Click above to learn about prayer needs for the team, view the trip photo album, or if you would like to learn more about the team and their preparations
Trip Summary
The mission trip to Honduras fulfilled our expectation of providing an opportunity for MKs interested in missions to experience overseas missions for themselves. There were several changes of plans, but through it all God provided a realistic experience of the missionary life. The coup made us come home early, but through it all God taught us that our plan-F was his plan-A. We praise God that He kept us safe and got us home at no extra expense. Here are some accomplishments that were part of God's plan.
1. We had 12 opportunities to share the gospel through puppet shows, presentations and singing to over 1000 kids and adults. 2. We painted a play room in an orphanage that had water damage after the earthquake. 3. The team learned flexibility as we went from plan-A to plan-F in two days. 4. The team learned some of the Garifuna language and encouraged people in their cultural identity and scripture use. 5. The team rubbed shoulders with missionaries and heard their story. 6. Because of our shortened trip and God's provision, we were able to bless the various ministries there with over $8000, as well as the $2000 worth of equipment we left behind. 7. In the trip evaluations, every team member stated that this trip brought them closer to the idea of becoming a career missionary.
One final fun fact: The team drank over 100 gallons of water in 13 days. (Mike has the receipts to show it!)
6/15 - 17: Training Week
Team Training. We will be preparing skits, lessons, games, and crafts that will be presented during the time in Honduras. We also will be involved in language and culture learning. These will be very full days of learning and hopefully bonding.
6/16
We began our training week yesterday to prepare our team for the trip. David DeGraaf has been teaching them the basics of learning a language and culture, showing them how their mouths make language sounds and teaching them what questions to ask to learn about a culture. We also had a team building exercise called "Plane Crash", a simulation where each team member is injured in a different way and they have to work together to hike through the woods. Brian had a strained back (couldn't carry anyone), Steven was blind, Joylily had two broken arms, Laura had two broken legs, Sharon had a broken right arm and left leg, Lyndsie was mute with a broken arm, Rachel was blind, Leigh was mute, and Charlotte had a head injury and acted "paranoid delusional" (tried to run away from the group). They worked well together, communicated well, and stayed together as much as possible. Afterwards, we debriefed and talked about what they learned and how to work together better as a team.
Later in the afternoon, they went to the Townsend building to practice their cultural learning skills by finding out about the culture of the Townsend building. It was a fun and eye opening exercise!
Tonight, we are camping out at Jungle Jump Off to have the opportunity to share our stories with each other (and have S'mores!).
Pray for rest for the team, as they have been up late packing and going hard all day.
6/17
Well, we ended up not sleeping at Jungle Jump Off last night. A big group of thunderstorms came through, including a tornado warning one county to the West, so we decided to stay in the Olive Branch for the night. We shared our stories and had a blast getting to know each other. I am glad that the team already enjoys being together! That is a wonderful blessing that help a lot when the trip gets stressful.
This evening, we are having a family BBQ to end our pre-training week, and then we head home to try to get some sleep before meeting at the Olive Branch at 3:30AM tomorrow!
6/18: Depart
We fly out from Charlotte at 7:15AM have a short layover in Atlanta and arrive in San Pedro at 11:15 (Mountain time zone). We will then have a three hour bus ride to La Ceiba. The flight information is:
Delta #1653 from Charlotte to Atlanta
Delta #405 from Atlanta to San Pedro, Honduras
A few pictures have be uploaded from this morning and training. Click "Photo Album" at top of page.
Received a call from Mike. The flight from Charlotte to Atlanta was delayed an hour causing them to have to run and make their connecting flight. Fortunately they did catch the flight and were doubly blessed to arrive in Honduras with all their luggage.The flights went smoothly without any turbulence.Mike noted that there were 3 other missions teams on the flight to Honduras, but our team stood out as having positive attitudes and not acting like “rude Americans.”
Upon arriving at the airport, they immediately had lunch at “Wendy’s” hamburger chain while in the airport.The three hour bus ride to La Ceiba was an enjoyable cultural experience.All of the students kept exclaiming “It looks just like…” and filled it in with countries they’ve lived. Everyone except for Steven, who didn’t have a comparison as this was his first time out of the USA.
