Easter!

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Peace of the RISEN Christ! And Happy Easter! (It doesn't end til next Sunday, don't forget!)
Thank you to all of you who have kept the Mission and me in prayer. It has been an adventurous Spring, and living through Lent and Easter in Honduras was really beautiful. As you can see in the pictures, Holy Week in Comayagua is a crazy time. For us, crazy was an adequate description....instead of going on a mountain mission, I ended up at the Mission house because Therese, my missionary sister, underwent an emergency appendectamy. I really learned the meaning of Jesus' "I thirst" from the Cross, as I wetted her mouth with drenched cotton balls throughout the night...Praise God though, she healed well and passed through the danger.

One tradition famous in Comayagua are these carpetas that you see in the above pictures, which translates as "carpets". Different groups begin creating these carpets on the streets of the city's center on the eve of Good Friday. They keep vigil all night, forming these carpets out of dyed sawdust. In the morning, the Way of the Cross procession begins, making its way through the streets, stomping over the freshly made, beautiful designs. For me it was a beautiful metaphor: at first, one wants to cry out that it is unfair that they would spend so much time and resources in creating these masterpieces, just to be trampled hours later. But it reminds us that true beauty is worth the effort. And to honor Jesus and what He did for us through the sacrifice of His Cross, there is not enough we could do to respond to that love.

I'm home in Florida for a short break; I'll head back to Honduras again on Wednesday. As I was landing in Tampa on my way back from Honduras, we were delayed in the air due to thunderstorms below. We circled the majestic clouds for a good 40 minutes, and the whole time I looked out the window and marveled at the fact that it was so clear and sunny from where I was, even though the whole city of Tampa was getting poured on. It reminded me of how God sees things; He is up in the clear, seeing the big picture; which is beautiful and simple, while He allows the storms to pour out on us. Sometimes we can't see that big picture through the clouds, but He sees the beautiful work that He is doing. And sometimes He gives us a little break....I'm on mine right now, getting ready to go back into the storm, headfirst! Thanks for your prayers, you remain in mine, of course!