kaboom!

A short video from Christmas Eve/12:01 am Christmas morning. No comments on the Spanish, please.

A Very Honduran Christmas

Well folks, Christmas in Honduras has come and gone and it has turned out to be a great experience. Being away from family and friends was hard, but not as hard as I thought. Thanks to everyone who sent me words of encouragment and prayers! Celebrating Christmas out of the norm was a great chance to reflect on what Christmas is really all about and to see it through the eyes of another culture.




This last week I spent a lot of time listening to the same Christmas songs over and over on my computer. The line from Silent Night about ¨mother and child¨struck me as I thought about how many of these humble mothers and children I know around the neighborhood. I feel like I get to know Jesus a little better each day when I get to know people who live like he lived: poor, persecuted, humble, immigrant, oppressed, and rejected. What do Jesus´words mean as I hear them, knowing more and more who He was? I think about the simple idea that I chose for my Christmas card ¨Rejoice! Rejoice! He is with us¨. His presence is true, something that seems mysterious to me as I see so much suffering around me. How does the harsh reality of Nueva Suyapa fit with the perfect and intimate presence of Jesus and his Kingdom? This is what I don´t see, but what I hope for.

Celebrating with Honduran friends at midnight

Gringo Christmas brunch on the 25th

Feliz Navidad

Wishing you and yours a blessed season -ajs

hosea

late night artwork

get the word out

"more than 2,000 security guards without labor rights"

In an effort to bring exposure which might lead to justice....
(all info taken from the AJS website)

"Lawyer of the Poor" murdered in Honduras; Associates Threatened

Dionisio Diaz's Death Marks the First Murder in Many Years of a Human Rights Advocate in Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa , Honduras , 13 December 2006. Honduras is in mourning. Last Monday (December 4) it lost a great ally in the struggle for social justice and a great defender of the poor: Dionisio Díaz García was shot to death in his pickup truck while driving to court by two masked gunmen on a motorcycle. The gunmen shot Díaz in the head and chest from close range. This murder was the first time in years that a human rights advocate has been murdered in Tegucigalpa.

Since early 2006 Díaz had served as the primary labor lawyer for the Association for a More Just Society's Labor Rights for Vulnerable Populations program, which had been running since 2004.

Contact US and Honduran Officials

Tell Friends, Family, and Media-BLOGGERS make your own post

Donate to Support Dionisio's Family and Work

Read More about the Workers Dionisio Represented

10 things

Ten things I love about living here in Honduras, in no particular order:
1. I can see an amazing sunrise and sunset from my house
2. my roomate Katie and I get along great and my house is feeling more and more like "home" each day
3. my team here is really great-a huge blessing
4. the list of people I can just drop in on and visit, feeling at home, is growing each day
5. Teguc is beautiful, in a big valley with great clouds every day
6. I have high speed internet at my office
7. with in walking distance of my house: my office, a place to buy diet coke, friends
8. speaking Spanish every day
9. Pupusas and home made tortillas
10. my work-I love spending time getting to know people, building relationships and planning for our upcoming small groups

Ten things that fall in the "challenge" category, in no particular order:

1. there was a fairly large snake outside my front door the other day
2. today there was an army of ants in my laundry hamper
3. there isn't much to do after dark, outside of the house if you don't have a car, which I don't
4. it is hard to haul out our trash and refill our 5 gallon water water bottles because we don't have a car
5. you have to walk up hill both ways when coming to and from our house, Nueva Suyapa is very hilly
6. I really like to be on time and efficient, and here time and efficiency are in a different world, but I'm adjusting
7. not being home for Christmas or Thanksgiving this year
8. lots and lots of mud when it rains
9. laundry takes a long time to dry and has to be hand washed
10. I don't like the salty cheese here, which seems to be served with just about every meal

Just a few reasons why I love my job....

Last week, Honduras Puerta al Mundo (HPAM) hosted two youth missions forums. Over 200 youth from around the city attended. We had music and also a panel of Hondurans who have gone out as missionaries. The panel responded to questions from the moderator and the crowd. I was blown away by their answers as it became clear that God is really at work here....

What is missions? "missions is the duty of the church, not another ministry"

Why leave Honduras to be a missionary when there are so many needs here? "Honduras is not a mission field, but a missions force.... the spiritual needs of the unreached world are a priority for me"

How were you called to the trans-cultural mission field? What was the process like? "there were various moments in my life when I knew God was calling me.... God spoke to me through dreams and prayer times..... my pastor doubted me, I've been discouraged to be a missionary because our church doesn't send out missionaries...God spoke to me as I sought him in the midst of the tragedy of Hurricane Mitch here in Honduras..."


