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Help for Honduras |
In the News! What follows are stories in local newspaper in regard to our first trip. While we were there the military removed the President from office, creating a lot of tension and uncertainty. June 29, 2009 Approximately 20 missionaries, including several teens, from the Mitchell Church of Christ traveled to Honduras, arriving Saturday. With the current unrest in that country, church members wanted to inform the public that the missionaries are safe, but they are limiting themselves to activities in and around the Villa Gracia, which is on top of a mountain. Although they have lost power and water, they were still able to host a picnic for approximately 300 youths in the area and have also gone into the rainforest and worked on a couple of houses they are building. At this point, they are making tentative plans to come home at the earliest possible time. They have been able to update their blog and send e-mails home to family members. A recent blog entry reads: "Due to the political situation in Honduras we have made the decision to come home early. Let me make it CLEAR WE ARE SAFE!!!!!!! Terry Reeves has been spending many hours talking with different people about the situation and due to the uncertainty of it he, along with the others has decided it would be best if we come home early." To follow their progress, you can visit their blog at childrenoftheking.blogspot.com. The above information was provided by Lisa Earls, whose daughter, Ashley, is on the trip. **** June 30, 2009 3:38 p.m. UPDATE The 16 missionaries from the Mitchell Church of Christ who went to Honduras on Saturday are still attempting to get home following the political unrest in that country that happened over the weekend. Gary Spear, associate minister of the church, said this afternoon that all 16 of the local people were safe and do not feel threatened in any way. (Spear is in Mitchell.) “The work is going on” Spear said. “They are helping feed the hungry, build houses, and other work for the needy in Honduras. But, Torch Missions, the sponsor group for the mission trip, is wanting to get all of the workers home as quickly as possible.” “Allen Burris, minister of the church, was going to the airport this morning in an attempt to arrange a flight,” Spear said in relaying information from a phone call Kedra Burris, Allen’s wife, had with his parents, Howard and Gerry Burris. “It seems that Continental Airlines doesn’t want to change their flights because of the number of people wanting to get out of the country, since they already have tickets reserved for next Monday. The Lord willing, they will be home then if they can’t get out before.” Those on the trip, in addition to Burris and his wife, include their daughter Rebecca and son, Lester, and his wife Maddie, Anthony Edwards, Ashley Earles, Aaron and Elyssa Taflinger, Laura Barlow and son B.A. Barlow, Liz Young, Melissa Wilson, Rita Sloan, and Steve and Linda Gilstrap. Earles, the Taflingers, B.A. Barlow, Young and Wilson are teenagers who attend the church. ORIGINAL STORY Sixteen missionaries, including several teens, from the Mitchell Church of Christ are in Honduras. The mission team arrived in the country Saturday — just before a military coup. With the current unrest in that country, church members wanted to inform the public that the local missionaries are safe, but they are limiting themselves to activities in and around the Villa Gracia, a retreat center which is on top of a mountain, northwest of Tegucigalpa. Although they have lost power and water, they were still able to host a picnic for about 300 youths in the area and went into the La Tigra rainforest and worked on a couple of houses they are building on Monday. At this point, they are making tentative plans to come home at the earliest possible time. They have been able to update their blog and send e-mails home to family members. A recent blog entry reads: “Due to the political situation in Honduras we have made the decision to come home early. Let me make it CLEAR WE ARE SAFE!!!!!!! Terry Reeves has been spending many hours talking with different people about the situation and due to the uncertainty of it he, along with the others has decided it would be best if we come home early.” According to the latest blog entry, which was at 10:46 p.m. yesterday, some of the mission team will be leaving today. In a phone conversation with Gerry Burris, mother of Mitchell Church of Christ minister Allen Burris, the local group is still having trouble getting a flight out of Honduras. She had received an e-mail from her son overnight. There are two people in the church who work for travel agencies and they are working to arrange flights, but have been unsuccessful up to this morning. The Mitchell group is scheduled to come home on July 6. Burris said if alternative arrangements can’t be made, the group may have to stay until their original departure time. **** July 1, 2009 The 16 missionaries from the Mitchell Church of Christ who went to Honduras on Saturday will