All for the Glory of God and the Body of Christ

After the fact...

2009-01-12T13:38:00.003-06:00

So I regret that I have not been able to update this as I should. Life was busy. I say was, because I am now back in the United States, and finished my time in Honduras for good. I was there 16 months, almost a year and a half, and it was....great, challenging, difficult, blessed, and everything in between. I don't think I can explain what life is like there--it doesn't matter how many blogs I would write about it, I couldn't do it justice. But I will try. So the subsequent blogs you will see in the next days and weeks is me trying to recall what happened during my time there, specifically focusing on the missions, as that's where a lot of my time and energy was spent. I know its not the same as writing it just after it happens, but its the best I can do. Life was just too crazy at the time to take away to write these blogs. They take a really long time to write down everything. But its worth it.

It's weird being back in the States now. Especially today, as a couple of people are going back today to Honduras, that came home for Christmas, as I did last year. They are going back, and I am staying here, to continue on the next thing the Lord has for me. But that's the way it goes. I miss it. I miss my fellow Missioners, the people we served, the life of prayer and service. There is a dynamism that missionary life has, just a real sense, an edge, that you are serving the Lord in a very real way and thus everything you do has that meaning and purpose, for the salvation of souls. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have done and experienced all that was there. And I know I am not the same person for my time in Honduras, and I trust the Lord will bring to completion what He started in me there.

There's nothing else really to say, it was the hardest thing I've ever done, and yet, the most blessed thing, as I could see the presence of the Holy Spirit again and again, as I had to depend on Him. I grew a whole lot, a ton of people said to me that I had changed dramatically from the time I came in August of 2007. It's funny because I can't really see the change in myself, but I know it happened. So that's all I've got for now, I will be updating this more in the future. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for His greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

Briefly

2008-04-29T16:00:00.002-06:00

Wow, time has flown. It has been quite a while since I have updated my blog, my apologies. Things here are BUSY! For Holy Week and Easter week I was busy with two missions. For over half of the month of April I have been traveling various places, just to give you a glimpse. The beginning of April I was in Ave Maria, Florida, taking a few days rest going home with a fellow missionary to visit his family. Then the following week I went on a brief two day mission with a friend of mine who flew down to visit me. Then 4 days later, I went on another mission near Tegucigalpa, preparing for the upcoming Pan de Vida retreat which is the second weekend in May. And the day following that, I left for El Salvador with a fellow missionary where we attended a formation course in discipleship and spent time with his family. Which brings me to the present, where we have a medical mission this week. Then the week following I will be traveling to Costa Rica, and then coming back for the Pan de Vida retreat. Thats life here, its been incredibly busy, exhausting, but good. I have enjoyed the travel and missioning and visiting different places, though it is exhausting. Please keep me in your prayers, I will try to update this again with more specific details of what went on in the past six weeks. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

El Crematorio

2008-02-29T11:02:00.002-06:00

So for several weeks on Thursdays, we have visited El Crematorio, for our site of evangelization. Every Thursday we will visit another village or specific location to specifically focus on evangelization, meaning we will visit homes and people and talk about the faith, read the Gospel from the day and reflect on it, pray with them, etc. And in the afternoons we will put on programs for the kids and families usually. So although we didn't get to do this completely in El Crematorio, for several weeks we went out and visited these people. El Crematorio is not a crematorium, where peoples bodies are burned, actually its a giant landfill where trash is burned. Its kind of crazy to think that people would actually be here, but in fact, people are there, most of them working during the day, a few that live there, looking for plastic and bottles to sell. But they get very very little money for all the bags of plastic they collect. So its all very sad. But its really quite surprising as you go and talk to people, and you ask them how they are, they all respond good or very good. They all, generally speaking, are in good spirits, not gloomy or depressed because they are having to work in a landfill. That just doesn't seem to make sense to the American psyche, that if you are in a landfill, you shouldn't be happy. But I think that shows how they are just happy to be alive, and if this is the only way they can struggle to make an honest living in supporting their family they will do it. But you wonder why people steal and do illegal things to make money, well its because the other alternatives are limited, such as working in a landfill. Its crazy. So we arrived, talked to a few people and invited them to a program we were going to do, and then at a small shaded hut, we had a brief program of some songs, prayer, and a short talk on the things of the faith, such as lent, or the beautitudes, or the Sacraments, or something to that effect. When I had the opportunity to give a brief talk on the beatitudes, that's what I basically said, that in their poverty and because of their poverty theirs is the kingdom of God, and in some sense, God loves the poor person more than the rich because of that need. In poverty, one can become more dependent on God as they have to be dependent on them to help them provide for their basic needs. But it was really good, you could see they all came, not necessarily because they wanted to hear about Christ, but because they wanted something else to do, that never ever does someone come out there with something for them, and so I think they were opened to it. So we also brought some juice, coffee, and sweet bread to give them something small, and just encouraged them in their faith, emphasizing the importance of attending Sunday Mass and prayer everyday. They were very appreciative for us coming, and we were very humbled in going there. The smell was horrible as you walked around with the smell of burning trash, EVERYWHERE, and walking around on trash, burnt trash, lots of glass, and who knows what else. It was crazy, flies absolutely everywhere when it wasn't windy. It was humbling for me as I was thinking about how dirty the place was as I shook the hands of the people I met and wondering if I was going to get sick from shaking their hand. But I had to consciously think and act the opposite, and so in thinking that the human person is more important than that, I must greet them, and if anything I must be sure that I give them a handshake and some form of human contact simply because, probably, they dont receive a great deal of human contact, and if I am truly trying to be a missionary, if I truly am trying to be Christ as I am called to be, then I have to, out of love for Christ, because the love of Christ compells me! And so really deep down, we are all the same, we are human beings loved by God. And thats what we have to express to each person.

May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

So another thing that happened like a month ago

2008-02-22T11:09:00.002-06:00

So about a month ago when we had some visitors with us, we were sent to an orphanage for boys called La Granja. There was a visiting Benedictine monk, a seminarian, another guy from Texas A&M, Bob a missionary here, and I who were visiting this orphanage. On Wednesday, we had painted some rooms and spent some time talking with the boys, and on Thursday we had wanted to go hiking to give them a change of place. So we were trying to figure out a place to go, but didnt have much luck as we heard, o go here, or go there, but its long way to the mountains, etc. So we had decided to go to La Paz, a town a short bus ride away, and see what was there, if we could even get to the mountains. We got off the bus, and could see that they were in fact a ways a way, so we were all kinda unsure what to do and the boys could tell, but we just started walking towards the mountains, and about 30 minutes later we were finally no longer in the city and in more of a wilderness area. We just kinda figured it out as we went along and God provided. Let´s take this trail, let´s see if we can go up this small mountain, let´s cross this barbed wire fence. That was pretty much the way it went, but we made it up to a big hill that wasn´t quite a mountain, but difficult to get up nonetheless. So it took us about an hour to walk that path, from the bus to the top of our mountain, where we just kinda sat down and talked with the boys for a bit of time. I talked a little bit with them about our journey and relating it to our walk with Christ, and just the importance of us taking risks, stepping out in faith ,and seeking out hte Lord in in our lives. Bryan, the guy from A&M, talked and I translated, about what men should really be like and receiving the love of God as a man, which was really quite good. He has a gift for things like this. And then one by one, we all kinda shared about what it meant for us to be men, which was quite powerful. Some of the boys shared about how we are able to image the Father as men and how we are called be leaders because of the fact that we are men, whether it be leaders as in being a father in a family, or being a spiritual father as a priest. So it was really powerful for me, just of realizing my own weakness in trying to organize something and not knowing what to do and just trusting that God would lead the way (which he did completely), as well as just hearing the faith of some of these boys, who come from difficult situations, but are still able to have faith in a loving God. It was great because we climbed down and returned, and got back just in time. We couldnt have planned it any better...well really we really werent the ones that planned it. Just a short story about a good time here, I hope you enjoyed it. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

Teaching

2008-02-22T10:38:00.003-06:00

So I keep meaning to update this blog more than I have been doing, but you would be suprised how long each blog takes me to write. Not to mention the fact we dont use the internet very much down here, about once a week.