We also had the privilege to do a presentation about the agency and to have a visiting SP missionary who works in India share at a few different churches. One small church we visited here in Nueva Suyapa has been in existence for 20 years. Jen's presentation was the first time they had met a cross-cultural missionary who didn't work in Honduras. Our presentation about missions was the first time they had been asked as a church to be a part of missions, their first missions experience. Their response was overwhelming and so exciting... such a great thing to be a part of.

My new casa

View from the front of the house

View from the back (we have sort of a covered porch)

Bathroom, shower and closet

Front of the house

Kitchen and dinning room table

Living room, front door

Our bedroom (I´ll get a real bed soon!)

who would have thought

A great story....

So a couple of weeks ago, we found out that the missions agency I work with here in Honduras had been given a free space on a Christian radio station here in Teguc. We have every Thursday from 1-2:30 to talk about missions. The radio station plays 'alternative' style Christian music, hence the name "Alternativa 103". Their audience is youth and they play everything from contemporary praise music to Christian reggeaton (is that how it is spelled?)



We decided for this coming Thursday to have our visiting guest, Jen, share during the program. Jen is an SP missionary in India and they were excited to hear stories about her time on the field.

Little did I know. #1 I found out about half way through our time that I was the next person to be interviewed on the air. #2 We were being interviewed by "Icthus", the mascot of the station. Icthus is a fish and so he has to talk in a disguised voice like he is underwater. Not so easy for us non-native Spanish speakers participating in a separate room, listening through a speaker that is in yet another room.

Everything came out ok, and the time was less than we thought. Tune in next Thursday to hear more...

Luces

Last night I went with my host family, neighbors and friends to a fireworks show down in Teguc. We ate chicken, bean sandwiches, banana soda and brownies in the back of the pick up. Good times were had by all! The fireworks are sponsored by a fast food chicken place called Campero.

For the next 10 days, I{m hanging out with Jen, a SP missionary who works in India. She will be doing various presentations and promoting Servant Partners and India. Today we are going to a radio station to share (I think she{ll be doing more of the sharing). This Christian radio station has given Puerta al Mundo an hour and a half each week to talk about missions.

I will also be moving into my new house sometime next week. I have a mattress and my roommate has already furnished part of the rest of the house.

Good Bye

I leave on Wednesday, only 3 days left in Colorado! We had some family pics before I left, which had to be taken using the self timer.... so despite the many tries, we had a hard time finding pics that everyone was smiling in. Here are a couple:

..meaningful media..

A couple book and music recomendations to pass along

This is a great CD. Thanks Tara for introducing me.










A new and pleasant surprise in this new disc from Enter the Worship Circle. Their usual style is folk, but this album is all electric. I really love Simple and Tambourines.






Here are two books that I read for my Servant Partners training. The first is a great overview/introduction to the urban slums of the world. The second is a very complete resource for community organizing, and how the Kingdom of God intersects with the powers of the world (politics, economics and religion). Both are great reads.

Good bye

This weekend I've said good bye to many things:

Manila, Pilippines after being there for 5 weeks
our friends and community in Balic Balic
my team (pictured above)
being too hot and sweaty 24/7
rice with every meal
the threat of giant cockroaches crawling on me in my sleep
pandesal with mango jam for breakfast
bucket showers (not really good bye, more like 'see you later')

Balic Balic Up in Flames

I wasn't planning on writing another update from Manila, but a recent event has made such an impression on me that I can't help but share:

Around 5 pm on Sunday night a fire started in a house along the tracks in Balic Balic. I was opening the door to sweep out dirt and was surprised to find the sky filling with thick smoke! A rush of terror and action hit eveyone as they scrambled to find out where the fire was. I ran just 30 yards from our house to the tracks... I can't describe the scene that was there: people everywhere, running, yelling, kids crying, everyone close to the fire taking as much as possible out of their houses, flames and black smoke coming from the dense jumble of buildings along the tracks. What really touched me was the bucket line that had already formed from the river towards the fire. Jeoporadizing their safety and health, men jumped into the river/sewer and the buckets of blackish water were quickly passed all the way to the roof. My host family lived just a few houses down from the fire, so I joined them in running their belongings out of the house and dousing their walls with water. At one point I ran past Myline, 21 yr. old niece of my host family. She was standing on the sidewalk near a pile of their stuff watcing as the fire approached the house. I stopped and hugged her and we both cried and didn't say anything. It felt painful to not have any words of comfort for her. The fire trucks did eventually arrive, but even then, the fire lasted almost 2 hours. There aren't any fire hydrants in Balic Balic, so every other fire truck is a water tanker. Almost a dozen trucks attacked the fire from different angles.

