Curfew due to end?

After another night, Tuesday night, of curfew and vandalism in the capital, and a the cries of the country about food shortages in homes, the de-facto government was reluctant enough to suspend the curfew for 7 hrs during the day, Wednesday. As people ran to the store and gas stations around the country, there was nothing there to buy. Many stores in Tegucigalpa were vandalized. Like I wrote last night, no one worked on Tuesday and delivered were unable to be made and supplies were no where to be found until later in the morning. As for La Masica, the little town I live, hours from the violence, our shelves were empty in the morning. David went to the store and was able to come back with corn flake, flour, and oil. The rice was long gone and we have one of four rice mills in the Honduras, located in our small town. But by late morning, early afternoon, delivers were being made. We even had to wait for propane gas tanks to be delivered in order to cook. We were told they'd be delivered at 11am, but didn't show up until 1:30pm.

Eventually most people in the country were able to buy the goods they needed. Video of the cities showed city streets blocked up for blocks and blocks of people waiting on gas. As for me, the early afternoon rain kept me for the most part. But I did venture out in my bike to buy something at 3:30, 30 minutes before the original time for curfew to start back up. The pharmacy I went to closed just as I buying my meds. People were starting to close up to get ready for the curfew. In the evening, an hour after the curfew was back into effect, I decided to let some of kids go on a short walk around the block since they'd been suck in the project for three days. They enjoyed it very much, even though it was short. We had church service tonight in our La Masica church and after dropping off a couple people at home after service I decided to venture into the center of town to get some food since Tuesday night most people were still open at 9pm. Being a small, the curfew is a bit more flexible. I actually haven't seen a police officer yet, but I'm not looking either. I figured they're at the highway entrance to town with a road block. Even with out a curfew the have normal rock blocks. But when I made it into town, everyone was closed, even the bars that say open until the early hours of the mornings. With pics of the capital from the night before, some fear seemed to have set into the business owners. I actually found one pulperia open, little shop that you buy goods from a window, usually a front room of a house. The town seemed like a ghost town. I got my OJ and and few little bags of chips.

As I got online tonight, I read an article from the AP that the curfew is set ti expire in the morning. We had already decided to have school tomorrow, with or without the curfew b/c of reports of a no police sighting during the day in our area. With this, the people in most of the country will be able to return to some normality to their lives.

I pray tonight is not like last night in the capital and other large cities in Honduras. Video from last night, showed vandalized stores and the sounds of assault rifle gun burst. Sounds we hear from video from a battle in Iraq. The gunfire was continuous, not a shot here or there. The vandals that were caught on video, we're people stealing for necessity. They were young 16 -25 yr old punks stealing cell phones and chargers, not food or water. In my time in Honduras, I've found that many Hondurans don't have fear. They don't fear the police that are willing to shoot first and ask questions later. A doctor at a hospital told the news that they had 25 injured civilian, all had gun shot wounds. With the violence the police already deal with in this country with riots and curfews, it's not a surprise the police shoot first at night when they feel in danger, b/c many other have guns, including the one I watched get arrested in a store.

If you didn't hear, the UN told Honduras that they are suspending their electoral aide for the upcoming election. They feel Honduras is in no condition to hold the election until this crisis is resolved.

With the curfew being lifted, it looks like I'll be able to go to the missions conference in Copan tomorrow (Thursday). Thank you, Lord.

Also please pray for peace tomorrow during a planned pro-de facto government march in Tegucigalpa.

Unrest in Honduras

I live eight hours from Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras and the location of the Brazilian embassy. The epicenter of this huge headache that Honduras is suffering from. La Masica is small town, yes we have out share of crimes, drug & gang violence, but it's not the city. There's not a worry of demonstrations or protests here. But with Zelaya back in Honduras, tensions are high. Life would be more normal if it wasn't for this nationwide curfew. The curfew started at 4 pm, Monday and is in affect until atleast 6 pm, Wednesday. That's 50 hrs of everyone having to stay home or atleast off the streets. That means, people can't to work. The factories, schools, food distributors, buses are all closed.... even the airports and borders are closed. If the government doesn't lift this nationwide curfew, then this country is going to see some real problems.

Before Monday, life in Honduras seemed normal. The price of food had dropped, rice was more affordable to the poor, which is most of this country. In the last two with Zelaya in office, at least 15 Venezuelan drug planes have crashed in Honduras, with him gone, none have been seen. The presidential candidates, chosen last Nov., well before the government power change, were busy campaigning against each other, not having to fight just to have an election. Like they did while Zelaya was still in office. People were living life before Monday.

But now, everyone has to stay home. This evening I walked into the center of town to get a bite to eat and noticed that the shelves, in the pulperia where I bought my drink, were half empty. I realized the stores weren't receiving their delivers. After one day of curfew the shelves were half full, what are they going to look like after two days. The fear I have, is the stores running out of food and the people starting to go hungry, if this curfew isn't ended. And when the people start to go hungry, the real violence will break out. And that scares me.

I pray the leaders of this country are God fearing and look up to Him for guidance. If a peaceful solution is not found soon, than crisis cold really lose control. I understand trying to minimize demonstrations and protests in the city, but let the rest of the country breath a little bit. Rice & beans aren't a problem for me to eat, but how long until the supply can't meet the demand of the country.

May God bless us all!

Tarea

I've been back in Honduras for a little over a month, after spending 7 weeks back in the states. Just after arriving in the states, I received a summons to serve on jury duty. Fun, fun, fun.... But I'm back now and enjoying my time more than ever. Since returning I've concentrated more of my free time with the kids. I've taken the responsibility to make sure the kids get their homework done each day and help them also. It's not the easiest job since my Spanish is still limited but my vocabulary is growing each day. It's been a test of patience that I have to say, I don't pass everyday. Helping the kids study exam during exam week, I resorted to locking them in the church each afternoon until they finished their study guides. It was the only way to get them in one location and forcing them to study. Of course, they didn't want to study, and they fought with me, tried to play games, but by the end of each day, most of them finished their study guides. Usually one or two of 14 wouldn't finish. I've learned during this time that the more time I spend with them, helping them, the more reluctant they are listen to me when I tell them to do some thing. I've learned that I'm not good at playing Jax. The kids play everyday, even if they only have rocks to use as Jax. Their hands are so quick, but mine are so slow. Even just watching tv or playing tag in the evening, makes me life easier when I need them to do something. It's not a walk in the park, but it's a blessing each day. Sometimes I think the kids think all I know how to say is, "got any homework?" or "finished with your homework yet?" They're all kids and always want to play.... that I completely understand. But I'm trying to teach them discipline and want to see them all succeed in life. Homework.... every kids least favorite word.