Pupusas and the Honduran culture

One might wonder why a missionary is writing about pupusas, a national dish of Honduras, that many here say were first made in this country rather than El Salvador.  Now if you live in Honduras you believe that is the way it was but if by chance you’re from El Salvador you might think differently.

The reason pupusas are important to me as a missionary, besides the fact that they are totally delicious, is that when I asked a good number of North Americans what a pu-pu-sa was they replied with this confused look on their face meaning they thought maybe it was some kind of Latin version of a tuna sandwich or something.  You still might be asking, what’s the point?

What it says is that for a missionary to be effective in reaching those they are ministering to they must first know how the population thinks, feels and yes, even eats, so as to help them to be able to encapsulate the gospel and the discipleship of the believer once they want to follow Christ.

To unlock the culture one needs first to speak the language so as to be able to enter into the “cultural home” of the person.  Once you can communicate well with those of your host country, you’re able to enter into the culture by observing and asking questions as to who, what where, why and when.  Now comes the reason for the pupusas!

One of the most ancient and effective ways to get to know someone is to “break bread together!” By eating pupusas together I have had a myriad of windows opened into the hearts of my Honduran friends.  I believe that by eating together it does more to deepen a friendship than a 100 handshakes or greetings!

What we do as missionaries outside of our home country is to find bridges of commonality with the people where we work.  What is more basic than what we do, our children and what we eat. Thus for me, eating a delicious pupusas while watching one of our local football teams, Olympia, is a great way to get to know those around me and what they’re thinking.

Now you understand a bit more why Pupusas are important to me as a missionary in Honduras! If you’re interested in finding out how you can make some pupusas for a home missionary party when we visit the States you can click on the link below!  To help us with our work you can click on the donate now button to the right and help us to help others. To send an email go above to home to obtain our address.

Visit this link for a recipe: http://www.whats4eats.com/breads/pupusas-recipe

Joyfully in Service to the People of Honduras,

Mateo