Saturday, February 16, 2013

Philippians 1: 3-7
"I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart,for all of you share in God's grace with me......"

It is so hard to believe the week is over. The verse from Philippians was the focus of our devotions this morning, which were held on the bus as we pulled out from Hotel Buena Vista at 7 am. I know I will keep the people of Santa Cruz close in my heart. It is not likely that we will see the village again, but we CAN be confident that the good work started will continue.

Being a travel day, I thought I may not have anything exciting to write about. Well, was I wrong! The road from Copan Ruinas to San Pedro Sula, is two lanes up and down the hills, with 230 curves, no lane dividing lines, many potholes, and lots of traffic. The scenery is a mix of beautiful mountains with grazing cows, terraced coffee fields, and shacks built from sticks dotting the sides of the roads. It is not uncommon to see children playing along the side of the road, while semi trucks zip past. There are security checkpoints, which until today, we were waved on through. About an hour out of Copan, we reached one of these checkpoints, and were pulled over by the Direccion Nacional de Servicious Especiales De Investigacio. A rather stern looking officer, with the name Nunez embroidered on his pocket, took our driver's papers and went back to the office. He returned to the passenger door of the bus, and asked for our passports. Sue pulled out the copies of our passports, which she so wisely kept handy, and passed them to him. He stepped out the bus, then back in, and wanted to see our real passports, one by one. That's when I started to sweat. He only spoke Spanish, and Gloria was telling us to hand them one by one, row by row. After a few tense minutes, Office Nunez returned to the middle of the road, and said we could go. But, Nehamias, our driver, had not had his papers returned. At this point, both Gloria and Nehamias were both out of the bus. We all watched a bit anxiously as we saw Gloria and Nehamias exchange words with the officer. Nehamias returned to the bus and sat. We watched as Gloria got on the phone on the side of the road. What seemed like an eternity, but was most likely only about ten minutes, we watched and waited, wondering what was next. Gloria came back to the bus with Nehamias'' papers, and said we could go. She said the police were corrupt, and were trying to extort money from us. Gloria had contacted the Mayor of Copan by phone, who promptly got in his car and started to the checkpoint. This bit of info must have changed Officer Nunez' mind about detaining us. A few minutes back on the road, Gloria got another call from the Mayor. He had called Officer Nunez' boss and gave him a stern reprimand. Ha! That will teach him! He didn't know who he was messing with when he took on Gloria Wheeler!

The rest of the return trip was rather uneventful. Old and new friends sharing experiences, stories, laughs, and joys. We are all tired and weary, but it is a good feeling. I thank God for blessing us with this trip.

We would love to share more with you about our experiences. Please feel free to stop and ask questions. There are so many stories to tell.

-Holly Cory