Photo Update

I hope your Advent is going well. Everything is great here. The mission last week went really well. Now I just have one more week until Christmas break. (Trust me, my students think they are already on break.) Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I finally posted more pictures. You can click the link above.

Advent Reflections

Happy Advent! It’s been a really busy week. It was the week of formation for Honduran youth, it is mission-prep week (even though I’m not going I still have my kid’s projects to create), and I had school. God has had to give me the strength to make it this week because it has been like living two days within the span of one day. I’m not complaining, though. I really enjoy school and I have enjoyed being present for part of the formation week and getting to know the youth. They should have a wonderful mission next week. They are hungry for God and hungry to bring Him to others.

Part of my job to prepare for the mission was to write the Advent reflections that will be copied and sent with each team. It got me thinking, what does Advent really mean? Sure we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, we welcome Him into our hearts now, and we prepare for His coming in the future. But what is the deeper meaning? I think the words awe and longing sum that up for me this year. The longing we all have for God and for His love and the awe of one who realizes how much God loves us and that the creator of the universe became man and dwelt among us. Most the time I find myself simply brushing past that truth. I’ve heard it since I was little. But in the moments when I stop to think…wow.

Then today in school we celebrated Mass. (On a side note, they celebrated in English since it is a bilingual school and I have forgotten the responses in English!) In his homily, Father brought up an interesting point that I had never thought of before. We get gifts for friends, family, everyone. But we are celebrating the birthday of Jesus. What does He get? Father suggested asking Him what He wants (or better yet, just like with our own families, asking His mom what He wants.) Faith? Trust? A closer relationship with us? I just had never thought of it like that before.

I hope that this Advent we can all grow closer to God and look beyond the wrappings and the trappings. God bless.

A very challenging thought:

Pope Francis said this in a homily, speaking about the story of Cain and Abel.

“Where is your brother?” Who is responsible for this blood?... Even today this question comes with force: Who is responsible for the blood of these brothers and sisters? No one! We all respond this way: not me, it has nothing to do with me, there are others, certainly not me. But God asks each one of us: “Where is the blood of your brother that cries out to me?” Today no one in the world feels responsible for this; we have lost the sense of fraternal responsibility; we have fallen into the hypocritical attitude of the priest and of the servant of the altar that Jesus speaks about in the parable of the Good Samaritan: We look upon the brother half dead by the roadside, perhaps we think “poor guy,” and we continue on our way, it’s none of our business; and we feel fine with this. We feel at peace with this, we feel fine! The culture of well-being, that makes us think of ourselves, that makes us insensitive to the cries of others, that makes us live in soap bubbles, that are beautiful but are nothing, are illusions of futility, of the transient, that brings indifference to others, that brings even the globalization of indifference. In this world of globalization we have fallen into a globalization of indifference. We are accustomed to the suffering of others, it doesn’t concern us, it’s none of our business.

Pray for Honduras this weekend that someone will be elected who will uphold human dignity, even for the most poor and desperate.

Do you want to be a Saint?

Those were to words spoken to the students today at Mass. Do we want to be Saints? Maybe not big "s" Saints, but maybe the little "s" saints. All be need has been given to us. We just need to open our hearts.

Today at school we celebrated All Saints Day. It was a lot of fun for the kids. They got to dress up as their favorite Saints…adorable. I am very much enjoying my time in the school. I have gotten to know my students better and finally established a routine (kind of). I am really learning that at the end of the day, I will never have finished my to-do list. But that’s okay. God is the one in charge so if I do the best I can, He will fill in the rest. It is important not to get so caught up in how much has to be done that you miss the blessings of the present moment. Below are some highlights from my first month as a teacher.

• In science we were learning about how humans affect an ecosystem. I put the students into pairs and gave each a bowl of water in which I had mixed coffee grounds, oil, and food coloring. I provided a random assortment of supplies and the students had to try and clean up the water "pollution." Wow! What a mess! But not a single one of them was just playing. They were really into the activity.
• In my religion class I had them write down five questions about anything relating to religion, faith, etc. Their questions were super deep! I am glad we are finally getting beyond the rote memorization of Sunday school when they were ten. Now I have my work cut out for me trying to answer them. The Catechism may become my best friend.
• Dressing up as St. Joan of Arc and seeing my students extremely excited that their teacher actually dressed up.
• Praying as a school. After years of public school (which I don't regret at all) it is refreshing to pray together as a whole school.
• Seeing the light bulb turn on when students finally understand something.

