will, and corruption within the police agencies. There is nothing just about these facts.

This number was more sobering to me. Scripture makes clear that God is a God of justice. The prophetic books record numerous rebukes against the unjust practices of those in power in the Israel of that day. Indeed, God has delegated to kings and leaders the responsibility to enforce justice. I tremble at the thought of the day that God holds these leaders accountable for the failure to pursue justice for their people.

Pray for the people and leaders of Honduras that God might show mercy to this people and this place and that peace and justice might reign for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Because you're dying to know...

Let's be honest. Since we have come to Honduras and you have been following us on the blog, there has been something you've wanted to know but have been afraid to ask.

"So...do you do anything weird?"

You know what I mean. Do we slaughter our own chickens or only shower once a week or wash our clothes by beating them against a rock or, I don't know, go around only wearing a loincloth.

You will be relieved to know that:
1) we buy our chicken the same way you do (though we probably have the option of buying a pre-slaughtered chicken if we wanted to),
2) we shower as frequently as we want (though once dry season comes we may be more cognizant of our water consumption),
3) we have a regular washer and dryer (though most houses also come with a "pila" which is basically a deep sink with a built in washboard), and
4) given that it is the rainy season (what passes for winter), the temperatures are usually cool enough that we wear a shirt with our loincloth.

Sorry to disappoint you.

In discussing this we concluded that we really don't do much weird that you'd be interested in. At present we still brush our teeth with purified water rather than tap water (though we may transition away from that someday). Different, but not all that weird. The only other matter concerns the plumbing (the house's, not ours). The plumbing is not up to handling paper so that gets dispensed with in a can rather than, well, the can. This is true even in public restrooms.

Now you're sorry you asked, aren't you?

"The rain in Spain..."

This is the rainy season in Honduras. It has rained hard and long on each of the last several days. Every day there are reports in the newspaper about sections of the city that have experienced severe and even fatal flooding. The hilly conditions exacerbate the rain as it runs down the hills and collects in places faster than the ground or systems (where there are any) can handle it.

A further effect of the rain is that it deteriorates the roads, particularly the dirt roads that predominate outside the city. This had a direct impact on church yesterday as all of our attendees that live and work out at Rancho Ebenezer were stranded there since the road is almost impassable. The city roads are impacted as well as potholes grow or appear and weak patch jobs are washed away.

I was giving one of the church guards a ride home the other day as one of the storms was tapering off and we were observing the water gushing down the hillside. He commented that it was ironic that come summertime their will be government warnings and laments regarding the water shortages while at present we are inundated. This is just one of the rhythms of life here in Honduras.

Where in the world are we?

Below is a map with labels for a few places of interest for us here in Tegucigalpa. You should be able to zoom in and out and to click on each to find out what it is.

View Tegucigalpa in a larger map

Out "my" back door

When we find our own place I think the thing I will miss the most about our temporary housing are the views out the back of the property.

A view of Tegucigalpa

Across the valley

Village across the valley (Bonus: with storm moving in)

Almost close enough to see the pot o' gold!

Independence day

Today, September 15, was Independence Day in Honduras. This date is shared by neighbors Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica and commemorates their independence from Spain. For most of these countries it wasn't quite as simple as that as there were many more coalitions and divisions on the way to being separate countries. (By the way, the five stars on the Honduran flag represent the same five countries and the blue bands top and bottom represent the Pacific ocean and the Caribbean sea.)

There were some parades in town but many stores were still open and getting around the city was a little easier than on a normal work day. Schools are on holiday as are many other businesses. Many of the teachers in the congregation have a four day weekend and are using it to get out of the city for some vacation. We didn't involve ourselves in the festivities this year but that may be something to learn about in the future.