¡Hola!
This past week Jarrett and I visited the city of Gracias, about an hour away from here, to follow and observe another priest, Padre Loncho (short for Alofonso), to get an experience and a taste of ministry in another diocese and to see what the life of a priest is like.
But, before I got to that, we want to mention what a crazy small world this is. Last weekend, when we were visiting the Ruins (which, you can check out pictures and videos of on Facebook, as that is where we have been posting most everything as it is faster than uploading pictures to the blog), we saw a man who definitely did not look Honduran wearing a Green Bay Packers hat. So we said “Go Packers” and found out he was a Packers fan and asked him where he was from (as we could tell he was from the USA) and he said that he was originally from WISCONSIN but now lives in IOWA and Jarrett and I were like “That’s crazy so are we!” We asked him where in Iowa he lives and we couldn’t believe it when he told us that he lives in DUBUQUE, IA where we go to college! We told him we go to Loras, and found out that he is a professor at the University of Dubuque, which is literally just down the street from Loras, and is kind of Loras’ rival! It turns out he just happened to be visiting his daughter who is a peace core worker there, and it was a crazy coincidence that they just happened to be visiting the ruins the same day we were!
Aaaand, speaking of crazy small worlds, yesterday we went to daily mass at the cathedral, and at the end a girl came up to us and told us she was from the United States, and asked us where in the sates we were from. She, it turned out was from Arizona, and was volunteering with the Salesian Sisters at the school, which happens to be the same place we go to help with the comedor program that serves lunch to kids in the city. Then, as she was from Arizona, and Jarrett and I only know like one person from Arizona, we asked her where in Arizona she was from and when I asked Jarrett where in Arizona Bailey lives, Rebecca (the girl we had met) said, “Bailey Abele?!!! I totally know her, we grew up together!!!!” WHAT?!?! We couldn’t believe it that this girl in Honduras knew one of our really good friends from college!!!!! Crazy small world!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, Bailey, if you get a chance to read this at all, then know that we now know your friend Rebecca!!!! Man, God works in CRAZY ways! It’s quite beautiful!
Anways, back to what Jarrett and I did this week in Gracias, the first day we arrived we were introduced to Sister Nancy, who is a Dubuque Franciscan Sister that has been living and working in the missions in Latin and South America for the past 20 years. That evening we attended the confirmation class that she was teaching. The topic was purity :)
The next day, we went with Padre Loncho to an aldea called “La Mission” to celebrate mass. After that we visited two women who were very sick, and we prayed with them and their families, and Padre Loncho did an Anointing of the Sick. It was very beautiful to see Padre in action, and to see the love he has for the people, the deep sense of peace and gentle compassion that he had for them…truly a loving shepherd of his people.
Then, that night, we went with Padre Loncho to a house in the city of Gracias. Apparently there was a group that is meeting and is in the process of becoming and official Ecclesial Base Community. However, as it was raining really hard not many people showed up, so we just visited with them, and prayed with them and Padre did a blessing of the house (as it must have been a new house). There was also a little girl there who, at the beginning was scared to death of us, and did not smile once for the whole first hour…but by the end of the evening Jarrett and I got her to crack and we had her giggling especially when Jarrett gave her his flashlight and she thought it was very entertaining to shine it in Jarrett’s eyes! :)
Then Wednesday, we helped a girl named Licida, who is only a little bit older than us, to gather materials for making an organic compost that they are going to use to make a garden to grow food on some of the church property. Thus, we were driven by a man named Mario out to different aldeas, where we collected materials such as fine ash, charred wood, fertile dirt (that had smelled great because of the horse droppings that were also in it :) ), and firewood (which Jarrett and I got to use machetes to cut apart the firewood…check out pics on facebook). We also then went out to the church’s finca (coffee field) to collect leaves, both fresh green leaves and dead leaves (There Jarrett and I got to CLIMB A TREE, one of my favorite activities, so as to use the machete to cut down branches with lots of leaves! (yeah, I was in a tree WITH a machete…how awesome is that?!?!) I was super excited as now we can say we officially climbed a tree in Honduras!
We also collected pulpa de café, which is the shells of the coffee beans that have started to break down, and we bagged a lot of that.
Once we had all the materials we returned to Gracias to mix it together!
Then Thursday, we went with Padre Loncho to Mass at the jail in Gracias. That was quite the experience, and the people there seemed so welcoming and grateful that we were there.
After that we went with Sister Nancy out to see the new house they are building for her and the other nuns she lives with, and it is also going to serve as a retreat house for the parish, so they can host different retreats.
As for things to come, today, Saturday July 15th, we are going out with Padre Efrain to an Aldea, where he is going to have a small, one day mini-retreat with the youth there, and also to celebrate mass. Then next week, Jarrett is going to return to the aldea of Plan Grande for his birthday!!!, and I will likely be heading out to the municipality (a small town, bigger than an aldea) of San Agustin.
It has been a beautiful week! Three more weeks here! Pray that we keep being present and learning all that God has to teach us here! Know that you have certainly been in our prayers!
