Another Day in Honduras

After an eventful Wednesday, there is not much to report here on a quiet Thursday.  We’ve been working all morning and trying to figure out our travel plans for the weekend.

The paper this morning had pictures of the rally yesterday.  Here is a group of peace marchers beginning to gather at the beach:

Side note: The ocean in the background looks incredibly blue and inviting, but alas, even though we live not more than a few miles from the beach, this water isn’t clean enough to swim in (at least not clean enough for us particular gringos!)

As far as support for Honduras goes, the majority of the world, including the US and the UN, continue to back Zelaya.

Yet despite this condemnation, the new government of Honduras continues to stand firm, and the national media remains predominantly anti-Zelaya.  This political cartoon that appeared in today’s paper gets the point across pretty clearly:

The robot represents Mel Zelaya (carrying the illegal ballots that started the crisis), while Chavez holds the controls.

Recently, according La Prensa, a Honduran newspaper, a few countries have moved to support the new governemnt.  Italy, Egypt, Israel and Taiwan have all backed the new governement, while both Panama and South Korea have voiced sympathetic words.  Even an American senator, Jim DeMint from South Carolina, spoke out today, stating that the Hondurans have made a “heroic stand for freedom and rule of law.”

Of course theirs is the minortity opinion.  Both sides are refusing to give in, and the more we talk to people around the country, the more we realize no one has any idea what is going to happen this weekend.  Zelaya is scheduled to return on Saturday, with the new president swearing to arrest him if he sets foot in the country.

Only time will tell.

Peace Rally in La Ceiba, Honduras

This afternoon, hundreds of Hondurans from La Ceiba and surrounding areas gathered together to march for peace and democracy in Honduras.  Yesterday, in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, where all the violence has been reported, there was a similar rally held.  There, thousands of peaceful supporters of the new government gathered to make their voice heard.  It came as a stark contrast to the scattered acts of violence that came from a very small group of ex-president Zelaya’s supporters.

Peaceful march down "14 de Julio" in La Ceiba.

After the girls had naps and a quick dip in the baby pool, we headed downtown to watch the march.  Hundreds gathered, mostly dressed in white for peace or blue and white for Honduras, and peacefully walked with flags, signs, and chants such as queremos paz (”we want peace!”) and Hon-du-ras! It was a very prideful moment for us to see hundreds of Hondurans gather together and make a stand for what they believe is right for their country.  Though there was a big military presence, it wasn’t needed on this group.

Marcher holding a Honduran flag in the shape of Honduras labeled "Free"

We hung towards the back, stopped for ice cream, and then spotted the military beginning to assemble.  When we first showed up downtown, people warned us not to go to Central Park or the adjoining government building, that was where the Zelaya supports were gathered.  As we drew near, we saw a small group of angry looking protesters, mostly dressed in red.  Although nothing bad was happening yet, we knew this was our cue to leave.  Military had walled off the road, presumable keeping the two groups apart.

Honduran military blocking the road to Central Park.

Back in the car, we headed home to our quiet neighborhood.  It was an informative afternoon, seeing hundreds of Honduras peacefully rallying for peace, while a small, angry group of Zelaya supporters protesting.  Zelaya has pushed back his return trip to Honduras until this weekend, so please continue to pray for peace in Honduras.

More Honduras in the News

As you probably have heard by now, Honduras has made the news once again.  Last month it was the big earthquake, and now it is the supposed military coup that the whole world is talking about.

Even though we live here in Honduras, we feel fairly removed from what is going on.  Almost all of the activity has been down in Tegucigalpa, which is on the other side of the country of our beach town of La Ceiba.  If you have no idea what I am talking about, here is a quick review:

President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya

Over the last few months, the President of Honduras, Mel Zelaya, has been pushing for essentially a revision of the constitution to allow him to stay in office for another term.  He proposed a vote for this past Sunday (6/28), but the Honduran congress and supreme court said no way, the vote would be a direct violation of the constitution.  Zelaya didn’t listen and began to distribute ballots.  His actions violated the constitution, the congress, and the supreme court.  With the illegal vote looming, it was essentially Zelaya and his supporters versus everyone else, and the mood was tense.

