A letter from Tim and Gloria Wheeler in Honduras
April 2014
Dear Friends,
Easter week in Central America is a time that Catholics relive the past; one of the richest traditions is that of the different stations of the cross of Jesus on his way to Calvary. The ninth station is where Jesus falls for the third time. How many times do we fall, and those with whom we work?
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Azucena Ramirez shows off her housing lot and new hopes
On Good Friday I (Gloria) found myself in the new Las Lagunas housing project we are organizing in Copan Ruins. This project is for 26 landless families who have never owned land or a lot on which they could build their own house. Many are squatters on public land, on the land surrounding the oxidation, sewage ponds. The conditions there are almost inhuman, without any public services. These people are real survivors, you might say, overcoming many obstacles in their lives. They had been told by the mayor that they had to move. Where will they go? The correlation between the ninth station of the cross and their story impacted me that day. After falling several times in their lives, they are pulling themselves up. They are living out a dream. Organized as a group and with local municipal government recognition, they are starting the process of building houses and a community on a piece of property donated to them. Yes, just as Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross, an individual heard their cry and helped bear their cross by providing the funding for the land.
That day Tim and I had the privilege of speaking with Azucena as she stood in front of her plot. She pointed to where the house would be built and the different rooms that she for the first time could dream of. Pregnant with her fifth child, she works as a vendor at the Mayan Ruins site selling little stone replicas to tourists. Now she and all of her family members spend time hauling rock, water and sand for their new home, together with their neighbors, giving them a new sense of community and mutual direction.
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Sawdust rugs give messages for the faithful at Easter time in Honduras
The project methodology is based on working in small groups. Each family helps the others in their group build their house. The new ways of working together have given them great determination for the future. One example of this new way of being is the solidarity that they are creating within their groups. On Easter Sunday they sold tamales with $25 in profits going to a community housing fund.
They say that Jesus had to rise after his fall at the ninth station of the cross. It was his destiny to go on to the cross and to the resurrection that followed. It is that act of rising again that tells us that God is strong and that God is faithful and will not be overcome by evil.
This is the same message that Azucena is hearing and acting out along with others in her project. Through their combined efforts together they are living in a different way and helping each other. They have new hope and it is within their grasp. Azucena said to us: “I have not suffered at all in comparison to Jesus. Due to the blessing of God we are moving ahead with this project. We are making our own blocks by hand. Some children haul water, others sand. Before we didn’t have a place to live, now I feel the presence of God in my life.”
We are so thankful to witness a new creation taking place before us, a creation witnessed by the words of gratitude from Azucena and from the smiles and from the tired bodies of working together. Thank you for being on this journey and for your wisdom, strength and determination.
I invite you to continue to support this ministry with us through your sense of values in the world around us, your prayers and your financial contributions. As we rise again, may we help others rise with the Grace of God.
Faithfully,
Tim and Gloria Wheeler
Apartado 15027, Colonia Kennedy
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
tim.wheeler@pcusa.org
gloria.wheeler@pcusa.org
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 43
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