They have checked into their hotel and are pleased with the accommodations.Most rooms have bathrooms, fans and electricity.Jerry is the only one in his own room, but Mike said it was his fault.Jerry apparently told them team, “I’m really missing my wife and sleep better when I have someone to snuggle with.”
For dinner they had fried chicken and fried bananas which they enjoyed.
6/19 - 6/20: In country training
We will complete our preparations by practicing our puppet presentations, skits, crafts, balloon animals, and setting up the movie equipment. This will also be a chance for us to get to know Marilyn and to find out about the history of God's work in Honduras.
6/19 We slept well in our "Hotel" last night because each room has a great big fan in it! We each got about nine hours of sleep, which was wonderful. We had breakfast at AMIGA, the Garifuna association classroom and then caught public transportation (an old school bus) to Marilyn's house. The team really likes how everyone drives here. At Marilyn's house the team spent the day working on puppet skits. Marilyn is going to film our performance of "The Good Samaritan" and have it dubbed into Garifuna so that they can use it in the future. After lunch we celebrated a couple birthdays (Steven's-last Wed. & Rachel's-today) with a big chocolate cake and singing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish. A couple of the team members have headaches, and one has a little bit of nausea, but other than that we are doing quite well. Thank you for praying for us!
MANY NEW PHOTOS UPLOADED TO PAGE
6/20 Everyone slept well under fans again last night. However this morning Charlotte woke up with a swollen eye.She has responded well to Benadryl and prayer and is doing much better now.
Breakfast this morning was sweet bread and mangos after which they walked to AMIGA (a Christian Garifuna Association school for literacy and Bible).They spent the morning practicing puppets and skits.Many had worn out arms from practicing the puppets.
Because it was Saturday, local children began to discover the team practicing. At first about 10 kids were watching, but by the end of practice an audience of 30-40 kids were watching. After practice the entire team enjoyed playing with the kids. Mike was particularly proud of how proactive the team has been at using and learning Spanish.Playing with the kids included soccer, tag, picking green mangos and playing in and ON TOP of a school bus. Jerry observed that Charlotte chases after the kids just like her older sister HM did in Kenya.
While the team sat against a wall to eat lunch afterwards, their new friends kept peeking over the wall and laughing.
Mid afternoon they returned to the hotel.The plan was to practice setting up the equipment for showing the movies, but a long rain came. Several of the team members jumped at the chance to run and play in the rain.The rain (and electricity outage) gave the team a chance to hang out and play music.
They have now secured the PVC they needed and have assembled a puppet stage.Sunday morning they will do their first official performance of the Good Samaritan skit at a SpanishChurch (they follow along to a Spanish CD tract).
For brief team member highlights of the day, click here.
6/21: Churches
We will attend Marilyn's Spanish speaking church in the morning and then attend the Garifuna speaking church in the evening.
This morning we went to Marilyn Reeks' church (Wycliffe Missionary hosting the team) and performed "The Good Samaritan" puppet skit. They invited the kids from a Garifuna church next door to come over as well. The team did very well, and everyone loved it a lot.
After church, we rode into downtown La Ceiba, ate lunch at a cafeteria and then walked around town. We stopped for ice cream and then spent the afternoon at Marilyn's house. Tonight we will attend the Garifuna church, which starts at 7:30, and perform the puppet skit again. We've been warned that the service will run long. :)
Please pray for us as tomorrow we do three separate presentations at a local Christian Garifuna school.
Team members have sent in a special Father's Day greeting which can be read by clicking here. New pictures were posted as well (click link at top of page).
6/22 - 6/25: Misc. Ministries
We will spend four days doing various different ministries which will include serving breakfast in a slum, visiting a hospital, playing with kids at an orphanage, and visiting both public and Christian schools in the area to perform our puppet skits.
