The sense of true community begins

Sunday is always a disorienting day for the team.

After the mad-dash of the early morning the day before at the airport followed by the travel by plane and bus, the team shows up in Santa Cruz in the evening just in time to get their bearings, adjust for changes from the previous year's trip and rush off to dinner with evening reflection back at the hotel. Whew! With such a full day, it would be fair for the team to wake up Sunday morning wondering if the previous day was merely a dream... until they heard from the next courtyard over the rooster crow at sunrise. Yep, they are in Guatemala. :)

Back when the team stayed at the Hogar De Los Ancianos, the two things that signified that we were in Guatemala was the dogs barking all night outside our windows as they tried to guard against things that go "bump in the night" such as one of us using the restroom. And the other thing that was the, um, singer across the dirt road in the Pentecostal Church. This isn't a knock against that church so much as this lady would make Simon Cowell's head implode. Let's just say that the dogs barking and howling were quite a relief at times. I just wish that there was a recording of this so that we could share it on the blog here. Fortunately, she did not perform encore concerts after her Saturday session.

And now on to pictures and commentary from Susan and Deacon Al from the team's experiences on Sunday...

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Yesterday was an all inspiring day with our sister parish and Fr. Tomas (the new pastor of our sister parish, Sagrado Corazon de Jesus)! The Mass was tri-lingual so that our team could feel part of the community. Specifically, the Mass started off in English for us and then it shifted back to Spanish and Quiche with Fr. Tomas including Deacon Al in the celebration.

Plus, Fr. Tomas asked Deacon Al to baptize two children from the community.

After Mass, the team met with Fr. Tomas and visited about his vision of the missionary relationship. Following this meeting, the team went over to the Grand Salon where the youth of the church surprised the team with a marimba concert. Needless to say, the team felt very special with this unexpected gift. Many team members had tears of joy and gratitude!

Silvia may have even picked up a new skill in case the whole restaurant business doesn't work out for her.

After the concert, we were able to meet with the community leaders to share with them our thoughts on the mission and to hear their view points as well. Additionally, we learned about the outreach activities that they had within their own communities.

The Hogar experience blew everyone away, again! Rosie has several new boyfriends. And, sorry, Stephen but Deacon Al has stolen away your girlfriend - she thinks he is you with glasses.

The team is already a family! We are fighting a bit of rain and mud, but our spirits are high and full of anticipation.

I would say that the true highlight of the day was the Mass. The simplicity of the Mass and the inclusion of three languages and three cultures taught everyone that we are all one Body of Christ with one Faith!

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Why is today that a sense of community happens? My guess is that the truly open welcoming that the mission team receives during and after Mass is part of it. Before the team even arrives in Guatemala, it is taught to integrate itself and assimilate to the community around itself for we are just mere guests. Now, please do understand that there is always the temptation to observe things and want to make suggestions as we are so accustomed to in our home country. Yet, it's nearly impossible to truly comprehend all that one witnesses while on mission. Many times it takes several return trips for it all to fit together, which makes sense as in a way the mission team is just popping into our sister parish community's daily life as its in progress. How easily the team fits into that daily life is how the sense of community occurs. This mission team is standing on the shoulders of previous teams by continuing relationships long built previously. To be able to stand on those shoulders, our sister parish helps to give us the necessary boost us up and they hold us steady so that we don't falter.

Likewise, the community of Sagrado Corazon de Jesus will be there waiting for next year's mission team and ready to except that team with open arms as well.

Will you be on that team?

Well, let's revisit the day's sequence. Sunday is just like everyday for the team in Guatemala - very full. The morning starts off with a short ride on the bus or (optional) a mile-or-so walk through the Sunday markets and past the Cathedral to our sister parish on the other side of town. Mass is nothing short of beautiful as described above - a truly heart-felt experience full of sights, sounds and incense.

As in the past, after Mass, the team met with Fr. Tomas. He is offering a new direction for our missionary relationship by creating more structure and self-sufficiency from within his parish community. Specifically, Fr. Tomas is creating a lay organization comprised of leaders from each of the aldeas (rural communities) that will help guide the direction of the mission and evaluate the merits of financial grant requests from all of the aldeas. These recommendations will be communicated to Fr. Tomas and he will provide his feedback to our team so that we can better make collaborative decisions.

Following the meeting with Fr. Tomas, the team visits with the community leaders as you can see in the photos above and heads back to the hotel to eat their sack lunches. There is a bit of downtime at the hotel to rest and get ready for the first day of school on Monday.

In the middle afternoon, the team drives over to the Hogar De Los Ancianos. The Hogar is run by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word out of Houston. This compound type facility on the southwest side of town contains dormitory style housing for the ancianos along with a dining facility, courtyard, gardens and a simple, but beautiful chapel. This gem is surrounded by a wall with a gate to both protect the ancianos and the facilities. More so, the ancianos who live here are essentially abandoned people who had previously lived on the streets or no longer have family to take care of them. The Hogar provides them all of their needs, but by living there, the ancianos agree to not to leave the facility as the concern is that they would be back on the streets to be abused or neglected again. All of their needs are most definitely taken care of here. :)

The biggest danger in visiting the Hogar is wonderful little gentleman that we dubbed the kisser. He received this nickname a few years back when he locked on to Elaine (unfortunately for her, he was the same height) and he just gave her a big hug and kiss on the check. He could be called the magicman as clearly he's working his mojo on Susan this year. Ha!

After the team returns from the Hogar, they head off to dinner at La Martita's and spend the rest of their evening in team reflection as well as preparing for the next day.

Hopefully, the team was able to enjoy the downtime during the early afternoon because there is no rest for the weary from here on out!