So things have picked back up in full swing here at the mission with our classes starting back up in February. It has been good teaching the class with the kids here ages 10-12, but certainly challenging at times, as its hard to keep them focused and paying attention. But I think they are learning some and enjoying the class. We changed it up a little bit and added a lot of stuff to the room to make it look more like a classroom. That and we divided the room in half: one half thats more like a classroom and the other that is more like a separate prayer space with a crucifix, small table with candles and some images of Mary, Joseph, and St. Francis. So recently we have been discussing the Lent, the Eucharist and the liturgical calendar and different seasons and what all the different colors mean. (We had to make a liturgical calendar which took a long time). But its going well, we just have to keep being creative in presenting our lessons and relying on the Holy Spirit.

So on another note, the past month and a half has been the most challenging for me as I realize I´ve been down here over 6 months now and still my Spanish is not that great, and I still feel like I can´t do a whole lot down here, largely because of my Spanish. But the fact is, its not about how much we can give or about how we can grade our efforts. For just about all of my life, I have received grades on how I am doing, or pay for my work. And its good to feel that. But the reality is the work I am doing now I cant grade myself on really, the only thing I can do is be faithful and hope God in his mercy is blessing the fruit of my labor, which sometimes I am able to see visible fruits of it, and many other times, not. Because the reality is if one person down here is changed just a little bit to be closer to Christ because of my efforts, then all of my time down here is worth it, as frustrating as that can be sometimes because in my desire for perfection I want to be able to bring everyone to Christ. But its not about me and my wants, its about God, all I can do is be faithful and leave the grace part to Him. So its all humbling, but thats the way it goes. And with all of that said, after spending time in prayer and seeing about what I should do next year, I think I am going to stay down here another year. It has been a challenge for me, because its not something I would choose on my own, but its what I feel the Lord is calling me to do. Its good though, because my life is not my own. But I know its going to be challenging. But I´ve grown a lot already and have a long way to go, and I can really see how my time down here is going to continue that growth. So pray for me for courage that I can continue to confront my fears in my limited Spanish abilities and be the man the Lord is calling me to be. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

Brief mission to begin the New Year

2008-01-25T14:10:00.000-06:00

So its been a crazy month since returning to Honduras December 31st. First, meeting up with a group for the last two days of a mountain mission. I know this sounds crazy, but it was the coldest two days of my life. So we show up, and its really really foggy and really really windy, like at least 40-50 mph winds consistently, and I´m not kidding. Not to mention, its probably about 40 degrees outside, so with the windchill, its pretty darn cold. Yeah and it had been that way since they got there. But it was good, a great sacrifice to endure as you couldn´t really escape the cold. I mean that´s really why it was the coldest I´ve ever been in my life, because in the States, I´ve been in places where the temperature was a lot colder and weather conditions worse, but you could just go back to your house, turn on the heat and go near the fire. Here, even at the house we stayed at, you couldn´t escape the cold, you froze during the night. The wind blew so hard it even lifted the roof of the house we stayed in about six inches and caused the electricity go out. That was pretty wild. And it gets better. We were in the middle of one of our programs in the evenings, with very few people as not many go out in the cold, and this kid comes in saying to us he needs help because the roof of his house had blown partly off. So a lot of the guys left to go to the house, which turned out to be the house that the girls on our team stayed at. So we get up and climb up on this roof, about 10-15 feet off the ground, maybe more with winds 40-50 mph, no joke. Part of the metal roof had blown up and was flapping in the wind, and if you didn´t balance yourself well you would fall over. As we tried to push the flapping part of the roof back in its place, my friend just finally jumped on it, to keep it from flapping, and still the wind blew up the roof with him on top of it! At this point, I am laughing I am so cold. I mean all I am wearing is a hoodie with a long sleeve shirt and a short sleeve shirt underneath. It was so cold, but it hurt and was miserable to the point that it was just down right crazy and funny, where I was praising the Lord in laughter. So we helped a guy who was already up there nail down the roof to where it wasn´t a problem any more and was completely secure. Yeah it was great. But the rest of my time there was great as the other missionaries that were there were such an example to me of really how to not focus on the suffering, but the people that they were there for. It´s just a call for all of us to keep our focus off of ourselves and on the Lord and others, and only then can we really be living the Gospel well. What a gift it is to be visiting this people and bringing the faith! What a gift to bring a priest with us to have Mass and Adoration to people that long for it so much! Sometimes, it just easy to get caught up in the small stuff and lose the big picture. That all seems so long ago. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

El Socorro: Mountain Mission #2 December 3 – December 8

2007-12-31T00:36:00.001-06:00

So after coming back to Comayagua for less than 48 hours to regroup, do some laundry, catch up on some sleep, and make a few changes, we headed back out to the mountains. This time we headed out near Minas de Oro, the same place I had visited two weeks back (two blog entries ago). The teams were changed slightly as some people couldn’t go the second week. My team was mostly the same. Our team visited El Socorro while the two other teams visited Ojos de Agua and Pimientia. This week was very different from the last.

Our schedule was mostly the same as the previous week with the same themes for everyday. We divided the tasks differently this time, so everyone had a different role whether it be giving a talk, leading prayer, giving your personal testimony, leading an arts and crafts activity, leading music, or leading a game or icebreaker. So when we divided out tasks, I took on two talks, one to the families in the evening on Advent, and the second to the young adults in the afternoon on the Sacraments.

This village was a lot different as it was a lot smaller than the past one (we visited almost all the houses in the area in one morning), and there were much fewer Protestants. Still, a number of people didn’t go weekly to the church for the Liturgy of the Word service every week and still a number of youth were starting to drink and do drugs, similar to other parts of Honduras. I think the fact that there were much fewer Protestants in the community changed the whole feel of this week in comparison with the previous week. The rest of the team felt the difference too, and it seemed like we were more effective and were received better than the previous week. Because there were fewer houses in this village, Wednesday and Thursday, as a team we split up and visited a nearby community to use our time as best we could.

I was really excited about this week, now that I had a better idea of what to expect, and how I could be a better missionary. I was also really excited to give another talk. For whatever reason, for several years now I have had a strong desire to speak in front of a crowd, to preach the Gospel. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense as I am pretty shy and not a very outgoing person, and I get incredibly nervous before talking in front of people. But I think that points even more how the Lord can use weak vessels to do his will, and it shows more to me, that this desire I have to preach is not a desire from myself, but one that comes from Him. Secondly, I was really excited to give a talk about Advent because just a few days before I received in prayer a great way of looking at the Advent season, something I had struggled to understand in the past. I had given a talk a few weeks before during the preparation week for all the missionaries that would be going into the mountains on the subject of Mass and adoration, and it went ok (partially because my Spanish just wasn’t on that day), but I was very disappointed with it. So I was hoping to do much better, though I now knew how much more difficult it is give a talk in Spanish than in English. So you write out your whole talk in Spanish and practice and prepare it, and then in the moment when you are giving your talk you find yourself talking in a slightly different tense than what you have on paper, so as a result you are having to think fast on the fly to conjugate all the verbs in a different sense, different than what you had written down. Not to mention, you’re doing it all in front of people as they are all looking at you. It’s a good challenge though, and a necessary thing to learn. In my time down in Honduras, it has been a struggle speaking in Spanish to people I don’t know well. Just about every time I would feel incredibly nervous and become too focused on speaking correctly, that I would often make more mistakes in talking. That would only multiply whenever I gave a talk in front of many people. So I think after about 4 months now, I think I have finally overcome this fear, and don’t get near as nervous anymore. Public speaking in Spanish is almost a new thing completely, and I feel like I had to re-learn how to speak publicly simply because I was not speaking my native language. Regardless, I was excited.