MONDAY - 6/22 Church Service last night at the Garifuna church was wonderful. There were about 300 people in attendance. The team was enthralled with the loud, powerful worship. During the service the team presented a puppet show. It was well received and the pastor ended up incorporating it into his sermon later in the service. Joylily continues to shine with her Spanish. She translated into English the service for team members who happened to be sitting near her. In all, the service was a quick 2 ˝ hours. Monday was the first full day of ministry. They started at a local elementary school where they did 40 minutes of puppets and skits. Approximately 100 children enjoyed the program. Joylily shared briefly in Spanish what the meaning of the skits and puppet show were about. Mike says that Steven demonstrated flexibility (literally and figuratively) by managing to perform the chair skit with a tiny-tiny chair. From there they headed to a kindergarten/1st grade class that met at the Garifuna church from the previous night. There they sang songs and did some more puppets for about 50 children. Afterwards the team took a lunch break at the same place where they had rehearsed the previous day. Before long, several familiar faces come by to visit. Needless to say, playing tag and climbing on the bus ensued after lunch. In the afternoon, the team returned to the school they had visited in the morning. They shared with another group of children. About 75 kids listened to the gospel presentations though puppets and skits this time. Overall the team is doing very well. They have handled last minute adjustments to their puppet shows and skits very well. The team continues to do well practicing and learning Garifuna greetings. They are also managing the 91.4 degree temperature with HIGH humidity ( around 100%)
Prayer Requests: • Lyndsie- had many bites around one ankle yesterday, one might be spider. It has resulted in swelling around her ankle about an inch wide • Pray for the team to continue to manage the abundance of bugs: from fire ants, mosquito, no-see-ums, and more. • Ask God to help the team to keep up a positive attitude • Praise: Several members of the team have finally gotten over their headaches today. Pray they stay away.
TUESDAY- 6/23 A day of contrasts. This morning the team went to a local church that has a ministry to impoverished children. The children literally live on a dump located near the church. The ministry provides the children 2 meals a week. Many have signs of fetal alcohol syndrome. Laura Bagwell fed a baby that was 6 months old that looked only 6 weeks old. The team did their puppet shows and sang songs with the children. Despite their dire living conditions, the team was impressed at how well behaved the children were. After playing with the children, the team gave each child a lollypop before leaving. The team headed to lunch at a local mall. In almost every way it felt like an American mall with the big food court and the Air Conditioning. They discussed how stark the contract was to the situation the children in the dump faced everyday, to the affluence available in the mall. They headed to La Ceiba to purchase gifts for a Garifuna pastor’s conference in the coming weeks. The team put together a small gift bag for each pastor which included some hygiene items, pens and notebooks. Mike highlighted some things that he was impressed with for each of the team members:
• Steven did a great job at watching over his group of girls as they went through the market. • Rachel has done a great job being the team nurse taking care of itches and bug bites… lots of them! • Lyndsie has modeled to the team diving into the Garifuna language and has really shined. • Laura can't help but hug and love on kids. • Charlotte keeps developing new friends who really attach themselves to her. • Brian has been great at jumping in and helping out when there is a need. He’s also been good at keeping an eye on the team and making sure everyone is safe. • Sharon has been a huge help to Mike keeping the finances together. She also really loves on the kids. • Leigh has been very friendly with the children and does her best with her limited Spanish. She has handled herself very well considering the long days and is doing much better than expected. She’s proven to be a real team encourager.
Prayers/Praises: • Lyndsie has a low fever this morning (Wed) and is going to stay behind today • Joylily had a headache this morning, but it went away. • Beth has had 3 migraines since arriving in Honduras and has another one today. • Praise for the wonderful fruit vendors- the team has enjoyed pineapples and many other exotic fruits (see the pictures)
WEDNESDAY 6/24 PRAYERS/PRAISES: • Lyndsie's is now running a fever of 102.5 with significant GI problems. She has been resting all day at Marilyn’s house. Joylily also started running a fever (101.5) this afternoon and is now on bed rest as well. It's believed that both of them likely caught a 48 hour virus that is circulating there. • Praise that Beth didn’t have a migraine today
Today the team ministered at an orphanage. It was founded 16 years ago by an American man and Honduran woman. The orphanage is currently home to 28 boys ages 3-22 years. The team spent the morning painting the play room. Mike said they did a good job, especially since they didn’t get any paint on the carpet. Sharon and Rachel apparently were very meticulous and did an especially good job painting. The team was able to finish the room by late morning. In the afternoon the team put on a one hour program for the boys including dramas and crafts. Steven will remember this stop because he actually broke the small plastic chair during the skit. With the boys being older, it took the team some adjusting to know how to interact. The team decided to bless the ministry by leaving $600 to help replace the chair, pay for the boys school fees/uniforms, and anything else they might need. After a long drive home, five of the team members went to an evening Garifuna service. Charlotte prayed hard that they would have someone to help translate for them, and God answered quickly. A lady introduced herself and helped translate everything for them. PTL! Those who attended felt blessed and really enjoyed worshiping with that body of believers. Thursday the team will be heading to a hospital in the morning. In the afternoon they will drive about an hour away to a Garifuna town where they will share their puppets and skits in the street to whomever shows up.
