Tela Trip- Community Retreat Reflection

Its amazing what a weekend away can do for a community and everyone in it. I mean really, just to get away leave the mission and just pass time by with the rest of the missionaries. Its easy to spend time with the missionaries--you are with these people pretty much 24-7--but finding a time when you are just relaxing with them, enjoying each other´s company as opposed to working and planning all the time, is really hard to come by. And that´s why this weekend was so good. Bob and Erica did an excellent job of planning the whole weekend, making sure that we spent time just having fun and yet have serious time devoted to looking at ways we can grow as a community.

We arrived about four in the afternoon in Tela, some by bus, the rest by car. Tela is on the Northern coast, about 60 miles from San Pedro Sula, and about 125 miles from Comayagua, of course, sits right on the beach. It was relaxing from the beginning. Our hotel was several stories tall that looked out over the beach, which was only 3 minutes away by foot. We spent most of Friday just passing time together, with some brief reflections and introductions to the retreat by Bob and Erica, and enjoyed dinner together closing with celebrating Diana´s birthday (even though it was a Friday during Lent, we felt her birthday was worth celebrating with cake and ice cream). By the way, the Honduran Happy Birthday song is so much better than the one Americans sing, you create your own verses and all that, its great. Saturday morning began early and after some personal prayer time, we headed down to the beach and had some praise and worship on the beach, a unique opportunity to look out on the horizon and really see that yes, the Lord´s faithfulness does stretch to the skies and that He has been faithful to us as a community even through our difficulties. Next we competed in teams to build the greatest sand castle. The competitive spirits came out in full force, as it turned out the team with the biggest castle was the team who won (the judge being a local Honduran who happened to be walking by). After some free time on the beach and in the water, Erica gave us some concrete ways to help fortify our community to be even more Christ-like with supporting one another, genuinely working on relationships, and learning to correct one another in charity. We took some more time that afternoon and brainstormed what were the strengths and weaknesses of our community and what we can do better to improve our weaknesses. After enjoying some pizza, we had the long awaited talent show where everyone was asked to do or perform something in front of the group so as to show off our talents as individuals. This had been talked about since October, and for various conflicts had been put off until now, but the wait was worth it as it was quite memorable. There was just about a mix of everything: a magic trick, a comedic act, an impression of Sméagol from Lord of the Rings, songs performed on guitar, both written and improvised, testimonies shared, dancing and gymnastic routines, and even a time of prayer and intercession as one individual led us in prayer to ask the Lord for gifts we wanted from the One who gives every good gift. It was the perfect way to end the night as we ended our display of our own gifts by in turn, thanking the Lord for his gifts to us, and continue to ask Him to allow us to discover new gifts, so that we may glorify Him all the more. Sunday wrapped up the retreat with Mass in the local parish, a grand breakfast at the restaurant, and prayer.

So to conclude, I would say it was definitely blessed as the Lord really showed us how each one of us is a gift to the community as a whole, and each member God has called here for a particular purpose to accomplish his will. That and it reinforced why we do what we do, for what purpose, simply because the call of God is on our hearts and we all have been given the grace to respond accordingly. Its really quite amazing to think how each of us has come here all for the same purpose. How radical the call of the Lord is and how much he has done in our lives!

Personally speaking, I am very blessed to be a part of this great missionary community. I would not be the same person had I not joined, and I can see how the Lord has changed me a great deal in the time of just six months. The community as a whole is a testament that when we focus on Christ and truly aim to make Him the center of our lives, however difficult and stressful certain times may be, because we take time as a community and as individuals to focus more and more on Him, God in his faithfulness and love, truly uses each and every situation to teach us something about ourselves, whether it be our weaknesses or our strengths, not just so we can suffer more through difficulties, but so that we can learn from them to grow and be strengthened in the future. I pray that truly, may the Lord draw us closer to Himself for his greater glory in time and eternity. Amen.

-written by Richard Vaughan

Who's Who in Our Community

Bienvenidos! Welcome back, it has been a while as we have been in a period of transition in our community. But we are finally whole and ready to begin the second half of our year with renewed energy and zeal. We have had several members leave our community to return home over the last few months and weeks. Andy Kadlec returned home to North Dakota several weeks ago, he is in a period of discernment as to where the Lord is calling Him next, with the likelihood of returning to school soon. His "chill" is greatly missed.Erika Espinal a local Honduran woman who joined our community for a few months during her vacation has returned to school and returned to live with her family. Lorena Ventura who has been living with the Missioners for the past year has entered the university with the hopes of studying medicine and has returned to her family as well. However we are blessed to have them both still serving the Missioners by continuing to lead Rosas de Maria our formation class for 11-15 yr old girls.

Finally, Brad Fassbender who arrived in Honduras this past summer departed for the states by way of Mexico and the Virgen Guadalupe on Tuesday. During his visit home over Christmas he visited the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming. He returned to Honduras after having a very good experience with them. The Carmelites invited to him to join as early as the end of March. After several weeks of intense discernment he accepted there offer and will join them very soon. Though we are sad to see him go sooner than expected we know he will continue to be an intense prayer warrior for us and we are very excited for him.

