The Kindness of Strangers

I know that I wrote about my awesome experience of Independence day in Honduras. Here is a photo of the family who took care of the volunteer group and friends for a weekend. I am finding that Honduras continues to be a place of deep healing and an abundence of great things. I am still struggling with my teaching and ministry yet I keep reminding myself that this is my first out there in the world of ministry and mission. Hospitality seems to be the central heart of everyone I have met here in Honduras. I have stepped out of my honeymoon phase and continue to grow. I am doing my best to breathe, and savior every moment. My Spanish is growing paso y paso, step by step. I continue to keep on praying in Spanish because I feel that it's a language of my heart. Now it's winter in Honduras and today it rained like cats and dogs. Speaking of dogs I had a very sad encounter with one today. When I came home from school I was opening our gate and notices to my surprise a little dog sitting in our entry way area. He was a little fella he had pieces of his hair missing and had pick patches and blood on his skin. he had big brown eyes looking up at me. He was all wet because of the rain. I called out to my house mate in doors to come help me with the dog. I was worried that the dog was really ill. I opened the gate and the dog let me walk pass by him. He went running out into the street. A man who came up to sale water tried to throw a rock at the dog but I said NO ESTA BUIEN ! No it's alright No! As the dog ran away he looked behind at me like ,"What happen I had a dry safe place.....??" My house mate said we could have called a vet yet I was thinking well what then is going to happen to the dog we can't take it in? I was telling my house mate how badly I felt about the dog. She then launches into how there are social justice issues around the care of animals and that next time I will have choice when it comes to the care of animals. I am sure she meant well yet I took the comment as an insult. I love animals! I was a vegetarian for years and I have a pet of my own that my family takes care of. I am still processing the whole experience of the day. I think we truly live our lives when we are kind to strangers and have warm open hospitality from the heart. I have a place in my heart for children, animals and the rest of humanity. I will continue to pray for the little dog I found today that he finds shelter and something to eat. I was warned in my mission conference that the poverty would get to the heart of me...and that I should make sure not to get stuck there in the feeling of not being able to do anything to fix it. Yet serving Christ is not about fixing people, situations and governments it's about living out kindness to all you meet. I think today I tried my best to live out kindness to the dog, I talked to the dog with an open prayer before I open the gate. Kindness what a blessing in the middle of the storms of life.

Gracias Todo,

The Rev. Val Miller