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…….