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Last night I arrived late and was brought straight to the hotel for the evening. I am staying at a family run home that is rented out as a hotel. The people have been so helpful and kind, and it’s good to be back.

I will be catching a bus in a couple hours from San Pedro Sula to Tegucigalpa, where Reverenda Maria will be picking me up. By this evening I should be at Happening 24 for the Diocese of Honduras. I am so glad I was invited to attend and look forward to sharing my experience with you all look for more posts to come.

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While we were on our mission trip in Tegucigalpa, Honduras last month we became a family with the mission of San Juan Evangelista in Villa Nueva. I was invited at the end of our trip to return and join the for their bi-annual Happening retreat. I have been an Adult volunteer for several Happenings in South Florida and will be there observing and joining in with the wonderful events of the weekend. Happening is a Christian Experience for youth in High School, led by the youth it is a time for bonding and truly connecting with God

Through private donors we were able to raise funds to pay for the 8 participants that are going to Happening from the mission of San Juan Evangelista and I will be taking the funds when I arrive this coming Friday. This is truly a special gift to these children, allowing them to have some time away from their daily struggles and be in a safe environment filled with God’s love.

Here is a picture of the 8 youths and the clergy of San Juan Evangelista:

I will be blogging during my visit and will have pictures as well. Please follow along.

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I have received a report that all the walls at the store are now finished and the painting will continue very soon. Construction on the retaining wall has continued and should be completed soon. Every day the mission gets closer to being able to provide a store and laundry area for the people of Villa Nueva and the mission of San Juan Evangelista.

There is also more news, Alexander our American friend in Honduras and parishioner of San Juan Evangelista has started a facebook page for the mission. You can find it through this link:

San Juan Evangelisa Facebook Page

Check it out and keep up to date on what is going on at the Mission of San Juan Evangelista in Villa Nueva. Alexander is also working on getting the Reverenda Maria’s sermons posted online as well. We will keep you posted! May God continue to bless the mission and bring safety to Villa Nueva and Tegucigalpa.

Here is a picture of the youth that will be participating at the Happening retreat at the end of the month. Happening is a Christian Experience for youth bringing them closer to God and each other.

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Tegucigalpa, June 25, 2011

To our brothers and sisters, children, youth and adults of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, in Coconut Grove, FL.

Loved and Beloved in Christ:

We find ourselves very saddened to part with the team that accompanied us during these last few days, where we had so much joy, where children were so happy with the love they received in those precious days that you all stayed at our side. The women’s self-esteem has been raised, and they remain very excited to fight for a better world, the world that God wants for us.

By your presence sadness, fear, anguish, and pain all disappeared, more men are working hard with the construction, and the youth are all eager to continue the painting of the store.

Thanks for the support we have received, soon we will send photographs of our continued progress, the retaining wall is going up and will be wall to wall, everything is running very nice and smoothly.

The Store, in addition to selling the products needed by the local community at a low cost will also have three industrial washing machines, because as you noticed clean water only comes once a month in our community. People are forced to keep a months worth of dirty clothes in their homes, where they sleep and take their food, and this leads to more diseases of the stomach and respiratory system and the poor women sometimes bleed from both hands as they wash a full months laundry the day the water arrives.

Maria Castro, our baker who was ill and in the hospital during your visit is doing a bit better, has a bit of movement, and I beg you to continue praying for her.

Thanks for everything, thanks for coming, we love you and remember every moment and I especially remember you all in my heart and prayers because you are a blessing to my ministry. I often feel helpless, with so much pain, but you are the angels that God sent to help us succeed, we need a push to get ahead and you helped provide that for our community.

Hugs and kisses to everyone who came and those that couldn’t be here with us but did their bit to be a part of this dream, the dream that the boys and girls may have a self-sustainable dining room that will feed them every day, where they can have the bread of life and also learn good values ​​and become men and women full and filled with the spirit of God.

These children are the future of our country, reaching to be good leaders, men and women with moral and ethical values and through your support and help we will make this community a better place for all.

May God Almighty continue to bless you all.

