Presbytery of Honduras Meeting

Walking into the worship space at Pena de Horeb Church in Tegucigalpa I was suddenly struck by the realization that I was going to know many of the pastors in attendance. Why this has not occurred to me before, I can't say. It seems surreal that Jane and I have spent day upon day travelling to remote villages to meet with Presbyterian pastors in their local churches, and here they ALL are at this monthly continuing education meeting of their Presbytery.

The door is locked as always, so we rap on the metal several times. When it openes, our greeter turns out to be Pastor Antonio from the church in Agalteca. He seems pleased that I recognize him. Upstairs, the next familiar face is Pastor Raquel, from the very remote community of Moropocay (the one without any electricity.) Although a lesson is in progress, she beames me a sweet smile of recognition.

David and I sit in the back with Mark Wright to wait our turn to speak. From that discrete perspective I eventually identify every single pastor that we have met with in May. Pastor Enrique from Quebrada Grande; Pastor Raquel, and Hermano Elmer of Moropocay; Pastor Antonio of Agalteca; Pastor Profirio of Candelaria; Pastor Christobal of Guimaca; and of course, Pastor Castullo of Puente Jalan. Pastor Fernando, past president of the Presbytery, who accompanied our group on most of our visit last time, is also in attendance.

Noel is our interpreter today instead of Dominique. Noel is very involved with the Presbyterian Church and is well known by almost all of the pastors. He shares our passion for the work that LWW hopes to do in the area, and his love comes through as he gives our message to the group. We can't help but feel that having him as our interpreter in this situation gives an added layer of credibility and trust.

Many of the pastors present have already been introduced to the LWW project, but may have been left without a clear understanding of the process. As with anything, it helps to hear things more than once, and at different times, in order to fully grasp a new concept. As David and I go through our presentation the pastors are very attentive. We speak of the practical engineering aspects but we also highlight the mission portion. We reiterate the point we made during our negotiations the day before in Puente Jalan that ours is a mission and not a profit-making endeavor. That the token price of the purified water is only meant to keep the operation self-sustaining: to pay for electricity, a basic wage for the operators, for the limited materials that are required for the operation, and to save a small cushion of funds towards the eventual need to replace filters, pumps, and so forth.

David ends our presentation with a reading from Matthew 25 where Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and the goats. Towards the end of that story Christ tells his followers that he has been thirsty and they have given him drink. "When did we give you drink?" they wonder. Whenever you give drink to the very least of God's children, he explains, you give it to him. Together, David says to the pastors, let us work to further God's purpose, and to give a healthy, safe, clean drink of water to all of God's children.

The questions that follow our presentation are focussed and to the point. We have accomplished out goal of heightening the understanding of and thereby the interest in the LWW project. As we explain that we are in the process of negotiations with Pastor Castullo at his church it seems as if he sits a little taller in his chair. By the end of the meeting his confidence in his decision to work with us seems to have grown. It is not lost on him that other pastors are asking questions that are moving in the direction of, "when can it be MY turn?"

After the conclusion we speak further with Pastor Christobal and his son. Jane and I have visited two of their churches and have determined that they were not good candidates for LWW, one because there was no perceived need, and the second because there was not a sufficient water source at the site. Now they bring to our attention yet a third location. We make tentative arrangements to visit there on Saturday, since it is not very far from Puente Jalan.

The  best news of the day comes to us via Mark Wright from Pastor Castullo. It seems that Francisco Varga, the Director of the Project for Community Health Development, has written up a flyer about our project and our impending visit on Saturday, and has DELIVERED THEM to each household in the community. It seems as if he is definitely putting HIS FAITH into ACTION!

Next entry will report on our congregational meeting at Puente Jalan, and our anticipated visit to Christobal's church at La Guadeloupe.