Honduras (MNN) — The political crisis in Honduras continues more than
a month after opponents deposed the president. There are diplomatic efforts being made to
reinstate Manuel Zelaya, although Interim President Roberto Micheletti does not
seem open to compromise.
In the meantime, government function is irregular,
compounding a growing humanitarian problem.
To keep the peace, military troops have been mobilized
throughout the country. People have
been caught by the 24-hour curfew in place, which means they can't getwater, food, medicine or shelter. There's no
word yet when the curfew will be lifted, but tensions are high in some
areas with little movement toward the resolution of the situation.
The instability is troubling for ministry teams. In
early July, John Lowrey with Christian Resources International said they were
moving forward with a mission trip to Honduras slated for this week.
However, plans have now changed. "The new Department of State warning
now takes us into October," says Lowrey, with no indication of what will happen after that.
Why cancel instead of postpone the trip? Lowrey says they couldn't expect people to
stay "on hold" indefinitely. "Rather
than tie up all of our participants, we decided we would cancel, and when the trip can be rescheduled, we'll contact all of the appicants and see how many of them
can jump back in on that."
Disappointing as it is, it's not a lost cause. Members of the CRI team are friends with the
Honduran pastor with whom they were collaborating. "We did go ahead and ship all of the
materials that we intended to use for our ministry while we were in country. We
shipped it to them, so those resources are there. And we also had
a pastor and his wife from Mississippi that
chose to go ahead and do the trip on their own."
Some
of the resources have reached their intended destination. Keep praying for doors to open so that the evangelistic
projects which had been planned for this trip will still move forward.
