Dear friends in our supporting congregations:

On the highway out of Tegucigalpa towards the north, about a quarter mile past what I used to think was the last bus stop there’s a rutted dirt road that heads up a hill. Out of sight on the other side of the hill are three neighborhoods made of simple shacks that cling precariously to the mountain. Most people in the city do not know they exist. The mayor clearly doesn’t, judging by the lack of basic services, yet some 20,000 people live there.

One of the hidden communities is Colonia Duarte, where Valentín Cruz is pastor of the New Jerusalem Church of God. The congregation is primarily children, women who sell tortillas for a living or work as maids in the city, and a few men who work as day laborers. The only financial remuneration for Valentín’s pastoral work comes from offerings. In a congregation of very poor people, that’s not much.

To provide for his family, Valentín buys spices and repackages them a teaspoon or so at a time, enough for one or two recipes, into little plastic bags. He staples the little bags onto a strip of cardboard and sells the strips to the tiny, front-room neighborhood stores known as pulperías. Most people in Valentín’s neighborhood, when they have some cash, buy the minimum of food supplies needed for a day or two. They generally don’t have enough cash left after buying the basics to also buy a bottle of spices, yet when they can scrape together a few extra cents, they can buy a little bag of spice–just enough to add flavor to a meal. Over time, of course, they end up spending more for spices than if they bought a bottle that might last a year. This extra amount is what Valentín tries to support his family with. It’s the economy of the poor; those who have less often pay more.

In the late nineties, Valentín was part of a group that met regularly for a couple of years working their way through the Course of Pastoral Studies (CEPAS), one of the programs that I coordinate as dean of the Honduran Theological Community. While we offer a university-level seminary program with courses in everything from Biblical studies to counseling, CEPAS remains a priority, as it responds to the needs of church leaders and pastors who want to study theology but don’t have a high school diploma. It’s a sort of seminary program at a middle-school level.

Yet soon after we opened the Community in 1998, we realized that we needed more than CEPAS. So we added an intensive Saturday program for adults who wanted to finish their high school degree. We were thinking particularly of the many church leaders who, like Valentín, wanted to do more than CEPAS but couldn’t meet the requirements. We were surprised, though, when the classrooms immediately filled up with people from the poor neighborhood where we’re located. We had only a few church leaders, but Valentín was among them.

In 2002, Valentín graduated from this high school program. He was the only pastor in the graduating class. He was also the poorest graduate. One of his classmates graciously bought him a new shirt so that he would have something nice to wear for graduation.

With his high school degree in hand, Valentín started university-level studies in the Community and began volunteering as a CEPAS facilitator in two other neighborhoods. He still sells spices to the pulperías. But with urban violence on the rise throughout the region, he’s been beaten up and robbed several times as he makes the rounds to deliver his products, so he’s now working on setting up his own pulperia. Life is a struggle for his family. The adults all have a thin, chronically undernourished look, but they’ve managed to keep the children well fed.

With his high school diploma, Valentín ought to have a few more options for employment. These wouldn’t be many nor well-paying, but he might be able to get a steady salary. Yet he doesn’t even want to look for another job, because a full-time commitment would interfere with his freedom to study, to lead CEPAS groups, and to be the pastor of his church.

We’re working to get Valentín a scholarship to study for a semester next year at the Latin American Biblical University in San José, Costa Rica–the “mother” institution of the Community. A bit further down the road, I can see him finishing a university degree and returning to the Community as a professor. That will be a great day, when Valentín and others take over, when the Community won’t have to depend on missionaries as professors, as it does now, because it will have Honduran women and men teaching the classes, preparing their own people to serve God’s people in Honduras.

In many ways, Valentín is not exceptional among our students. They work hard, struggle to survive economically, and minister with all their heart to the Jesus who comes to them in the poor of their neighborhoods.

Living in Central America, it’s easy to get depressed. The recent approval of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States is only going to exacerbate the things that already make for misery among the poor majority. Poverty will get worse, violence and emigration will increase. The pastoral challenges faced by the church, clinging to the hillside in places like Colonia Duarte, will be even more complex and demanding.

Yet knowing people like Valentín gives me hope that the church will continue to meet those challenges with creativity and courage. The church is like Valentín’s spice packages, tiny and insignificant, yet when stirred into daily life it adds flavor and meaning. I thank God–and all of you–for giving me the privilege of knowing so many people like Valentín. They keep me focused on what’s important. Their struggles put my petty grievances in proper perspective. And their resolute faith in the God of life illumines my own spiritual journey.

Blessings,

Lyda

PS: As some of you have guessed, this is the year for us to itinerate in the United States. We’re tentatively planning to spend several weeks in July and August speaking in your churches. We’re a bit behind in making these plans, but we expect to be in touch with you all about schedules in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.