Our first Mission Statement alumni post
comes from Tim Honchel, who was a LASP student in Fall 2009. Follow Tim as he
reflects on the semester abroad experience that introduced him to author (LASP friend & speaker) Elmer Hernán Rodríguez Campos and helped him find
the path he is on today. You can read more about Tim's translation work here.
After a transforming short-term mission trip to Honduras
when I was 16, I knew that I wanted to do something different with my life and help
change the world for the better. For a long time, I thought that meant becoming
a missionary in Latin America, which prompted me to study abroad through the
Best Semester Latin American Studies Program in the fall of 2009. My three
months with LASP confirmed my convictions to do something out of the ordinary
and gave me the tools, insights, and confidence I needed to get started. The
experience also shaped those convictions in a way I would have never
anticipated.
Experiential Learning
I came to LASP with a set of conscious and unconscious expectations, only to
find that each day was an adventure and that I never knew what to expect. I had
wanted to learn more about Latin American culture and life. Now I was immersed
almost full-time with a Latin American family, observing and experiencing the
ins and outs of everyday life. I had wanted to improve my Spanish so I could
communicate better. Now I was finding that language was more than a collection
of words and was allowing me to connect with people that I could barely relate
to before. I had wanted to learn about Latin America in the present day, but I
was also learning about the historical forces that have shaped and continue to
shape the region. I had wanted to learn about poverty and how to help people
escape it. Now I was meeting and hearing the stories of people who had been
poor their entire lives. I was also meeting people who had very few material
possessions but lived such rich fulfilling lives that they were redefining my
perspective of poverty altogether. In summary, I discovered that my education included,
but could go beyond the information contained in textbooks.
Seek First the
Kingdom – Be Open to Critical Thinking
The lectures, experiences, and relationships from that semester in Costa Rica
challenged me to question things I had uncritically taken for granted, to explore
possibilities that I had never considered, and kindled a desire to understand
other people and the world we live in. I was drawn back to Jesus’ teachings
about the Kingdom of God and reminded that the world (even much of the Christian
world surprisingly, including myself!) did not operate by or think highly of
the principles he described and modeled.* I realized that I still wanted to
change the world for the better, but the best way to start doing that might be
to first make some changes in myself.
Learning Never Ends –
Global Awareness
I returned home committed to learn more about the Kingdom of God and the things
that might be preventing us from living it out. I wanted to take at least a
year to intentionally explore this ideal, this way of life. So after graduating
college, I traveled through Central America and was welcomed with generous
hospitality in every town I visited. I also saw how the products we enjoy are
often made possible by importing natural resources and cheap labor from
countries that have been allowed no other choices. I then moved back to the US,
to a predominantly African-American urban neighborhood, where I became aware of
my own unconscious racial barriers and fears, the numerous challenges facing American
minorities, and was able to develop genuine relationships with people whose
backgrounds were often very different than my own. Next, I went to work in a US
oilfield and came to understand the effects, implications, and dependence of
our economy and way of life on the world’s ecosystems that we are a part of and
that sustain our basic needs; and the tendency to use economic policies and war
for control of foreign resources. I interned at organic farms and enjoyed
learning how to live more simply and work with others to more directly meet our
basic needs. Finally, I helped translate and publish the powerful story of
Elmer Hernán Rodríguez Campos, one of the friends I made during my time at
LASP.
Where I am Now
I’m still on this journey and it’s one that has rarely been easy and will
likely take my entire life (or longer). Learning how to sail in seemingly
uncharted waters, living in a US culture when I have fairly different values
requires a lot of my energy. There is plenty of stumbling and uncertainty,
which as I learned from my experiences at LASP, can be an opportunity to grow
even more. Instead of material wealth and convenience, I’ve found my wealth in
deeper relationships, better health, personal freedom, and the knowledge that
I’m learning how to live in a way that can hopefully make the world a better
place. I’m doing something different with my life after all, and I’m now able
to use my life experiences, planning skills, and business education to offer
practical help to other groups and individuals that want to do something
different and are trying to figure out how. This service is one way I try to
give back and also how I earn a humble living. I love being self-employed.
Appreciation
My friends and fellow students, even though they came and left with various
interests and goals, all benefited and grew from their time at LASP. I’m
personally grateful to LASP for inspiring me to look deeper, ask questions,
think critically, step out of my comfort zone, and work towards making my goals
a reality. Three months of transformative learning has gone on to impact my
entire life.
*Perhaps we do this
because following Jesus’s teachings would require us to acknowledge the source
of most problems and renounce that which we love most: ourselves. It is easier
to reinterpret these teachings or place the focus on less demanding passages
that require small sacrifices, postpone life’s meaning until after death, and put
the blame on others. It takes courage, trust, and humility to admit that we are
hurting others to benefit ourselves and then learn to change our ways.
Similarly, having listened to the
life story of Elmer, a speaker who lived in the same framework as Romero, I
began to recognize the devastating effects of poverty on the human beings it
infects. These interactions do not permit me to deny the reality of such
injustices nor the necessity and power of Romero's courageous opposition to
them. In resisting the patterns of brutality and destitution, Elmer suggests we
be intentional in forming relationships with the marginalized and in standing
with them in solidarity, which Romero declares to be the mission of the
church. 