SPECIAL NOTE TO PARENTS/FAMILY: There is an opportunity to write an email of encouragement and quick family update to the team. Send all your emails to Bret_Taylor@sil.org and I will combine them into an email and send it off to the team’s special account. I need to receive your email by noon on Friday in order to pass it along.
THURSDAY 6/25 (SPECIAL REQUEST) PRAYER UPDATE: Received a call this morning. Lyndsie and Joylily had high fevers during the night (103) and continue to have GI problems. Slept well last night and fever is down this morning. Still looks like they are dealing with the virus. Jerry woke up this morning with a fever. He is exhibiting similar symptoms as the girls. Pray that the virus will stop spreading and the team will fully recoup before they depart on Monday to go out to the villages. Pray for the team as they are now short 3 members as they go out onto the streets to do ministry this afternoon.
THURSAY 6/25 (Evening) Team Health Updates: • Joylily is doing much better. She slept most of the day. Her fever is essentially gone. She says she feels “99%” and was eager to rejoin the team this evening. • Jerry has decided to return to the hotel, but is still not better. He hasn’t suffered the GI problems, but still has a low fever and not much of an appetite. He is trying to get lots of rest. • Lyndsie is going to keep staying at Marilyn’s house again. She continues to have persistent GI problems and a low fever, but is no longer throwing up. Her appetite is returning and she (as well as the others who’ve got sick) have started a Cipro series as a precaution. She seems to have turned the corner but they are looking for real signs of improvement by Friday morning. • This afternoon Steven began to GI problems and a low fever. He’s taken over Jerry’s spot at Marilyn’s house as a precaution.
Thursday morning the team drove about an hour East on bumpy/dusty dirt roads to a missionary hospital. The rural hospital is a base of operations for about 50 missionaries. In addition to the hospital there is a school and a base for other ministries in the community. The team was able to get a tour through the hospital. Rachel was particularly impressed at the ministry and helped feed her thoughts for doing medical missions in the future. Rachel found out about an organization that helps pay for med school fees if you serve as an overseas missionary. The team spent the morning meeting the different missionaries and hearing their stories of how God led them into the missions field. It helped some of them feel more secure about their own possible future in missions.
After seeing the ministry and having lunch, it was decided they needed to cancel the afternoon program due to team members not feeling well, and a desire to check up on the ones left at Marilyn’s house. Upon returning to the hotel, those feeling well jumped into the ocean to relax.
Prayer Items • Pray for the water situation. Running water went out Thursday morning and the team is feeling dirty and stinky from the hot weather. Drinking water is available, but they would really like a shower. • Pray for ongoing health concerns for the team. Almost everyone on the team has had at least a brush with GI problems. • Pray for the political situation in Honduras. Although very far away in the capital, the outgoing President is trying to stay in power. An election slated for Saturday is causing tension in the capital. • Pray for the next two days as the team dives into learning Garifuna in a classroom setting.
6/26 - 6/27: Intensive language learning
We will spend two days working at learning the Garifuna language, which will include the team members spending a night in the house of a member of the Garifuna church, immersing themselves in the language.
