The Miskito People in Honduras

I met Pastor Arnulfo Gream, the president of the Baptist Association of La Mosquitia, during a meeting of the Honduras Baptist Convention in Tegucigalpa.  I remember I struggled to decide whether or not to be at that particular meeting.  It was scheduled to be held the day after Thanksgiving (which is not a holiday in Honduras).  I had planned to spend this special day with my son in El Salvador. So, that meant that I would have to drive for seven hours the next day to make it on time for the meeting. After much thought and prayer, I made the decision to attend the convention meeting, and I am so glad I did! Pastor Gream invited me to speak to the pastors and leaders of The Baptist Association of La Mosquitia (Honduras) during their annual assembly to be held in December. About 100 pastors, deacons and leaders of the Association met in Puerto Lempira. Some of them had traveled for days to be there.They gave me several hours one morning to talk to them about me, my ministry and my plans for them.  Representatives of their 75 churches gathered under the trees to hear what I had to share.  I had to use a Miskito translator to share my message. I did not know it then, but that message was going to be one they had never heard before in their own language. It was something none of us were expecting!

Because of their poverty, the Miskito churches are used to be the recipients of help and assistance (most of it is temporary and not reproducible), but very seldom they see themselves as a group who has anything worth sharing or even able to give anything at all. When I started telling them about my ministry, a pastor asked if I was there to offer them spiritual support. He was surprised when I answered that I was actually there to ask for THEIR spiritual support! That morning, I proceeded to challenge them to give out of their spiritual abundance thru their disciplined, committed and intentional intercession for the nations. To lift their voices in One Voice for so many unreached peoples around the world that are not as blessed as they are. It was interesting to see the expressions on their faces as they were shocked to hear that I was asking for their help instead of offering any.  Let me tell you that there are very few committed disciples who do not mind traveling for miles under the sun on a boat, on the back of a pick-up truck or walking on muddy dirt roads to be part of a church meeting.  They did not think it was a big deal to fast for a day because there was not enough money to buy food for everyone attending (I joined the fast, too).  They do not considered it to be so extraordinary to get up before sunrise to have a 5 am worship and prayer meeting in the dark (there was no electricity in the place we were gathered. At night, we used a small borrowed generator to light a few bulbs).  You see now why I was there to ask for their help?!... It really makes you reconsider who is really rich and who is really poor.

At one point that morning, I was sharing from the Book of Acts, and how the first disciples had become so comfortable and focused in themselves and their needs in Jerusalem, that they had forgotten that Jesus’ mandate was for them to be witnesses to the ends of the earth.  And so, God allowed persecution to give them a notch beyond their borders.  And as they were scattered throughout Judea, Samaria and the ends of the world, they finally fulfilled God’s original purpose for His children to become a blessing to all nations.  As I completed to share in Spanish this last thought, pastor Hector, my interpreter, looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face.  I repeated myself a little thinking that he might not have heard what I had just said. I knew he was familiar with this story. He went silent for a moment and then laughed as in his mind he had made sense of what he had just heard. He then proceeded to translate and explain excitedly with the rest of the Miskito audience.  He took a long time, so I knew that he had not only translated my words, but also his understanding of the matter. Suddenly, many of them were clapping and some stood on their feet.  When I asked about the reason of their reaction, they said that they had never heard this passage explained this way before, and now it made sense.  The next morning, as I waited for my tortilla and beans for breakfast, an older pastor approached me.  With a broken Spanish told me how the pastors had been talking late that night and he thanked me for sharing a "new message" with them.  I explained that it was not really new, but sometimes we get caught up with so many earthly things, that we forget the most basics of God's commands. 

Many churches in La Mosquitia are now giving out of their spiritual abundance to bless those ethnic groups that are not as blessed as they are.  I am looking forward to see how God will lead us to partner for His glory in the future. Maybe we could develop a cross-cultural training center to prepare our Central American future missionaries. Maybe we could find partnerships with others who will find reproducible ways to help the Miskito people to solve their physical and material needs.  There is so much we can learn from them... My life was deeply touched by just sharing those few days with such precious brothers and sisters.  Please pray for me as a continue to encourage and partner with the Miskito Baptists.  Please pray for them as they continue to share Christ deep in the jungles and corners of their Mosquitia, and as they prepare to touch the nations with their spiritual abundance and richness in Christ.