Well the vote never happened because early Sunday morning, the Honduran military, acting under direct orders of the congress, supreme court, and the constitution, arrested Zelaya and sent him packing to Costa Rica.  The result in Honduras was that a small group of Zelaya supporters protested in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, and smaller protest broke out in other cities, including La Ceiba.  As of today, Zelaya is still in Costa Rica, but planning on returning on Thursday.  A new president has been sworn in, a new cabinet has been appointed, and the government is moving forward.

Translation: The SURVEY (vote) is illegal, The SURVEY is an offense (crime) DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN A CRIME! On June 28 STAY in your house caring for your family.

What has this meant for us? Well everything was just normal, until Saturday night when thousands of these pamphlets dropped from the sky advising us to stay home and not vote on the illegal ballot.  On Sunday we awoke to the news of the “coup” and watched the TV as reports came in.  The US Embassy advised all Americans to stay in their homes as a precautionary measure.  We ventured out, hoping to attend church, but it was canceled.  We went downtown and saw lots of armed soldiers, barricaded streets, and a small group of pro-Zelaya protesters outside the local municipal building.  Despite the warnings of chaos, everything was very calm, we even had lunch at Pizza Hut with lots of other peaceful Hondurans.

Our visiting short-term missions team decided to stay indoors to play it safe, a wise decision.  As reports continued to trickle it, it became apparent that the military wasn’t doing anything illegal, they were simple acting in accordance to their constitution and government.  We felt safe, and on Monday, we all headed out to resume our normal lives and ministry.  For now, the lasting effects are an indefinite curfew, and very irregular travel.  We had a special bus take our team to the airport this morning, and for now it looks like all international flights are proceeding as scheduled.

It has been an exciting few days, and who knows what the next week will hold.  Although the vast majority of life is going on peacefully, Obama, Chavez, Cuba and other nations have weighed in, so this isn’t going away anytime soon.

We are safe, we are happy, and it looks like all of our ministry can proceed without problems.  We greatly appreciate your concern and prayers, both for us, and for our adopted country.

Recruiting Trip: Orlando

I know it seems like I was just here, but I am back in the US again this week for a week of recruiting.  The reality of the situation in Honduruas is that although we have two families working hard, there is just a lot to do.  Looking down the road, we see a great need for more interns, short-term, and career missionaries.  The process of getting to the field, as those of you who have followed our journey know, can be quite long.  Training, finances, and language learning take time, so the seeds we hope to plant now won’t see fruit for years to come.

 

All that to say, I have been in Orlando the past two days at our demination’s annual meeting, General Assembly.  It has been a great opportunity to share our vision, promote Honduras, and generally raise awarness.  I even had the opportunity to share at MTW’s luncheon today with over 300 people.

Ironically, though I am staying in Disney World, I have not set foot outside except to walk from my room to the meeting areas.  In fact the picture above is the closest I have gotten to anything Disney related during my two days here. 

In the morning, I am off to Atlanta to help with a conference for folks interested in missions.

Honduras v. US

Last weekend the US beat Honduras 2-1 in Chicago in a World Cup qualifying match.  It was a huge deal here, and when Honduras scored their first goal only 4 minutes into the game, we could hear cheering all throughout our neighborhood.  But despite their early success, Honduras couldn’t hold on, and the Americans pulled it out in the end (although we were alone, Lindsey and I still celebrated very quietly in our house).  It was a brief moment of triumph for the gringos in a sport dominated by those outside of the US.  But the glory of the victory was short lived.

A couple days after the game, I headed out to Armenia Bonito and ended up playing some backyard futbol.  Although I was the only American playing, my team was always labeled the “US” and for some reason we always lost!  The kids love picking on the gringos who can’t play futbol, and they enacted their revenge for the national loss over the weekend.

Welcome Intern Erin

Last weekend we welcomed our newest team member, Erin.  Erin is from Durham, NC (Sean’s home town) and will be living with us for the month of June.  She is taking her short summer off as an elementary teacher at a year-round school to serve and ministry with our family and team.