FRIDAY 6/26
PRAISE REPORT:The team expresses great appreciation for all your prayers.Today everyone is feeling healthy again and all symptoms of illnesses have gone away.Jerry is feeling much better (he was enjoying a big plate of food for lunch at the time of the call).Steven is back with the team already, and Lyndsie seems to have made a full recovery.They now suspect part of her problem was a reaction to eating green mangos coupled with the bug that was going around.Praise the Lord that the entire team is feeling healthy and well today.
This morning the team spent their first morning of classroom language learning.They are working on Garifuna- a blended language from descendants of escaped African slaves living off the Eastern coast of Honduras.Fernando (who is like a son to the Reecks) did a great job giving them some basic language instruction.This afternoon (after lunch) they plan to walk through a local village and practice the short phrases they have picked up so far.
SATURDAY 6/27
Friday afternoon the team walked around and talked to people in the limited Garifuna they had learned that morning. Some groups found difficulty getting people to respond to their Garifuna greetings and would get strange looks. Later they discovered that around La Ceiba, Garifuna isn’t the language of the younger people, but mainly the older people. Education and business is done almost entirely in Spanish.
Saturday, the team spent the morning with more language learning. Fernando once again helped them learn some key phrases as well as basic grammar. Mike gave them monolingual demonstration- how to learn a language from scratch depending on gestures to solicit vocabulary and grammar structure. In the afternoon the team broke into groups and walked around town to practice what they had learned. Many groups reported that their greetings and phrases elicited a positive response today. After a few phrases the team would inevitably get stuck and have to say, “Sorry, we don’t understand. We’re just learning.” But the people didn’t believe it and would say, “But you speak it fluently already.” Mike noted that Brian, Charlotte and Sharon seem to be excelling the most at language learning.
6/28: Churches and Packing
We will have church, spend the day packing for the film tour, and attend the Garifuna church one last time.
Mike and Marilyn went into La Ceiba this morning to take care of some last minute logistics before they head out of town Monday. While near the town center they saw about 75 people shouting and protesting the current political situation in Honduras. The previous night the military (backed by the Honduran congress and supreme court) forcibly took the president from his palace and sent him to exile in Costa Rica. Since La Ceiba isn’t near the capital, the demonstration in La Ceiba was relatively tame and was being carefully monitored and controlled by the local authorities. The team doesn't feel there is any danger, but is keeping tabs on how things are going. Later in the morning the team went to a church. They attended a program for kids ages 5 to 15. The team had a lot of fun in the lively service. There was dancing and lots of energetic singing. The team was able to share their puppet show, and it was well received. After church, the team headed back to the hotel for lunch. Most of the team took advantage of the break in the schedule to go swim in the ocean which is right next to the hotel. Later this afternoon they are going to take a “nature walk” along a nearby river. Monday they will drive 3 to 4 hours East… the last part not having any roads. They will be heading to some Garifuna villages and plunge into culture and language learning. The first two nights the team will spend in the homes of the church members. The purpose is to dive into culture and language. It is uncertain how good the cell phone coverage is going to be where they are headed tomorrow, so updates may be more sporadic. Also it should be noted that the rural location they are headed is even less likely to be affected by any of the political unrest happening in Honduras. I received notes from most of the team. Read them by clicking here.
Prayer Requests:
- The team has been seeing a lot of each other the past two weeks and Mike said, “The honeymoon phase is starting to wear off.” Pray that they will continue to extend grace and mercy to each other and that team unity will remain strong. - Pray for safety on their drive tomorrow - Pray also for a peaceful transition of power in Honduras. - Praise that everyone is feeling well again today.
6/29: Driving East
We will begin our film tour by driving 3-4 hours East toward rural Garifuna villages. For some of the trip, there are no roads, so we'll be driving through the waves on the beach. Once we arrive, we may do a VBS program with the kids.
Marilyn received word today from a high government official that it was not recommended the team travel today. Although there has been very limited demonstrations and no violence reported, the government has set up numerous precautionary check points and put in place a curfew as well. So travel was advised against, especially since the route was going to take them through a few larger cities.
This delay turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The team hadn’t finished repacking for their trip Sunday night, so it allows them to spend all day finishing up preparations for the trek.
