Elections in Honduras--praise report!

Dear friends and family,

Starting on June 25th, I sent out a series of emails requesting prayer about the political crisis in Honduras. Please know that yesterday, God answered many prayers - free and peaceful elections were held here in Honduras! Several notes below describe our thanksgiving in words that are much better than any I could have chosen, so I will defer to them and ask you to read the notes below if your are interested in learning more about the elections yesterday.

Suffice to say that God miraculously intervened in this tiny little country and helped them avoid losing many of their freedoms. Thank you for supporting us and Honduras through your prayers!

Please know that our family is well. We've just moved into a new (different) house and have been very busy over the Thanksgiving holiday. We are healthy and the kids are doing great. We will be sending out a newsletter in a couple of weeks with more info, but we wanted to get this out as soon as possible.

Please join us in thanking God for His divine intervention here in Honduras and please join us in our continued prayers for the people and country of Honduras.

Take care,

Dave and Marinajo Fields
Mariah and Benny


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sally Mahoney
Date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Subject: elections in Honduras--praise report
To: sally mahoney


Dear Cornerstone Friends--

God has been at work, and He deserves all the praise we can give Him. When I wrote to you in early November, an agreement had been signed between Honduras and the representatives of Zelaya. The agreement said that the Congress of Honduras (with input from the Honduran Supreme Court) would vote on whether to allow Zelaya to serve the remainder of his term, and in exchange for this the United States and other world powers said they would recognize the coming elections in Honduras as legitimate. Once Zelaya began to realize that the Congress wasn't going to vote about what to do with him until after the elections took place, he began to issue complaints/threats/rants from the Brazillian Embassy, but miraculously and thankfully, even the people who had represented Zelaya at the talks were standing by the signed agreement. During the last days leading up to the election there were a few terrorist-style attempts to make Honduras afraid to proceed as planned, but those attempts did not succeed.

Yesterday (Sunday the 29th) the elections took place, and we cannot give God enough praise for how it went. The turn-out was very, very high (near 64% or so) and peaceful and without any untoward incident. There were over 400 election observers from around the world, and all declared the elections transparent and exemplary. Five of the Loma de Luz missionaries--Jeff McKenney, Don and Suzanne Rumbaugh, Brad War, and Ian McKenzie--were asked by the Honduran government to serve as election observers in their region. They had the same glad news to report for their region as did the observers in the rest of the country--peaceful, very participatory, very done-right, very free.

The winner of the election and next president of Honduras is Porfirio Lobo. When Jeff wrote me last night, the polls had closed but the vote count was not yet finished. But the main story was not who won the election but that the election took place, took place in the manner it did, and that it will be recognized by the USA, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica, Panama, and a number of other nations. By the end of the day yesterday, they didn't know who'd won the presidency, but it was clear who had won on the larger stage. It was clear that God had triumphed over all, and Honduras had won the battle that came to them. Thank you so much for praying. Please continue to pray for Honduras. There are still decisions to be made about what to do with Zelaya, there are still bad guys who have reason to hold a grudge against Honduras, etc. So don't quit praying. But this is a time to stop and pause and rejoice and praise.

We can't thank you enough for praying.

I'll just copy Dr. Jeff's words below.

We are proud of Honduras, thankful to you for your prayer, and praising God.

--Sally Mahoney for Cornerstone
30 November 2009



----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff and Rosanne Mckenney
To: Sally Mahoney ; Marty McKenney
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 6:21 PM
Subject: Elections


The polls in Honduras officially closed at 5:00 P.M.. The newspapers are all reporting what was also our experience here: there was a massive peaceful and successful turnout. All Intl/ observers are reporting the same thing in the papers. This has been a great day for Honduras. We are in such a vastly different place than we would have been if the People had not stood up for their democracy and stood against those who would have stolen it and sold it cheaply.
Preliminary results are scheduled to be announced by the TSE ( the supreme electoral tribunal) at 1900. ( Here the press is not allowed to call an election). But, regardless of which candidates win or lose, everyone is in agreement, Honduras has won. I believe the Lord has seen Honduras through.
-j

Escalation in the political crisis in Honduras. A request for prayer.

Dear friends and family,

You may have heard that the political crisis here in Honduras has escalated rapidly today. Deposed ex-president Mel Zelaya, emboldened by support from US and Chavez in Venezuela, has returned to the country today and is currently "holed up" in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa - the capital city of Honduras.