Advent was always difficult for me to understand as we are preparing for Christmas, but as the Church celebrates it, we don’t have all the Christmas decorations out yet, we’re not singing all the Christmas songs, we are waiting and expecting in a more solemn way. But its not necessarily a time of fasting and penance as Lent is in preparation for Easter. So what exactly is Advent? We are preparing for birth of Christ, preparing for Christmas, and at the same time, preparing for the second coming of Christ in the end times. So, a few days before I had an epiphany in prayer on what Advent is. I was thinking about St. Joseph and what’s is like for St. Joseph to be waiting for the birth of Jesus. At this point he’s taken Mary into his home, as the Gospel says. He has probably married Mary and understands the fact that he will be the foster father of the promised One of Israel. And he’s waiting and preparing for this. That’s gotta be crazy. What’s it like to be a father for the first time? I mean I can just imagine what’s is like for a father to go through all of this. There’s probably a great deal of excitement and joy at the time when he finds out he’s going to be a father and his wife is pregnant. And he probably thinks to himself, “Wow, I am going to be a father, I need to change a lot of my sinful habits, if I am going to be father, I must be a better man. I’ve got to be more patient, and more loving, I’ve got to show more love to my wife and serve her more. I can’t keep being so lazy. I’ve got to start praying more and being a better husband….etc, etc” I would bet in the States a lot of men would go out and buy a book on parenting in realizing the daunting task before them. And then, as the months go on, and he prepares more, sees his wife’s belly growing more, and its like a month before she’s due, and it finally hits him in a real way that he’s going to be the father of another human being, he’s going to be responsible for a family. And at the point, he’s probably really trying to be better and actually do all the things he said he was going to do when he first found out she was pregnant. I was thinking about all of this in the eyes of St. Joseph and how he’s probably thinking how unworthy he is to be father on earth for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and how he probably wants to change a number of his sinful habits to really be the best man he can be, so he can be the best father he can be. I mean, St. Joseph is an already outstanding individual, married to the Immaculate Conception, and future foster father to the Son of God. He probably was already a very virtuous man, but still he had sin. Thank God someone in the Holy Family had sin. I mean, thank God also that Mary did not have sin as the Mother of God, and of course, Jesus could not sin as the Son of God, but thank God someone in the Holy Family had sin, so at the very least we can relate to him all the more. I mean there’s the joke of Mary, Jesus as a child, and Joseph sitting down to dinner and Joseph looks up and says, “Who left the front door open?” And then he looks at Jesus, the Son of God, the perfect one, and then Mary, the one conceived without original sin, and then says, “Right, that must have been me, as I’m the only one who isn’t perfect.” (Not that leaving the front door open is necessarily a sin, but you get the idea). So its obviously a great blessing to live with the Mother of God and the Son of God, but also a trial at times. But he’s gotta be thinking how much he wants to rid himself of all of his sin, and pleading with the Lord to take away all of his sin as he doesn’t want his son to see his sinful habits and he wants to be the best father he can be. And so he’s preparing and praying and trying to be the best man he can be as the date approaches. And this is exactly the same attitude we take as we prepare for Christmas and the birth of Christ. Because as Catholics, we take a different perspective on Christmas and liturgical seasons. We don’t just celebrate Christmas for one day, remembering the birth of Christ 2,000 years ago and say, “Happy Birthday Jesus!” No, the reality is we celebrate Christmas for an entire season until about mid-January, because we are re-living in the present what happened 2,000 years ago. This is why we have the season of Advent, because it gives us an opportunity to prepare for the Son of God to be born. Because he’s not just going to be born into the family of Mary and Joseph 2,000 years ago, he’s going to be born into our hearts, and our families, and our lives this Christmas. And the question on all of our hearts should be, “Is there room in my heart, in my family, in my life for the Lord of Lords and King of Kings? When Jesus is born, will I be ready?” The reality is we are with Mary and Joseph as they are preparing for the birth of their son, and we are with them in Bethlehem. So as Joseph looks at his own life and sees things he wanted to change to prepare the way for Christ, so we must look at our own lives and prepare the way for the Lord. And as we prepare for the coming of the Christ Child in our lives and hearts, we look to the future and prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ when he comes in glory. The question is, will we have faith then? We must change our lives, convert our lives more and more to make way for Christ, as he comes in glory and how he comes in our lives during Christmas. So as we prepare for Christ, may he be born into our lives anew at Christmas.

So that was the basic gist of what I said, although I could have done a lot better job talking in English than Spanish (sorry that’s really long). But it went pretty well, and it was all grace. Hopefully they understood my Spanish. The second talk I gave, I didn’t have as much time to prepare, but I gave an overview of the Sacraments to the young adults, specifically emphasizing Confession and the Eucharist, and talking about my own experience of the healing power of Confession and the graces that flow from the Eucharist. I could tell my Spanish improved quite a bit as I felt a lot more comfortable talking in front of people this time.

Another blessing of these weeks was Fr. Juniper. Fr. Juniper is a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal who lives in New York. He is a part of the religious community that lives right next door to us in Comayagua, but he was only visiting Honduras to be with us during these weeks so we could have our own priests for the missions. I cannot express how much of a blessing it was to have him there with us. Fr. Juniper, at first, does not come across as anything extraordinary, in terms of, he doesn’t have an amazing ability as a homilist, or incredibly incredibly insightful into the Christian life. But the more and more I was around him, the more I was blown away by him. He is so incredibly humble about his abilities and so honest about anything, and does a great job of relating to you, and not coming across superior being a priest. At the mission, I am the sacristan and altar server for all of our liturgical events, so I am pretty regularly talking with the priests and asking them questions as I set up for Mass and adoration and such. So this meant I was able to spend a good amount of time with Father and get to know him pretty well. As he was there for 3 weeks, I was able to talk a lot with him and he gave me a lot of advice. I can’t tell you what a difference just his presence made during the trip. At times when things were going crazy, and we all were starting to feel spiritual attack in various ways, he just calmly addressed the issue and told people to really focus on finding peace in their hearts in the midst of the craziness. He was always so generous in giving of himself, never complaining about going from one village to another and having to be flexible with changes at the last minute about when we were having Mass and adoration, or who he was supposed to go give the Anointing of the Sick to. He was always good at getting to know all of youth missionaries that went with us, learning all their names, always cracking jokes with them and just being a real person to them, instead of being distant. The final night of the mission we had a ending program with all of the mission groups and the 3 villages as well in one location. So we had a few skits and had adoration and Mass. Something many of the CFRs do is during adoration, have Eucharistic processions where the priest carries the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament. As he carries the Blessed Sacrament, he wears a humeral veil to hold it and thus part of the veil drapes down. So the priest will go around to every individual and hold the Blessed Sacrament above them as each kneels down and touches the humeral veil to their face. It’s really a beautiful tradition that really relates to the woman who was hemorrhaging who only had to touch the garments of Christ to be healed. So Father did this that evening in the small chapel, which was very hot as a light bulb was directly over his head. And he held the monstrance for at least an hour and a half as every person that was there got to have a few seconds to spend with Christ in a very personal way touching the humeral veil which was touching the monstrance with Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. You could see he was getting really tired and sweating profusely, but he didn’t complain at all, though you could see what a sacrifice it was. And the kicker was we had Mass right after that, so after an hour and a half to two hour procession, he celebrated Mass right after. It was just an incredible witness of a priest who loves being a priest and makes a lot of sacrifices to bring the laity closer to Christ.