Emmanuel, God with Us

What can make a hot, cramped room full of teenagers sitting on the floor absolutely silent?

What can soften the heart of the most hardened, abandoned, and drug-addicted teenager?

What can strengthen us in the daily struggle of remaining faithful as disciples?

What can move us to tears of joy, gratitude, forgiveness, awe, surrender?

The Eucharist!

Last weekend we lead the Pan de Vida (Bread of Life) retreat here.  Wow. God did some incredible things in the lives of the youth that came. How incredible that each day we have the opportunity to receive our Lord and Savior into our very beings. God’s word brings about what it says. Let there be light. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Be healed. Your sins are forgiven. This is my Body. God’s Word shapes reality. He’s there in the Eucharist, really! And when a human heart opens itself to that reality, God responds!

I remember during one of the missions last summer a woman was sharing her story with me. She had what the doctors thought was cancer in her neck, but, since she lives in a mountain village it was not possible to go to Tegucigalpa for treatment. And besides, she was too scared to go. In addition, she had young children. With tears in their eyes, the woman and her grown daughter told me about how they were watching a Mass on TV one day. In this particular village they get Mass once a year. As the Eucharist was shown on TV, the woman put her hands on the screen and, looking at Jesus, simply said, “Have mercy on me.” She was healed.

Big Changes

It is funny how we think we have everything figured out and then God changes our plans. That happened to me a couple weeks ago. If you didn’t know, I studied to be a teacher in college and that is my dream. But I knew God was calling me to serve here so I chose to trust Him and came. It was a wonderful year, but it was always a little difficult to temporarily sacrifice my dream of teaching. Well, when I least expected it and in the way I least expected it, God handed me an opportunity. I am still living in the mission house and am serving as part of the community, but each morning my ministry is now at Instituto Católico Belingue, one of the bilingual schools in Comayagua. I teach a variety of subjects including 4^th grade math, science and grammar. Last Tuesday was my first day and I loved it! It is crazy how fast God can change our plans in completely unexpected way. Just another illustration that He’s really in charge of things.

Family, Beaches, and Fun

Well, my family left a couple days ago. It was really a blessing to have them here. I was able to show them around Comayagua and show them some of my ministries. We also took a side trip to Roatan, the islands in the Caribbean to the north. It was an enjoyable time, but for me a little weird. It was like being in a totally different country. Riding the bus up I was just thinking about my bus ride to Antigua and how Honduras looks very different through a bus window. Now, I certainly have nothing against being a tourist. On the contrary, I appreciated the chance. But on a tour bus you are a tourist, protected from the life of the people and isolated in your own bubble. It is very different walking the dusty streets, talking to people, and being challenged to love.  Now as we really get into my second year (orientation for the newbies is next week) I hope that I will be able to love and serve more fully. I want to really be able to enter into the lives of the people here.

Family Visit and Thoughts

In less that 24 hrs my family will be joining us for just over a week. I am so excited to see them and I am pretty sure they are excited to see me too. January to September was the longest I have ever gone without seeing my family. I can't wait to share the mission with them, to share something so important to me with the people most important to me. I can't wait for them to see the people, the joy, the community, the beauty of Honduras.

This last week was quite busy. Mostly I was getting things together for the trip. But in the car I was reading a book about a priest working in a slum in Jamaica. The way he started the book really struck me and I think it's true.

In the beginning, I did this work because I had to. It was a matter of conscience. God requires much from His followers...I hated the nakedness, the hunger, the ugliness, the anger, the weeping. But I went among the poor because Christ commanded it...Christ wanted me to be with the poor not to change the world of the poor materially, but to be among them and to find Christ's beauty among them. Yes, there are clothes, water food, shelter, money that we give. We give all that we can...But most importantly, it is the beauty we discover among the poor, the presence of Christ that holds us there. Love meaning being with those whom we love. Just as God loved us by being with us in the flesh of His son, we find Christ by being with the poor in whom He dwells.

It is presence. The deepest human longing is for love, dignity, to be valued. Even if one cannot change the larger picture and the complex systems at the root of poverty, one can accompany, listen, and value a fellow brother or sister. If I am powerless to change someone's future, I hope I can give them hope in the present. Especially tomorrow when the world prays for peace, let us treat one another with the dignity we give to Christ, because He is in each heart.

