Friday, Nov. 3rd
Pastor Daniel & Pastor Alejandro were on the same flight out of Tegucigalpa that our teams take, so many of you know how tired they must have been after arriving late. Luckily, their travels went smoothly and they had a fairly quick trip to their hosts house. With that said, they were all keyed up and didn’t get to sleep right away so it was a late night!
Saturday, Nov. 4th
Nine hours later on Saturday morning, they were whisked away to join the 7:30 a.m. Rez West men’s group, then served with Faithwork at Central UMC in the Quindaro area cooking and serving up spaghetti meals. The pastors were enlightened of many things that go on in our US inner cities through the telling of all the great services the Central UMC pastor and his church are providing to the community. Normally they only see and hear of all the good things in the US and it was a nice balance for them to see that we also have areas with the same troubles they do. They were quite impressed with the 100-year-old church.
For a late lunch, they were taken to a local BBQ joint at Rosedale Barbeque where they were fed more than they could possible ingest, but seemed to enjoy it anyway!
They were allowed a few minutes rest back at their home base before heading out to Rez Leawood for the 5 p.m. service where they were recognized and called up to speak to the congregation through the interpreter about their churches and their communities and how we can help them rise up in their poor economy.
An adventure in the evening ensued at dinner at El Tapatio in KCK where they became caught up in the Day of the Dead celebrations. Local people were ready to party and the air was very festive! This was an unexpected cultural experience for our friends.
Sunday, November 5th
Sunday was another packed day as Pastor Alejandro was taken to Rez downtown for the day to speak at all their services as they are the primary partners of El Obraje. Pastor Daniel did a whirlwind tour of Rez Blue Springs where he helped with communion and Rez West where he talked some more and saw Pastor Adam’s same televised sermon two more times! Both pastors were pretty sure they could give the next sermon by memory!
Rez Downtown had a special event in the afternoon for those who were interested in going to Honduras with a Q&A forum with Pastor Alejandro. It was a great turn out and lots of interest was generated.
In the meantime, Pastor Daniel got to experience the eclectic ambiance of Grinders downtown before joining up with Pastor Alejandro and heading off to a Chiefs watch party where they got to reunite with the latest July team as they reunioned and cheered on the Chiefs. After a short period, they were taken to Rez West where they attended an ESL (English as a Second Language) Class. They participated with the other ESL students from Ecuador and Mexico. Afterwards all the students enjoyed a Mexican meal and some previous trip participants and small group members came and they all had a chance to visit with Pastor Daniel and Pastor Alejandro.
Monday, Nov. 6th
First meeting of the day was an interview with a Resurrection videographer to record an interview with the pastors talking about the importance of education in Honduras for the Christmas eve service. More meetings followed discussing strategic planning and goals along with meetings with the 2018 trip leaders. The big Global Celebration event took them through the evening (see December Honduras Newsletter article for overview) where Daniel played and sang with Fonda from the Rezonate choir. Fun was had by all!
Tuesday, Nov. 7th
More meetings with the 2018 trip leaders after which time Daniel chose to rest. Alejandro was just hitting his stride, so he went on a tour of Kansas City to see Union Station, Liberty Memorial, Nelson-Adkins, and lots of sightseeing. Joining back up with a rested Daniel, they met with some leaders of Mission Adelante for a bite to eat before going to English Club. At dinner, they had a nice chat with Jarrett (founder) and Yanelis (director)
Wednesday, Nov. 8
The pastors spent some time training for their trip to the Holy Land and departed in the evening with their team of 42.
Thursday-Friday, November 9-17
The trip was truly amazing, the pastors had the opportunity to visit many of the locations that JESUS walked, taught and retreated to. Spending time in the Holy Land is hard to put into words because your heart and soul were so moved that at times you didn’t know what time or day or even Century you were in. Staying in Bethlehem and hearing the perspective of a professor share about the struggle between the Israelis and Palestinians was educational in itself. We also had the opportunity to hear the Israelis side, both were instrumental in us understanding the conflict that continues today. The tour of the Holy Land included a variety of locations from the Church of the Nativity, Herodian’s palace and fort, the wilderness where we were able to sit in solitude just as JESUS took time away from the crowds to be silent and to listen. There were many highlights, one of which was the boat ride on the Sea of Galilee where Pastor Scott Chrostek asked Pastor Daniel and Pastor Alejandro to read scripture. It was truly emotional especially when the winds picked up and the sky darkened. Many were in tears as a result of this experience. Although the journey included a lot of walking each person kept moving, as each location had a significant impact on all of the individuals on the team. Imagine being reaffirmed in your baptism in the Jordan River, being anointed in the wilderness of Judea, taking communion just outside the Garden Tomb all of which made this journey one of the most memorable for all those involved. Each day solidified yet again how much GOD loves us that HE gave HIS one and only SON, that whoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Friday Nov 17
Upon returning form the Holy Land, Pastor Daniel was so exhausted that when it came time to get ready to attend one last event at an Agua Viva fundraiser he could not be awakened! Agua Viva is the organization that will be coming to El Obraje to install clean water system and the event was to raise money for clean water in all of Honduras. They enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and Alejandro and was one of the speakers. The next morning, with a few hours sleep, Alejandro boarded our teams normal flight at o’dark hundred and returned home. Meanwhile, after 24 hours of sleep, Daniel was ready to finish his trip with a visit to his long-time friend in the Washington DC area.
Post trip question to Daniel and Alejandro: What was your favorite memory about being in Kansas, and what was your favorite activity that you did? And was there an observation or thought that left a profound impression on you?
Pastor Daniel: Favorite activity: The English classes (both at Rez West and Mission Adelante) and the Global celebration event on Monday where we talked about the sponsor program. Profound impression: I observed that many people are interested in knowing what is going on in Honduras with abandoned kids.
Pastor Alejandro: Tom and Fonda treated us like royalty. You all made me feel very special. I liked helping to serve food at the soup kitchen at Central United, a good work project to the most needy. I also liked getting to see the city, thanks to Colby. She treated me with a lot of kindness because she took me to beautiful places.