be coming home on Friday if all goes well. The following is from an e-mail from the church’s minister Allen Burris, to Gary Spear, associate minister: “Here’s the latest from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. While most of our group distributed hundreds of pounds of food in villages, built a house for a family, and did other good things, I spent most of my day (Tuesday) at the airport trying to get us out of the country. The airport was chaotic. Many people are leaving the country, including some European diplomats. Long story short: through the assistance of some local folks who are well-connected in high places, I was able to get us on a flight for Friday. We will fly to Houston. A few of us will be able to fly on home, but most of us are going to rent vehicles and drive home on the 4th of July. Freedom may be celebrated a little more this year.” Those on the trip, in addition to Burris, are his wife Kedra, daughter Rebecca, son, Lester and his wife Maddie, Anthony Edwards, Ashley Earles, Aaron and Elyssa Taflinger, Laura Barlow and son B.A. Barlow, Liz Young, Melissa Wilson, Rita Slone, and Steve and Linda Gilstrap. Earles, the Taflingers, B.A. Barlow, Young and Wilson are teenagers who attend the church. **** July 3, 2009 Sixteen missionaries from the Mitchell Church of Christ got more than they planned for when they signed up for a mission trip. They joined forces with Torch Missions and headed to Honduras, arriving Saturday, ready to work among the people. Then on Sunday, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted from power in a coup that placed Roberto Micheletti, who was speaker of the national congress, as the new president. Blogs from Torch Missions reported that all the missionaries were safe, although they had lost power and water at the Villa Gracias Retreat Center, northwest of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Once news of the political unrest became known, Torch Missions wanted all of the missionaries to make attempts to return home quickly. There were no threats to the missionaries, but it was believed they should leave the country as soon as possible. Some were able to make arrangements and get out as early as Tuesday. Others, including the local missionaries, were unable to do so. Allen Burris, minister of the Mitchell Church of Christ, was able to e-mail his parents in Mitchell on Tuesday. And his wife Kedra called her in-laws on Wednesday, keeping the community (and the Times-Mail) informed of the progress. Burris spent most of the day on Tuesday working with local officials and airport officials in an attempt to get the missionaries home. He was successful and a flight was secured for today. **** July 3, 2009 The 16 missionaries from the Mitchell Church of Christ who arrived in Honduras Saturday should be on their way home by now. Because of the political unrest and the ousting of the country’s leader on Sunday, Torch Missions, the parent group for the trip, decided it was best for all the missionaries to cut their trips short and return home as soon as possible. Allen Burris, minister of the Mitchell Church of Christ, sent this e-mail home overnight Tuesday/Wednesday morning. (Indiana time is four hours ahead of Honduras.) “Here’s the latest from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. “While most of our group distributed hundreds of pounds of food in villages, built a house for a family and did other good things, I spent most of my day (Tuesday) at the airport trying to get us out of the country. “The airport was chaotic. Many people are leaving the country, including some European diplomats. Long story short: Through the assistance of some local folks who are well-connected in high places, I was able to get us on a flight for Friday. We will fly to Houston. A few of us will be able to fly on home, but most of us are going to rent vehicles and drive home on the Fourth of July. Freedom may be celebrated a little more this year. “The political situation continues to deteriorate. The ousted president spoke at the U.N. today and received wide support. The local folks had a very large demonstration in the city center today in support of the new president. The tension is rising because the ousted president says he is returning on Thursday. If he does, the military says they will take him to prison. No one knows what will happen. Some of the leftist regimes in Central America and South America are offering to help the ousted president return. “We still feel safe and continue to work. We will build two more houses, distribute hundreds of pounds of food and do a few other activities in the next couple of days. We are hoping and praying that the events that will take place on Thursday will not hinder us from leaving the country. Please join us in that prayer. “We really appreciate all the offers of help and all the things various ones in the church family have done to support us. Jamie Eubanks has worked tirelessly on helping get us out. Her work laid the groundwork for what happened today, I believe. “Lord willing, we will see you Sunday!” On