The Power of Prayer

Every Sunday I go to a nearby village with several other Missioners. They help with different catechesis groups for the kids, preparation for First Communion, etc. I meet with a group of mothers from the same village to do faith formation as well. Sometimes I am really not sure who is the missionary. Yes, I come with a theme prepared for the day to teach them the basics about our Catholic faith, but they teach me so much more about life in the process. Their simple faith and trust in God for even the most basic things is astonishing. I think we mutually learn from each other.

That was the case last Sunday when I asked one of the mother's how her week went. She started to tell me how her grown son works as a guard for a Pepsi truck in the North. That's a pretty dangerous job and in a pretty dangerous place. Every morning at 5am before he goes to work, she prays for him, asking that God will protect him from harm throughout the day. One particular morning she prayed as usual and then proceeded in her normal daily routine. But in the middle of the day she felt an overwhelming need to kneel and pray intensely for her son. She didn't know why, but knelt to pray. Later she learned that at the exact same time, six armed robbers had attacked the truck that her son was guarding. He threw himself on the ground to protect himself and a stray bullet caught his leg, though it missed shattering the bone. He was brought to the hospital and is recovering marvelously. The mother attributed his survival and the fact that the bullet didn't hit his bone to the power of prayer.

What have we been up to?

I just want to write a quick update on what has been going on the last couple of weeks. I updated the pictures a few days ago. We sent our last summer team home a couple weeks ago. All three teams that came for the summer were great. I think they all had a wonderful time and learned a lot. However, I think three missions is enough and I was glad for a little peace. The new long-termers have arrived now and will be going to Antigua soon. (I can't believe I was there a year ago!) Last weekend we went on a community retreat and it was good to get away for a couple days. Next week we will be leading the same confirmation retreat four times in different corners of one of the very rural parishes right along the El Salvador border. Please keep us in your prayers.

One Year

Well, I thought I would update the blog today since I have been here a year. Wow, a whole year! So much has happened, but it has been an incredible blessing to be here. I was thinking about all that God has allowed me to experience and do this year and it seems simultaneously like a blink of an eye and like several lifetimes. Most of my preconceived ideas about what it means to be a young adult serving in a foreign country were quickly squashed and I learned to simply love people and serve God in the small ways (this is a work-in-progress still).  It has been a year of growing, serving, changing, questioning, loving, hiking, writing, talking, translating, smiling, crying, laughing, hugging, dancing, praying, picture-taking, teaching, learning, searching, finding, cooking, cleaning, stretching, caring, gluing, cutting, organizing, listening, sharing, reading, helping, missioning…….

World Youth Day

Well, Pope Francis has certainly been challenging the youth, as he has been challenging pretty much everyone else since he became Pope. Unfortunately with the upcoming mission we can't watch any of the footage on the internet, but I read his message to the youth of Argentina this morning.Yikes. In honor of World Youth Day, I thought I would post some highlights from that.

I would like to say something. What do I expect as a consequence of the Youth Day? I expect a mess. There will be one. There will be a mess here in Rio? There will be! But I want a mess in the dioceses! I want people to go out! I want the Church to go out to the street! I want us to defend ourselves against everything that is worldliness, that is installation, that is comfortableness, that is clericalism, that is being shut-in in ourselves. The parishes, the schools, the institutions, exist to go out!

Messes aren't comfortable, nor do we like being uncomfortable, but if I have learned anything here, it's that if I am totally comfy and taking it easy, I'm not following Christ.

And faith in Jesus Christ isn’t a joke, it’s something very serious, it’s a scandal. That God came to make Himself one of us is a scandal! And that He died on the Cross is a scandal, the scandal of the Cross. The Cross continues to be a scandal, but the Cross is the only sure way, Jesus is the only sure way, Jesus’ Incarnation! Please, don’t liquefy faith in Jesus Christ! There is orange milk shake, apple milk shake, banana milkshake, but please, don’t take liquefied faith! The faith is whole, it’s not to be liquefied. It is faith in Jesus. It is faith in the Son of God made man, who loved me and died for me.

So much for domesticating our faith, which is so easy to do, especially in the States, because it is easier and more comfortable. Like CS Lewis says, Christ was either a lunatic, a liar, or the Son of God. Notice that nice teacher isn't on that list.

Have a blessed week and I pray that as the world see more of what Pope Francis has said we are all uncomfortable and challenged.

Do you believe in miracles?

You always hear about the miracles that Jesus worked in the Bible. Every once in a while you hear of something incredible that happened to someone who knows someone who knows someone. It is easy to say we believe in miracles, but I don't know if I ever really believed what I said. I think God is trying to teach me that He still works powerfully in the lives of those who have faith because these last couple weeks I have been hearing story after story after story.

