Dear Brethren,
This morning, Steve Hinds, one of our paritioners at Christ Church, Denver began his 2-day journey to Honduras with his 1942 twin-engine Beech filled with medical and other supplies for the relief effort. He will be there for two weeks flying missions into cut-off locations under the direction of the Honduran military authorities. Among his cargo are several large boxes of seed packets that will be delivered directly to Bishop Frade for distribution.
Please pray for God's mercy and grace for Steve and for his wife Lucille back here in Denver. As she joins this listserve, perhaps she will be able to keep us all informed of his activities and areas for prayer.
Your brother and fellow servant,
Ray Howard
Christ Church, Denver (and Mission Training International)
14 November 98
Dear friends, donors, and interested parties,
Steve Hinds and his mighty C45 Twin Beech aircraft, "The Bigun," took off from Centennial Airport in Denver at 7:45AM MST Saturday November 14 toward a clear sky with patchy clouds with a full cabin of assorted goods headed for the people of Honduras: LOTS of vegetable seeds (with a small amount of flower packets--a little beauty, too, please!), medical supplies, rice and beans, diapers, formula, clothing, water purification tablets, lotions, ETC., all wonderful things that are desperately needed.
As I walked to the runway from the hangar to watch Steve take off, I wept, partly because of seeing my dear husband fly off for sights, smells and experiences unknown, but moreso because of the realization that what fills The Bigun is but a minute scratch in the surface of a very large need. Still, the chance to "lay hands" on each and every item that passed through our home in Denver toward increase and sustenance to the victims of Hurricane Mitch instilled excitement and hope. That's what Steve's--and America's--mission is all about.
Many thanks to those who donated everything that filled The Bigun's four-seat cabin, which at this time looks more like an 18-inch-wide corridor of corrugated cardboard six feet high, in only two days' time. Although Steve's purpose for going to Honduras is to transport people (esp. medical teams), food and supplies, we couldn't imagine him leaving Denver in an empty plane.
We graciously acknowledge HS Resources, Steve's employer, for giving him time off to make this trip he knew he had to make. (Steve worked in Honduras as a kind of "country doctor" during the summers of 1965, 1966 and 1984. His heart is with these people.) Steve anticipates a return early in the week after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Steve is now in Laredo TX and expects to arrive in Honduras Sunday afternoon. He will e-mail me from there, hopefully daily, to report his activities and experiences, which I will then pass along to you. After this message, any introductory commentary from me will be minimal, if any.
Please pray for Steve and for all the folks helping in Honduras to put the country back on its feet, and especially for more means to be created to transport goods collected in the US. (There are too many reports out there of large collections and no way to send them.) And, as Steve reminded us during a television interview this morning before he took off, repairing the damage of Hurricane Mitch isn't going to be over in two weeks. It's been said that the country has been set back 25-30 years by this disaster. It will take much, much more time and effort to restore Honduras to health.
Feel free to share this and succeeding posts with your co-workers and friends.
Blessings,
Lucille Hinds
Denver, Colorado, USA
Honduras, Steve Hinds, and "Operation Bigun"
16 November 1998 04:41
Dear friends,
Pam Zamberletti, one of the donors of goods now on The Bigun bound for Honduras, e-mailed this morning and dubbed Steve's mission Operation Bigun. I took to it immediately, and Steve got a big kick out of it, so it looks like it's approved!
Steve called this evening from Vera Cruz, Mexico, not Tegucigalpa, Honduras, as he'd hoped. When he landed yesterday in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico (across the border from Laredo, Texas) completing a flawless flight amidst clear skies, the authorities detained his plane for lack of a document indicating that its contents were in transit to Honduras. (This after being told by the people in Denver who prepared his paperwork that a transit document wasn't necessary.) I scrambled last night to make phone calls to a document firm plus the American Embassy and Consulate offices, all in Mexico City, and sent e-mails to some key people about the problem to see if one of them could free the plane with the necessary document and signature sooner than Monday.
This morning at 6 AM, our dogs, Reese and Tucker, began barking urgently at something outside, so I got up to take a look. Nothing. Shortly thereafter, the phone rang; it was Michael Marsh in Honduras. (Many thanks to the dogs for the wake-up call!) Michael had received my distress e-mail and asked for some important phone numbers collected last night. Steve cannot explain what happened, but when he got to the airport at 7:15 this morning, the airport "boss" was "falling all over himself" to be helpful so he could continue his journey. Someone got this man moving in the right direction!
But before the journey could begin, there were signatures to obtain. Steve would get one signature and go back to the boss, who would then say, "Now you have to go to so-and-so and get THIS document signed," five times over. Very tiring! The last person to sign, a customs officer, said he had to inspect all the contents of EVERY box! He became a bit more hesitant when he climbed inside the plane, for not only are its 29 boxes sealed and stacked high, they are also tied down so as not to shift in flight.
Steve said they talked for a while in the plane, and the upshot is that the officer signed the document and never attempted the inspection!
Thus, Steve took off from Nuevo Laredo at 11:30AM Sunday Central Time. He said he had a beautiful flight over banana and coconut plantations to Tampico, where he refueled. The people openly welcomed him there, a far more positive reception than what he experienced at the US-Mexico border.