After the fire was deemed "out" we went back to the Sears' house (my host family) and helped them clean up. It was surreal to be on hands and knees cleaning dirty water out of the kitchen where we had previously shared meals, laughter and life. While I was experiencing the pain of the situation, I was also struck by the fact that I would never really know what it was like to walk in their shoes. Many were displaced by the fire and or wet homes. We all painfully wondered where they would sleep and what they would eat that night as we went back to our own safe homes. Later that night and into today, a typhoon passed close enough to Manila to bring on constant and heavy rains. Monday the tracks were much more quiet than usual as the damage was assessed, the buildings gutted out and remains salvaged. Nobody was hurt or killed, but around 12 homes were completely destroyed.

Ironically, this has happened just a week before we go home... just when we were getting a little more used to the poverty. For me this has been deep and meaningful reminder that below the surface of poverty lies a very fine balance between life and death, stablity and chaos, enough and desperation as the poor live in a constant state of vulnerability. Perhaps even more than this realization, I have been touched by the pain of the poor that is both deep and wide. I truthfully ask God what comfort and what hope He has for those who live in this reality of vulnerability and pain. I have renewed my own hope in the truth found in Is 61:

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

Tonight I am thankful that Jesus came not only for our sins, but for our brokeness and pain also. Please keep the community of Balic Balic in your prayers.

Life in Balic Balic

A few things about Manila

I am currently in Balic Balic, a slum in Manila. Here are a few things worth listing:

9 hours slept on our flight from LA

13.5 total hours of flight

10 hour time difference between Manila and Colorado

3 stories in the house I am staying in

2 bucket showers per day is the norm for Balic Balic

100% humidity, my guess anyhow

6 SP staff in my group, 4 from Lincoln Heights team, 1 from Thailand team and me

5.5 weeks we will be in Balic Balic

$2 the cost of my dinner tonight

GUTS...

...yes, I've got them, and I'm officially there. I am in LA for my official Servant Partners new staff training, called GUTS (Global Urban Training School). We start tomorrow, Sunday, so I haven't met anyone else yet. I'm staying with my friend Lauren and her roomates in Pomona. Today I drove up to Encino and saw my cousins, Stacey and Tyson. We had not all been together for a while, so it was good to see them. We are definitely all on different paths: Stacey, married and ready to have her first baby any day now, Tyson, engaged and pursuing a music career in LA, and me, moving to Honduras to pursue my own dreams. I'll post a picture later.

So I'm in LA for one week and then on the 1st we fly to Manila, Philippines. I'm a little nervous for the flight but generally very excited about everything. We'll be there until Nov 5th.... a long time. I still have $110/month left to go-so keep praying and advocating. For those of you who actually read closely, here is a preview of the new website I'm working on.

Almost there!

I need $110 more a month in pledges before I can go to Honduras. I'm doing pretty well on my one-time gift needs, I think I'm with in a few hundred dollars.

Keep praying! Only 14 days left in Colorado to work on fundraising (4 now, 10 in November).

Photo Shoot

Today my dad and I took some pictures of my sister, Sarah, for her senior pics. Here are a few shots from the day. It was pretty windy, so she might have to try again on a different day.

Welcome Fall

What do you think?

I can't wait to get my hands on this! It wasn't in the grocery store yesterday when I went to look. More to come on this....

roots

A photo I took when we were in Moab this weekend.

This tree reminds me of this....

But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,
the woman who sticks with God.
They're like trees replanted in Eden,
putting down roots near the rivers—
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
bearing fresh fruit every season.

Jeremiah 17:8 from The Message

Book Recomendation

I've been finishing up my readings for my upcoming Servant Partners training in Manila. One book that I would recomend if you are interested in learning a little more about the urban poor and why they are a priorty people group is "Dispossessed~Life in Our World's Urban Slums" by Mark Kramer.