It started with my mothers group that I lead on Sundays. I have been meeting with them for almost five months, but they are finally opening up to me. As I listen to their life stories I am amazed. They have nearly no access to medical care and have told me many of their family histories when someone was seriously ill and then somehow recovered. One mother was suicidal because her husband left her. She was also pregnant at the time. But she picked up a Bible and started to read. That was a year ago and she probably participates in the group more than any other. She is totally different now. I count that as a miracle.

This lesson in miracles continued on this last mission to La Union. On several house visits the woman told me about ways that God had worked in their lives. The first told me about how she had serious heart troubles and was in the hospital. She could hear everything, but couldn't open her eyes or move. The doctors thought she was dead because her vital signs stopped and her husband has crying over her. She could feel his tears on her cheeks. She prayed to God and then opened her eyes to comfort her husband. And that was just one woman. There were several others.

Whether you call these miracles or simply God working in people's lives, it is humbling to hear. Maybe the reason we find it hard to believe in miracles is because we don't trust in God. We are self-sufficient. We can go to the doctor. We know where our next meal is coming from. When something goes wrong there is a safety net. The people here have none of that. They know their absolute and total dependence on God. It is something profound that we can learn from them.

Why Me?

Sorry this post has been a while in coming; we’ve been busy. But now that the team has left for the States I can finally write an update.

We had the first mountain mission of the summer last week. I went to two villages: Plan Grande and Quebradas. They were both very beautiful towns high up in the mountains in the heart of coffee territory. The title of this post refers to a question I asked myself continuously throughout the week, not in a negative way, but with awe and gratitude.

It is incredible to think that God has me of all people in a foreign country, in a place few ever see, working among such incredible people as a missionary. Every time I gave a talk or had a conversation I wondered why God chose me. I have done things I never thought I would do here. Wasn’t there someone better to work alongside the Hondurans? It is a mystery why God chose me, a mystery I doubt I will ever know the answer to. But that’s ok because I chose to live it and embrace it. I am so grateful for this.

Summer is Here!

Well, summer has started. Our first team is down here right now and we finished orientation for the Hondurans that will be with us this summer. It is a little surreal that we have teams again. I feel like we just did this in March. But I am excited. It is sometimes a personal challenge with the teams because you get to know them well, but then they leave. And when you are first getting to know them, you know that they will soon be leaving. It would be much easier simply to give my orientation talks and complete whatever other responsibilities I have without really getting to know the groups. But part of our job as the North Americans on mission is to accompany them and help walk with them through this experience. I remember how important that was for me when I first came down, that someone listened to my questions, concerns, frustrations, and excitements and taught me about the life here and what it means to be a missionary. It is essential for them too and so even though it is a challenge, it is worth it. It is also a blessing because I am reminded of why I am here. (I don’t know how many times I have told my story, but it’s a lot.) I am also reminded of why we are here. It really is a blessing. Please pray for us next week while we are on mountain mission!

Ready, Set, Go!

Sorry it has been so long since I have written. I don't really have a good excuse. But now I am writing again.

We are just gearing up for summer, by far the busiest time of the year. There is a lot more that we do now than what we did three years ago when I came as a summer-termer: more, missions, more teams, more retreats, more activities. Plus, I don't think as a summer-termer I quite grasped the amount of behind-the-scenes things that happen.

In one of our meetings we have had, Carol challenged us to remember that we are not here for ourselves, especially this summer.  It isn't bad to see how you are growing, but we can't focus only on that. We have to give. This summer I will meet hundreds of people both from the States and from mountain villages. How sad if they don't leave a bit closer to Christ, because that is Who we all hunger for. They don't need Jamie; they need Jesus. Please pray for us that we will be able to serve selflessly this summer.

St. Therese

Something that has always surprised me is that St. Therese is one of the patrons of missionaries. St. Francis Xavier makes sense; he traveled the world sharing the message of the Gospel. But St. Therese lived her entire short life in France, she entered the Carmelites when she was very young, and she never did anything that would make anyone think of her as a "missionary." Yet, she has a lot to teach us about being missionaries in our everyday lives.

I think the main things that strike me about St. Therese are her simplicity, her incredible love of God manifested in love of neighbor in all the little things throughout the day, and her total trust that He will take care of her, guide her, lead her, form her, etc, etc, etc. Slowly God is showing me though various books I am reading and conversations I have had the importance of these things. We must rely totally on Him. And He will slowly teach us how.

