August 2007

Dear Friends,

In Anibal’s new house in the community of La Canada there are Bible studies every Thursday afternoon. After all, there is a lot to be thankful for. In a country in which the wage in rural areas is about $2.50 a day and many are landless, Anibal Vargas’ story becomes even more remarkable.

Anibal’s parents and grandparents had worked on a large hacienda, and he himself moved into what had been a water tank on the hacienda with his family. He and his wife made their home in the water tank with their three small children for some time while he continued to work on the hacienda. Things started to change when some development organizations, with the encouragement and assistance of mission teams from the United States, started a housing project for the landless in the area.

Jim Uhley, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Cedar City, Utah, works on a floor.

Anibal worked with great dedication, spending so much time in the project making cement blocks for his house, that the owner of the hacienda fired him and made him get out of his dwelling on the hacienda. Without a job, he and his family built a temporary stick frame house plastered with mud (“daub and wattle”) on the new property. A year of hard work paid off when he moved into his new block house. His dedication to the project earned him community recognition, and he was named president of the community organization. Now more than 15 families call the new community of La Canada home, all having built their 6x8-meter block houses with the assistance and encouragement of several church mission teams.

Anibal’s story is an example of community organization and personal determination in reaching for a piece of the kingdom of God as witnessed here on earth.

The community holds a worship service every Thursday afternoon, and here voice is given to continuing dreams and actions. Plans include installing electricity in the homes, a water project, and planting trees. Anibal’s new challenge is to learn bricklaying so that he can get a construction job. A church in South Carolina put a name on mission by providing the scholarship funds for Anibal’s six-month course in a nearby town. Experience tells us that progress comes in little bits, and we need to be with people and join with them in taking some steps forward right where we find them. Hopefully the future will bring more incremental steps and a greater ability of taking them on their own. Furthermore, persistence, as Anibal has demonstrated, is a big asset and can go a long way.

Anibal Vargas working with a mission team member from Utah.

Recently, a mission team from Utah came to La Canada for a week to assist residents in pouring cement floors and building five eco-stoves. Anibal learned to make the eco stoves and now can make them for others. A new step Anibal is considering is to sell eco stoves as a small business. When Thursday afternoon came that week we were able to celebrate with Anibal and his family the huge strides that he and the community have been able to make.

Thank you for praying for us and people in Honduras, who are striving to improve their lives.

God bless,

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.59