After Tampico was another 220 mile flight to Vera Cruz. For the final 115 miles (he knows mileage thanks to a Global Positioning System installed in The Bigun), clouds moved in, which dropped gradually lower. When The Bigun was 1,500 feet above the ground, Steve flew over and around the clouds (one of the things he loves about flying!) to gain altitude. After landing in Vera Cruz, he fueled up once again, thereby depleting most of his cash (credit cards were refused). At the airport, he met two men with whom he conversed in Spanish for a while (he is glad his Spanish is coming back). The men sent him to a hotel in nearby Boca del Rio, and apparently called ahead to insist that Steve get its lower pilot rate!
Tomorrow's destination, about 600 miles away, is Tegucigalpa! Steve plans to leave Vera Cruz at 7 AM, hopefully arriving between 1 and 2 PM, weather permitting. We thank God for all of today's positive developments! Rejoice with us, and pray for a safe completion of his journey, where his real work of internal flights to hard-hit areas will begin.
Yesterday's post included a little information about Steve's connection with Honduras. Today I thought you might like to know about the Twin Beech's connection to the country:
When Steve was in Honduras in the summer of 1965 with Amigos de las Americas, based in his home town of Houston TX, he and two other teenage boys, all in their late teens, were assigned to distribute the three stages of the Salk vaccine in the village where they were staying. (Polio at that time was claiming the lives of 50% of all children in Honduras under the age of 5.) They had plenty of Serum #1 and #3, but no #2. Because Steve's interest in airplanes was well cultivated by then (he first became smitten at age 8, and taught himself to recognize various aricraft by sight and sound), he thought, 'If only someone had a Twin Beech, the #2 serum could be brought in from the US.' "The Bigun", a C45 Twin Beech built in 1952, became a reality in Steve's life four years ago, and here he is now as that person he dreamed about years ago, bringing supplies into Honduras in its time of need.
That's it from Denver. Tomorrow I hope to forward an epistle written by Steve from Honduras.
Peace,
Lucille Hinds
Operation Bigun has landed!
17 November 1998 04:30
Dear Partners,
Steve Hinds called at 5:30 MST to say that he landed in Tegucigalpa, Honduras ten minutes before sunset!! He has a new appreciation for Flight Service in the US, for he said the cloud reports in Honduras were way off! There was solid overcast in Guatemala. Once in Honduras, he found a hole in the clouds, brought The Bigun through and soon landed at the airport, which he likens to an aircraft carrier in terms of runway size. We praise God for bringing him this far; it is clear Steve is where he is supposed to be at this time!
He has met some pilots from the Mission Aviation Fellowship and is sure to forge some friendships with them.
The Christian Commission for Development in Honduras has planned lots for Steve to do, for which he is grateful. He hopes to make several flights each day, and is eager to deliver supplies; for him, what better way to do it than to fly?! Still, my first question to him is: What does it LOOK like out there?
He said he will be spending tonight at a home in the mountains, and then tomorrow his carrier work begins. For that, he asks all of us to pray for good weather. And we'll look forward to an e-mail from him tomorrow. (It seems that a good meal and a decent night's sleep are in order.)
Perhaps the toughest thing about the relief effort is getting all the things that have been collected to Honduras NOW. I learned today from Debbie Ortega of the Denver City Council that over TWO MILLION pounds of goods are sitting in warehouses in Miami FL just waiting to find a way to Honduras. But how to get it all there? Here are a couple of alternatives:
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Debbie Ortega recommends Friend Ships, Don or Sondra Tipton (in southern CA), 310/830-4433. These good folks transported a lot of clothing, food and supplies out of Denver to ships in various southern-US coastal ports, at no cost. Whatever $$ was donated for Honduras relief in Denver, the City Council will pass 100% of it on to Friend Ships to help defray their shipping costs. While transport is sure to move slowly, it WILL get to Honduras.
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As I posted earlier today a creative, direct way to get goods into Honduras might be encouraged by contacting a large corporation owning a personal jet. Perhaps several churches and orgs. in the same town or county can partner to fill such an aircraft owned by a local corporation. If a corporate jet is available but needs to be filled, check Honduras.Net for a list of needed things, volunteer to help find them, and then hit the Yellow Pages to find companies who might be able to meet those needs. Our own Colorado Rockies lent their jet for this purpose, so don't forget those sports teams for flight resources! Some creative thinking here can do wonders.
I have also just learned this from one of our contacts in Honduras about goods brought into the country; it is NOT heartening! He says: "Unfortunately, some government officials grab the best for themselves and some big non-governmental organizations have huge overhead costs. Getting the aid into the hands that need it is a huge job and responsibility." So if you do have a contact there, and your things can be specified for a religious organization or NGO, that will be a big help in getting those items to the people you intend them for.
Blessings to all who are participating in this enormous undertaking, either in hands-on work or in prayer or whatever. We simply cannot do enough, but still we must try. And again, pray for good weather so Steve can deliver as much as possible over these next two weeks.
Lucille Hinds
Denver CO