Visiting the Church of a Martyr

Hello!
Everyone is still doing great and our travels are going well. We are now in Panajchel near lake Atitlan. This is about a three hour drive from Santo Tomas. On our drive yesterday we passed through many towns and villages and made a stop in San Lucas Toliman at the mission of the Diocese of New Ulm, MN. We listened to the pastor, Fr. Greg, tell us about their coffee project and how it helps the farmers to receive fair wages. We bought coffee while there and were also given free bottles of honey that is made there.

Panajchel is much different than life at the Mission. This is a more touristy area where people are willing to barter on the streets for just about anything. One of the things I was most looking forward to here was our trip across the lake to Santiago Atitlan. We were suppose to drive there yesterday but because of a flat tire on our bus we got a late start and had to cut that destination out due to rain and fog. This morning we crossed over by boat to visit the church that was once a mission of the Diocese of Oklahoma City. This is the church where Fr. Stanley Rother was assassinated in 1981 for his work in providing refuge and protecting the Mayan people from attacks on their land and their lives.

Visiting this church is very humbling. So many scenes in this church portray the suffering of the Mayan people in this town and also their love for Fr. Rother. Since we have been here we have heard a lot about the violence that has taken place and the people who have acted by faith to protect and care for others. During those years it would have been so easy for these people to leave for the safety offered by living in the U.S. but they chose to stay and many died for that choice. Fr. Rother was not the only one to lose his life as a result of the violence in Santiago, a deacon and some religious women were also assassinated there.

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City has begun the canonization process for the martyrdom of Fr. Rother for which three conditions must be present: 1) The person who committed the assassination must have had the motive of killing the victim only because of the victim’s faith.
2) The person who was killed must have accepted to die for the faith. and 3) The death of the person must have been violent. After visiting this church I have no doubts this man deserves to be called a martyr. As our group spent time in the church it seemed that this is a place that draws one into prayer and into a desire to want to understand the suffering of others.

Below is a prayer I found this afternoon after wanting to learn a little more about Fr. Rother. Tomorrow we are off to Antigua for part of the day and then to Guatemala City to conclude our trip. Thank you for your prayers, once again.

Peace, Colleen
____
Heavenly Father,
source of all holiness,
in every generation you raise up
men and women heroic in love and service.

You have blessed your Church
with the life of Stanley Rother,
priest, missionary, and martyr.
Through his prayer, his preaching,
his presence, and his pastoral love,
you revealed Your love and Your presence
with us as Shepherd.

If it be Your will,
may he be proclaimed
by the universal church
as martyr and saint,
living now in your presence
and interceding for us all.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen

authorized by Archbishop Beltran of Oklahoma City on the 25th anniversary of Fr. Rother’s death

More photos from the road.

What To Do?

Hello Everyone!
Day 7, our final day at the Mission, has come here in Guatemala. It has found all of us in lots of different places… some sick, some with sunburns, some tired, some drained but all with incredible experiences from the last 7 days. Last night, in our reflection, we talked about how we are having a hard time explaining what we are doing down here to people back home. No we are not building houses, installing water-purifying systems, or doing any thing that you can physically see. But we have built relationships, met new people, stretch our minds, questioned our lifestyles and choices, tested our faith and grown deeper in our compassion and understanding for the truly impoverished people of the world. This experience has been a lot to take in, a lot to see, overwhelming to processes. Something hard to explain or understand if you have not seen with your own eyes the unbelievable living conditions, smelt the garbage and dirtiness everywhere, walked the streets of town, felt the ridiculous humidity and heat and rode in the back of a pick up truck with 8 other people up a windy, bumpy dirt road. No doubt all of us will take a long time to processes all we’ve seen and felt and I know that everyone of us will be changed by this experience, going home a different person, someone who has seen a part of the world most don’t get to encounter. This emersion trip has forced us open our minds and hearts and build relationships with people that we wouldn’t other wise get to make.

Each one of us on this amazing experience can offers something different to carry out the work of the mission. Whether it’s being a financial supporter, an advocate, someone who spreads the word of the mission, some who comes back and volunteers for an extended period of time or anywhere in between that. My hope is that no matter where I fall in that line that, no matter where any of us fall in that line, that we may never forget the beauty, heartache, smiles, joy, love and incredible faith that we have seen here.

