A Thousand (Or More) Prayers Answered

Traditionally, this has been a very difficult week for me.  If anything, this year will probably be worse.  Knowing this, Nicole and I planned to spend Tuesday (today) together.  The day started in a welcome to Honduras fashion.

I needed some money.  The first place we stopped only took Visa debit cards.  Of course, I have a Master Card.  The next place we stopped at 3 ATM's and all three were down.  I went to a Puma station and got some money, bought some tea and bought some gas.  I could not put air in the front tire because the gas truck was there filling the underground tanks and was in front of the air hose.

We got Matt and Luis some lunch from Popeye's and started toward Lomas Diamante.  I was going to get air in the tire at the Uno station.  There were about 50 policeman there and they were all in front of the air hose.  Nicole mumbled,"what in in the world?"  I went to the Texaco and Nicole put air in the tire. 

We arrived in Lomas to find out the group was having a welcome to Honduras day, as well.  We delivered lunch and left.  As we neared the bottom, all of these policeman we had just seen were entering Lomas Diamante.

We went to Chili's.  We were sipping on lemonade when Matt called and said that the police had arrived and shut down both house sites and they were going to bulldoze every house that had been built out there.  Honduras Hope has done a lot of work out there.  TORCH has.  Many other groups have worked there.  It is a really poor community. 

The police were saying that the people were there illegally and one person owned all the land and the person wanted his land back.  People began showing their papers and the police said they were all fake.

The policemen were respectful and told Matt they knew he was trying to do good, but it had to cease.  The group did not argue.  They circled up and prayed.  The lady that was to get a house today was crying.  I think others were, too. 

The chatter between Nicole and me quieted.  We were sick to our stomachs.  Two hundred families were about to be driven from their homes. 

The group shared in devo tonight how angry they were.  Everyone was angry.  It was hard to believe corruption was going to win over justice.

There was no choice but for the group to pack up and leave.  The group made a quick change of plans and decided to go to the hospital. 

Nicole, and perhaps others, posted on facebook what was happening.  And God's people hit their knees. 

After we finished eating, we went to the mall to resolve some issues with my cable bill.  Nicole left her phone in the car because the battery was almost dead.  Much to our delight, we got the cable bill issues resolved.  When we got back to the car, Nicole had a message from Matt to call.  He had good news.

The community banded together.  The patronados and the community produced original papers with the plots drawn out and everything.  The supposed rich land owner could produce no papers of any kind. 

The police left.

By the time the group arrived at the mission house to get things for the hospital, they learned that everything had been resolved and that they would get to finish those two houses on Saturday.

We do not know how many people were praying about this, but we do know it was a lot.  And, we do know that God heard every single prayer.  And, they were answered in so that justice prevailed over corruption. 

Praise God.