Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Priorities in a Third World Country

People ask me, after living here for 7years, if I have become blinded to the beauty that is Honduras.  And the honest answer is no.  Every time I drive out to the clinic in Armenia Bonito I am confronted with the amazingily beautiful mountains in front of me.  I see the incredible flowers that bloom year-round, and the trees bursting with huge mangos.
(my clinic in the village of Armenia Bonito)

However, this week brought to my attention the things that I have become blinded to.  The trash...trash in third world countries is a reality.  People are working so hard just to put food on their table, where their trash goes is the last thing on their priority list.  Where we had clinic yesterday is right across from a common dumping ground for trash in the community:

 My eyes looked right past it - it wasn't until someone on the visiting team took pictures of it that it brought it to my attention.  The other thing was military and police presence.  They are everywhere you look.  I guess in the murder capitol of the world that is a GOOD thing - but again - until people were taking pictures and asking about the military and the police did it remind me of their presence. 


So that got me to thinking.  Why have I not lost the ability to see the beauty in the world, but have become blind to the trash and police/military presence?  I know there is a sermon in there somewhere, but honestly, I think it has come down to priorities, and a small sense of self-preservation.  Beauty makes me happy - it reminds me of the presence of God and His creation.  It is uplifting...it is humbling...it is the sense of positiveness in all things, even in the darkness of living in the most murderous country in the world.  Let's face it - trash is a downer.  We pride ourselves in the United States about how clean we are - how orderly.  Our Home Owner's Associations demand it, and we meet our obligation by keeping our grass only 1 inch high, and our trash cans off the street before the end of the day on trash day.

It's Hope.  That's why I still see the beauty and not the trash.  God brings Hope through His son.  And that's what I want to portray to those I serve.  The Hope in Him that is beauty.  Trash is the thing we discard when we are done with it - it no longer serves a purpose.  Police and the military are there to protect us.  Once sin entered the world, the first murder occurred.  Living in the most murdurous country in the world we see it or hear about it EVERY day.  There are more than 300 murders a year in our own little city of La Ceiba.  Man is sin.  Only in the Hope that is Jesus Christ can this country come out from under the darkness it is in.  So I choose to see the beauty in the world - focus on that, and not lose sight of the sin, but my priority is the light in the world, not the darkness.  

p.s. One thing I have NEVER gotten "over" or become blind to is the chronic state of serious poverty here in Honduras.  I think the day I do is the day I need to leave the mission field.  

1 comment:

Emilio Fernandez said...

Good morning, how are you?

My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.

I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.

For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Honduras? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Honduras in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:

Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain

If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.

Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.

Yours Sincerely

Emilio Fernandez