The Many and Varied Experiences of a Missionary

Sorry for not writing in a while. I am doing well. Right now we are in a more calm time right before the summer excitement begins. That means we have time to dedicate to our usual ministries here in Comayagua. For me, that means a lot of tutoring and other things with our scholarship program as well as catechesis in a couple of villages the Missionaries of Charity work in. Those kids are so fun.

Even though we are following the normal routine right now, it amazes me the variety of things that a missionary experiences here. There are times where you want to cry in gratitude for all that God has done, times where you don’t know what you got yourself into, times when laughter comes easily, times when you give to God the situation because it’s too big to carry. You never quite know what each day will bring and have to be ready for whatever comes. For example, coming back from one of the mountain missions we were waiting at a bus stop. Two teams had just been reunited and we were talking about how our week went and about how tired we were. Lo and behold, all of a sudden, we ended up in a deep conversation about the Church teaching on confession and the Eucharist with another person waiting. A couple weeks ago I was visiting the families of the kids in the scholarship program to hand out letters we had gotten from their sponsors. It was supposed to be a quick and easy visit, but we found out that one of the fathers had been severely burned in a cooking accident the night before. We ended up staying to talk and pray with him for quite a while. Last night I had planned to relax a little bit after dinner and work on a couple little projects I have going. God had other ideas. At dinner I learned I was going to be spending the night at a nearby retreat center with a mentally handicapped women staying there who had come to the local clinic after suffering severe abuse. I never know when my plans will be completely changed and these are only three examples, but conversations, talks, and pretty much everything else have the potential to happen without any warning. I am learning to always be ready and flexible. I am learning that one is never not a missionary. And most of all, I am learning Who’s in charge here (hint: it’s not me or any of us in the Missioners of Christ).

Adventures of Holy Week

Happy Easter! Feliz Pascua.

We got back safe and sound from our Holy Week mission in La Ceiba. It was a blessed and beautiful week. God was so good to us and guided us in each moment. We ended up doing kid’s programs, skits, videos and other such things on the beach. Families could come if they wanted for a moment or for the whole thing. They chatted with us, shared their stories or practiced English (there are a lot of bilingual schools in La Ceiba). The thing was, since we have never done this before, were not in charge of the mission and really didn’t know what to expect, the whole thing was unknown and practically improvised. (That is like the #1 skill of a missionary.) It worked out though, thanks be to God, because we certainly didn’t know what we were going to do moment-to-moment. Then there was a freak storm Tuesday that was supposed to stick around the rest of the week. We couldn’t go to the beach so we were trying to figure out what to do and how we could serve. God led us to a home for street children and we did a program there instead, also improvised. I don’t know why He wanted us there that day in particular, but the next day it miraculously cleared up and we returned to the beach. The whole week was a lesson in trust that even though we are imperfect instruments, God can still use us.

Holy Week in Honduras is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The people get really into it. There are huge processions with floats, living Stations of the Cross, tons of events and prayer experiences in the churches, and so much more. It was incredible. Especially after my experiences here, it was beautiful to celebrate the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ alongside these people who often times are daily living the experiences of Calvary. It reminds me that only in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection does any suffering or difficulty take on any meaning whatsoever and that in all of it, Christ is present because He already carried it that fateful day. It sounds so overly simplistic, but that is our hope.

Lagunas

Sorry this blog is a bit late. We got back from our second mountain mission last Friday and since I was tired I decided it was better to write this post a little late than have it totally incomprehensible. It was a blessed and very beautiful week. Once again we were in a place of startling natural beauty. There were a lot more struggles this time though. The situation of the parish wasn’t very strong and the delegate is stuck trying to lead everyone while she herself is struggling with family things. The people weren’t really engaged and many families are divided over a couple evangelical churches that aggressively moved into the aldea within the last couple years. It is so sad to see the Body of Christ divided like this.

As we were trying to serve in the midst of all this and to bring peace to the people we met, I was reminded once again of my own inherent poverty. I may have many material things, but I, like every other person, am in desperate need of God. It was easy to think I was self-sufficient until I was confronted here with the realities of life faced by over half the world. The people know their desperate need for God and you can see it in their eyes; they hunger for Him. And they are slowly teaching me my own need too. Without Him, there is nothing.

Right now we are preparing to leave on another mission, this time in La Ceiba at the beach. That is where everyone stereotypically goes for Holy Week, so that is where we are going to, albeit for different reasons. I don’t really know what this mission will look like, but please keep us in your prayers.

Have a blessed Holy Week and a blessed Easter.