The book is mostly a narritive of stories about individuals, families and communities around the world. The book is divided by geographical location. It covers Manila, Nairobi, Mexico City, Bangkok, and Cairo. The last chapter, called Knowing the Dispossessed is great. I'm including some quotes that I really liked from the book:

The author quotes another author, Wangari Maathai:
"Africa continues to be marginalized politically and economically and even socially. There is lack of genuine support, cooperation and equal partnership from the rich international community... but as if to justify relief and financial aid, people from rich countries are more willing to go to Africa to implement relief services like feeding emaciated infants, discover Africans dying of horrible diseases like AIDS and Ebola, be peacekeepers in war torn countries and send horrifying imagies of tragedies for television. Hardly any of the friends of Africa are willing to tackle the political and economical decisions being made in their own countries and which are partly responsible for the same horrible images brought to their living rooms by television."

"Differences among peoples and cultures are real. Distance and ignorance of one another keep us apart. Even after reading this book, you may be wondering how you'll ever truly identify with the experiences of people living in informal settlements. Consciously or not, we identify and differentiate ourselves and others through a variety of means: a passport, culinary tastes, ethnic heritage, language, religion, style of dress, the amount of melanin in our skin. Our own identity becomes a point of reference that defines who we are and how we relate to the rest of the world. It also helps us define who we are not."

Stroms on Longs

For my dad's 50th birthday, which occured this May, we decided to climb Long's Peak as a family. It would be my two youngest sisters' first time and probably summit #25ish for my dad. The rest of us were somewhere in between. Here is a play-by-play of how the day went.

1:00 am I fall asleep on the floor/couch because with a full house there are no extra beds.

3:00 am Mom wakes us up and I am well rested :-)

4:00 am We arrive at the trailhead, only to find that we have to park about a mile below on the road because there are so many cars. Apparently all the cool kids start hiking at 11:30 pm these days.

4:00-5:00 am The worst hour of the day! Hiking in the dark woods with flashlights, all uphill, switchbacks, 4 miles in one hour. I think my body tried to reject this new reality-I started sweating buckets, I felt like I was going to puke the whole time, I couldn't eat anything and every time I closed my eyes for even a blink, I felt like I could fall asleep.



5:00 am Sunrise. Just as we broke treeline, the sun started to rise. We were sandwiched inbetween a great view of the sunrise to the east and the early morning glow of the light hitting the east face of the mountain. At this point I could finally eat and felt much better.

5:00 am - 8:00 am More normal trail hiking, only we are now above the treeline. We get to the boulder field, which includes a pit stop at the privies. At the end of the boulder field is the key hole, which is when you start hiking on the west side of the mountain, so the views are incredible.

8:00 am-10:14 am Our "hike" turns into lots of rock scrambliing where we use all fours. Through the key hole, around the back side, up the trough, over the narrows and finally over the home stretch. By the time we got to the trough, my pace was "take ten steps, breath for ten seconds, repeat". Rachel and I coined the slogan "Holy Trough Batman!" for this section.

10:15 am VICTORY! All 6 of us made it to the top. Becca and Sarah did an awesome job, especially for their first time. My dad of course, was gracious to stick with us, as he could have been up in back in the time it took me to do the trough.

All in all, it was an awesome experience, especially since I'm moving away in just a few months. I won't be back to visit the summit for a few years, I imagine.

The sky, framed

The sky, framed
Originally uploaded by annajstrom.

Another heavenly post, per the photo expert eye of lorena la buena

Los cielos

1-3 Be good to me, God—and now! I've run to you for dear life.
I'm hiding out under your wings
until the hurricane blows over.
I call out to High God,
the God who holds me together.
He sends orders from heaven and saves me,
he humiliates those who kick me around.
God delivers generous love,
he makes good on his word.

4 I find myself in a pride of lions
who are wild for a taste of human flesh;
Their teeth are lances and arrows,
their tongues are sharp daggers.

5 Soar high in the skies, O God!
Cover the whole earth with your glory!

6 They booby-trapped my path;
I thought I was dead and done for.
They dug a mantrap to catch me,
and fell in headlong themselves.

7-8 I'm ready, God, so ready,
ready from head to toe,
Ready to sing, ready to raise a tune:
"Wake up, soul!
Wake up, harp! wake up, lute!
Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!"

9-10 I'm thanking you, God, out loud in the streets,
singing your praises in town and country.
The deeper your love, the higher it goes;
every cloud is a flag to your faithfulness.

