Safely in Honduras

Tuesday, Nov 25/08

Greetings to all from the Carpenteros in Honduras – Henk Schilthuis, Andrew and Christine Schaafsma, Auk Vandertuin, Cheryl Nethercott, Ken Vanderlaan, Jim and Audrey Bezemer, Keith Jones, Steve and Jordan Fox.

After a prayer circle and a gracious send-off by ten of our fellow Carpenteros, we were driven by Kevin, Joseph and Isaiah as well as Dave vdM to Pearson International, via Tim Horton’s. Check in and clearing US Customs went off with no hitches and we departed on schedule. The pilots made good time, so we arrived in Miami 20 minutes early and had time for a quick coffee and/or snacks before boarding the next leg of the flight.

Fairly clear skies over Key West and Cuba, gave way to clouds at the Central American coast. We broke through the cloud layer as we descended, between the mountains, into Tegucigalpa… then came a long left turn and touch down. Again, we were able to quickly clear Customs and retrieve our baggage. Ana Joya of the CRWRC, Delia of Diaconia Nacional, our “hermano” Gregorio Sanchez, and our translators Santos and Carlos were waiting for us and made quick work of loading us and our bags into the pick-up and passenger vans. The weather here was sunny and about 22C, but it has now cooled considerably.

After dropping our luggage at the Mision Caribbe B & B, we headed over to the local Pizza Hut for lunch and then back in order to relax for a while. Some of the group members spent time writing journal entries, perusing pictures from last year’s trip or playing ping-pong and foosball with our hosts. Byron, from CRWRC, lead an orientation meeting during which he outlined the programs and partner agencies of CRWRC in Honduras. Delia then thanked us for our visit and for all the work and support of the Carpenteros group. She presented a short video of past and current Diaconia Nacional projects, particularly those supported by the Carpenteros. She then went on to outline our projects for the coming two weeks. Ana then showed a short video prepared by ASJ detailing some of the problems in the Cofradia land dispute, which has lead to three local leaders being murdered and hundreds of inhabitants being evicted from the their homes. ASJ is working to force the government to enforce the good existing laws in order to stop the violence. We were told that while the government does not seem to have the political will to improve the situation, there are people within their organization who will fight to protect the rights of the poor. They ask that we pray for their workers and that God will give them a positive outcome.

It has been a very long, but very good day. We were grateful for those of you who got up in the wee hours of this morning to see us off and we were so pleased to see our friends on our arrival. We thank God we have arrived safely and ask for your prayers for continued traveling mercies as we head to Isla de Tigre early tomorrow morning.

We have been trying to send this report to the web blog page however they tell us that the city-wide internet service is down today. We will have to try again tomorrow. Blessed are the flexible for they will not snap.

Hasta la vista

Audrey Bezemer