December 8th was the final day of the mission where we packed up and left, and also is the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It was a beautiful day, though it was quite hectic packing everything up and getting people back to Comayagua. Everyone took all their bags and put them in the back of our pickup truck, so naturally it was all piled pretty high. Carol asked Father Juniper and I to ride in the back of the pickup seated above all the stuff, to make sure nothing flew out in the journey back. So this was just the perfect day: here I was on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, riding in the back of the pickup above all the stuff seated pretty comfortably, with the beautiful mountains of Honduras in the distance as we drove by on a beautiful day, and having the opportunity to spend 3 hours talking with Father Juniper about all sorts of random stuff from the CFRs, to his own conversion, to some of my struggles, and all sorts of things in between. It was just such a blessing, such a gift from Our Lady that day to spend that time with Father.

There’s probably a lot more I could have written in this entry about this week, but its already too long. It was a great week, once again amazing to see the impact we made, and what joy we brought these people. Their faith was a witness to us as especially the Delegates of the Word lead by such great faith and give of themselves continually every week all the while still trying to find the means to support their families and find money to be able to travel into Comayagua to go to the monthly meetings required for all Delegates of the Word.

Tomorrow I return to Honduras after a two week break here in the States and I am really excited. It has been weird to be back in some ways after some culture shock, but good to have a break, but I am ready to return and to give my all to Christ in serving the people of Honduras. And I am really motivated to continue to pour out everything that I have for the Lord and His Church and nothing less, as this is what Christ asks of me. We must give of ourselves completely as Christ did for us. Pray for me to have this grace to be able to do this. Please keep me in your prayers. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

Mountain mission of November 25 – December 1

2007-12-30T01:02:00.001-06:00

About 50 high school-aged youth who are active in their parishes in Comayagua and other cities went with us into the mountains to visit three different villages near El Rosario. Three teams of about 15 each visited the villages of Los Hornos, Huertas, and Loma Larga. So we arrived in the late evening on Sunday, November 25 and began the mission the next day.

In the mornings, we broke up into four teams and visited homes in the community. In every home, we would introduce ourselves as Catholic missionaries, talk a little bit with them, read the Gospel for the day and give a brief reflection, ask them if they had any questions about the Catholic faith, give them some handouts, tell them about our programs in the afternoons, and close in prayer. It’s quite amazing just the difference between cultures. If someone showed up on your doorstep, you might have a polite, but short conversation, but probably not invite them in. Just about every time we were welcomed warmly, invited to sit down in the few chairs they had in their homes. Most were very enthusiastic to have Catholic missionaries visit them, and I’m guessing it had been a long time since anyone had talked to them about God. Some were a little hesitant maybe because their faith had not been that important to them during their life, but perhaps a seed was planted.

In the afternoons, we had a programs for kids (at 2), for young adults (at 4) and in the evening for families (at 6). After lunch, we would prepare a little bit for the programs, and begin our program with the kids. This would usually include some songs, a short game, prayer, a short drama, a brief lesson, and an activity to bring it all together. We divided the jobs of each part of the program to different people, so just about everyone did a few things between the kids, young adults, and families’ programs. With the young adult we did roughly the same thing, although a little more in depth, and instead of an activity we had small groups. It was always very tough with the young adults they didn’t start coming until the end of the week, and many youth would simply stand outside the entrance to the chapel and just watch from afar and refuse to come inside and sit down. But certainly seeds were planted. With the families we prayed Liturgy of the Hours with them (or prayed the Rosary), gave a brief lesson, shared the Gospel of the day with a reflection, and gave opportunities for others to share their reflections on the Gospel. Everyday we had a different theme: Monday, Mary and the Annunciation, Tuesday, Advent, Wednesday, Holy Family, Thursday, Sacraments, Friday, spiritual gifts, and all of our programs were based upon these themes.

So during the week it was difficult the village is heavily Protestant. There are a good number of Catholics there, but the division of Protestants and Catholics is very apparent. A few times when we were visiting homes, people did not even welcome us inside to at least pray with them, or anything else. But that is the way it is I suppose. It is interesting to see the division in these small towns between Catholics and Protestants. Honduras is historically and culturally Catholic, but as the shortage of priests has affected the region in the past 25 years, Protestant churches from America have been incredibly successful in coming into different regions, building churches, and converting people.

Thursday and Friday we had a priest with us to provide the Sacraments. We had Mass and adoration and he heard confessions and administer anointing of the sick. What an incredible gift it was to be able to bring the Sacraments to these people who go a year or longer without being able to go to Mass! How happy they were to be able to have Mass and just missionaries there who came to specifically visit them! It was quite an experience for me as well, having just a taste of what people go through. It is a huge blessing that I still take for granted to be able to go to Mass everyday. Daily adoration as well is a huge blessing, probably one of the greatest parts of my time in Honduras, just the gift of continually being able to remain focused on the Lord and be in his presence everyday. So after 3 and a half months of having Mass and adoration everyday, it was very weird to go 4 consecutive days without the Eucharist. I really longed for the Eucharist and missed adoration and Mass greatly. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I could feel the difference. So when we finally had Mass on Thursday, I was overjoyed and incredibly peaceful after receiving the Eucharist during Mass. I know now why it is so essential for missionaries to go to daily Mass and have prayer time everyday, simply because it is draining and easy to lose focus on what you are doing and why you are doing it. Because really, whenever we (not missionaries, but anyone and everyone) do anything good or accomplish anything good, its not us, its pure grace. Put another way, whenever we do anything good, it is God working through us and not us. I think I have realized this idea much more in my time down in Honduras, simply because as I see the changes in myself, the good that I am able to do, and how God has used me, I know it’s a complete reflection of time in prayer and the gift of the Mass. Not that I am perfect or anything, because I definitely have a long way to go, but really, everything is grace.

So because I was there with 14 others, and only one of them spoke English (only Andrew from the Missioners), my Spanish seemed to improve quite a bit. My team said at the end of the week that they could tell the difference in my Spanish. It was great to be with all of these youth, a little different to be around high school-aged kids again, but really good. It’s amazing how much energy they have all the time and how much life they bring. I understand why others observed that John Paul II always seemed much more upbeat and alive when he was surrounded by youth. I am still young myself, but I even notice a difference between high school students and people my age in terms of how much energy they have. I think its hard for high schoolers to see how much life they bring and how much an impact they can have just by their positive presence (I don’t think I saw at that age). And I could see their impact on this community in just how much life they brought. Sure there were times when the kids were getting distracted, off task, and joking around too much, but their excitement, their authentic witness to Christ, and their joy seemed to be contagious. It was a good week for me as I was there as sort of an assistant leader, but certainly limited on how much I could do or say simply because of the language barrier. But at the same time it was hard, as I had to take on a more supportive role rather than a more leadership role, which was something I was not used to. It was good challenge for me, to be able to intercede more for my team and for the community, and to have to look for ways to serve and encourage others on my team. But it was a privilege to be there, and to not be doing as much, in terms not giving talks or interacting as much with the people, but being able to see the other people on my mission team step up to the plate, and step outside of themselves in giving great talks and really being transformed in having to be an example of faith to others. I mean that in the sense that when someone is put in a situation where they have to be an example and try to talk with others about the faith, you can see their own faith developing and increasing. As St. Francis of Assisi says, “It is in giving that we receive.”

