St. Michael the Archangel Honduras Mission Project

Monday morning, our team kicked off the day with a reflection and we were reminded to “Seek the face of God in everything, everyone all the time…” St. Teresa of Calcutta. We did not have to go far as the girls gave us an example of this as the local Bishop came to visit the Hogar de Niñas (to meet with our team). All of the residents in the house quickly gathered and were so genuinely excited to see him and welcome him. He is a regular visitor to the house and during Covid, began having weekly mass in both the elderly home and home for girls knowing how isolated the residents were. We were grateful for the opportunity to meet with him and learn more about the challenges in the community during Covid as well as some of the specific governmental changes that have impacted the Hogar de Niñas.

Next up, we headed back to the Hogar de Ancianos to meet and spend time with all of the residents. The pandemic restrictions were lifted in the last few months and so the elderly were thrilled to have visitors!! We took pictures of the new residents and enjoyed many warm moments.

It wasn’t hard to seek the face of God in these elderly – we can’t imagine the stories and lives these men and women have lived, many in deep poverty. Yet, in each greeting, the elder also included a blessing for us as the visitors. It was joyful and peaceful! There was a moment in looking around the room filled with these elderly, that we couldn’t help but feel a moment of sadness for those lost due to the pandemic.

We headed to the Hogar de Niñas after lunch and while it was the 4th of July back home, there were lots of SPARKLERS shining bright in the form of 46 young ladies who live, pray, play and work at the Hogar de Niñas and were ready to visit with us. We took pictures of all and worked on having each girl complete a “getting to know you” sheet we will use for a pen pal program at our parish school. It also helps us build a relationship with each of these precious children of God. Sometimes, we can get lost in getting a task completed, but the purpose of our mission is to bring hope and solace and so this begins in encounters, this cannot happen without building relationships.

Later in the afternoon, we met with an engineering company that is completing an electrical project and shared additional plans for future projects. Much work has been done already to improve the safety and improve the efficiency of the electrical system.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of soup and baleadas (a honduran favorite) with the nuns at the Hogar de Niñas but the best part was listening to the stories and laughter shared.

¡Paz y bien!

Dani, Juanita and Miguel