Kyle Meyaard-Schaap
ASJ-US Executive Director
Visiting Honduras as the new ASJ-US Executive Director
March 6, 2024
Hi Friend,
It’s hard to do justice to the view of the mountains surrounding the town of La Union. Words (and even pictures) don’t quite capture it. I had caught glimpses of its panoramic majesty during the steep uphill drive into the mountain range the evening before, but its full beauty only hit me the next day.
The morning had started with some cows in the dark and a handful of men coaxing milk from grateful udders. After the jugs had all been filled, a new task presented itself. A group of cattle had broken out of their enclosure on the other side of town and would need to be driven back. I mounted my horse, looking more at ease in the well-worn saddle than I felt, and joined the procession through the town's streets to the pasture where the cattle belonged. When we rounded the corner, my breath caught in my chest.
“Pasture,” it transpired, meant something different here than it did to my Midwest mind. Rather than flat grassland, we found ourselves on a gently sloping hillside with a soaring vista of the surrounding mountains dotted with lavish forests, coffee fields, and other grazing livestock. Thousands of feet of ancient elevation pulsing with beauty and life. I couldn’t stop staring.
But the beauty was diluted. The vibrant green of the mountain forests across the valley was already dotted with too much brown for this early in the dry season. It was a trend, I was told, that residents of La Union had been noticing more and more. After all, the cows hadn’t broken out of their enclosure for the pleasure of an evening stroll through the town plaza. They were hungry and looking for better grass. With the heavy rains still months away, it was a hunger that they and the land were only beginning to befriend.
This blend of beauty and struggle was on the surface of so much of my time in Honduras.
For simply reporting the findings of an independent watchdog about the perception of corruption in Honduras, ASJ became the target of a torrent of public abuse and slander from the Honduran government. Yet, in response, I saw ASJ-Honduras leaders return evil with good and cover their staff and our shared mission in prayer.
A heartbreaking case of abuse at a remote orphanage that ASJ was helping to address went sideways, leaving the fate of the children there in limbo. At the same time, other children across Honduras celebrated the opening of the school year a full month sooner than the year before and the smooth delivery of school lunches across the country—goals that ASJ has been working toward for years.
I witnessed the work of a neighborhood impact club for kids and saw the joy of belonging and the beauty of empowerment, even as I learned how much vulnerability shapes so many of their stories.
Rejoice and lament. Celebration and sorrow. Beauty and struggle.
It’s impossible to understand ASJ’s work for justice without also understanding these twin realities and the inescapable relationship between them. It would be reductionist to believe that Honduras is nothing more than its most intractable challenges. It would be naïve to believe that all that makes Honduras remarkable can exist outside of the context of those same challenges. After all, Honduras is no different than any other place this side of the kingdom of God.
What I’m starting to understand, though, is that this alloy of beauty and struggle is not a tension to be escaped but a gift to be embraced. The beauty makes the struggle for justice bearable by reminding us of all we must fight for. The darkness of the struggle makes the light of celebration and joy much brighter.
This is the shape of our common work for justice: progress and disappointment, success and failure, rejoicing and lament. Twins holding hands and standing with us on tip-toe as we await the fullness of the kingdom of God, a fullness that will somehow be even brighter for all the darkness that came before.
Blessings,
Hondurans cast their ballots during the November 30, 2025, general election, which saw historic voter turnout and a peaceful process supported by more than 12,000 national and international election observers working to safeguard transparency.
ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US Congratulate the Honduran People, Call for Full and Transparent Results As sister organizations committed to justice, peace and hope in Honduras, ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US extend our deepest congratulations to the people of Honduras on the peaceful conduct of their national elections on November 30, 2025. With the initial tally showing an extraordinarily close vote, we call on election authorities to do what is necessary to ensure a transparent count of the remaining ballots in order to guarantee public trust in the final outcome. We commend the Honduran voters for their dedication to democratic participation and their commitment to shaping the future of their country through civic engagement. We also recognize the efforts of electoral authorities, civil society organizations, the international community and the thousands of volunteer observers who worked to ensure a transparent, orderly, and secure process. We are especially proud of our sister organization, ASJ-Honduras, for their unwavering commitment to democracy demonstrated through their electoral observation efforts, their analysis activities, and their consistent call for a fair and orderly process. Now that such a process has been achieved, the work turns to counting the votes with accuracy and transparency. The results remain close, increasing the possibility of a contested result. We support the work of the election officials at the National Electoral Council to give Hondurans confidence in the final results by conducting their count with rigor and transparency. We remain hopeful that the spirit of peaceful participation in the democratic process embraced by the electorate will carry forward into the post-election period to come. We look forward to continued collaboration with ASJ-Honduras as we all work together toward a just and hopeful future for all Hondurans. Matthew Van Geest President, Board of Directors ASJ-Canada Russ Jacobs President, Board of Directors ASJ-US
A call to action for Honduras
The Association for a More Justice Society-US Supports the Network to Defend Democracy; Calls for Free and Fair Elections in Honduras November 25, 2025
Honduras’s Institutional Crisis Deepens Ahead of the 2025 Elections
Dear friend, I couldn’t stop looking at the picture. Of course, there had been plenty of inspiring photos from this summer’s Prayer Walk for Peace and Democracy. The sea of blue and white rising and falling as hundreds of thousands walked the Honduran hills through Tegucigalpa, flowing like a never-ending stream. Catholic nuns praying their rosaries alongside Pentecostals dancing in the streets. But the picture that still knocks me flat is the closeup. The one of the two men standing side by side (picture enclosed). They are exhausted, and the shorter collapses into the taller. The tears mostly hold joy and relief, but they are mingled with something darker. After all, there had been threats—promises of harm done to themselves and their loved ones if they led their followers through the streets of Honduras in prayer. Despite the fear and intimidation, Pastor Gerardo Irías and Monsignor José Vicente Nácher forged ahead. They knew Honduras needed unity and, above all, prayer before the looming November 2025 presidential elections. As an ASJ supporter, you know that these kinds of threats aren’t out of the ordinary, and your support has helped slow and reverse violence in Honduras. Today, I am writing to share a way you can continue standing with brave Hondurans like Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José in hope. The Evangelical pastor and the Catholic archbishop put the word out as widely as they could to their churches, hoping to mobilize 20,000 to walk and pray. Instead, an estimated 230,000 walked in the capital of Tegucigalpa alone. It was a historic moment. And without your past support for ASJ, it may have never happened. After all, two years prior, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José didn’t even know each other’s names. They first met in 2023 at ASJ’s offices. They were two of many civil society leaders convened by ASJ to discuss safeguarding democracy– especially before the election in 2025. It was at that meeting that they shook each other’s hand and learned each other’s name. It was at that meeting–and many subsequent meetings–where old religious prejudices began to be replaced by trust and mutual affection. So, when the moment came this summer to act, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José knew what they had to do. And they knew that they had to do it together.
Calvin alums turn faith into action through nonprofit
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Thank You for Moving Forward With Us this Summer!
When Policies Shift, Families Pay the Price * by Jo Ann Van Engen