the blog Terry Reeves, one of the leaders of the overall mission trip, was one of the people who left the country Tuesday. He wrote on the group’s blog Wednesday night: “I am hopeful that on Thursday, when the U.N. representatives goes to Honduras, that they will see what has been happening: A president who was setting himself up to become a dictator. At least Sean Hannity gets it and I am glad he spoke about it Tuesday on his TV show. “Please continue praying for the remaining members of the team as they continue to work in Honduras. The amount of work that has been done during the brief time we have been there has been amazing. So far, five houses have been built and well over 600 bags of food has been distributed. A section of road is has been rebuilt and stronger than ever. Please keep our team in your prayers as the remaining members fly back home. And, please continue to pray for Honduras and its leaders as this political situation continues to unfold. God is good all of the time.” Gerry Burris, Allen’s mother, said she had received an e-mail overnight from her daughter-in-law, Kedra. The e-mail said the group was keeping busy with construction work as planned. “She said they feel safe up on the mountain,” Burris said via phone shortly after noon Thursday. “They are hoping everything goes well tomorrow in getting to the airport and their flight to Houston around noon today.” **** July 7, 2009 MITCHELL — Gerry Burris, mother of Mitchell Church of Christ Minister Allen Burris, called this morning to report that all 16 of the missionaries from the church got home safely from Honduras on Saturday. “They all got home safe and just in time,” Burris said. “They closed the airport the day after they left and they would not have been able to come home.” She said after the missionaries got to Houston from Honduras, they were all able to get flights to Indianapolis. “They didn’t have to rely on using the minivans,” she said. “They had to take different flights and different paths to get here, but they all got here safe.” At least three deaths and several injuries have been reported at the airport since the local group left. The airport closed so the deposed president would not be able to land there on Sunday. Although tired from their travel and work, Burris said the missionaries were upbeat about what they were able to accomplish and they felt safe since they stayed on the mountain outside of Teguicgalpa. The missionaries were part of a larger group, Nashville, Tenn.-based Torch Missions, that decided to pull its team from the country after a government coup a week ago. **** A ltter to the editor by Allen Burris: July 8, 2009 Missionaries left Honduras in time To the editor: Thank you to the Times Mail for alerting the community of our situation in Honduras. Sixteen of us were on mission trip in Tegucigalpa when the Honduran congress, supported by the Supreme Court, ousted their president. This created an unstable situation that precipitated the need for us to leave the country earlier than we had planned. It was very difficult to get out of the country, but we did. We believe it was the power of many prayers being said by many people that delivered us just at the right time. We were able to stay long enough to build several houses, distribute hundreds of pounds of food, participate in a medical clinic and do several other smaller projects that will help improve the lives of thousands of Hondurans. We left just at the right time. The day we left a small bomb went off near the airport, and the next day the airport closed. It remains closed to flights in and out of the country. Things are very tense in Tegucigalpa, and violence is likely in the near future. Again, thank you for the concern, coverage, and prayers. Allen Burris, Mitchell **** This is a guest editorial by Allen Burris the leader of our first team. It was printed July 17, 2009. Time to reflect is a wonderful thing. Perspective develops. I’ve had several days to reflect on what happened to my team of missionaries while we were in Honduras. The perspective that I have gained is this: One person can make a difference. Our team of 16 from the Mitchell Church of Christ arrived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Friday, June 26. Like thousands of other teams in the past, our plan was to work for about 10 days serving the poor. Before we arrived we knew that there could be some political unrest on Sunday. The president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was seeking an illegal referendum that would extend his time in office (following the pattern of his friend Hugo Chavez). The Honduran congress and supreme court had denied his repeated demands. We expected that some protests by Zelaya supporters would take place on Sunday. Everyone was surprised to learn early Sunday morning that the Honduran military had forcefully entered the presidential palace and had arrested Zelaya. Tension and uncertainty rose in the city dramatically, and our plans changed accordingly. During our morning meeting, the power went out. Word quickly spread