Monday, November 28, 2011

Benito Montoya Graduation, November 2011

 For several years now, Messiah Lutheran Church has been supporting the Lunches for Learning Program and one special school in Honduras.  This is the text of the Temple Talk delivered by one of the two missionaries who visited our school on the occasion of their graduation ceremony.

Two Sundays ago, you commissioned Sarah and me as your ambassadors to the 6th grade graduation ceremonies at Benito Montoya school in El Barrial Honduras. We promised to love them for you and we kept our promise.

Now let me try to tell you what it means to them. First just a few tourist pictures. The tropical storm at the end of the rainy season in October tore up the pan-american highway. There was room for one lane of traffic. These are sesame seed shocks harvested on the side of Elephant Mountain. We visited 2 other schools up there. The wildfowers had not dried up before our visit. Different varieties of red, pink, white, yellow, purple and orange flowers were hiding among the rocks and brush.

 Now I will try to convey what God has done in El Barrial because of you. If you made and donated a craft, shopped or worked at the Handmade market, made tacos or ate tacos at the spring taco lunch, designated your offering to L4L or prayed for their ministry then you are responsible for what I’m about to show you. You know the old saying “if mama’s not happy ain’t nobody happy?” Here’s a new one “when the kids are fed everybody’s happy.”

Remember the original kindergarten? Here is the new one. Gerard deJong secured funds for its construction from benevolence grants at his employer. Remember how the school looked when we began our sponsorship? This is the school now.

By sharing with them what God first gave you, the community and the school have blossomed like Miracle Grow in number and in spirit. About 150 children, parents, grandparents and friends came to El Barrial to celebrate not only an achievement, but also a new feeling of significance in a place where they have felt forgotten for a long time.

To make their day more like what the schools in the city do, the graduates of 6th grade and kindergarten wore new shirts, conducted a candle ceremony, and danced all afternoon.

They loved receiving the Bibles you sent. The parents especially seem to love them. For many homes that will be the only book they have. They loved the books and supplies for the new kindergarten. Each student was given a stack to carry over to the building.

And yes we did check on Deysi. The nurse from Healing the Children became a sponsor of a school and she went with us to see Deysi and offer once more the possibility of corrective surgery for her knee in the US.

The principal, the upper grade teacher, and the kindergarten teacher attribute the growth of their community to the relationship and cooperation we have together with them. They thank you with a gift and hope the relationship will continue to inspire the community

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