In Honduras
Finding God Among the Spectacular and the Mundane

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I'm grateful that I was able to call upon God's grace to guide me and not allow myself to get lost in the shared grief.

But there was also a lot of joy -- especially working with the children. Our team has some highly trained folks -- Sherry Mattern, Sue Phalen, Ruth Baney (from the church of the Nativity, San Rafael), and Mary-Jane Wood, from St. Giles, Moraga. They developed a great curriculum, but even with all their experience -- it was tough to mange 70 squirmy kids!

So I thought it would be best to take the tiny children, and their respective older siblings, into another class so that the toddlers would not be so disruptive. It worked! The little ones actually got engaged, listened to directions and created some great art projects about the life of Moses.

Leading the children in Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, and Evening Prayer was a delight! I had a strong feeling that the Holy Spirit was touching them and touching us. It was evident in their growing ability to pray together in unison and purposefully. It was evident in the small voice of a little girl who trusted me with a sad secret she needed to share. The Holy Spirit was palpable in our shared meals and in our play time.

The mission trip reminded me that God's presence is manifested in wondrous ways -- but also in very small ways. In every case, sensing the "oneness" with God was dependent on my intentional awareness of the grace that surrounds me at all times.

This was the fourth Honduras mission trip in five years for St. Paul's and the fourteenth mission trip for me, personally. It was gratifying to see how much they have developed (with a lot of help from a lot of you!) and to see the little children I met in those early years, grow to be young men and women.

The people of Villa Nueva face gruelling hardships. They are fighting poverty, lack of basic health care, poor schooling, and almost no infrastructure. Yet their faith is strong and they remain hopeful.

They are resilient and resourceful and I hope the lessons I have learned there will stay with me.

God is present in their lives, in their struggles and in their grief; in their moments of joy and in their frustrations. That's true for all of us, as well.

Bendiciones y paz,