Reverend Maria Consuelo Cartagena Mejia                                                         Dean of Francisco Morazan and Vicar of San Juan Evangelista

*The above letter was translated from the original Spanish Letter below

Tegucigalpa, 25 de Junio del 2011

Hermanos y Hermanas,Niños,Jovenes y Adultos dela Congregacion St. Stephen, de la Florida.

 Amados y Amadas en Cristo:

Muy tristes nos sentimos al ver partir al equipo que nos acompaño durante estos pocos días, donde nos dieron tanta alegría, donde los niños se sintieron tan felices del amor que recibieron en esos preciosos días que permanecieron a nuestro lado, el autoestima de de las mujeres se les elevo, que quedaron muy entusiasmadas a luchar por un mundo mejor, el mundo que Dios quiere para nosotros.

Con vuestra presencia la tristeza desapareció, el temor,la angustia, el dolor, los hombres están trabajando con mas entrega en la Construccion y los jóvenes, ya están impacientes por pintar el edificio de la tienda.

Gracias por el apoyo que nos han brindado,luego les enviaremos fotografías de la construcción, el muro se va a hacer de pared a pared, todo esta quedando muy bonito.

El Objetivo además de intalar la Tienda de Productos básicos es poner al principio unas, tres lavadoras eléctricas Industriales, porque como Uds. Se dieron cuenta el agua potable llega una vez al mes, la gente va acumulando la ropa sucia, dentro de su misma casa, donde duermen y toman sus alimentos, por eso pasan mas enfermos, con enfermedades del estomago y respiractorias y las pobres mujeres a veces les sangran las manos de tanto lavar el dia que llega el agua.

Maria Castro, ya no esta entubada , pero si le hicieron un hoyito y por allí respira, tiene un poco de movilización, por lo que les ruego seguir orando.

Gracias por todo, gracias por su presencia, les amamos y recordamos a cada instante y yo en especial, les doy las gracias,porque son una bendición,para mi Ministerio, yo la mayoría de las veces, me siento Impotente, ante tanto dolor, tanta amargura, pero Uds. Son los angeles que Dios ha enviado a ayudarnos a salir adelante, necesitamos un EMPUJON, para salir adelante.

Abrazos y besos para todos, los que vinieron y los que se quedaron pero que dieron su granito de arena, para ser parte de este sueño, el sueño de que los niñosy niñas tengan UN COMEDOR infatil,donde puedan tener el pan corporal y también aprender buenos valores y llegar a ser hombres y mujeres llenos y llenas del espíritu de Dios, que los valores que se han dejado de aplicar y debido a ello hay tanta violencia, se apliquen y estos niños y niñas que son el futuro de nuestra Patria,lleguen a ser buenos dirigentes hombres y mujeres con valores éticos y morales.

Que el Señor Todopoderoso les siga bendiciendo.

MRP. Maria Consuelo Cartagena Mejia

Dean de Francisco Morazan y Vicaria de san Juan Evangelista

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We arrived safely yesterday and should all be rested and ready to see you all in church tomorrow. But I would like to share something very special with you all.

I sat down this evening to prepare for children’s chapel and began reading tomorrow’s Gospel reading and this is how it begins:

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

It reminds me of how we were welcomed into the mission of San Juan Evangelista with open arms and pure love. I feel as if this is more than a mere coincidence, this is God alive and working through us, proving that what we set out to do was blessed by him and that he is always in our midst surrounding us with his love. Jesus’ words could not be more appropriate after the beautiful experience we all shared in Honduras this past week, and this passage truly speaks to my soul. God is great and always among us, his love envelopes us all, rich and poor, old and young and no matter what, he is always at our side showing us the way. May we always welcome all in Christ’s love!

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Today was our last day working at the mission as we have an early flight out in the morning – we will be together with you all this coming Sunday! The day began as usual with breakfast together at the hotel before heading out to Villa Nueva. Once there we immediately got to work mixing more concrete and making more progress on the retaining wall for the store. Maria and Jeff mixed so much concrete today, it was so impressive to see Maria work so hard, that same work exhausted me and yet she was like a machine with no breaks. God has blessed us with a wonderful mission team and it feels like we are all family now.