But these kids that went on mission with us are just phenomenal. A lot of them are coming from situations in their families that incredibly difficult. Abuse, abandonment, alcoholism and drugs in their families, etc etc. It’s very sad to see and hear about, but its really amazing to see how amazing these kids are under these difficult circumstances. I think that is perhaps a major difference between Honduras and America. Many Americans also have difficult situations in their lives and families that are similar to people here in Honduras, but the difference is typically you can find help in the US from government organizations or from churches or from many different sources. But in Honduras, often you can’t find that kind of support and help, you may have to look for it much much harder. So yeah, these kids are incredible with just a great love for the Lord and a great desire to serve the Lord with their lives. It’s so beautiful to see, it gives such hope. With the culture there (and in America too) that influences kids to go in the opposite direction, it’s just awesome to see youth choosing something dramatically different and trying to follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

It was a very good week, very challenging in some ways, and tiring doing all that we did. But it was great to do be able to actively evangelize and encourage people in their faith. Although at times it was frustrating as many, especially youth, would stand outside the church and never actually come in, curious, but not necessarily open, and thus, often joke around and talk loud outside during our programs and liturgies. But there were a few that by the end of the week, came to our programs consistently and though they came across very stoic and uninterested, I definitely think some seeds were planted. I hope you enjoyed reading this, please keep me in your prayers as I pray for you. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

Four Day Mission - November 16-19

2007-12-27T01:41:00.000-06:00

I had wanted to blog the following for a long time, but never got a chance. My first mission to the "mountains" of Honduras was up in the region near Minas de Oro (Mines of Gold). I went with Brad, a new missionary from America who arrived about the same time I did, and Roger, a missionary from Honduras who had been there about 8 months, and Andrew, from America who has been down in Honduras for almost two years. So we left on a school bus early in the morning, making our connecting bus, literally, just in time, as everything seems to be running late in Honduras. A couple of things about this bus ride: first, we had to stop a couple of times as the bus kept breaking down with really bad noises coming from the engine. But of course, with the brilliant Honduran engineering, they figure out how to fix anything to get it to work so that they can continue to drain every ounce of energy from the engine until it physically cannot work anymore. It's actually quite amazing how they can get some things to work when reason and physics say this machine shouldn't be functioning. Secondly, the mud was so thick from recent rain that I'm fairly certain they used to chains on the tires. And even at one point, they forced all the men to get off the bus to lighten the load, and meanwhile local nearby tractor pulled the bus up a steep hill, that was covered in thick thick mud. That was one event that I don't think would ever happen in America, forcing people to get off a bus and then have someone in the nearby community use their tractor to help public transportation function. It's really quite amazing in some ways how different events like these really bring people together, funny events that cause everyone to start talking to each other that would normally come about. It made me think in America, how because things like this don't happen, people are much more distant from one another. And it shows how willing these people are to help everyone else out. To have someone use their tractor to help public transportation make it up a hill...unimaginable in America. Just an interesting thought to think about. I wish I would have taken a picture of this, it was pretty funny, but yet incredible.

So we arrived at Minas de Oro and were met by a delegate of the word there who had 3 horses with him. Delegates of the Word are people that in charge of the local parish or chapel when there are not enough priests. Basically they act as leading the parish community in educating the village about the faith as well as preparing people for the Sacraments, among other things. Quite incredible people as they have to give of themselves in unbelievable ways all the while trying to still provide for their own families, all without Mass for one to possibly three years! Incredible! So Don Vincente met us and 3 of the missionaries rode the horses while I and a few other Hondurans who were traveling to the same villages we were going to walked instead. At some point someone told us that a car was coming, so I waited with the Hondurans that were walking. We waited quite a bit of time while the others on horseback when ahead of us. I was getting a little nervous as we were waiting and waiting and waiting for the car to come to take us further along the road, as possibly 30-45 minutes went by. Not to mention the fact that the Hondurans had an accent so thick I was having a hard time understanding them, and they, even , were having a hard time understanding me, something that had not happened before. But after asking about when the car was coming, I was simply told it was coming soon and I shouldn't worry. That's just the way things work in Honduras, at a much slower pace, and in a way that you're not really sure if things are going to happen the way they say they are going to happen. So after meeting my fellow missionaries up at a river, I traded places with Andrew and made him walk while I rode the horse. It was pretty cool at this point, crossing a river on horseback with my backpack on and carrying a bunch of stuff. Wow. This trip up these mountains on horseback was incredible, with beautiful scenery and completely away from civilization. You couldn't hear any cars in the distance or see any cities for miles. Just the breeze and the sound of the horses going up the path with an occasional bird chirping nearby. Absolutely incredible. It just really made me think of the first missionaries that came to this region bringing the Gospel to uncharted lands, and how we are following in their footsteps by trying to encourage these people in their faith. What an incredible gift!

So we finally arrived at Ojos de Agua at dusk and stayed with this family for the night after they fed us and gave us coffee. It's always kind of funny to the Americans when you have just walked and horsebacked up a mountain and you are exhausted, hot, and sweaty, and of course, the first thing the Hondurans in the mountains offer you is a hot cup of coffee, which of course, you can't really refuse. Gotta love it. Well that's Honduran hospitality for ya, they always try to give the best they have, which is quite good, Honduran coffee that is. So we prayed evening prayer from Liturgy of the Hours with the family and the delegates of the word that walked with us the afternoon and went to bed.

The following day we had breakfast, prayer, and headed off to the village of Pimentia (spelling is something like that) where we met all of the Delegates of the Word in the local area. We were going on this brief trip all to prepare for the following weeks when we would be bringing about 50 youth to the area to break up into 3 teams, each staying in a different village, where each team would evangelize homes in the area, and put on programs for the kids, young adults, and families in the afternoons. So during these few days we were simply trying to prepare the way, explain what we were hoping to accomplish during our upcoming mission, and make sure adequate accommodations would be provided for each team of housing and someone would be able to prepare our food (we were going to bring enough food, we just needed someone to cook it). So after a Liturgy of the Word service where after reading the readings, we all kind of gave our own reflections, Andrew spoke explained about our upcoming mission and what was needed. All the delegates were extremely grateful for our arrival and the promise of the upcoming mission and acted as if we were a huge answer to their prayers, especially the youth of the communities who apparently are falling more and more into drugs and alcohol. After lunch at a nearby house and praying with a woman who was sick, we headed off to the next village, a good two hour walk. We had walked about 2 hours earlier in the morning, and the day before the hike was probably about 5 hours on horseback, and now we embarked on another long walk, so needless to say we walked a lot this trip. In El Socorro we met with the local delegates, visited a few homes, and talked quite a bit. It was a challenge for me to follow the conversations, as my Spanish wasn't that good (and still has a way to go now) and their accents are pretty thick. But I would mostly listen and pray as Andrew and Roger did most of the talking.

