Read and comment on this story from the Lexington Herald-Leader on Honduras RPCV Todd Fields who was killed in Guatemala on Friday. Todd Fields had been a missionary in Honduras for 13 years and was leading a group of high school students on a retreat to neighboring Guatemala when the group was robbed. Fields and his wife were former members of the Peace Corps in the Philippines and Honduras. During the past 13 years, the couple had been missionaries affiliated with Global Outreach International of Tupelo, Miss. Global is a non-profit foundation that helps people of developing countries and leads church-based missions. Read the story at:
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Rockcastle County native killed in Guatemala
MISSIONARY WAS LEADING A RETREAT
By Greg Kocher HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
A missionary who is a native of Rockcastle County was shot and killed Friday during a robbery in Guatemala.
Todd Fields, 41, of Mount Vernon, who had been a missionary in Honduras for 13 years, was leading a group of high school students on a retreat to neighboring Guatemala when the group was robbed, said Elizabeth Hammons, Fields' mother-in-law.
Details are sketchy, but Hammons, who also lives in Mount Vernon, said she thinks Fields was driving a van carrying two other adult missionaries and the children of other missionaries.
"Men in a van pulled up alongside their van and tried to get them to stop and tried to run them off the road," Hammons said. Fields, in turn, "tried to get away and to run them off the road."
Prense Libre.com, a Guatemalan newspaper's Web site, reported that the incident happened on the Pan-American Highway.
At some point, Fields was shot, and the robbers then took the other two adults and students to a secluded spot and robbed them. No one else was harmed, Hammons said.
The Rev. Kenton Parkey, who had led several mission trips from Wildie Christian Church in Rockcastle County to the Fields' mission in Pena Blanca, Honduras, said he was devastated when he learned the news yesterday.
Fields lived in Honduras with his wife, Lynnell, and two daughters, Savannah, 14, and Sophia, 10.
"He warned us on our trips that it was dangerous in several areas where you don't travel alone," Parkey said. "He knew the danger, but we never dreamed it would happen to him."
Fields' parents were career missionaries in Israel, and Fields and his wife were former members of the Peace Corps in the Philippines and Honduras.
During the past 13 years, the couple had been missionaries affiliated with Global Outreach International of Tupelo, Miss. Global is a non-profit foundation that helps people of developing countries and leads church-based missions. Several Kentucky churches sponsored the Fields' mission work.
Fields had built churches, schools and two "feeding centers" to feed children rice, beans and milk. Fields had also set up a couple of tilapia fisheries so that locals could raise the freshwater fish to eat.
"He had a burden for feeding people who had a need for food," Hammons said.
Family and friends described Fields as a gentle bear of a man, who stood 6 feet 5 inches tall, weighed more than 300 pounds, and who knew no strangers.
"He was a very gentle man, and he loved the Honduran people," said Wes White, director of personnel for Global Outreach. "He was a dear friend."
And despite the danger, church groups saw how Todd Fields and his family showed unconditional love to the Honduran people. It was a message that hit home particularly to teens from the States that visited the Fields family, Parkey said.
"I think it brought the reality of what they have here, and that someone would be able to give up the comfort we have here to help those people," Parkey said.
Hammons said it is hoped that the Guatemalan government will release Fields' body on Monday. No funeral arrangements have been made. Click on a link below for more stories on PCOL
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Guatemala; COS- Honduras; Obituaries; Safety and Security of Volunteers