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Towards the end of the day we all gathered with the community for a closing mass at the mission church, it was a beautiful service, and we found our selves fighting back tears. It is so difficult to leave the mission knowing that there is still so much need here. At the peace, it felt just like back home at St. Stephens, everyone left there seats sharing hugs and kisses, along with the peace of our Lord. There was so much love in the air and I can say with confidence that the lord was in that church today with us.

In the evening we had a farewell dinner, we were joined by the Reverenda Maria and her family, along with Marcos and his family, we also had the pleasure of having Alexander with us as well. Alexander is an American living in Honduras and is a member of the mission of San Juan Evangelista. His presence made our trip even better than we ever expected. The evening was spent sharing great conversation and our new found love for each other. It’s so difficult to express in words how amazing it felt to be all together like one big happy family. We are all so sad to leave.

After dinner, Marcos’ son Alan thanked us for inviting him and his family to join us for dinner, he said that they would never have been able to have a dinner like that at a restaurant. It made me realize that there are so many little things that we all take for granted. A simple meal at a nice restaurant is something that they never would have been able to do, it was very special for them and so moving to know how grateful he was for such a small thing.

This trip has been life changing for all of us and the relationships we built will last for a lifetime. We have met the most beautiful, wonderful and incredible people. It is with so much love that we can consider them part of our family, the St. Stephen’s family. I truly hope that through this blog you have been able to see what a difference this trip has made not just on our lives but on the lives of those we served.

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What a day! We arrived at the mission and immediately got to work on the retaining wall for the store at San Juan Evangelista. This included mixing concrete with shovels, all without modern equipment is one of the most draining and yet fulfilling things we have ever done. We filled the holes that hold the columns with concrete and made a lot of progress today.

There is a gentleman at the mission that has lost a leg and been using crutches to get up and down the mountains of Villa Nueva. Reverend Jo-Ann and the Reverenda Maria had been talking and through them we found out his walker had been stolen from him some time ago. As some of you may remember I was on crutches for a week not too long ago and it is very draining and painful at times. Reverend Jo-Ann had a walker purchased for Jose and it was given to him today. The joy on his face was amazing and so touching.

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Jose asked me to help him carry the walker to his home and I was received by his family and invited into there home for a drink. It was so amazing to me how they have so little yet are willing to invite a stranger into there home to share a drink and some time together. It was an experience that I will never forget, they have so little yet are willing to give so much. I cant thank God enough for blessing me with such a beautiful experience and I wish that the other missioners and all of St. Stephens could have shared that moment with me.

Tomorrow I hope to share some more information about the Reverenda Maria and Marcos (the Bonell of San Juan Evangelista). They are such amazing and wonderful people, I wish you all could meet them and I hope that through this blog you will be able to see how special they are. To me they are modern day saints and we are all blessed to be able to know them.

I would write more but we are all so exhausted that we need to call it a night, but we would like to send our thanks to the community of St. Stephens for supporting our work here in Honduras. Your support has made such a difference in our lives and the lives of the people of Villa Nueva. Thank you all so much, we miss you all and hope to see you soon.

 

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Today was another wonderful day for the Mission Team, we awoke early and had breakfast together at the hotel. After a great first meal, we departed for Villa Nueva to continue our work at the mission. We painted the store and are now ready to do some final painting. With hard work and elbow grease we should have it done before we depart on Friday. We also worked very hard digging huge holes that will hold columns that will be a retaining wall for the store. The mission is on a piece of land that is literally on the side of a steep mountain and it is amazing how they have been able to construct such a wonderful place when engineers said it would be impossible.

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We shared a very delicious lunch with the community of fried chicken (best we have ever had), spaghetti and vegetables. We also had a delicious raspberry drink known as Fresca, it is basically cold crushed fruit and water – it was amazing. The most touching part of the day was seeing how the people of San Juan Evangelista live in such poverty and yet they do not hesitate to share their food nor anything else that they can give us. They are the most kind and generous people I have ever encountered (outside St. Stephens of course ).