We had a liturgy of the Word that night in this village where the Delegate gave a rousing speech about how this upcoming trip of missionaries to their village was an answer to everyone's prayers, especially for the youth, and how much we have needed this, etc etc. It was amazing to see what faith these people had and how much hope we brought them just by our presence, as 20-year olds. We once again talked more to village about what was needed for our upcoming village and try to win over more support. It wasn't too hard to get as people were very grateful for our presence and excited about the mission. It was hard to understand why people were so complimentary and praiseworthy of us, though we hadn't even done anything yet, but I think they just feel very special to just have someone come and reach out to them, especially young people, and especially people trying to encourage faith, hope, and love.

Walking back that night to Ojos de Agua, where we stayed the entire weekend, we had to walk by flashlight as the road was quite rocky. It really brought new meaning to the verse in Psalm 119:105: "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." I mean really not being able to see in front of you except for the flashlight in front of you, and not being aware of the mud holes or cow patties or sharp rocks in front of you just really hit home this verse. I mean this really is how the life of the Christian should be: we should really be so dependent on the Lord that we cling to Him, and we cling to His Word, as if it is the only light we have, the light to guide our path. And it makes sense, if we are trying to follow Him and be on His path, and not our own, we must stay close to His Word and immerse ourselves in Scripture, reading Scripture everyday! Because if we go without it, we choose to step out into the darkness, the unknown into the dangerous areas where the Lord cannot protect us because we are not close to Him. Probably every generation up to the last 150 years understood exactly what that Scripture meant as I came to understand it then because they didn't have electricity. Sometimes its good to come to a more basic understanding of things as we live more simply.

So the next day we spent time with the community in Ojos de Agua, going to a Liturgy of the Word service and visiting a few homes in the community. We even had time in the afternoon to go swimming which was a lot of fun. So we waited at night for Father to come pick us up, but we found out he had two flat tires, and thus couldn't, so the next morning someone was able to drive us across the river and meet halfway where Father met us. But not before someone fed us breakfast with one of their chickens they had killed the day before, just so we could have a nice meal. It's crazy, they wouldn't think of eating their own chickens, they simply keep them for special occasions. Also, I had the best lemonade I have ever had in my life at this house, freshly squeezed lemonade. Oooo soo good.

One thing I forgot to mention that was kinda tough was that on Saturday I started feeling sick and so the rest of the weekend my stomach didn't quite feel normal as I had some serious stomach problems, and often had to have help finishing my meals, as I didn't want to be rude in not finishing my plate. During the nights, I was frequently going to the outhouse, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Probably just some food that didn't agree with my stomach or something.

It was a blessed crazy trip, and just an incredible opportunity to see the faith of simple people and rejoice in our Catholic faith. I will hopefully write two more blogs about the mission trips after this, in the next couple of days. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

Crazy story where the Lord provided

2007-12-19T10:08:00.000-06:00

So I haven't been as faithful about adding entries to this as I would like. Partially because well, it takes a while to write an entry, but I need to be better about it. So in short, I am home in the States right now for the next two weeks, visiting family for Christmas. It is good to be back in the States, though a little weird. I will do my best over these next two weeks to add a lot of entries and give some stories of things that have happened over the past two months in Honduras. But first, a brief story on coming back to the US.

So I get to the Tegucigalpa airport, two hours before my flight takes off. The ticket agent tells me I need to have a paper ticket for this flight, which I don't have because I thought it was an e-ticket flight. So he takes me behind all of the ticket counters to a room where a guy helps me dial to the States. I call my dad, he doesn't pick up, and leave a message. I tried him again...he doesn't pick up. Then I call my brother....voicemail. I'm getting kind of nervous here knowing my flight is going to take off soon and there's not much I can do from here, but at the same time I knew things would probably be ok. I go and wait in line again to talk to the same guy and in the meantime, I pray 9 memorares to Mary, that she would help me out. (Sidenote: If you are ever in an emergency and really need some divine favor, pray 9 memorares and Our Lady will always come to your aid, it has never failed me!). So I talk to the ticket agent again who tells me he can't do anything, I must call someone in the States who can contact the ticket agency in the States and fix it. So I get the guy to help me make another call to the States, and try my dad one more time...he doesn't answer. Knowing I probably couldn't make unlimited phone calls from Honduras to the States, I ask to use the computer in front of me. So I get online, check my gmail and see if maybe there was something in the email about my flight that I needed to tell them. So I am logged in to gmail and I notice a couple of friends are also logged into gmail chat. I start talking with a few of them: Dave and Matt, and ask for their prayers as I need some help. Then I start talking to Meris and Amanda, asking them to make some calls for me. Amanda calls my dad and leaves another message. Meris calls my brother and leaves another message, and so then I try to find the work number for him, by looking up his company online, and finally, though the internet was kind of slow, Meris calls him and gets a hold of him. In the meantime, I started talking to a friend of mine, who two days ago was in Honduras with me, but he returned to the States to be with his family for Christmas. Bob just throws it out there and says, whats the number for Delta, I'll try calling them, I've got nothing going on right now. So now he gets on the phone with Delta acting like he is me. As the situation goes, I handled just about everything through gmail chat, which is pretyt crazy, and Bob seems like he is making progress, though Delta is saying from their end, everything should be fine, because it appears to be an e-ticket. Thank God Bob was there, just in his humor, as he really got me to laugh a lot, something I needed at the moment as I was getting pretty nervous. "I'm talking with Laura and she's a real nice gal," he says. For whatever reason, just the fact that he kept focusing on what a nice gal she was got me to laugh quite a bit. So in the meantime, my brother gets online, starts talking to me, gets a hold of my dad and my dad gets on. My dad is also on the phone with Delta, trying to figure out the situation. At this point, the ticket agent gets on the phone from his end, and he finally calls the company as well. So now I have 3 people on the phone for me, trying to fix the situation and in a short time, the ticket agent fixes the problem. So at this point, I get off the computer really without saying anything, because he says, you have to leave now, your flight is about to board. So I run off, wait in line, and get to my plane in time, thanks be to God.

So it was all pretty crazy, and it all worked out, but through it all, there was peace it seemed, as I knew it just wasn't worth getting really worked up about. When it comes down to it, if the Lord is really in control then everything is already taken care of, whether it mean I would be going home to the States that day or staying in Honduras for a bit more of time, the Lord wills what He does. So the Lord provided and now I am home, and will be home for one more week. I will close with the Memorare, a very powerful prayer.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

Merry Christmas! May the Lord draw you closer to Himself during this Christmas season for His greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

Two Milestones

2007-11-15T20:11:00.000-06:00

I have to be brief for this blog entry, but I will do my best the next time to write more and add pictures as well, Ive been meaning to do that for a while.

So I am now 23 as of yesterday, which means I am officially old. It was nice to celebrate my birthday here with the community down here.

And secondly, as of two days ago I have been in Central America now for 3 months. It seems like its been longer than that, but at the same time, it doesnt. Its hard to explain. But its been good, difficult at times, but overall I have enjoyed it greatly.

