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.