We’re excited that Erin is here, and Lucy is already loving her.  So far she and Lindsey have cooked 16 huge breakfast casseroles for the teams coming this summer.  For two days in a row, I have woken up to the smell of beef, sausage, and chicken being cooked on the stove, and gone to bed with 8 fresh casseroles placed in the fridge.

Who knows if Erin came down here to cook massave amounts of meat, egg, and cheese, or to help Lucy potty train, but that is what she’s been doing and she’s been great so far!

Up the River

Above: A map of Rio Cangrejal.  It comes down from the mountains, runs right by our neighborhood, and dumps into the Atlantic.

Last week, we found a great new way to escape the heat. Hop in the car, head south along the river road, and look for a good swimming spot. We found this spot only about 15 min from our house along the river. The sandy beach was great for Lucy, who loved walking in and out of the water and watching mommy and daddy float along with the current. The water was cool and calm, and it was a very refreshing morning.

The river itself actually starts in the mountains and runs through the east side of town before dumping out into the Atlantic. Although the water level is low this time of year, the rivers around town are known to flood their bridges during the rainy season. On summer days, lots of folks will escape the heat of the river and head up to the cool jungle river.

It is still amazing to us that although we live in a city of 200,000 people, we’re but a 5 minute drive from the jungle and these beautiful rivers. Lots of people from the town use the rivers not only for swimming, but for bathing, washing clothes and cars, and collecting rocks for roads and landscaping.

Grace of God Conference

Last weekend we hosted a conference for local pastors from all over La Ceiba.  After weeks of recruiting and hours trying to find and contact every church in town, we were able to offer this much needed training.  On Thursday night, Friday night, and all day Saturday we rented out a meeting room in a downtown hotel, had coffee and snacks, passed out binders full of articles and outlines, and sat under some great teaching.

Our speaker was Bill Yarborough, a former pastor in Mexico who now works for MTW.  He taught from a modified version of MTW’s Living in Grace curriculum.  Some of the information was fairly new to the pastor’s, and was well received for the most part.

As we were ending the conference, many of the leaders showed interest in more training.  Amazingly, lots of the pastors here barely have a high school diploma, with university and seminary being just a dream.  We would love to provide periodic training and conferences to better equip the churches and pastors here for their work and ministry.  We are praying for God’s leading for the future of this ministry.

Honduras Earthquake

We’re all fine.

Last night around 2:30 in the morning, a huge earthquake shook our house. We waited it out, checked on the girls, and went back to bed.  When we woke up and turned on the news, we realized it had toppled bridges, buildings, and homes in the surrounding areas and throughout Honduras and Belize.

We never lost power or water, but we’ve been out of internet and phone service for most of the morning.  It is just in the last few minutes that we’ve gotten internet back and really begun to read about the damages.

Thank you to so many of you who contacted us and were concerned about us.  We just want to let you all know that all is well with us, and to please pray for all those near us who have been affected.

Back from Training

 

Above: Our Disaster Response Training class and instructors before a big hike.

For the past ten days, I have been in the US training with MTW’s Disaster Response Ministry. We spent the week in Western Pennsylvania attending classroom seminars and field demonstrations.

Disaster Response is a ministry that trains volunteers to respond to disasters around the world. Although we are not trained as first responders, we are prepared to land in a devastated area and minister soon after a disaster has struck. The ministry usually send in medical professionals, crisis counselors, and engineers, as they are most suited to fit the needs of the people.

Now if you know me at all, you know I am none of those things, and yet the teams that hit the field weeks after a disaster need untrained folks to help serve and provide in a variety of areas. Throughout the week we were trained in basics of camping, food prep, water purification, mapping/GPS, stretchers, river crossing, mine detection, and much more.

After 4 full days of training, our team hosted a mock medical clinic (with local church members as the disaster refugees). In two hours we saw a UN health inspector, a reporter from the BBC, local war lords, an angry mayor, a swine flu outbreak, a beligerant drunk, orphaned children and much more. It was a crazy morning, but a good learning experience.

Overall, the training was a great experience. I originally attended solely to be prepared for the annual hurricanes here in Central America. But after seeing the ministry and their impact all over the world after disasters, I may have to reconsider my involvement in the future.