We were talking to Alex, a Carroll grad who has been volunteering down here at the school for 11 months. Confused about what to do to make an impact here he said something that has really stuck with me and helped me in my struggle to find my place in all of this. He told us go back to Carroll, do all this fundraising and give money to the mission and all its projects but don’t do this alone, do it along with pray. Praying for the mission, for the people of Guatemala is the most important thing. Its what unites us in our faith, its what gives hope and its what, most of all, Guatemala needs. I think a lot of time I underestimate the power of prayer and the impact it can have. So I ask of all of you reading our blog to add a little prayer for the people of Guatemala, the clinic, the mission, the school into your daily prayer. Just something small, a little prayer and hopefully united in our faith and hope Guatemala will flourish.

God Bless! Jill

True Giving

Hola!!
Wow! It has been a major blessing to be down in this country and to have the opportunity to immerse myself in this culture. I have never been in a third world country like this and the experience is truly eye opening.
I could go on and on about the things that have touched my heart, troubled me, given me joy and impacted my life but in this short blog I want to touch upon just a few of these experiences.
On Thursday we went to the small village of Palacal to celebrate mass with the people. These people have absolutely nothing and live in little shacks and yet when we walked into the church I saw a simplistic but beautiful church. The church had amazing tile floors and was by far the most beautiful building in the village. It was obvious that these people had put their priorities into their church. Celebrating mass with these people put a whole new meaning on mass for me. In America mass becomes a habit, an afterthought, something we do every week and take for granted. Never does it seem like we put Mass and our parish at the top of our priorities. I know this rings true for me and I found that having mass every day at Carroll has been something I have taken for granted. It was a beautiful reality check for me to see what Mass and the celebration of the Eucharist means to these people.
After Mass was over these people brought out tons of home cooked bread, pop and bottled water for us. This is a luxury that no one in this village ever gets. I also know that these people really couldn’t afford what they gave us but they put us first, not thinking about themselves but instead their only desire was to give us the best they could. How many times do we in America drop everything for complete strangers? How many times are we willing to give strangers the best we possibly can, maybe even more then we can afford, simply because they are another human? These are two of the many questions I have been reflecting on the past couple days.
Over the last month I have been reflecting on this scripture passage and I think I finally hit a true understanding of it when I spent time with these villagers of Palacal. “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others.” Philippians 2:3-4 These people who have nothing, many living off of a dollar or so a day, gave us a meal that they themselves would have never had. They are true examples of what it means to love as Christ did.
I have seen a lot of problems and a ton of need here. These people really can use our help. To send a kid to school it costs 300 dollars for the entire year, this includes room and board for the kid. They need our help but in the midst of the poverty and issues I have seen beauty. I have seen Christ and thanks to these people I have had my own life put in check.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Pray that our hearts may continue to love as Christ does and that our eyes may continue to be opened to the realities Christ wants to teach us. More importantly keep the Guatemalans in your prayers. These are beautiful people who have blessed and touched each one of our hearts. If you find you haven’t given everything, consider giving to these people and this mission… trust me when I say it’s worth it!
Talk to you all back in the States!!
God Bless,

