If you knew me growing up, I used to call myself a "planner". But since 2013, through both life and several trips to Honduras, I still consider myself a planner...but one who's learned that things don't usually go as planned, and God has much better plans than I do anyway.
Rewind to a week ago, last Wednesday night...I had changed all my flights to leave the next day last minute, but then a few hours later found out I would not be able to leave the country due to the violence quickly escalating.
See blog post HERE to catch up on that. I changed my flights back to Tuesday 12/5, but knew I'd probably be changing those tickets too. I spent the next day, Thursday, unpacking some of my stuff and trying to grapple with the reality that I better get comfortable--because I'm at least spending the holidays there with the boys...if not a few months longer (and had no idea when/how I was going to break that news to my parents). But at the same time, I had to be ready to leave the country at any moment if/when God came through with a miracle way for me to leave.
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| Me, Morro & Jeremias |
But if you're having a hard time keeping up with
what in the world is going on in Honduras or missed the last blog post, here's the most accurate article I've seen (in English) that depicts what's really going on in this country in crisis. You can read the article below or check it out
HERE
This article was written by Mary Anastasia O'Grady for The Wall Street Journal.
**I do not own or claim any rights to the highlighted text below. All highlighted portions are quotes from
The Wall Street Journal.**
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"Hillary Clinton’s favorite Central American was back in the news this
week, as Honduras painstakingly counted ballots in front of international
observers and tried to discern, with utmost transparency, the winner of the
Nov. 26 presidential election.
Amid the tension, left-wing candidate
Salvador Nasralla cried fraud and called for an uprising. Soon, like a bad centavo, pro-Chávez Honduran former
President Manuel Zelaya turned up in the midst of one angry mob.
Recall that in 2009 Mr. Zelaya was
kicked out of the country, with the support of his own party, for violating the
constitution. Mrs. Clinton, who was then secretary of state, tried and failed
to force Honduras to take Mr. Zelaya back. Last week he was seen again, wearing
his signature cowboy hat and leading a bunch of hooligans trying to break into
the warehouse where the electoral authorities had stored ballots and tally
sheets from around the country for counting. The raid did not succeed, but the
incident captured the spirit of Zelaya-Nasralla politics.
Mr.
Nasralla, a former game-show host, ran against incumbent center-right President
Juan Orlando Hernández. By Friday it looked
like Mr. Hernández had narrowly won. Mr. Nasralla seemed sure of it too. That’s
when he announced that his supporters would stay in the streets for
years in protest unless he was declared the winner. With no concession, the
uncertainty dragged on.
Mr.
Nasralla insists he was robbed. Never mind that this election had greater
scrutiny by international observers than any contest in the region in recent
memory. Or that Mr. Nasralla’s “Alliance of Opposition” had equal access to the
tallying process. The Zelaya-Nasralla movement is using its phony cheating
claim to justify a torrent of violence.
Welcome to Central America, where even after Venezuela has succumbed to famine,
the left remains committed to the tactics that brought the country to misery.
The process is simple: win one election, then consolidate power and never
leave. The strategy has been successful in Nicaragua, where Sandinista Daniel
Ortega has been in power since 2007. He is as corrupt as any caudillo and has
handily put an end to political pluralism, competitive elections, transparency
and institutional independence.
El Salvador may soon suffer the same
fate. Former leftist guerrillas of the FMLN party, who are also allies of
Venezuela, have governed since 2009. The party moderated its image to get to
power, but last week the party secretary announced that its
goal is to end capitalism—including the right of private property.
In
Guatemala a United Nations prosecutor, who is in the country ostensibly to root
out corruption, has teamed up with the local leftists to try to unseat a
center-right president. The prosecutor has so far been unsuccessful, but he has
generated dangerous instability. In Honduras, socialist hopes were on Mr.
Nasralla, which is why his followers are taking his loss so badly.
Polls had widely anticipated that Mr.
Hernández would win re-election, as the Economist wrote on Nov. 25. Yet the earliest returns, released on Nov. 27,
showed Mr. Nasralla in the lead. Officials cautioned that with less than 60% of
the vote counted it was too soon to declare a winner.
When the
electoral tribunal did not give the victory to Mr. Nasralla immediately, he
called for rebellion. His supporters have blocked highways with burning piles
of debris, destroyed cars, trashed storefronts, set highway tollbooths ablaze,
and rampaged through the residential neighborhoods where electoral authorities
live. On Friday a nighttime curfew was imposed for 10 days. Mr. Nasralla’s
supporters flouted it.
The violence is well-organized, raising suspicions of outside help. Exiled
Venezuelan political science professor José Vicente Carrasquero warned in a
video of Venezuelan “elements” seeking to undermine the integrity of Honduran
institutions.
That
Mr. Hernández was behind in the early count was surprising but explainable. In
the capital there were reports that thugs “instructed” neighbors not to vote.