First of all, let me assure you that we are quite safe. There is no reason to think that we are in any new or additional danger due to the political events here. We are so far removed from the seat of the crisis up here in the jungle on the north coast of Honduras that we see no almost no evidence of the political strife that is so prevalent now.

There is, however, a curfew that was instituted this afternoon and has now been extended throughout the day tomorrow. This is a prudent decision from the current government which will curtail the movement of the protesters who would simply love to take advantage of the situation and further their agenda of political disruption and even violence. All international flights have been cancelled. I (Dave) am SO thankful that I was able to get back into the country and be with my family before this happened. For those of you who don't know, I just returned Saturday from a 2-week trip to the States.

We do urgently ask for your prayers for wisdom for those in the government and for prudence, safety, and peace for the people of Honduras. In the midst of all of this, we pray that God's glory would be revealed and that He would draw many unto Himself during this time.

We ask you to read this article from the Wall Street Journal, which asks the question that all Americans should be asking of their government right now: Why isn't the United States supporting democracy in Honduras? Even if Honduras (very understandably) isn't on the top of your list of things to be worried about right now, all American should be concerned with the current administration's response to this crisis.

The article can be found here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574423570828980800.html

The answer to this situation is not simply a political one, and I offer this political criticism as a Christian that recognizes the need for God to intervene here. But, I also believe that we as citizens must never stop asking the hard questions of those who would govern us. Please consider whether or not it might be appropriate to bring this to the attention of your local, state, and federal representatives. I assure you that, from my perspective, the actions of the United States have played a very detrimental role in this political crisis.

Lastly please know that we are well and safe. We thank God for each of you and we hope that you are well to. Please drop us a line some time and let us know how you are doing.

Thank you and God Bless,

Dave and Marinajo Fields
Mariah and Benny

Dear Levi

Dear Levi,

I thought I would take this occasion of your 21st birthday to tell you a few things about how much I love you and how much God has used you to work in my life. I remember so clearly the little boy that would scoot along on his bottom with his arms and was always so incredibly happy to see me. "Boy! Boy! BOY!" Thomas the Tank Engine, and Barney. I remember how you would always ask for a "new toy" and how you made the motion that showed how the Space Ship Enterprise would zoom off into warp speed. I remember watching movies with you and your family and "Good Moomoo!" When it was done. I remember how much you cried at the sad parts in the movie.

I remember how sick you were from time to time and remember taking you to the hospital one night in the ambulance. I stood outside the emergency room after we were all done and cried and cried because I was so sad that you were so sick. God used your sickness to bring us close. He used your sickness to bring you close to so many people. Your simple faith in Jesus has been such a blessing for so many years. I can't tell you how much it has meant to me and I thank you for being such a good example to all of us on how to trust God in the midst of unimaginable difficulties.

I really remember the day that your dad came walking over to our house to tell us that it was time for your first kidney. I remember how much you changed after that first surgery and how big you grew and how grown up you were. I remember when your mom called us from Children's Hospital when she told us that you were going to need a second kidney and how hurt we were that you going to have to go through all of that again. We hadn't seen each other for awhile, but when we did finally get to see you again, there was the same old Levi, just grinning from ear to ear and calling me "Boy!" and believing, just like last time, that Jesus was going to see you through all of this.

We now know that Jesus would indeed see you through that battle, just like He did the first time - but I think you believed it before any of the rest of us did. You knew. You showed us all how to have faith.

I remember "Walk By Faith" and I remember that darned dialysis chair and how you thought you were done with it and had to go back and face it again. You've taught me how to walk by faith and how to face problems and fears that I didn't think I could face. You taught me how to have faith when it didn't seem possible to have any faith.

My biggest memory, though, isn't of any of the bad stuff. My biggest memory is the day that I was so privileged to baptize you. I feel so blessed to have been with you that day that you showed the whole world that you were dead to the world and alive in Christ. That day, you showed the whole world that though although the outer man wastes away - you are a new creation in Christ Jesus and you will always, always, always be with Him. I can't wait until the day that I praise God with you in heaven and I see you in your new body playing basketball and soccer. But until that time, I want you to know that you have a very special gift from God and that you have a very special assignment from God. Your gift is faith. Trusting in God is your specialty. Your assignment is to show the rest of us how to do it. And you're good at it. Please remember my dear, dear Levi that walking by faith is the most important walk of all. Please walk in such a way that you show the rest of us how it is done.

Happy 21st Birthday and we love you very much. Boy, Mo, Mariah and Benny.