Scott Anderson
I think I’m sticking with the first idiom as we ready ourselves for our trip to NPH Honduras, although the variety of sentiment does raise some questions that have me engaged this, my third time around. More on that in a later blog. NPH, or Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos (literally, “our little brothers and sisters”) is an ecumenical Catholic ministry that provides homes, health, and education for at risk children, youth, and adults in Latin America and the Caribbean. You can read much more about this remarkable non-profit on the website linked above. While you’re at it, you can read about our previous trips on the St. Andrew website where we posted about our experiences from 2012 and 2015. This time around we have 8 from St. Andrew joining with a large group of more than 30 for our July 7-14 trip. Ross Egge, who used to be one of the directors of Rancho Santa Fe, the ranch that 480 kids a host of others in Honduras call home, is now Regional Director of the Pacific Northwest offices. He and person extraordinaire Donna Egge (yes, his mom!) will accompany the group on this trip. It feels like we have a history here, which is kind of the point.
Or at least one of them. It also feels new. For one thing, we are only a part of a much bigger group. That will be different for us, but surely filled with possibility for sharing, the cross-pollination of ideas, and the like. We have a mix of “seasoned” veterans and new folks. Pattie Holt, Amber Oakes, Molly McAdams, and I are all anxious to reunite with a community that has become dear to us. Craig and Marie (West-)Johnson, and Marie’s daughter and grandson Andrea and Brandon Whirt are going for the first time, although they bring insight and language skills that will serve them and us well! We also have a growing group of NPH alumni who are paying attention to what’s happening, and asking how we best continue our relationship with NPH and allow our experiences to “live” at home. Maggie Breen will be providing some leadership in helping us to think about these questions. For the moment, we are grateful for your support, which has shown up in myriad ways. Your generosity continues to astonish as we leave having more than enough money to make the trip, and to offer NPH an extra unrestricted $1000 to support their ongoing work. So does your engagement, and of course, your prayers. For those, we are especially grateful as we make our way. So I hope you’ll follow along as this story develops. We’ll have pictures to show you and stories to tell. And with you, we’ll pay attention to what God has in mind.
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