November 3, 2008

Dear Friends,

Gloria and I are visiting many churches this fall telling of our mission work in Honduras. This is both a joy and a challenge. It is a joy because so many people want to hear what we have to say, and we get to talk about what we love. The challenge lies in being able to communicate the depth of the experience.

A reoccurring theme keeps coming to my mind as we prepare talks, “Love God over all things, and love thy neighbor as thy self.” It sounds so simple, but it is in truth deep and challenging. Nevertheless, we have felt that these two basic commandments sum up what we are trying to do in our mission assignment in some way, on a daily basis, and in different circumstances.

All kinds of questions arise once you start thinking about putting these commandments into practice. How can I show my love to my neighbor? What form will it take? How far can I go? What actions are truly loving actions? How can we help and empower people so they will act on their own? That is the real key for us.

 In summary, our mission presence centers on reaching out to others with some predetermined concepts, such as:

• Walking beside others (the idea of horizontal, supporting relationships, of responding to what people are asking for, not what we think people need).
• Making it possible for things to happen, encouraging others, and working on building up self-esteem.

Boys at Chonco where a mission team was doing a construction project on a school roof.

These practices are aimed at beginning or strengthening a process so that people will realize that they can make things better for themselves. In doing this they show God’s love in a very wholesome way as they build up their lives, their personal relationships, and their communities.

There are spontaneous times in communities when God’s love is shown in unexpected ways. These experiences become compelling learning experiences for those of us who witness them. They come from the people that we are there to assist. Let me share one of Gloria’s stories:

One morning I was with a mission team working in a community named Chonco. The group was working with a Chorti indigenous community putting up the roof of a school. When it came time for lunch I had brought a basket with corn, meat, bread, and fruit. We sat under the shade of a tree and I gave every one from the group a plate.

We were eating our lunch when we noticed a boy peering down from a tree, his name is Danilo. I prepared a plate for him and called him to come down to eat. He did come, and the smile on his face showed how happy he was to receive the plate. Everyone expected him to sit with us or at least nearby to enjoy his meal. But he did the unexpected. He ran to the river bed and called his friends and shared his meal with them. Probably six or seven boys ate from that plate.

Here I was thinking I was simply helping Danilo fulfill a basic need by giving some food to him. He taught us a whole new concept of showing God’s love, sharing, and living in community.

We will continue to visit churches during the final months of the year and return to Honduras on January 1, 2009. We will be blessed by being with all of our daughters for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Thank you for your interest in our presence and for your faithful support for mission work.

Yours,

Tim and Gloria Wheeler

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.262