After our work for the day was completed, we took a side trip to a new concrete block factory that the church has started. It was built in an effort to create self-sustaining missions here in Honduras. The Reverenda Maria has been able to do so much with so little – she is without a doubt what I would call a modern day Saint. The people here are truly blessed to have her, as we are blessed to be able to spend time with her and her community.

We went to dinner in the evening at a famous Honduran restaurant called El Patio, the food was amazing but there was a mariachi band that played for hours, it was a mariachi marathon! We were so exhausted that all we wanted was some peace and quiet to enjoy our meals. Some of us even considered paying the mariachi’s to take a break – no luck though. Either way dinner was amazing and we have truly fallen in love with the country and the people of Villa Nueva.

A very big thanks to Kit for all his help with the blog! We love you and miss you all.

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Once again we were blessed by a beautiful day, kind and generous people and a true sense of fellowship with the community of San Juan Evangelista. We arrived at the mission around 9 am this morning, and received a tour of the mission. Along with the tour, we were also able to play a little futbol(soccer) with the children at the mission while our work was being set up.

Once we were ready to get started, we had to climb a not so stable home made ladder up to the store that is being completed to sustain the mission, and the children that come to the mission for their daily meals. Loretta climbed the latter with out any problems, she is truly one of the strongest and most wonderful people we have been able to serve with and she is a blessing to the community of St. Stephens. After a little struggle, half the group made it up the ladder and we got to work on sanding down the walls of the store in order to prepare them for painting.

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Luckily our group has Humberto Casariego, who is involved in construction back at home. His expertise helped us get started on iron work that will provide support for columns and concrete flooring that will be installed in the new store. Ana and Caro were hard at work the whole day and it was amazing to see how hard they worked… and were still able to play dodgeball and soccer with the children at the mission! Kit also was working with the ironwork and literally burned to a crisp out in the sun. Pastor Willie will be picking up a lobster from the airport.

It was a hard days work, but it was also one of the most fulfilling days of my life. This sentiment was certainly felt across the mission team as well. We send everyone at St. Stephens a big thank your for supporting us in our missionary work and for helping us to help the people of Villa Nueva. This mission is not just a mission team mission, it is a St. Stephens mission and you are all with us in our hearts when we work along side the community of San Juan Evangelista.

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This morning we woke up and came together for breakfast before our morning worship at the Episcopal Cathedral of Santa Maria. We arrived at the church for a 9:00 am service and were met by Reverenda Maria and a postulate for ordination within the diocese. Pastor Jo-Ann was able to celebrate the service and the Reverenda joined us as we had an amazing worship this morning. Loretta, Natalia, Marissa and myself were able to alter serve at the service which truly made it a very special occasion for all of us. The service was beautiful, calming and exactly what we needed as a group, it was moving to be able to celebrate a mass in Honduras just like we would have at St. Stephen’s. We actually were worshiping in unison as we are two hours earlier than Miami.

After the service we went to a local supermarket to buy lunch supplies for our days working at the mission starting tomorrow. The people of Honduras and Tegucigalpa were so kind and courteous, it’s amazing how kind the people are here. Shopping went well and we were all able to get everything we needed and headed back to the hotel to drop off our groceries and head over to lunch.

After lunch we were able to go to El Hogar, which is an orphanage in Tegucigalpa that helps to ensure that children receive a proper education and can make a life of there own once they have left the orphanage. One past member of El Hogar is actually working for NASA right now and another is playing pro soccer in Spain. Meeting these children and getting to spend some time with them was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. The children were so smart and kind and I can honestly say that I saw the face of God today, I saw that face in the faces of all the children at El Hogar. God has truly blessed our missionary team and we thank him for everything that he has placed in our missionary journey. Check out some of our pictures, more will follow once I get my hands on some of the other group cameras. Tomorrow we head to Villa Nueva to start our missionary work and help create a self-sustaining mission in the Tegucigalpa suburb.

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