KELSEA GOT OUT!

Since the middle of March, flights in and out of Honduras have been severely restricted. Relief flights were set up by the government for people to leave, if they wished to do so, and to allow citizens or legal residents to fly in. For the most part, this has worked reasonably well. 

The Sowers family made the decision to stay put, but for various reasons many missionaries have made the decision to travel. Since the restrictions began, most people reentering the country signed a document promising to quarantine in their own homes for 14 days. This is what the Hall family of Manna 4 Lempira did when they returned from their trip to the States. 

People being deported back to Honduras from other countries do not have the option of spending time quarantined at home. Many people are being returned to Honduras and those deportees are being placed in quarantine camps for 14 days, before being released to go to their own homes. This has been going on since late March. 

Kelsea was planning a trip back to her home in the State of Washington. (Please hum “Leaving on a Jet Plane” as you read the following lines.) All her bags were packed. She was ready to go. Russell drove her to the airport to catch her scheduled flight on May 17th. Alas, she never left on a jet plane! Her flight was cancelled.

Since the Sowerses don’t live close to the airport, Kelsea stayed with their daughter Rachel, who does live near the airport, to try to catch the next scheduled flight. The next flight was scheduled for May 21st. That flight was also canceled. Kelsea’s next chance for a flight out was going to be on May 25th. If that flight didn’t take off, Kelsea would need to wait another week, until Russell’s next designated travel day, when he could come and drive her back to Gracias. She chose to have Russell pick her up on Monday the 25th. Aaaand… All the flights scheduled that week after Kelsea returned to Gracias did depart. Oh, well. 

Kelsea waited for a week at Russell’s house before deciding to try and travel again. She booked a flight leaving Honduras on June 1st, but it was canceled last minute due to tropical storm Amanda. The next available flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until the week after on June 9th, so Rachel graciously opened up her home again, so that Kelsea would have a place to stay and Russell wouldn’t need to make another airport run. Finally, after a total of 3 weeks and 4 cancelled flights, Kelsea was able to make it to the States! You know what they say, 5th time’s the charm!  

Right as Kelsea was preparing to travel, there was a government announcement regarding flights into Honduras, which caused quite an uproar amongst the missionaries. It was announced that everyone who flies into Honduras would have to go to the quarantine camps for two weeks - no exceptions. The level of privacy and safety in the camps, as well as the lack of ability to social distance, made this a rather horrifying proposal to the missionary families that were considering traveling! Oddly enough, the government has not actually followed this new rule, and missionaries are continuing to fly into Honduras without having to quarantine in the camps.

Photos of the quarantine camps:

So, in spite of difficulties and concerns, Kelsea has safely returned to her family for now. Meanwhile, Sowers daughter Kirstin is still waiting for the rules to change so that she can fly down to join the ministry. Currently, incoming flights are only available to Honduran citizens and individuals with legal residency, neither of which applies to Kirstin. She was planning to join the ministry, and live in Honduras full time, starting in May. Now we’re hoping for July . . . or August . . . or who knows when?

 - posted by Christi