Most of his backing came from outside the big cities. Both sides had agreed
before the election that the physical tally sheets had to be reviewed in
Tegucigalpa. It took longer to get them from rural areas.
Another charge is that Mr. Hernández is an ally of the U.S. and has been
allowed to steal the election. But that doesn’t add up either.
Observer
teams from the Organization of American States and the European Union played a
key oversight role. On Tuesday the European mission criticized the tribunal’s
failure to communicate at regular intervals with the public. Yet it also noted
that all parties had representatives on hand to monitor the process.
Midweek, the two
candidates came together to sign a document pledging that they would each
respect the final outcome. Within hours Mr. Nasralla backtracked, alleging that
he had been tricked. Hondurans speculated that the reversal came about because
Mr. Zelaya did not approve. In other words, Hillary’s old friend is the one
calling the shots.”
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So, how that effects Lisa, the boys, and myself was we were safe--but isolated. Yes, we were thankful to not be in the thick of the chaos in large cities or even the violence prevalent in other rural areas. But the road going to/from Balfate was blocked by armed rioters, burning tires, chopped down trees, etc and most people were not allowed to pass through. Police and military at this point were not interfering and if they were they were unsuccessful. Balfate is a small community essentially in the middle of no where, in the jungle, on the coast of Honduras. Our area was relatively calm with no riots or violence, but the nearest small city that had food, etc was Jutiapa that was 1 hour away and an hour further past that was La Ceiba where there's a bigger grocery selection and a bank as well. This is important because every little "mom and pop" store out in Balfate is... a) dependent on trucks that drive through once a week to re-stock them with rice, beans, etc and b) are 'cash only' stores. So, in order to buy anything in Balfate you need cash. The small gas station is the only place that even has a credit card reader.
As we prepared to lay low, the news from around the country became worse by the hour. It had escalated to the point of people looting stores, burning down buildings, several deaths and thousands of injuries, and areas literally referred to as "war zones". The government announced a nation wide curfew from 6pm to 6am for at least the next 10 days.
Because leaving Balfate were not an option, we started to take inventory of what food and supplies we had in the house and how much cash as well. We had 2,000 lempiras (roughly a little under $100) and, if eaten in small portions, enough food for 2 weeks to feed everyone.
Salvador Nasralla and Mel Zelaya publicly called supporters to violence and said "if you have an AK 47 get it ready", continuing with announcing they will not stop this chaos until the 'rightful party' is in office. They threatened this will not go on for weeks or months, but YEARS until their party was in office. Locals and friends from around the country started to acknowledge this was getting closer and closer to a civil war. Later on this past weekend, the questionable votes were re-counted and in the end Juan Orlando Hernandez had more votes. Despite the numbers showing JOH had won, the head of TSE (in charge of overseeing the results) put out a statement explaining he refuses to announce a presidential winner until a more thorough investigation can be performed. So, Honduras has two candidates who are claiming they are president, but I'm assuming JOH still is technically in power..? Not sure how that works though.
We prayed again.
I then told God that I know He has called me to Honduras and to help Lisa raise these young men, but I lay that in His hands. I also put my job back in the States in His hands. My plans for the winter and spring in His hands. But in letting go of what tomorrow may or may not hold, along with the months to come, I also continued to ask for a miracle for me to get back home before this became any more dangerous to be stuck here.
A few hours later we heard that a helicopter had landed on the soccer field down the street and picked up two gringos. I knew politicians were being helicoptered out (since they were major targets of violence) but hadn't thought of that for myself. If I can't drive to the airport...I guess I could helicopter into the airport to catch my plane back to the States..?! I never thought I'd be calling around to different helicopter companies and getting quotes from them to get me out of the country. Or, that they would be booked full for the next two days and I would be able to leave Sunday at the earliest. Oh! And that on average it's $2,000/hour total flight time for renting the helicopter, so about $5,000 by the time it picked me up and took me to either San Pedro or Roatan to catch my international flight. Acknowledging that I was not in immediate danger but was still stranded in Honduras and originally was supposed to be back home the next week, I decided the helicopter idea was ridiculously expensive and I would either wait for another option to become available or wait out the political chaos. And if it became too dangerous for me to stay then, yes--I would book a helicopter pick up.
While calling around for helicopter quotes, we heard that a missionary family from the hospital nearby was paying a local to drive them on his boat to the ferry dock in La Ceiba, take the ferry over to the island Roatan, have friends on the island drive them to the airport, and then fly from Roatan into Houston on Saturday. Saturday as in the next day. I quickly double checked there were still seats available on the flight out of Roatan, double checked the ferry company wasn't shut down yet, asked myself if this plan was crazy, prayed...and then realized THIS was my miracle. This was my window of time to GET OUT before it got worse and before there were no more options to leave for quite some time. I called my parents and told them I was flying back to the States the next day & how I was getting there. Let's just say they weren't exactly stoked on the idea of me fleeing the country with friends of a friend and a local guy with a boat I'd never met before...but when I reminded them of what the reality was of me staying here unless I do this, they joined me in prayer that this plan would play out smoothly.