that the military had turned it off to keep Zelaya supporters from communicating. We decided that our work would go on. Instead of going to the city to work, we went to the villages of the La Tigra Rainforest, rounded up busloads of children and brought them to a park. There we fed them, played with them and conducted a short VBS. It was a great day. That evening we learned that the political situation was deteriorating rapidly. Rumors were rife that Chavez had troops on their way to the Honduran border. “They plan to come into Tegucigalpa overnight,” someone said. These sobering words didn’t have time to penetrate my heart too deeply. All of the team leaders were busy talking about how and when to leave the country. The general thought was “sooner rather than later.” How do you balance faith and trust in God with human intelligence and prudence? A lot of people trying to leave Honduras at the same time with just a few flights available led to chaos. Some people got out quickly. My team did not, and we were not alone. We were told that we could not get out early, period. No flights; nothing available. We decided to do two things, even as the political situation continued to deteriorate: Keep working and keep praying for deliverance. No one was afraid. As my team continued to work, I went to the airport on Tuesday with an American who had lived in Honduras before and still makes frequent trips there. As we walked into the airport I was struck by how all the locals knew Tim. They shouted greetings across the foyer and from behind the ticket counters. Tim, smiling, said, “We’ll get you out of here. We need to speak to Kathy.” Kathy, a friendly Honduran who works for Continental Airlines, said in Spanish, “I don’t think I can get them out.” Tim, in Spanish, kindly persisted. She smiled and kept clicking away on computer keyboard. She would sigh, say something to Tim, pick up the phone and speak to someone else. She did this a couple of times. After about 45 minutes she asked me to come back behind the counter to the Continental office. There she made more phone calls, speaking in Spanish and English. Finally she connected me with a bilingual lady who gathered the information of our 16 team members. We would leave on Friday. Perfect! We would be able to work some more and avoid the trouble that would happen shortly after we would leave. Tim. Kathy. One person can make a difference. As we were leaving the airport Tim introduced me to a Honduran congressman. Tim modestly told me that he had a lot of connections in high places. He is friends with the mayor of Tegucigalpa and knows personally the two presidential candidates that will run for office, once the Zelaya mess is settled. I asked him how he knew all these important people. He said that he arrived in the country several years ago and managed to get audiences with people in authority. He told them that he was there to serve the poor and that it would benefit everyone. They agreed and counted Tim as a friend. The day before we left Honduras, the mayor of Tegucigalpa pledged to donate to Tim enough tin to build 90 houses. One person can make a difference. A big difference. Since our time would be shortened by three days, we worked harder and longer each day. Only about a third of our partnering teams stayed, adding to the challenge. Even with fewer people and less time, we managed to build six houses, distribute the equivalent of 63,000 meals, assist with a medical clinic that helped hundreds of people, sort supplies for future trips, host a picnic for 350 locals, conduct a VBS and a few other lesser things. While we were working, word came to us that our team was in the news back home: front page of the Times Mail. At first, we were amused. Then we were encouraged as we realized that people were praying — Catholics, Charismatics, Baptists, Christians of all brands, and perhaps even unbelievers. They were praying because one concerned mother called a concerned friend who works for the paper who chose to inform a community that cares. Prayer chains were started and linked. Lisa. Jeff. One person can make a difference. We left July 3, and shortly after we left a bomb went off near the airport. Hours later, the airport closed, violence flared up and a person was shot and killed in the airport. We are convinced that the prayers of this community kept us safe and allowed us to leave just at the right time. Thank you. I wish I had time to tell the stories of how each person made a difference — stories of girls and women getting on the bus without shoes because they gave their shoes to girls and women in Honduras, stories of people giving their lunches away to hungry people, of hugs and smiles and love expressed across cultural and language barriers. One person can make a difference, especially if he or she shows the love and desire of the one who makes all the difference. And you don’t even have to leave town to do it. Allen Burris is the minister at Mitchell Church of Christ. Go to: Front Page Houses Latest News Trips Taken so Far Links In the News part 2 In the news part 3 |