A Late Update (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)

Well, we are over half way through January so I should finally say I hope you had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

For me it was a blessing to visit my family for Christmas. I'm not going to lie; it was a bit of culture shock at first returning to the States after a year. But it was good to spend time with my family.

Right now I am back in Honduras. I started school again last Monday. I really missed my students and they claimed that they miss me (though I doubt that now since we worked hard this week). It is good to be back with the community and to see everyone again.

Also, thank you to everyone who donated to the mission.

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.