Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Capps returns from Honduras after Christian construction effort

A Gurdon man has returned from a 10-day working vacation to Honduras where he helped Christian missionaries build a kitchen and eating area for a local school.

Jon Capps, manager of Austins Rental in downtown Gurdon, visited his parents in Honduras from June 1 through June 10 and did his part to conform with his fathers long-term efforts to be trusted by the native Lenca people.

Capps made the journey alone. He had visited Honduras in 1999, but that was strictly a pleasure trip.

Upon arriving in Honduras on June 1, after a five-hour flight from Little Rock, Capps met up with his missionary parents, Billy Roy and Betty Capps, and a building crew of 20 Georgia church members.

The Georgia crew was led by their preacher, Steve Peeple. There were also eight Lenca locals who worked every day with the building crew.

Capps said his favorite part of the journey was working side by side with the local people to finish a worthwhile project.

He said the Lencas knew just enough English, and he knew just enough Spanish, for a workmens bond to be created.

"There is no electricity or gas in that area, so the kitchen stove is a block affair where you have to use a grill pit to cook," Capps said. "The building was 18 by 52 feet, and 30 feet of that was cabana area. I would say we set up at least six picnic tables in the cabana. The students will get their trays passed to them from the kitchen and then take a seat at one of the tables to eat."

Capps said the school children being served are in the first through sixth grade, and said free public education in Honduras ends at sixth grade.

"After the sixth grade, the parents must pay for their childrens continued education or the youngsters have to go work," Capps said.

Not only is public education limited, so are modern conveniences in the Honduras homes. Capps said the houses have no electric lights and the window spaces have no glass.

"Everybody had to get ready for bed when it got dark," he said. "The average temperature in Honduras is 70 degrees so the weather cooperated. However, I missed the option of opening a window, like here in Gurdon. In Honduras, the window spaces where I am used to seeing glass are covered with wooden slats spaced apart."

Capps said most Americans have no concept of poverty in comparison to the daily life he observed in Honduras.

The produce markets are a popular food source.

As to shelter, he said many homes have dirt floors. There are no telephones.

However, they have a local Rotary chapter. Capps was not sure how long ago the club was established, but said there is a celebration sign in Honduras recognizing 100 years of Rotary existing internationally.

Capps said the entire country of Honduras compares in size to the state of Arkansas.

Missionary success

Despite the background differences between the Lenca people and the missionaries, Capps said his fathers efforts to spread Christianity has been successful.

He noted a Honduras man called Horaldo, who converted to protestant Christianity early when the missionary work started in 1999. Horaldo is now a 29-year-old preacher, teaching the Christian principles and Bible to the Lenca people.

Horaldo is married, with two children, and goes to the various communities for Bible studies.

"Trust was established between my dad and the Lenca people over time," Capps said. "Their religion is of a Catholic and Mien variation down in Central America, and the priests impose extreme power over everyone they can."

Capps said the priests demand large gifts from the local people, such as a car, and then those same priests refuse to pick up the Lenca citizens when they ask for rides along the road ways.

"It took a while, but the people began to realize my dad would help them regardless of whether they gave him anything or not," he said. "Now he can hold peaceful church services without fear of the local people trying to break the meetings up by force."

Capps said when his father first went to Honduras he heard stories of how other Christian missionaries had been chased out of town with machetes because the Lenca people were told by their priests not to trust the new comers.

When the elder Capps heard this story, he decided to bring building brigades and medical teams to the people so that trust could be earned.

"They know who my dad is and they do trust him," Capps said. "When the kids ride by, they shout, Billy, Billy, and wave."

The older Capps is getting ready to retire and plans to return to Gurdon from the mission field this September, his son said.

"I hope to go back to Honduras with my father to visit the Lenca people again next summer," Capps said.