Friday, July 29, 2011

Final Honduras Reflections: Partnership through Photography

It is hard to believe that after nearly 16 months of planning and preparation that I am writing a final post on the airplane just before we descend back home in Philadelphia. We went into the week hoping and praying for opportunities to build a partnership with Honduran youth through local church connections...I believe we witnessed far more than that.

I have written much over the past week about our hopes and dreams, conversations and reflections. However, nothing can really do justice to all that took place in these last seven days in Tegucigalpa. Our students especially noticed, each night as we debriefed together in the retreat center owned by Tim and Gloria Wheeler of Heifer International, that although we may not speak the same language, we do share a vision and dream that transcends geographical setting. The words partnership, collaboration, and cooperation dripped from the lips of students within both Imago Dei Youth Ministry and Pena de Horeb. We were speaking the same language.

This was affirmed on Tuesday night as we gathered for a prayer service. Pastor Juan of Pena de Horeb gathered together Karen Gadson, a member of our volunteer team and PCUSA World Mission, and Mark Wright, PCUSA Mission Co-Worker, and among other things, he said the following, "We have never seen this before. This is partnership." I believe that our group would agree.

I would love to write more, yet I believe that no blog post can encompass how much God was at work in the week that was. Therefore, as a final post I have inserted a variety of photos from our pilgrimage made alongside fellow travelers from Central America. My prayer is that this is only the beginning of a beautiful and lasting partnership with our new family and friends of the faith.

Dios te bendiga...





a view of Tegucigalpa







Confucius monument in the foreground and the back of the Christ monument in the background











Micah Project: http://www.micahcentral.org/  










Basilica de Suyapa




Globilization






a day at Parque Obrero with new friends from Pena de Horeb










our means of transportation from Puerto Grande to La Playa Negra











two youth leaders from Pena de Horeb










an eco-stove installed by PCUSA World Mission












Pena de Horeb operates a medical clinic out of their basement




This is partnership






youth ministry leadership






Pastor Juan of Pena de Horeb















youth-to-youth partnership conversation at Pena de Horeb





new friend and brother, Alex, who drove us around all week
















La Tigra, a rainforest/cloud forest...quite the hike, note level of difficulty


Be sure to check out posts from Imago Dei Youth on the Westminster blog: Work of the People