8:30pm Update
Monday: The team spent the morning making sure all their electronic equipment was working to show the movies in the remote Garifuna villages. From knowing how to connect the generators, amplifiers, video projector and assembling the screen, there is a lot of technical equipment that they had a chance to practice setting up and making sure it was working properly.
In the afternoon they headed to Pizza Hut to enjoy some American cuisine as well as linger in the comfort of air conditioning.They then proceeded to Marilyn’s house to get caught up on laundry and get the latest reports on the political situation.
At this point they still feel very safe and have seen almost no evidence of unrest.Businesses continue to be open as normal. The overwhelming majority of the population in Honduras had a low opinion of the now exiled president and his policies (including most of the president’s own party). However the population is fearful that Venezuela’s president may try and cause some problems.
Over the past couple of days I have been on the phone with the team 2-3 times a day to confirm the situation is still safe. I feel confident they are taking appropriate measures to avoid any potential problems.With that said, the team would certainly appreciate your prayers, not only for their own continued safety, but also for continued calmness in Honduras at large. Most of the news reports I've seen/read are sensationalizing the reality of what is really happening.
Praise: Rigo, Marilyn’s son-in-Law, was driving today along the route the team would have taken.A group of protestors blocked the road and prevented traffic from passing for many hours.Although it wasn’t violent, the team felt blessed to know they didn’t travel that way as was planned because they would have been stopped at that roadblock.
Mike also had a chance to upload many new pictures (click picture at top of page).
As of tonight, they are still unsure if they will head out of town to the villages tomorrow due to the political situation. Pray for discernment for Mike, Beth, Jerry and Marilyn as they make these difficult decisions.
I expect an update Tuesday afternoon on what their latest plans are.
6/30 - 7/3: Film Tour
Each day we will travel to a different village, put on a children's program, and then in the evening show a movie called "The Hope" for the whole village. Afterwards, we'll pack up and head back to our base village.
Tuesday 6/30
I received a call from Mike early this morning. They still feel the need to stay put in light of the uncertain political situation. This is frustrating to the team as yesterday they "just sat around mostly." Today Marilyn is going to try and give them ministry opportunities locally... possibly show the film tonight in a nearby Garifuna village.
Unless things change, they are seriously considering canceling the trip out East to show the film to the rural villages. However they will be leaving behind all the equipment so that local pastors can do it after they leave.
I expect to get another update tonight.
Praise: The purpose of this trip is to help the MKs get a real taste of missionary life to help them discern if they are really called to serve God in that capacity. These complications to the trip are exactly the kind of flexibility they would face in the own potential ministry on top of instability that can happen in third world nations..
6/30 - Change of Plans
10:30pm EST
This morning was a turning point for the mission trip. There continues to be non-violent road blocks around the country making the plans to travel to the remote Garifuna villages difficult. As a result, the leaders have decided to scrap all original ministry plans and begin to look at other options. Despite not seeing any evidence of violence, they are keeping safety of the team as the highest priority. They have been in touch with the American embassy in Honduras, and at this point the embassy is not recommending evacuation, but instead to limit travel and avoid road blocks. Despite original plans falling apart, God still provided the team with two local ministry opportunities this afternoon. They were able to go to two different churches and do their puppets, skits, and crafts. Considering both of them were pulled together at the last minute, the team was still able to minister to 50-60 children at the first church and around 75 children at the second church. This evening they went to Marilyn’s house to enjoy couscous while the team leaders prayed and planned about the way forward for the next few days. I talked to them for an hour tonight and feel confident they have adequate contingency plans in place for any of the potential scenarios that could come up. Today the exiled President announced that he would return to Honduras on Thursday. If this happens it could make the situation in Honduras a bit precarious. The exiled president will be returning with the backing of nearly every country around the world (including the USA). Unfortunately he is overwhelmingly opposed by the Honduran people, the courts, and the legislator. In fact, it is now being revealed that the majority of the protesters in the capital and setting up the road blocks were actually brought in from Guatemala and Nicaragua. And their largest protest was dwarfed by over 20 thousand Hondurans rallying to show support for the interim president. In large part the country continues to operate as normal with most business being open everyday. The government has extended the curfew through Friday. On Thursday, it is likely that the exiled president will be arrested immediately upon return and charged with crimes of election fraud and violating the constitution. However the fear is that the other communist countries the exiled president was aligning with may try and get involved in a significant way.
