It is time for me to 'come clean' and share an experience so that others will not make the same mistake. I have always preached to our missionaries that they must have their passport with them at all times. About a year ago I had to get a new passport since the pages on mine were full. About the same time someone suggested to me that I did not really need to carry it around town---just have a colored copy with me and leave it in the hotel to keep from having it stolen (there is a hefty black market for them). Since then I have carried a color copy of it and left the real thing in my hotel room. As our team was returning to Ocotepeque from Santa Fe last Wednesday, we came upon a police checkpoint. This is a routine type of event and usually they simply check the vehicle license and the driver's license and wave you on. There were several other things that happened at this point that I will not discuss, but I was asked for my passport by an officer who was very professional. Debbie and Sharon handed him theirs, and I handed him my copy. I told him that we three spoke English, to which he replied, "I speak German" (in English). He then asked about the yellow paper that they issue at Immigration and said I needed a visa to be in the country. I told him it was in my passport at the hotel. He approved of what Debbie and Sharon presented to him and gave theirs back. He asked why I did not have mine with me and I told him to keep it from getting stolen. We will fast-forward here--- we were told to follow him to the police station and send someone else to the hotel and have them bring my passport there. Dea and Doc and Carlos were in the other vehicle. I gave them my room key and they departed the scene. We went in caravan with the police vehicle to the police station. By the time we got there, my passport with the visa was handed to me by loyal team members, and I went inside. They allowed Carlos to go with me as interpreter, but he was not needed. the one who was in charge did speak German, as he had said. He also spoke French and very good English in addition to Spanish. He examined my passport and visa and my military ID card, and then asked if I had been an Army officer. My reply was yes, that I had been a helicopter pilot. He asked if I had been in Viet Nam and I replied that I had been there in 1970. He had a friend who had been there earlier. He called over the senior policeman and explained the situation. They told me they were sorry that this had happened and asked me not to do it again. I promised him that he would never find me again without my passport. I then told him that compared to the police in El Salvador that I had come in contact with, the Honduras police were much better uniformed and more professional acting--and that is very true. Some may try to protect their passport by putting it in a baggy during the rainy season. Mine has been through a laundry cycle and shows no sign of damage. I will carry it from now on and probably never need it again. Lesson learned and something to write about.