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.