St. Michael the Archangel Honduras Mission Project

We awoke to sunshine and a much warmer day! We were so glad we brought along blankets from the parish schoolchildren as when we visited the elderly this morning, each and every one of them had their blanket wrapped around them after the especially chilly Saturday.

Jessica Kozel organized a book drive prior to this trip and along with a donation from the American Heritage Girls, we were able to bring enough books to host a book boutique in both the Hogar de Niñas and for the jovenes at the Hogar de Ancianos. The jovenes are young women that live and work at the home for elders. In exchange for the work they do, they are given room and board along with being able to attend the local high school (many come from villages where this is not available). They each chose a blanket and a book and send much gratitude to the SMA community!

After mass at the Cathedral, we returned to the elder home for lunch. During these meals together with the sisters, we like to engage the sisters to share about their vocations, the challenges of working in an elder home or just enjoying food and fellowship with them. This meal was no different and we found common ground talking about food and the sisters described various uses for corn in tortillas, breads, soups and even as chicken feed. We notice nothing really goes to waste here when food is prepared. We are grateful for our time with the nuns as we enjoy learning from them.

We continued our “gift giving” theme of the day as we setup the book boutique at the home for girls in the afternoon. You could feel the excitement as we called out to each group for their turn. Below are a few pictures from this activity.

We enjoyed sharing more pen pal letters and cards with the oldest two groups, the Diamantes and Esmeraldas. Each class at our parish school has a pen pal and it is exciting for the girls to receive mail, especially when there are pictures and creative drawings included!

We headed out to meet the alumni for dinner and were deeply moved at the huge gathering. Some of the young women brought their children as well. There were a few young women that had recently moved back to Santa Rosa from other cities and it was such a joy to reconnect. The room was never silent and there were many questions about past travelers with promises to share messages and greetings. It is encouraging to see the sisterhood that has formed from the shared experience of growing up in the Hogar de Niñas. Several of the alumni shared that it felt like a family reunion with their friends and their “St. Michael’s family”. Each day this week, our evening reflection includes the question, “where did you see and receive Christ today?” We saw Christ in the nuns who served us breakfast, we received Christ at the mass at the Cathedral, we saw Christ throughout the day in the jovenes, elderly, residents at the Hogar de Niñas and with the alumni – our day started and ended with the many gifts that only HE can provide.

¡Paz y bien! Juanita