A funeral next door

This post is not fun. Its not glorious. It isnt happy. But this is life in Honduras. 

Sometimes people tell me that I shouldnt post stories like this. Its not good for my supporters. But honestly, I think its the opposite. This is real life. This is El Porvenir. 

Late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, my neighbor, well call him B, was shot and killed. Why? We dont know. Who? We will probably never know. I woke up Sunday morning to talk about the nights events happening outside on our porch. I walked outside to find out what was going on. 

This is how I learned about Honduran funerals. 

B's family is very poor. They live right next door to me, about 20 people in a house the size of most of our living rooms. Sunday afternoon, a car pulled up with a wooden casket and B inside. B still had to be prepared. There was no funeral home. No makeup. No preserving. B arrived and the family, through their desperation, had to prepare the body, cover his wounds.

The casket was held up with old cinder blocks. A paint bucket was placed under the casket filled with ice. Some of the teenagers went down the street and came back with a special leaf to help preserve. A Fanta 3 liter bottle on top of the casket was cut in half and held flowers picked from outside. The casket sat in middle of the house. A wooden scrap house. Electrical wires just strung about, holes in the walls covered by scraps of unused clothes. Magazine pages plastered on the wall which was once used as "wall paper". All day long people came in and out of the home. Eight PM held a service with a local pastor sharing the word of God. Singing. Community. 

Everyone was gathered around the home. Some brought rice, other brought Pepsi. Trays went around. Everyone shared coffee and bread. The neighbors shared their wood to keep the fire stove burning. 

Even those that didnt quite get along with B, came out to share their respect. I think that was the impact. The community that gathered. The little that people had to share, was shared. All day I was thinking that I wasnt going to go. The only interactions I had with B was when he made dirty comments to me and the time he killed a tarantula on my porch. Well, I decided to go. Im glad I did. At the end of the day, its still a mother who lost her son. There is still a family aching from a loss. 

Maybe through B's death this family might come to see the light. Maybe this was Gods way to bring the family to Him. 

Please pray for healing for the family. Please pray for hearts to be healed. 

Today should hold the burial and we pray that they may be able to move on.

(Please note that although circumstances like this happen in El Porvenir, I am not in danger. If you are involved in drugs, alcohol, gangs, and etc here, yes, you are putting yourself in a bad situation. Most situations like this are closed and confined to the person involved. I know that my God will protect me. I know that if I trust in Him, He will keep me from harm.)

Through Finding Hope and our examples we show towards this community our hope is that people will turn from their evil ways and turn towards the only one that can save them. Please pray that we may be this example!