Prayer Needs: • Pray for the team leaders as they are making decisions in this unexpected political situation and are taking things a day at time. Pray for the team as they are having to be extremely flexible and it can be difficult not to know what to expect each day. • Pray for Thursday’s potential return of the exiled President. • Praise God that the team continues to have good health. • Praise God that He provided opportunities to minister today at the last minute. • Praise God that the team hasn’t experienced ANY of the political tensions first hand and are located in an area where things potential danger is negligible.
This evening Mike was able to upload more pictures. Click picture link at top of page.
Wednesday, July 1st
3:30pm
I have been exchanging several phone calls with the team this morning. The latest news is that the exiled president will delay returning to Honduras until Saturday. We are currently exploring options with travel agents about bringing the team home early. This is in part due to the uncertainty of the political situation. It is also because the team is no longer able to effectively do ministry. The team continues to be in a safe location and hasn’t experience any of the demonstrations that are taking place far off in the capital. They are frustrated however in not being able to do much in terms of ministry and dealing with so much uncertainty. Prayer Needs: • Stability and Peace in Honduras • Wisdom in deciding on when/how to have the team return. • Pray that the team won’t have to incur the steep penalty fees for changing their flight to an earlier day.
9:00pm EST A long day. I have been in contact with Honduras multiple times today working out schedules with the travel agent. Long story short, we were able to secure flights for the team to return home on Saturday July 4th. Jerry and Marilyn traveled to La Ceiba to purchase tickets for the team to get to San Pedro. Currently the roads are blocked by protestors, so flying to San Pedro was the preferred method of travel. They were able to purchase the last seats available on the flight. Praise God. While they were leaving the travel agency, a group of protestors decided to start setting up shop near where they had parked the car. Praise God that they were able to leave without any incident. International flights departing Honduras are quickly overbooking. Initially Delta Airlines told us there were no seats available. However our persistent travel agent was able to grab some seats on a flight… again just enough for our team. Currently the team is checked into the “Canadian Hotel” East of La Ceiba. They are relaxing and trying to take it easy now that there is a more certain plan. They are most excited about the AC in their hotel rooms. Prayer Needs: • Praise God that we were able to secure flights for the team • Pray that Delta will not charge us the $850 per ticket for changing the itinerary. The team would prefer to leave that emergency fund behind to help the Garifuna ministries.
Thursday 6/2
6:15pm A long day
Today the team got up at the Canadian Hotel in La Ceiba.The team enjoyed the luxury of AC rooms, swimming pool, and good food.Mike said that the team was actually relaxing and starting to take it easy after multiple changes over the past few days.
This morning they got up and headed to the La Ceiba airport.Their route to the airport was not hindered by any road blocks and they were able to check in without any problems.The team bid farewell to Marilyn Reeck (their wonderful missionary hostess) and Lyndsie White (who had always planned to stay longer to work on her Spanish and cultural learning). Mike told me they flew in a Russian made airplane... 15 seater, two props, held together mostly be extra rivets, and all the writing (including the call buttons) were in Russian script. It was a bit of a roller coaster flight with some turbulence over the mountains. It was so loud on the plane that Jerry wasn't sure he could still hear when they arrived in San Pedro.
This afternoon I received confirmation that the team arrived safely in San Pedro.At this point Mike was preparing for a long battle with the Delta agents over how much the team was going to be charged for departing on an earlier flight.I (Bret) had literally spent the last two days on the phone trying to negotiate a way out of Delta charging the team over $9,000.00 in fees for this change.No matter who I talked to, I was told it was going to be nearly impossible to get any of that money back.But praise the Lord, Mike was able to talk to an agent in San Pedro that told him, “All you need to do is be the first to check in tomorrow and you’ll get the flight at no extra charge.”Pray with me that this will indeed happen.
