St. Michael the Archangel Honduras Mission Project

Today we woke up very early and left about 5:30 to serve breakfast at two locations. The first was for people from the surrounding towns and villages that were in Santa Rosa because a family member is in the hospital…. or even while they are waiting to be seen. It reminded me a little of St. Mary’s food kitchen. The very simple meal – rice, beans, eggs, and tortillas, and that was our breakfast as well. Served at 6 am, it was likely the only meal they would get all day. Then we went across the street to the maternity house and served the 16 current residents, some very young. They come to Santa Rosa about month before they expect to deliver and stay. We went back to the elderly house for morning reflection. Deacon John read from Matthew 18 about being humble in your service like a child.

Then it was time to head to the aldeas for the day to spend time with our sponsored children through UNBOUND (formerly known as CFCA). This sponsorship program is based out of Kansas City and many parishioners from St. Michael’s sponsor children or elderly from all around the world. Mine is Jensi who is 10, and I was so blessed to spend the day with her and her Mother. Actually Jensi’s biological parents both died when she was very young and Jenny “adopted” her. Jenny didn’t think she could have children and after taking Jensi in, she got pregnant with the first of two biological children (boys). God’s providence is amazing. We spent a day at a campsite that had hot springs. Most all the children swam. Magda’s sponsored child was three and went from being timid in the water to John teaching her to swim!

Lunch was so wonderful. … chicken or beef (only our second time eating meat) and, as you might guess. … tortillas, beans and rice. We then all exchanged gifts. As much as I enjoyed the expression of Jensi receiving my gifts, it was nothing compared to the beautiful items her family gave me – dolls made out of cornhusks, wooden jewelry, a keychain, etc. Everything was handmade but my favorite was an embroidered cloth with my family’s names on it!

Very few Unbound sponsors ever are able to even meet their children, so imagine my surprise and joy when I found out we were able to drive and visit her home! We drove as far as we could and walked the last 1/2 mile on a muddy and rocky uneven road. The family of five lived in a “new” three room house. It was maybe 400 square feet…. living room, kitchen, and maybe a 9*9 bedroom with two full size mattresses on the floor that slept all five of them. There was no running water, no electricity and no toilet. Water and bathing was in a nearby stream. They apologized that their gifts were so humble! They thanked us for the sponsorships and we agreed to pray for each other.

It started raining so the walk back to the truck was pretty rough. We all had inches of mud on our shoes. It was somewhat comical, and I’m sure we entertained the locals, but praise God no one fell! We returned from our long day at 6 pm to dinner with the sisters (rice, beans and tortillas) and went to bed with a new appreciatIon of serving in humility and thanking God for His blessings.

Rose Kopecky