I rebooked my tickets for the third time (shout out to United Airlines that understood this was due to political chaos and didn't charge me anything for all these changes!!), told the boys again that I was leaving the next day, and re-packed my bags.
I woke up early the next morning and Lisa drove me, Jeremias, and Morro half way down the property since part of the road was being repaired and cars couldn't drive through it. Morro and Jeremias carried my luggage down the rest of the mountain and I followed behind in my polka dot rain boots and backpack.
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| Hiking down to the shore |
We hiked down to the beach where the other family met us and up pulled the smallest boat I have ever seen brave the open ocean. Needless to say, it was an adventure of a ride and after the two hour long boat ride we all showed up to the dock drenched from head to toe; arms sore from holding on tightly so we didn't bounce out of the boat. I would compare it to holding on to a bucking bronco for 2 hours but with ocean waves splashing you at the same time haha. What was amazing was about half way through that boat ride, we saw a double rainbow. Not only that, but we saw the FULL arch of a double rainbow from one end stretching to another--and we drove right under it. So incredible to be reminded of God's faithfulness even in the midst of a roaring ocean. We made it to the dock safely, then hopped on the ferry to Roatan where I proceeded to vomit almost the entire 2 hour boat ride despite taking both dramamine and zofran. There, our missionary friends picked us up and took us to the Roatan airport. As we were leaving the ferry, people were saying the airport had shut down but we continued on and prayed it was just a rumor. PRAISE GOD it was just a rumor and although the airport was total chaos with everyone trying to leave the island, we were able to catch our flight and get to Houston safely.
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| Leaving Balfate to catch the ferry! |
While in Roatan, I heard that all other airports were closed so I messaged Lisa to let her know. She admitted to me they've actually been closed since the night before but she didn't want to tell me in case it influenced my decision to risk flying out the next day if Roatan was also closed by then. She said she wanted me to go, trusting God would get me out of the country, but if I got to Roatan and the airport was closed...she knew me being stuck over there would be safer and I would have more access to food than back in Balfate. WOW. I was both thankful and amazed that she would encourage me to leave for Roatan, potentially for my last window of opportunity for a while, knowing that there was a chance I would get stuck--but that it would be safer for me there than in Balfate.
Now that I've had a few days to sleep and recover from this both physically and emotionally exhausting weekend, I don't want to dismiss the reality of what's still going on THERE although I'm back here safe. I'm writing this all in past tense only because I'm no longer there with them. This is very much still their reality along with everyone else across the nation of Honduras. Currently, Lisa and the boys are still isolated and rationing out food for two meals a day and into very small portions for the next few weeks. The boys will help provide food by fishing in the ocean and harvesting oranges and plantains off the farm. Check out the interview Lisa did with her mission board HERE to hear their situation and plan described in her own words.
If you're still reading this, then I know you're really invested in what is going on in Honduras and Bethesda Home for Boys' situation. So what can you do to help!? First things first, pray for a MIRACLE to sweep the nation of Honduras. Pray for peace to rule in everyone's hearts and for violence and rebellion to cease. Pray for patience and hope to be instilled in the hearts of people grieving loved ones they've lost, worrying about their country's future, and where they will find food for the next day.
And although Lisa doesn't have access to a bank yet, you can support her financially so she can pay all of her farm workers and continue to run the boys' home.
Their Paypal is bethesdahomeforboys@gmail.com or you can send in a check to:
18397 West Lake Drive Saucier, MS 39574
Thank you to everyone who prayed for me, encouraged me, and checked in on me this whole journey but especially when I was trying to come home. There are so many people still there, both locals and visitors, who want to leave but they literally cannot. All the credit for my "escape home" goes to God--just when I was settling in to live there a few more months, He came through with a complicated but protected plan to get me home safely.
**Update from Lisa late yesterday
"Woke up at 3:30am in order to attempt going into town. It was raining. Our own road is closed and being worked on so I was not looking forward to walking down our steep hills in the rain. The rain stopped when it was time for us to head out. The road is still blocked in Jutiapa but two people had told me they are letting vehicles pass 3 times a day and for only one hour. So, we were able to literally go to two different groceries and the bank and come back. On the most dangerous part of road on the way back....a police car was driving in front of us. In awe of how God takes care of us. Not a lot of food to be found. We have enough rice and beans for 20 days, and meat for 5 meals. I was able to pay my workers today for their last weeks wages. Blessed and extremely happy by God's provision and safety. Thank you to each of you who are praying. Oh...as soon as we got to our property and lugged our food purchases uphill....it started raining. He's in ALL the details" -Lisa Bradley 12/6/17.