Tonight the team will spend the night in a nearby hotel.San Pedro is a larger town and it has experienced more demonstrating and road blocks the past few days.But the team will be staying at a hotel near the airport that shouldn’t have its way blocked by protestors.
If all goes well, the team will depart San Pedro on Friday afternoon (Delta #406) and arrive in Atlanta, GA that evening.They will spend the night in a hotel having a final debriefing of the trip.Bret Taylor (Youth Director at JAARS) is flying down to encourage them through the process.
Prayer Needs:
Pray that the team will in fact be able to get their tickets changed without the excessive fees.
Pray for the team as they continue to debrief the trip.Debriefing includes prayerfully asking God for short and long term goals.It also is a time for the leaders to evaluate each student and encourage them with next steps.Finally, it’s a time for students to search and ask God for confirmation if God is in fact asking them to commit the rest of their life to overseas missions.
Friday, July 3rd
12:00pm Coming Home!
Praise the Lord. Just got off the phone with Mike. Despite everything we’d been told, the entire team was able to get their flight transferred today without ANY fees. And it happened without it seeming out of the ordinary. This means the team will now be able to leave large financial gifts to help with several language programs and also some other ministries they had opportunities to work with. They will be boarding their flight in the next few hours! As part of the debriefing, each team member was given “Paper Plate Award.” These are humorous awards highlighting something that happened on the trip. The leaders collaborated on coming up with the awards for the students, but the students turned around and returned the favor. Here are their awards: • Brian- “El Senor Loco” (means Mr. Crazy) While Brian was doing flips into the ocean (see pictures) a boy walking on the beach started laughing at him and exclaimed, “El Senor Loco.” • Rachel-“ Best Laugh (it’s not a cackle)” • Steven- “Balloon Slayer” See pictures for explanation • Joylily- “Down in my Heart Award” Because everyone kept calling her to help with translation it resulted in sounding like the song “I’ve got the JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY down in my heart.” • Charlotte-“Frightening small children and then hugging them Award” • Laura- “I am not a Parrot Award” In Spanish her name sounds like “Lora” which means parrot and is a derogatory nickname for someone who talks to much. • Sharon- “Ready for the Show! Award” Apparently she was caught by team members outside one day whispering to beetles right before she flicked them off the porch, “ One, Two, Three: Ready for the show! Bing!(flick)” • Lyndsie- “I’m not Dead Yet Award” Taken from the famous Monty Python movie, this is how she’d respond when they came to check on her during her sickness. • Leigh- “Oh come on! award” She was always trying to motivate team members to go and do stuff with her. • Jerry- “Best team grandpa and marathon prayer award” • Beth- “Positively, Absolutely, Maybe, what might happen Award” This is what she’d tell the team as she’d pass along the latest change of plans during the last days of the trip. • Mike- “Best Hilux (BUMP!!!) Driver Award” Apparently Mike would yell out BUMP! Each time they were about to hit an obstacle in the road.
Prayer Needs: Praise they actually got tickets for the flight this morning and that there were not ANY fees. Pray for safety in their flight Pray for a good wrap up in Atlanta tonight
8:25pm
THEY ARE ALIVE! They are checked into the hotel and we've ordered pizza and Chinese. Some of them really STINK!
11:45pm
Just finished a weary team debriefing. Over the last few days of upheaval in the schedule has left the team tired and many behind on their debriefing questions.Mike became quite ill tonight and had to head to bed early in the evening.Pray that he will feel better in time for our flight the next morning.
Due to the team being behind on debriefing, they are planning on continuing at Mike and Beth’s house on Sunday at 3pm.Parents, please make every effort to have your students there for this very important time.
Return Flight Information
Family and friends are encouraged to welcome the team back at the airport on Saturday.
Dellta #920 from Atlanta to Charlotte
Arriving July 4th at 12:44pm
Parents are responsible for picking up their child from the airport.
Saturday, July 4th 7:OOpm EST
Everyone is back in the arms of their family again (except Lyndsie who will be staying for a few more weeks). Lots of stories to share... LOTS of laundry to do! The team would like to thank everyone for their faithful prayers. They saw God's provisions in many ways and hope to post some of them in the coming week.