As I have been here for 3 months now, I have realized a lot, but one important thing I want to share: I have been given a lot of grace in my life up to this point, a lot of blessings, and lot of opportunities, and all that means that more is expected of me as Christ says, the more given, the more will be demanded. So as I traveled to Belize this weekend in looking at the religious community, Society of Our Lady of the Trinity, and seeing all that they do there, and in conversing with fellow missioners here, I have realized I have to give of myself more here at the mission. I really cant believe how many opportunities in my life I have failed to take advantage of, especially with regard to taking advantage of opportunities to evangelize. Its just amazing to me how much fear has guided many of my decisions about my interactions with people, how in times past, I would be afraid of making the sign of the Cross in public, or praying with people, or bringing up Christ in casual conversation, or sharing my faith or anything else. Its really sad, I mean with the grace that has been given to me, I should be doing a lot more, and the same can be said about me now, as I am here as a missionary, I should be doing more. Too many times I am afraid to go and talk to people here in Honduras because I use the excuse that my Spanish is not good enough. Or I am afraid to pray with people in Spanish because I dont know this word or that word in Spanish, or whatever. The reality is, fear is something that can be good, it keeps us from doing stupid things at times, like jumping off really high cliffs or something like that. But generally speaking, people have fear all the time from things that really prevent them from living their life to the fullest. Too many times in my life have I made decisions out of fear of what others think, or afraid of failing. I mean what is fear really, its nothing, as FDR said there is nothing to fear but fear itself. And its prevented me from doing a lot here. So the point is, I cant use any excuses anymore, Ive just gotta go, I mean I really have to live my life for the Lord completely and totally not holding back anything, giving 110% of my effort all the time, because too often fear or laziness gets in the way of me doing the will of God. Practically every time the Lord speaks to someone, he says, Do not be afraid, because perhaps this is our instinctual reaction, but its clear the Lord wants us to move beyond this. Ive just gotta go and not be afraid to go up to people and talk to them even if my Spanish is horrible, because the reality is I am not really speaking Spanish, really what I am communicating is the love of Christ, and if the Lord blesses that conversation and allows it to be fruitful, then He will make it fruitful, but I still have to try and give it my all to lead the way for the Holy Spirit to come. So yeah, Ive just gotta go, and give it my all, I have been given too much grace to be holding back. Ive gotta go and live for the glory of God and not be concerned about anything else! So please pray for me, that I may indeed give it my all each and everyday, and overcome fears that prevent me from giving talks, or talking to people, or whatever.

Tomorrow I leave for a four day mission to the mountains which I am excited about, but really have no idea as to what I am getting myself into. I am psyched, here is a great opportunity to really give my all completely and totally, all for the greater glory of God. So pray for us we leave tomorrow and will come back on Monday and will be visiting some villages some of the missioners here have never been to before. Usually these villages that we are visiting get a priest to say Mass about once every year, so they are only surviving to the faith because of a Delegate of the Word in every community. So we will come there and stay a bit of time, and really just try to encourage them in their faith.

So heres my encouragement, Go! Go, and spread the Gospel, give it all youve got, look for opportunities to at least bring up the name of Christ in casual conversation, and dont hold back, and dont be afraid. Theres a pretty good chance, you have been given a lot of grace already, and we cant spend any more time wasting it. And through it all may the Lord draw you closer to Himself for the greater glory of God in time and eternity. AMDG.

Evangelizing

2007-10-26T09:10:00.000-06:00

So being here for about two and a half months now I am getting used to the routine and learning more and more how to evangelize and how to teach. Things are going well, but we´ve certainly had our difficulties with 5 people getting Dengue at about the same time and another has typhoid (I got the vaccine before I left, so Im ok). Thats the glory of the mission field.

So Thursdays is Evangelization Day, which means we go to a small aldela called La Pinto (a small village) and go visit homes, encourage people in their faith and talk to them (and listen a lot too), and put on an afternoon program for the kids and the adults separately. The past three weeks we have been going to a small village near Comayagua and evangelizing. It has been really good, though a challenge as the local parish priests asked us to go here as they dont have a parish nearby or even a chapel, so as you can imagine, the faith is not very strong here. There is a strong Protestant influence there, so we are trying to encourage the Catholics who are there who live pretty far from any parish. But those who do have the faith have it pretty strong, as we have encountered some great people. In the afternoons with the adults we have done a couple of programs, starting off with some songs and then someone would give a talk, like on marriage and the family and how we should be living that out with Christ in the midst. Andrew Pocta, one of the other missionaries down here who has been here for a year now, gave the talk which was really good just on the importance of being patient, loving, and really trying to have Christ in some way in your marriage and in your home. You could tell when we prayed at the end of our time that these people have really missed having God and prayer in their lives. Its one of those things you know you need to be doing, but when it comes down to it, its difficult to remember to make time to pray everyday in the daily life. A lot were in tears as we prayed with them, even though our prayers werent anything special, but to them it meant the world. So I am really excited about it, it is something that in a few months I could see myself leading and giving talks and things, once my Spanish improves a little bit. I realize how easy it is to take for granted the constant presence of the Church and the Sacraments I have had all my life, and how much we need encouragement in our faith lives. We are not alone in this world to simply live the Christian life with just myself and Jesus. We are social beings and we need a community to build us up in our faith. The other side of the coin is true: Christ didnt come to save individual persons, he came to save the people of God as a whole.

Please keep me and those we are evangelizing to in your prayers . May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for the greater glory of God in time and eternity. AMDG.

The Mission here

2007-10-05T08:39:00.000-06:00

Wow, it has been almost a month since I have been on here. Things have been busy. Forgive me for not updating this sooner.

So I will do my best to give a basic idea of what goes on here down in Honduras with the Missioners of Christ. First off, if you really want to know more you can visit the website, www.missioners.org . So the Missioners have a mission house built here in Comayagua, Honduras, on the outskirts of the town which is about 50,000 people. So we basically are here for the community in whatever way we are needed, but specifically focusing on evangelization, and specifically trying to reach young people, modeling in many ways after John Paul II. We work along side with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal that are based out of the Bronx, NY. We work with them and do a lot of things with them, but we are not officially affliated with them. We have 19 missionaries living down here, 5 of them are Hondurans (soon to be four as one is joining the convent). Typically half are Hondurans and half are from America or other places, but this year we have a lot more Americans. But we are from all over, Illnois, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, North Dakota, and other places I cant remember. And one is from Scotland. Its really great to have Hondurans living with us because just of their understanding of the language and culture and often I think they receive a little bit more respect because they are from the same culture, rather than Americans coming in. Also, its really amazing to hear their stories as many of them have had pretty radical conversion stories. It is great to have Hondurans responding to the call of the Lord.

One of our main focuses is teaching catechism (slash) discipleship classes to the kids in the local area Tuesday. We have them divided up into different age groups 8 to 10, 10 to 12, and 13 to 17 and also separated by gender as well. I, along with 3 missionaries, teach the 10 to 12 year old boys group, two classes, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon. It is a challenge, but a good challenge as of course, I am still trying to feel comfortable speaking Spanish, and often these kids have had very little, if any, catechesis on their faith, and are in a culture that unfortunately may appear to be very Catholic, is not. People are very culturally Catholic, so they go to Mass because thats what you do, not because its a deliberate choice necessary to honor God with our lives. Also, there is very much a macho effect on the men here, which influences them at a very young age to treat women poorly, and people just kind of accept this. As a result you see a lot of families that are very broken, abusive husbands, fatherless homes, etc. So in these classes we are trying to teach these kids about the faith, and get them to really believe with their hearts, as well as form them into good men, which in effect is counter cultural. So we are still trying to figure out the best method of teaching, because the boys are at that age of restlessness and not wanting to be in class type settings. Its a challenge but a good one.

Secondly, we also do a lot of evangelization. We go and visit people in their homes, form relationships with them and try to be with them in their walk with Christ. We also work with the parish priests in the area on different things. A few times a year we have a few missionaries go up into the mountains into some of the remote villages that dont have the Sacraments very often, and stay with each village for a few days, teaching and encouraging them in their faith. At some point in the future, I will be going with them and doing the same for a month or two at a time. I am really excited about that, but I know my Spanish needs to improve a lot before that.