Peace and Love,
Your brothers in Christ
Kevin and Jarrett
This past week Jarrett and I visited the city of Gracias, about an hour away from here, to follow and observe another priest, Padre Loncho (short for Alofonso), to get an experience and a taste of ministry in another diocese and to see what the life of a priest is like.
But, before I got to that, we want to mention what a crazy small world this is. Last weekend, when we were visiting the Ruins (which, you can check out pictures and videos of on Facebook, as that is where we have been posting most everything as it is faster than uploading pictures to the blog), we saw a man who definitely did not look Honduran wearing a Green Bay Packers hat. So we said “Go Packers” and found out he was a Packers fan and asked him where he was from (as we could tell he was from the USA) and he said that he was originally from WISCONSIN but now lives in IOWA and Jarrett and I were like “That’s crazy so are we!” We asked him where in Iowa he lives and we couldn’t believe it when he told us that he lives in DUBUQUE, IA where we go to college! We told him we go to Loras, and found out that he is a professor at the University of Dubuque, which is literally just down the street from Loras, and is kind of Loras’ rival! It turns out he just happened to be visiting his daughter who is a peace core worker there, and it was a crazy coincidence that they just happened to be visiting the ruins the same day we were!
Aaaand, speaking of crazy small worlds, yesterday we went to daily mass at the cathedral, and at the end a girl came up to us and told us she was from the United States, and asked us where in the sates we were from. She, it turned out was from Arizona, and was volunteering with the Salesian Sisters at the school, which happens to be the same place we go to help with the comedor program that serves lunch to kids in the city. Then, as she was from Arizona, and Jarrett and I only know like one person from Arizona, we asked her where in Arizona she was from and when I asked Jarrett where in Arizona Bailey lives, Rebecca (the girl we had met) said, “Bailey Abele?!!! I totally know her, we grew up together!!!!” WHAT?!?! We couldn’t believe it that this girl in Honduras knew one of our really good friends from college!!!!! Crazy small world!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, Bailey, if you get a chance to read this at all, then know that we now know your friend Rebecca!!!! Man, God works in CRAZY ways! It’s quite beautiful!
Anways, back to what Jarrett and I did this week in Gracias, the first day we arrived we were introduced to Sister Nancy, who is a Dubuque Franciscan Sister that has been living and working in the missions in Latin and South America for the past 20 years. That evening we attended the confirmation class that she was teaching. The topic was purity :)
The next day, we went with Padre Loncho to an aldea called “La Mission” to celebrate mass. After that we visited two women who were very sick, and we prayed with them and their families, and Padre Loncho did an Anointing of the Sick. It was very beautiful to see Padre in action, and to see the love he has for the people, the deep sense of peace and gentle compassion that he had for them…truly a loving shepherd of his people.
Then, that night, we went with Padre Loncho to a house in the city of Gracias. Apparently there was a group that is meeting and is in the process of becoming and official Ecclesial Base Community. However, as it was raining really hard not many people showed up, so we just visited with them, and prayed with them and Padre did a blessing of the house (as it must have been a new house). There was also a little girl there who, at the beginning was scared to death of us, and did not smile once for the whole first hour…but by the end of the evening Jarrett and I got her to crack and we had her giggling especially when Jarrett gave her his flashlight and she thought it was very entertaining to shine it in Jarrett’s eyes! :)
Then Wednesday, we helped a girl named Licida, who is only a little bit older than us, to gather materials for making an organic compost that they are going to use to make a garden to grow food on some of the church property. Thus, we were driven by a man named Mario out to different aldeas, where we collected materials such as fine ash, charred wood, fertile dirt (that had smelled great because of the horse droppings that were also in it :) ), and firewood (which Jarrett and I got to use machetes to cut apart the firewood…check out pics on facebook). We also then went out to the church’s finca (coffee field) to collect leaves, both fresh green leaves and dead leaves (There Jarrett and I got to CLIMB A TREE, one of my favorite activities, so as to use the machete to cut down branches with lots of leaves! (yeah, I was in a tree WITH a machete…how awesome is that?!?!) I was super excited as now we can say we officially climbed a tree in Honduras!
We also collected pulpa de café, which is the shells of the coffee beans that have started to break down, and we bagged a lot of that.
Once we had all the materials we returned to Gracias to mix it together!
Then Thursday, we went with Padre Loncho to Mass at the jail in Gracias. That was quite the experience, and the people there seemed so welcoming and grateful that we were there.
After that we went with Sister Nancy out to see the new house they are building for her and the other nuns she lives with, and it is also going to serve as a retreat house for the parish, so they can host different retreats.
As for things to come, today, Saturday July 15th, we are going out with Padre Efrain to an Aldea, where he is going to have a small, one day mini-retreat with the youth there, and also to celebrate mass. Then next week, Jarrett is going to return to the aldea of Plan Grande for his birthday!!!, and I will likely be heading out to the municipality (a small town, bigger than an aldea) of San Agustin.
It has been a beautiful week! Three more weeks here! Pray that we keep being present and learning all that God has to teach us here! Know that you have certainly been in our prayers!
Peace and Love,
Your brothers in Christ
Kevin and Jarrett
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