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Well my friends it’s another day in Honduras.

This morning, Erica and I went to Mass with the Missionaries of Charity, Blessed (Mother) Theresa’s order. There are 6 of them here in Comayagua who run a home for the elderly and children with AIDS. Something struck me about them. They run a very difficult and heart-breaking ministry and yet they were filled with such joy and hope.

Apparently the priest who was saying Mass was leaving and would not be back. So they got him a present and sang a song to him after Mass. I don’t know why I found that so profound but here these women are, most of them thousands of miles from anything familiar, running a hospital for those with terminal illnesses and yet they stood in their kitchen laughing and smiling with such joy. Erica and I both really love the order and hope to work with them in the future.

After Mass we walked back to the Missioners’ House where we ran into the funeral procession of the baby who had died the day before. The family carried the tiny coffin through the streets and then they all left to go bury the baby where the rest of the family is buried. After they passed by, we went to the house and had breakfast then went off to Casa de Lupe to meet with Segrario, the Social Worker that Erica works with. She gave us a list of mothers around the village who we were to go and visit with that morning.

I have never seen such poverty. Huts made out of clay, six or seven people under the roof of a one room shack, chickens and hens and dogs and cats running through the house. Young girls, not yet 16 with 2 or 3 children. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen, yet it was pretty normal for here.

We visited a majority of the mothers on our list and ran into a few extra visitors on the way. Mainly cows, bulls, a few horses, a donkey, just roaming through the roads here. Erica said you never know what’s going to be outside your door when you walk out in the morning, and now I believe her.

After lunch, we went back to Casa de Lupe to meet with the Social Worker again but when we got there a woman was already with her. Brother Damiano then came with the truck and without an explanation, Erica and I climbed in the truck with Him, the woman and Segrario. Along the way, Erica explained that we were driving to an orphanage and the car in front of us was full of the woman’s 5 children. She could not take care of them or herself anymore do to an abusive relationship and the pure poverty she was living in.

Needless to say, the kids went crazy when they walked into the Orphanage. Brother Damiano and I stayed in the truck and he explained that this is really the best place for them as they will be in school, be catechized and have a chance for formation. If they stayed with the mother, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Also, the mother would be able to try and get back on her feet now. Of course, that doesn’t take away the pain of hearing all the children screaming for their mother when she had to just walk away. You can understand that in any language.

When we got back to the Casa, we spent a couple of hours trying to console her and pray for her. Finally, when things had calmed down, Erica and I went back to the Missioner’s house where we had holy hour and dinner.

I played guitar for Holy Hour while Erica sang, Wilmer, one of the Hondurans played Bass and Chloe, a Missioner from Whales played keyboard. We played several English Praise and Worship songs that had been translated to Spanish.

Afterwards we headed into dinner and for the next 2 hours, Diana one of the Hondurans and I had a psuedo conversation in broken English and Spanish. She has been studying English and I have been trying to learn Spanish so we tried to talk for the next few couple of hours. We were actually able to communicate pretty well and would have continued had it not been so late!

New blood arrived today. Some volunteers who are here for the summer just arrived so I had a chance to meet them briefly before bed. One is from New Jersey and knows Ralph Scarfone, a NET Alum and friend of mine in Minnesota.

It’s a small strange Catholic World.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 11:10 am and is filed under blog. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.