Dios es Bueno

That title is a popular song to sing before we start any program on the mountain missions. It is also a good way to describe my experience this last week on mission. A team had come down from the States and so we sent five teams to super remote mountain villages (aldeas) to do a weeks-worth of faith formation and evangelization. These villages get Mass every couple of months, tops. It was a beautiful experience. I saw God so clearly in the people, in their generosity to give us the best of what they have in gratitude, in the smiles of the kids, in their faith in the midst of struggles those from the States can never even begin to understand…The week was filled with blessings. I am so grateful that God has brought me here and pray that He continues to use me to reach others, even if I am not aware of it.

Now we will finish up with this team tonight and we pick up another at the airport tomorrow. I am excited to go back to the mountains to see both what God wants to teach me and what He wants me to do this time. Please pray for us since we can do nothing alone.

A Quick Note

I can’t write much today because we are preparing for a mountain mission. A team comes down from the States tomorrow and we have a lot to do. Pray for us in these next two weeks!

I also updated the pictures. Click on the link above. It should work this time.

A Video

While working in Honduras, we have had the opportunity to work with some other awesome groups like the Missionaries of Charity. One order we are quite close to is the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR's). Though we have different missions, we work together for most of the retreats and things like that. It's good to see all the different parts of the Body of Christ.

Brother Tobias is one of the CFR's. He is quite gifted musically and wrote this song. I thought I'd share it.

Hope

Something that has always amazed me about the people I have met here is hope. So many people have faced so many difficult situations but still have a deep hope and faith. This is why I am here: to accompany the people.

One woman that inspired me when I first met her is named Lesbia. Her father owns a coffee farm even though he is very old (like 80), can barely walk, or move his hands from arthritis. One day some kids were stealing coffee from the farm and one of them was shot in the arm. Well, the police came and arrested this father and took him to jail. Lesbia had to borrow a lot of money to bail him out. But she told me that it was worth it. He is her father and is so old that he would die in jail. Then the trial kept getting pushed back and pushed back. (This was all happening last July and August and still hasn't been resolved that I know of.) Yet, through all of this, Lesbia still had a deep hope.

There is a girl that I know named Lourdes. She comes to a young women's group that we lead and is about my age. She just graduated and is trying to find a job to support her family. Currently, her older sister is the only one who works, but she was just diagnosed with cancer. She has two young children and if Lourdes can find a job, maybe she can go through treatment. This week, Lourdes and her sister both came to the women's group (her sister has never gone to Church, but wants to know God.)You would never have guessed what was going on. They were both so positive.

The encounters I have with people here continue to amaze me. I hope that I can continue to walk with those I have met and help out along the way.

An Update of the Happenings

Well, it has been a busy week. I can't believe I have almost been back here a month! Some highlights are as follows:

• I am now helping with correspondence between the scholarship program here and in the States. Since I already work so much with this program, I am excited to be able to help in this way too. I really do believe that education is the key to a better future for both these kids and for the world as a whole. (Of course that's what I think; I'm a teacher.)
• These last couple of days I have been subbing for a friend at one of the bilingual schools. I have enjoyed it and appreciate the opportunity. It is a confirmation that I am where I am supposed to be at this time in my life: missionary and still being able to get in a classroom from time-to-time.
• Speaking of teaching, I have been asked to start teaching English lessons to the students in the scholarship program. That way, when they see it in high school, they should have at least some familiarity and be better equipped to be successful in that class. Mostly I have just been trying to do lesson planning, but where do you even start?

Well, those are some of the things that have been going on down here. I hope everyone is doing well. God bless.

San Pablo

I hope the feast of the conversion of St. Paul finds you well. We could learn a lot from him. In the first reading today, Paul goes out to persecute the followers of Jesus and has a crazy change of heart after seeing Him on the way. Almost right away, he speaks out and shares the Good News. It reminds me that, though I have certainly not experienced something as crazy as what happened to Paul on the road, every time God draws me closer to Himslef it is not for me alone. That gift is meant to be shared.

That brings me to my time here in Honduras. God is so good. And I desire to share what I have been given in whatever way I can. I pray as we start getting farther into the new year that we can all live this reality more fully. There are plenty of opportunities if we look for them, whether that be with our families, friends, coworkers, or kids in a scholarship program in a foreign country.

Back to Honduras

Happy New Year to all. I just wanted to post a quick update. I am back in Honduras after a blest break with my family. It is good to be back and I am excited to get started. Have a wonderful winter (I do not miss it.) God bless!