Four days before our Honduras Mission team was to leave
for our annual mission trip, the team’s leader, Frank Welch, faced a
heart-wrenching decision. Since Honduras
reelected President Juan Orlando Hernandez in November, tensions have been
rising between the people who supported the elected president and those who
believe the election was stolen by a corrupt election process. As the time for our team’s trip drew near,
Frank learned that protests were being organized to take place in Tegucigalpa,
the capital city and the location of the airport our team must use for the
return flight. These protests, planned
for the day of the presidential inauguration, are intended to express disapproval
of the election results and to call for a new election.
In assessing this tense situation, Frank Welch consulted
with numerous missionaries in Honduras and friends he has in government. Each time he called, his sources were more
concerned about the scope and potential hostility of the protests. Planned demonstrations will now take place
from the day our team planned to arrive in Honduras until at least the day they
were scheduled to leave. The airport has
become a target of the protests, knowing that tying up the airport would
interfere with dignitaries arriving for the presidential inauguration. Protesters plan to block as many major roads
around the capital city as possible, making transportation from the airport to
the team’s mission site difficult and dangerous, if not impossible.
In light of these developments, realizing that he did not
feel confident the mission team could travel to its work site and return safely
and on schedule, on Tuesday evening, Welch made the decision to cancel the
trip.
Commenting on the decision, Pastor Dee Vaughan said, “Our
team is very disappointed that we cannot go.
We feel very sorry for the people we planned to serve. But we are blessed to have a team leader who
has the experience and connections to know the right thing to do. His concern for the safety of his team makes
me confident that we are well cared for every time we go to Honduras. We look forward to our next opportunity to
serve there.”