Integration

A basic principle of mission work is to live like the people to which you minister. They have a name for this: “incarnational ministry.” It comes from the idea that God took on flesh and moved into the neighborhood when Jesus came to earth. We are to do likewise.

Before we left for Honduras, mentors spoke prophetically into our lives: “Rey and Elise, you two are to be ´bridge people´´, to link people from the United States to Honduras. Thus, when we found a house close to the same square footage as our condo in the states, with clean tiled floors, running water, and a garage for our car, it seemed the appropriate place to host mission teams and volunteers from the states (which we have been). But of course, we are hosting more than Americans. A natural integration with the people from the garbage dump has begun to occur.

On Saturday, Rey, Elijah and I were delighted to have nine surprise visitors – the adolescents from AFE who had taken a bus downtown and walked all the way to our house just to hang out for the day.

They entered humbly, with apparent awe, at how large and beautiful our house was in comparison to their own (most families of AFE live in a 500 sq ft shack, all together in one room). They seemed amazed that Elijah had his own room and that we washed our clothes with a machine.

Incarnational ministry. After nearly 9 months here, the nexus of our ministry and our hearts has shifted. I was the one embarrassed now, that we had so much as they so little. Our “country house in the city” served as a good transition home for us; now it is time for us to live more like the people to whom we minister.

Please pray for the right house to become available so that the Diaz family we may live closer to those we love.