Grace in El Junco

For Artie, David, and I, the two groups that came through Franklin Association (with wonderful additions from beyond those 7 churches) brought many loved ones and new friends. For me, it was a joy to have my mother, Marcia here for two weeks and a extra blessing to have my sister, Meridith, come for the first time. Artie and I both loved sharing this experience with a number of favorite nurses that we have worked with at Pilgrim Lodge as well as a number of campers that we have gotten to know. David and I had also worked with a great many of return participants through trips that we had been on in the past. We hosted them here in the house with us as El Junco is just half an hour up the road from us. Click the link to see the full story in photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/charles.eh/ElJunco.

While construction took shape, clinics took place, sewing and cooking projects happened, lessons with students were shared, and the school began to glow with a fresh coat of paint, names were learned, laughter was shared, relationships formed, and a sense of community between the people of Franklin Association and El Junco emerged and blossomed. Physical projects and goals were a means to bring this group of gringos to this remote mountian community, but there was divine work happening at the same time.

From one pastor to another, it was learned feel forgotten by the rest of the world. They are an isolated community of between 160-200 people. They suffer from poverty and lack of adequate nutrition and healthcare. They are a tight community on their own, but they do not appear on maps of Honduras. They feel neglected by the nearest E&R church and wider organized E&R church was unaware that an E&R church existed in their community. In their challenges there on the mountain, they feel forgotten by Honduras, by the world, and had started to question if they had been forgotten by God.

Julio Cesar Maldonado, the pastor of the E&R church of El Junco and important leader in that community shared some of his struggles as a minister with Rev. Marcia Charles, the trip leader on behalf of the Franklin Association. She reassured him that she too, was the pastor of a church in Industry, Maine that often is not found on the map. But, they had come all the way from the United States to be with their brothers and sisters in Honduras. They had not been forgotten by the world or by God. The two weeks ended with a shared worship service together in the E&R church. The president of the E&R church, Rev. Feliciano Rivera showed up in El Junco that evening not knowing there would be a service (divine intervention perhaps?) and learned of the E&R church there in the community and affirmed Pastor Julio and his role in the church. Participants from both sides ended their time together in worship with the grace of God all around. Pastor Julio had asked Marcia to share a bit in worship. It turned out, that they both chose the same passage of the Bible to share together that evening...Psalm 133.

"How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there, the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore."