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Just a quick update from Honduras with the latest hurricane news. It´s been a busy week for us down at the finca. We heard about tropical storm Wilma on Monday night, went to a rain day schedule for school on Tuesday (where we have class indoors for one hour each grade level) because we heard we would start getting effects Tuesday morning. Of course Tuesday was the most beautiful day we´ve had in two weeks. The news on the radio then announced the upgrading of Wilma to hurricane and the new projection for it to come closest to us on Wednesday at lunchtime. So Wednesday brought another rain day schedule with bands of wind and rain. We lost a few of our bigger trees but all in all we had thought the worst was past us.

Wednesday afternoon news came that Wilma had grown into a monster category 5 storm and was wobbling uncomfortable close to us. The government had ordered the evacuation of Castilla which is out on the bay and was encouraging all coastal areas to evacuate. At 4:30pm we made the decision to evacuate the farm and by 5pm we were ready to get the kids out in the first wave of landcruisers. Dinner was left on the stove, clothes thrown into bags but in all it was a pretty impressive mobilization. Unfortunately the rivers didn’t cooperate and had already grown to be safely passable.

Luckily we had been in contact with the mayor and he arranged for an army troop transport to come and evacuate us. So while we waited for the army to arrive we took the time to gather other supplies and important documents from each department. By 6pm the army arrived and we sent the first trip out with all the kids, parents and a few vols. The rest of us busied ourselves battening down the hatches, cutting power and water to the farm to avoid damage etc. About an hour later the truck returned for a second trip and we got all of our neighbors (who live in mud and tin roof houses) out to Trujillo as well. The truck returned for a final trip with the last of the vols and all our supplies.

I stayed behind with Nicholas, Kevin Downs, Kristel, Pat, Becky and Sor Lucy to ride out the storm and keep an eye on the farm help out in the initial cleanup afterwards. It was a weird moment as the last truck pulled away at 9pm and the 7 of us were left in the dark, rain and wind. We made dinner and started to cleanup the mess that was left behind in the frenzy of evacuation. Considering the decision was made to evacuate at 4:30pm we did a pretty good job of getting out by 9pm with the last folks leaving the farm.

Throughout the night Wednesday night one of us stayed awake. We had Eucharistic adoration all night in the chapel of the convent, each of us taking an hour to pray be attentive to the radio and just be awake in case of an emergency. Throughout the night the wind and rain actually began to die down and by morning the rain had moved passed us. We woke to down trees but not much other damage.

Meanwhile in Trujillo the Farm and our neighbors had evacuated to the Franciscan sisters convent where 140 people (farm and neighbors) took shelter for the night. From all reports things were well organized, calm and generally good considering the circumstances. Of course Thursday morning school was in session with our teachers improvising lesson plans in side rooms, the kitchen or wherever space could be found. The day had a full roster of activities and structure to keep our kids occupied and engaged. The farm returned home on Thursday afternoon after the all clear had come that the storm had passed.

We dodged a big storm and are thankful for the few downed trees that are reminders of what could have been much worse. And hey, how many people can say they´ve been evacuated by the Honduran military across swollen rivers?

My thoughts now turn to Florida as Wilma bears down on my family there. In other news things are great for us here on the Finca. The school year is rapidly approaching its end and I´m looking forward to returning the Chicago in just over two weeks (Nov 9th). I talked to Erika today for the first time in several weeks and she´s healthy and growing and doing wonderful. Michael tells me he´s doing great also.

As always I try and keep the photo journal up and running and there are a few photos of the evacuation up already with more to come. Also updated are pictures of the new volunteers who arrived on October 1 and are awesome people and up too are photos of Erika in Chicago.

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Love to all of you and thanks for your prayers this last week.

In peace,

Michael-John