In January of 2023 a team of fourteen people from Explore Church went to serve with Catracho Missions in Comayagua, Honduras. This was an intense, rugged adventure deep in the heart of the Honduran mountains. Catracho missions has an incredible ministry to indigenous people. The following is a blog from Tom Attard, one of our team members.
Wednesday, Day 9
How can I describe our journey home, “Planes, trains, and automobiles,” or should I say, “Planes, ferries, and rental cars?” As if we hadn’t had enough of an adventure, God decided we need more of an adventure. After driving down the mountain and a three-hour bus ride to the airport, over 9000 flights to the US were canceled simultaneously due to a computer error with the air traffic control network in the United States. Our flight was one of those canceled. After announcing the canceled flights the airport began to clear out and even the restaurants and stores inside began to close their doors.
Our immediate attempts to reschedule our flight showed that there was no other flight available out of San Pedro Sula for at least a week! The last plane finally left the tarmac and took flight. There were no airplanes at the airport, and no businesses open inside.
We bought the last few waters. It reminded me of an apocalypse film.
It was a bit stressful, to say the least, but our team had been battle-hardened, and our faith had increased through all the struggles we had endured. We recalled how Bev had decided to pray when several people on our team were being prevented from boarding our flights to Honduras. She had stepped back from the line and said a quick prayer and the message of the airline assistant had changed completely. Our whole team was allowed to board. Following Bev’s example, we decided to pray that God would get us all home safely.
From that moment on, so many amazing and miraculous things fell into place that it is hard to capture them all.
Paul and Tonya, our hosts, had driven 3 hours to San Pedro Sula to give one of our team members a ride to the airport after she had to change her flight. They had stayed in town with Tonya’s sister, who happened to drive a large van for the local school district. There happened to be flights out of Roatan, there happened to be a ferry we could catch to Roatan. Tonya and Paul and Tonya’s sister graciously offered to drive us 5 hours across the country, at the drop of a hat, to arrive at the ferry in time. Sheila happened to know a woman who lived in Roatan, her daughter’s best friend from High school, who had gone to Honduras on a mission trip 25 years previously and ended up marrying a Honduran man and staying there.
Even though Sheila had not seen her in 25 years, she came to the ferry to pick us up, with a truck large enough to carry all our bags and take us to the airport. You couldn’t even make all these things up. It was beyond understanding. These wonderful Honduran people continued to serve us. The stories of all the amazing little things that worked out on our journey and too numerous to name, but In the end, God did get us all home safely, and with greater knowledge and faith, that he would always keep us safe and bring us home.
None of us will ever be the same, and we are closer now because of the memories we share of everything that God has done. I hope to make many more memories of God’s greatness in the future.
Thank you for following Explore Church, Missoula on their journey to Honduras!