We are also welcoming several new members into our community. These new Missioners, pictured throughout the blog are Rudy Sorto Benitez, Chloe Fawcett, Mark Fein, Daniel Galvez Montes, Juan Carlos Rodriguez. Rudy is 19 yrs old from Cabanas, Honduras, he is great with people and hopes to be here at least a year. Chloe is 18 yrs old and is from Wales in the United Kingdom and she is beautifully sweet, plays piano and will be with us until the summer. Mark is 29 from Ann Arbor, Michigan, has committed indefinately to Honduras and is currently studying Spanish in Guatemala and will join us in Comayagua soon. Daniel is from Siguatepeque, Honduras, is 18 and is nearly bi-lingual which is an awesome added benefit to our community. And Juan Carlos hails from El Salvador, he has been serving in Florida, Honduras with Father Max a young priest we work with often and has come now to serve with us here, he is passionate and has already brought new life and new visions to our community.

Mountains and more mountains...

The past month has been a whirlwind tour of the beautiful mountain villages of Honduras. Near the end of November we began training local youth to lead mission trips to the mountains. The training week was packed with talks, team building, prayer and practical training. At the end of the week they all packed their stuff and prepared to go to our first aldea (mountain village).

The first parish was the parish of El Rosario, three different groups served the villages of Loma Larga, Huertas, and el Horno. Over the week the youth visited homes in the mornings and led programs for kids, youth and families in the afternoons and evenings. It was beautiful to see the simplicity of the families and their lives in the mountains. Their generosity was overwhelming. Every home we stepped into it seemed no matter the level of poverty welcomed us and showered us with gifts of bananas, vegetables, sugar cane and coffee (some of the best because its mountain grown and ground fresh right there).

Their love and appreciation was apparent, but even more so, their faith. For most of the communities Mass is a rare gift as their Priest is assigned to dozens of aldeas. To have the gift of Mass three times in one week, along with confessions and adoration it was a very blessed week for them and for us. At the end of the week the different aldeas met in the central aldea for the closing night. It was an amazing experience walking together with our community singing songs and praying together along the way (almost and hour walk).

The second week we traveled even farther into the mountains of Minas del Oro. After taking buses to La Libertad we climbed into the back of four different pickup trucks and drove 3 hours to the aldeas of Ojo de Agua, Pimientia, and Socorro. Again we encountered very simple lifestyles. None of the aldeas had electricity and many groups had to bring water up from the streams to bath and wash our clothes, but the people were as generous and loving as ever. Accepting us into their homes, feeding us, and praying with us. Because the aldeas were even more remote, the sacraments were even less frequent. Mass is said once a year in their village. You could sense the hunger in the people, longing to be supported and fed in their faiths. One woman upon hearing that a priest was coming to her home (she lived about an hours walk away from our aldea far from almost everything) she began to cry. It was so convicting as to how much we take for granted: materially, physically, spiritually, all the opportunities and privileges we have that we consider rights. Overall it was a very challenging but very blessed experience.

Over the last weekend we traveled to yet another part of Honduras to lead a retreat for the youth of the parish Florida. Almost 200 youth spent the weekend with us there listening to talks, sharing in small groups, singing, praying, playing and most of all spending time with Jesus in the Mass and Adoration. It was great for the youth, many of whom had been with us in the previous weeks of missions to the mountains. God was really moving in them throughout the whole weekend and their openess was so apparent. While there is an abundance of youth ministry and retreats in the US, it was a rare opportunity for them. We hope to be able to offer one there every year in the future.

It is incredibly hard to desribe what the past few weeks have been like, how beautiful the mountains are, the intensity and grace in our experiences, and it is impossible to speak for everyone because each person has had their own experience, but what is for certain is that Gods love has no limits.
God Bless.....

Greg’s Reflection

Hello again all! It has been several weeks since our last post, we have been very busy as it is vacation time for the youth here and we are busy with training and Mountain Mission Trips, retreats, and other service projects, etc. We hope to have updates and photos up soon. But for this update we have something a little different.

On November 19 our community said goodbye to one of its members. Greg was here with us serving the people of Honduras for 6 months and returned to the States to finish school, discern his vocation, and Im sure, do a lot of his favorite activity: chilling. The following is his personal reflection on his time here. Greg you are already very missed and always in our prayers....


When I got off my plane in Tegucigalpa, I was shocked that I was actually in Honduras. The idea of coming here just seemed like nothing more than another half thought-out dream of mine that would never really be realized. But then I found my slacker self here. The only explanation I have for how I got down here is God wanted me here. I had wanted to come too, but when I saw I had to complete an application, do interviews, raise money, etc., I almost just gave up and forgot about it. But God somehow got me to do it and got me down to Honduras. And I think that is the most important thing of the many things I learned here; God’s Will is a mystery. I don’t understand it, but its going to happen anyways.

I had hoped to discover my vocation while I was here; but while I didn’t have an epiphany, I did feel and see God working in me more than more than ever before, far more. And I´ve learned to trust Him more and more. I know that I have a long way to go, but I also know that He is guiding me and will put me where He wants me when He wants to.

As for my time here in Honduras, I enjoyed it immensely. Some highlights: Growing my beard out. Playing late night soccer and basketball with the friars. Mass, everyday. Repeatedly getting humbled on the soccer field by 12 year olds. Visiting Fr. Max in the mountains. Riding in the back of trucks though the mountains, early in the morning. Spending time with the people in the mountain villages, especially in San Antonio. Witnessing the simple and very beautiful faith of the Honduran people in spite of great suffering. Visiting and talking to Marta. Getting Dengue fever, which I am probably going to brag about for the rest of my life. Living and working so close to the friars and seeing their faith everyday. Licuados. Just working and hanging out with my mission brothers and sisters. Learning how to pray. Never losing a game of volleyball, especially not to Carol. Pan de Vidas and Eucharistic Adoration......I could go on, but the most important thing that happened to me here is that I think I grew closer to God. Not very close, but closer. And ultimately that is all I wanted or want.