Since 2004 and the beginning of Trinity’s mission work in Honduras, we have been working with and in the Maya Deanery of the Diocese of Honduras. The first three trips helped start and build the mother church for the Deanery, the Church of the Holy Spirit in Santa Rita, Copán. In the succeeding years, we have continued to work with some of the twenty-eight smaller “house” churches that make up the rest of the official Episcopal worship presence in the area. We have helped smaller congregations in whatever ways they needed, with labor and supplies to create buildings that are both worship and community centers. Most recently, with the youth we helped renovate the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Cabañas, which, along with the church we started and helped complete in Copán Ruinas, the Church of Santa Maria Virgen, is one of the three “hub” centers for the deanery.
The Diocese of Honduras is poor and has scant resources to distribute over a very poor country. The churches must be self-supporting. It is a fragile undertaking that relies heavily on local commitment, sacrifice, and outside help. The Episcopal Church grows in Honduras with the help of the Holy Spirit and because, in a mountainous country with incredibly bad or nonexistent roads, the Church is willing to go and minister to the people where they are. There are still more small congregations that can use our help, and it has been a blessing that people of Trinity have supported the work.
Going to the same area in Honduras year after year has allowed Trinity to develop and sustain relationships with a group of God’s faithful who are other than we are in language, material circumstances, and cultural norms, and yet are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Any of the more than one hundred youth and adult missioners will tell you what an amazing and ultimately joyous experience it has been to work, laugh, sing, eat, and pray with the people in Honduras. It is humbling and a great gift that Trinity gives to itself with our mission there. Thank all of you and the Holy Spirit for such a gift. Every couple years young people also travel to Honduras to work.