11 Soar high in the skies, O God!

Cover the whole earth with your glory!
Psalm 57 from The Message

A weekend away

weekend mosaic
Originally uploaded by annajstrom.

I had the great fortune to take a couple days away with the girls in my small group (Bible study). We went to Glenwood Springs for the day and night on Friday and then spent the day hiking in Aspen before coming back.

Thanks for a great weekend girls!

What do we need to get the job done?

This: http://www.urbana.org/wtoday.ephesians.cfm is a great devtional based on Ephesians about God equiping and sending us into the world. A few of my highlights from the devotion:

"Jesus’ Great Commission to disciple the nations is a daunting, even impossible, task apart from the promise of his presence and his supernatural equipping. As so often is the case, God accomplishes his purposes through human agents. You wonder why he should slow himself down so much – except that he loves us intensely and welcomes our participation in the adventure closest to his heart."

Impossible task.... daunting... yes, this is how I feel. Supernatural equipping, yes this seems like the only possibility between here and there. An adventure close to God's heart, that is where I am trusting that I am.

"Observing the growing church today, particularly in Latin America, Africa and Asia it would seem that there are enough witnesses and evangelists in each continent to share the good news. What are sorely lacking are people to disciple all the new followers of Jesus. Church leaders in these places are crying out for more God-gifted trainers of pastors-teachers."

This is pretty much what my team's work is about in Honduras. God-gifted trainers of pastor-teachers? I don't know. Willing to walk alongside? Yes. Willing to share all that we've learned and experienced, the good and the bad? Yes. Willing to walk into this new era of missions as equal and unique partners? Yes.

"When all these gifts are being exercised freely in any group of believers, they will naturally be doing good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2: 10)."

The exercising of God's gifts in different areas of the global Body of Christ is one thing I'm really excited about seeing.

mtns100012

mtns100012
Originally uploaded by annajstrom.

Americans in Honduras

I always have a link on my blog for Honduras News in English. It is a link to Honduras News Onilne. I was reading through today and noticed how many of the articles had to do with relations between US and Honduras. The first article about modernization featured this picture:



I'm pretty sure this is near the airport. Sad that so many places outside of the US can look just like the US.

Another article, titled "Latin lifestyle and volunteer work bringing Americans to Honduras" made me think of well, myself. Besides being factual and an advertisement for US investors and small business owners to come to Honduras, the article also sadened me. Here is a short excerpt:

"One such place is D&D brewery. Located near Lake Yojoa and Pullapanzak waterfalls, it is owned by Robert Dale, originally from Oregon. It is in the middle of a small expat community, all attracted by the surrounding natural beauty. The brewery, which also provides accommodation, has been running for six years, and is immensely popular, despite its obscure location. Dale, like most other expats, was attracted by the good weather and stress-free lifestyle. He set up the brewery to provide good quality beer, with flavors like mango and apricot, which he missed when visiting Honduras. He bought the land about 10 years ago, then once he had residency, a container was shipped over with everything he needed for the brewery. Dale's only regret is not coming sooner.

He believes that in Honduras it is easier to achieve the 'American dream'. His business, as with many other small businesses, has thrived, whereas in America it would have failed due to rivalry from big business. Small businesses also create jobs, which is helping integrate Americans and Hondurans, and supporting local communities."

By all means, let's bring the American Dream to Central America where it is easier to reach because of less economic competition!

I hope to bring something else with me to Honduras.

sepia after the rain

sepia after the rain
Originally uploaded by annajstrom.

I took this picture of the flowers in the crock on my parent's deck. It had just rained.

House chaos

House chaos
Originally uploaded by annajstrom.

With 2 new roomates in and 2 old roomates out in a matter of a couple months, our house has been moving chaos!! There is stuff everywhere! One major factor is that all bikes were displaced when we rented out the "den" for the summer. The poor cycles have been homeless, wandering aimlessly between the hall and the living room and the eating area.

I guess this is good practice for living in a slum.

The Strom stance

The Strom stance
Originally uploaded by annajstrom.

My dad and my youngest sister on our father's day hike. I find this photo especially entertaining. I just missed Becca having her hands on her hips too.

26

We took Angie out for a pedicure for her birthday. Tara, Angie and Laura smile from their massage chairs as their tootsies take a soak. You can see that the finished product turned out quite nice.

new

new computer
new blog
new roomates
new place to visit: The Phillipines
new home in 5 months: Honduras
new books to read: 5
new job: raising support

My first post

My first post, how exciting!