Honduras is sad!

We are all doing fine, but we are sad and in prayer!
An airplane comming from El Salvador suffered a serious accident while landing in Tegucigalpa (the city we live in).
Three passengers have lost their lives so far and many others are still under medical care in different hospitals. Your prayers are needed!
Lisa and the kids are attending a Mission's Retreat in Costa Rica and they will be returning to Honduras on Sunday (to the San Pedro Sula Airport-At the city where Alfredo's parents live).
We wanted you to know that we are safe! Always grateful for your prayers,

Alfredo Umana

May, 2008 Prayer Requests for Umana-Anderson family

We appreciate your prayers for the following:

Lisa:

• Pray for Christ's light to shine through me as I speak this week to a group of English as a second language teachers, an event sponsored by the American Embassy.
• My topic: English plus+ cultural differences:
• My thrust: “As you teach Hondurans the English language, recognize and teach the richness of God’s cultural diversity. As a Christian, I believe God reflects the breath and depth of His character through cultural differences, so let's learn what they are in order to appreciate them and teach others to do likewise.”

May 18-June 1 the children and I will travel to Costa Rica to attend several events, namely our:

• CCI Latin America staff meeting (pray for wisdom for our boss, Robert Bruneau to guide us in light of us insights gleaned during his numerous pastoral visits to the National Associations spread all throughout Latin America).
• Summitt reunion of some 30-40 National CCI Association leaders (pray for God to use our consultant, Don German, to guide us wisely as the teams of leaders in each country learn teamwork).
• Annual Retreat for Latin America Mission missionaries (pray for the children to learn more of what it means to be "MK's" -missionary kids).

Alfredo:

• Pray for him to handle with excellence several consulting projects simultaneousl (without anxiety).

Phil. 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Children: Valerie and Victor:

• As delightful as kids can be, they can also be very cruel and we ask that you accompany us in prayer as we teach Valerie and Victor how to respond to their classmates cruel remarks and actions.
• Pray for them (and us!) to "Be kind to those who offend us."

Romans 2:4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

Kindness is the way to our enemies' heart. And it may do something for our souls. God uses kindness as his strategy of choice when dealing with us. Instead of giving us exactly what we deserve for our offenses against him, he deals with us kindly. His kindness is an example of how we should fashion our own approach to those who offend us. Kindness arrests their attention. It is as unexpected as it is undeserved. Our kindness toward an enemy may awaken a spiritual hunger for the source of our compassion. However, regardless of their response, we must follow the example of our Lord when dealing with our enemies. Taken from Day 74, The Voice of the Martyrs: Extreme Devotion, 2001.

Mother's Day in Honduras

I've been adopted into the Umana-Martinez clan (Martinez is Alfredo's maternal side of the family)!
Both sides of Alfredo's family have enveloped me into a warm embrace. In a culture that is highly family oriented (collectivistic), I sense that I am no longer on the outside looking in, or even being observed by them as a foreigner.

• It's like, now, there's a place for me at the family table.
• It's like, now, they anticipate my participation in the family discussions.
  
• It's like, now, I belong.
  

A word about these family discussions. Alfredo's family is well-read and up-to-date on politics, world events, and theological trends. In fact, Rogelio, my brother-in-law calls the current Democratic Party's contest, the world's best reality show! When we gather, as we did for Mother's Day, we delight in the verbal sparring that goes one regarding everything from Obama, to Bush, to the war in Iraq to the recently published Evangelical Manifesto.
Although our political views differ, our mutual love for God's word and our "belonging" to the same family is what binds us together.

As you can see in the picture to the right, we gathered round the breakfast table to discuss scripture and then the Moms present opened our gifts.

At family gatherings in Honduras, for Valerie and Victor, everyone their age is a cousin and everyone older is an aunt or uncle. This solidifies their sense of belonging since they only get to see their Aunts and Uncles and cousins from the Anderson clan but once a year.


Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

A tribute to Mother's on Mother's Day

THIS IS GREAT for Mother's day! Go to my blog to see the youtube video, it's priceless!

Cultural insights between Latin America and USA on funny Youtube video clip

During class this week, Leadership and Culture, someone showed us a very funny video which will help you appreciate the major differences North Americans face in getting used to life in Latin America. Although the flags depict Germany (similiar in some ways to the USA) and Italy (similiar in some ways to Latin America) this video clip on Youtube.com will help you visualize some of the cultural differences one faces.
Bruno Bozzetto animation - Italians vs. Europeans

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