We also work with the Franciscan Friars on a number of things. Four times a year, we have Pan de Vida (Bread of Life) retreats for youth that come from different parts of Honduras. Basically its just a great retreat where its focused on conversion and getting the youth to encounter Christ in the Eucharist with adoration. The Friars will often do a lot of the talks and celebrate the Sacraments, while the Missioners will help with the logistics with food and other things like that. We just had one two weeks ago, which was really good, but its a lot of work and exhausting. Also with the friars, we work with them on handing out food to those who need it. The friars give out a lot of food at the beginning of every month to about 100 local families in the neighborhood that need it and we help them as well as try to give out food. We have people everyday that come to the door asking for different things, sometimes food, so we will give them a plate of hot food and pray with them briefly.

We also do a lot of other random things that come up as people need them. For example, last week, because of a lot of rain, two walls in a house close to us fell down and so the family came to us for help. We found them a place to stay for a good amount of time and tried to help in the ways we can, and we are hoping to be able to raise money to build them a new house, because the rest of the walls are in bad shape as well.

So our schedule is as follows: Monday, is our day of cleaning and meetings, cleaning our house as it gets dirty and meeting every week to go over things for the week and anything else that needs to be talked about. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday we work on whatever work we have that day, whether it be teaching classes (mostly Tuesdays), evangelization and visiting peoples homes (especially Thursdays and Sundays). Friday is our day off and a day of prayer, so we dont do any work with the community, unless an emergency comes up. Thats really the thing about the life down here. We have a very structured schedule, but there is always an exception, always something that comes up that we have to adjust to how the Lord really wants our day to go, rather than how we want our day to go. Its amazing to see how Christ comes in the unexpected during our day, whether it be the person knocking at the door who needs some food, or just needs someone to talk to, or the family that needs help with this or that.

But we are up at 5 AM all days except for Sundays and Fridays, which is really tough to get used to, but it makes sense, get up with the sun and go to bed when it sets, which is what everyone else in Honduras does, more or less. We start with an hour of silent prayer and then have Mass and morning prayer, most days in the friary with the Franciscan Friars. Then off to our work for the day, back for lunch and rosary at noon, back to our work for the day, and then come back for holy hour at 5, then dinner, and then down time until about 9 when we all go to bed. Its a long day, but its great to have prayer so central to everything, as with everything but especially with missionary work, we cannot do anything without the Lord, and it is so vital to have Him at the center of everything.

Thats probably one of the things I have learned the most in my two months down here. How much we need the Lord in everything we do, because really we cant do anything without Him, and if He doesnt want something to happen, it wont happen. Also, living in community has helped me see a lot of selfishness and pride that is in me that I wasnt really aware of before. Someone said living in community is like living with people who just hold mirrors up to you, and all you are able to see is your own ugliness due to sin. That has definitely been the case. But its good as it gives me a lot of things I need to change and a lot of ways I need to grow. All in all, it has been a great couple of months here. I am still adjusting in several ways to being here, but I am really enjoying the life here and the work that I am doing.

Please continue to pray for me and especially for my classes of 10 to 12 year old boys. And pray that my Spanish continually improve. Please know all of you in my prayers and that we are always united in the Eucharist. Thanks so much for all your love and support. Feel free to email me or leave comments. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for His greater glory in time and eternity. AMDG.

Below are some pictures.

The first of Fr. Gregorio, CFR, talking to my class during adoration.

And secondly, a picture of our chapel: (sideways)

And finally, you can see the building with the green roof is Casa Guadalupe, where the guys live, while the building in front with the orange roof is where the CFRs live.

Crazy times

2007-09-09T15:44:00.000-06:00

Forgive me if the following does not have the correct grammar with punctuation. These keyboards are a little different down here. I am well in Honduras now, dont worry the hurricane didnt hit us bad at all, praise the Lord. But the following is an update on whats been happening the past 3 or so weeks.

Its been a crazy couple of weeks down here, but they have been good. After arriving on August 13, I stayed 5 days in Comayagua, Honduras at the Mission Formation Center here (thats just what they call the place where we live). Then I spent three weeks in Antigua, Guatemala studying Spanish at a language school there. It was a little crazy, but good, difficult being immersed in Spanish that much, having class six hours a day one on one with a teacher, but good. Getting sick didnt help a whole lot, but it wasnt too bad. I was sick with Dengue fever for about a week and a half. Dont freak out, it wasnt that bad, though it sounds scary. Basically, on the way to Antigua we spent the night in a hotel room in Copan, Honduras, which is close the border of Guatemala. My friend and I both had the same symptoms about 5 days later. So my guess is that one mosquito got us both in our sleep (you can only get dengue from mosquitoes). So I was tired a lot, had no energy, couldnt eat a whole lot, got fever and chills now and then, and then got a weird rash all over my body (that was the real sign I knew something was wrong). But after going to the health clinic there and getting my blood tested, and taking some medication, things improved, and I am well now. So Dengue fever wasnt too bad, though it sounds a lot worse than it is. But overall, my experience was pretty good in Antigua, Guatemala. My Spanish has definitely improved, though I still have a long way to go, which will only come with time and practice (linto y seguro, slow and steady). As for the hurricane, we had planned to leave this past friday for a sometime now (before the hurricane had even formed), simply because the elections are today in Guatemala, and apparently things go a little crazy there during elections and travel is not recommended a few days before or after. It was a little difficult to find out information about the hurricane in Guatemala, but no one really knew anything, as Guatemalans dont seem to be too worried about hurricanes. So anyways, it came through Honduras as a Category 5 near Nicaragua, and quickly slowed down to Category 1 by the time it went through the rest of the country (thanks be to God, thats definitely because of prayers, theres no doubt about that). So all Comayagua got was a little bit of rain, gracias a Dios. As for us in Guatemala, it didnt affect us at all, I dont even think it made to Guatemala. Our trip back to Comayagua wasnt too bad, though we did have to go a little bit out of the way because the roads were bad in certain parts, but all is well.

Its really great to be back in Comayagua, I am excited to get started here. Please keep praying for me and the missioners here, as well as the people we will be ministering to. Pray for me for a generous heart set on fire with the love of God and a mind that can quickly learn Spanish. Please know all of you are in my prayers.

Peace of Christ be with you always.

Grace, Peace, and Blessings,
Richard

So it is about to begin

2007-08-13T01:53:00.000-06:00

In a few hours I will be leaving for an entirely different way of life, culture, and language to encounter a different people all for the greater glory of God and the body of Christ. It's hard to think of how much I will be leaving behind in terms of so many friends and family that I won't be able to keep in contact with (as much), and not to mention all of the conveniences of modern America that I am accustomed to. But regardless, I am excited, yet nervous about the opportunity that lies ahead, the opportunity to live out the love of God, to live it out in such a dynamic way that others may be changed and transformed because of that love. I am now at the point where the past 22 years of preparation and learning now leads up to the rest of my life, which for me begins tomorrow. To all you who have supported me, thank you so much for your love and support in preparation for this journey. Please keep me in your prayers these next couple of weeks especially as I make the tough transition. Know that all of you are in my prayers. As St. Teresa of Avila said, the best intercession is to follow the will of God with our whole heart and love Him as much as we can. That is true intercession as we trust in the mercy of God to hear our petitions as we strive to obey Him. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself for the greater glory of God in time and eternity. AMDG.