Jacob Harrison

Blago de Jaime/Santiago

Well I am not really sure how to begin, so much has happened since I came here and there is so much that I wish to remember and to share with all of you. I am not good with words and I don’t have eloquent thoughts, I just know what I have seen needs to be shared and it is something that will remain with me forever, no matter what path God has placed before me. ‘
Much has happened since I began and I feel like a lot has changed, both in my surroundings as well as within myself. I have seen things that I have only heard about; and I have seen much that I have never even imagined to be true. I have seen what I can only describe as some surreal movie or dream. Walking through jungle-type foliage, and wondering through poverty-stricken towns I feel like I will wake up at any moment and see that this was all a dream, but I know that will never happen. This is real; this sadness, sickness and garbage-filled life is the reality for many Guatemalans. This past week I have found myself stepping back and trying to take everything in. I know that for most of us this is a once in a lifetime experience, and keeping that in mind is sometimes a struggle. It would be so easy to just distract ourselves from what is actually happening and from the people that we are meeting. We can fall in to the trap that many of us fall in to in our everyday lives. Back in the States we drive around our hometowns and pass homeless people almost daily. We had this discussion last night about how many times we pass people in need and what we are going to do about that. Many of us realized that it is not okay for us to just turn away and pretend that they are not there. It is not right for us to make excuses as to why we don’t help them. But that is a reality for many of us. It is not something that we may want to accept but that is what happens so often. We cannot go back and change the past; we cannot do things over again. The only thing that we can control at this point is what we decide to do with out future encounters with the poor and needy. Life throws us many different situations and we must do our best to live in the now.
This trip has been a shock for many, myself included, but we can’t get down on ourselves for our failure to act in the past. That will not DO anything. We all make mistakes and they must be dealt with each individually. But now is a time for us to DO. Now is not the time for despair and self-torment over our faults. We can’t dwell on the past any longer. Look at Peter in the Gospels; he lacked the courage and faith to follow Christ when he desperately needed him. He made a mistake, he denied The Savior three times yet in the end, he knew he made a mistake and he DID something about it. He did not dwell on the past, he admitted his fault and took action. He regained courage in the Lord and became an instrument of Christ. I believe that we all have a similar calling, and that is to be an instrument for Christ. We all have different God-given talents and we have an obligation to use them for the betterment of those suffering. It should be hard for us to go to sleep at night knowing we pasted up the poor on the street corner, it should bother us that it took a trip down to Guatemala in order for our eyes to be opened to the destitute at home. We shouldn’t have to take a trip to a different country in order for us to see that every time we pass up the poor we are passing up Christ. He is in every single person, every human being and when it comes down to it the only thing that matters is how we loved those whom we came in contact with. It is through loving God’s creations that He reveals Himself to us. It is through love that we will find Him and how we can become close to Him. If we can’t connect with the Lord then all our relationships with those around us will be lacking. If we can’t love we can’t have a relationship with Him. Our relationship with Christ is and should be the center of our lives. Everything else stems from our closeness with Him. If we can’t find Him in those on the street corners and in the “bad” parts of town then how do we expect to find Him when He comes again. We all have things in our life we need to change and what better time is there to change then the present.
This trip to Guatemala has been amazing; it has been filled with amazing people and memories that I will never forget. I have laughed and been put in check by what I see. I have thought more about life and what God’s vocation for me is here and I think that is one reason I am here. I also want to share my experience with those of you who can’t see what I have. Much needs to be done for these people and it starts with telling their story. I don’t think I have seen this much love and willingness to serve ever and it is truly beautiful. I am thankful for this opportunity to be here and I hope that I can share even a little of what I have learned.
Peace to all and thanks for all the prayers and support,
Sincerely in Christ,
James Winegart

Speaking English

If you have been keeping up with this blog, then you have heard a lot of generalities about the people here. I want to take this opportunity to tell you the story of a boy named Francisco. I met him yesterday on our hike up the mountains. He is 16 years old and is in his 4th year at La Asuncion. Francisco touched me in a very special and different way than any of the other kids I’ve met so far. He is very humble and very genuine. Francisco is one of 6 children in his family; he has 3 sisters and 2 brothers. He told me his dream is to teach English. He was the first person who I really had the opportunity to communicate with because he spoke a little bit of English. He spent 3 years studying English in Guatemala City and when he finishes at La Asuncion he would like to continue on to the university in Guatemala City. He told me another dream of his is to travel to the United States in order to get better at his English, and then come back to Guatemala, his home, to teach. However, he recognized how difficult that would be, and knew his parents didn’t have the means to do so.
The difference in Francisco and the other children was how he treated us. I have literally felt like a celebrity here. I mean the children at the school would line up to get their picture taken with us. But Francisco did not. He genuinely wanted to get to know us and told me he liked talking with me to practice his English. There isn’t much opportunity for him to do that here; very few people speak any English. I spent most of the 4 hours we hiked with him, and the whole time, he just wanted to learn more and more. In return to me helping him with English, he helped me with my Spanish, and probably more so than anything I could teach him. I saw God very much in this young man, in his humble heart and genuine spirit. And he will always hold a very special place in my heart.

I pray that Francisco continues to shoot for his dream and that he finds success it doing so.

Please pray for my friend Francisco!
“Even if you shoot for the moon and miss, you’ll land upon a star” -unkown

Hasta luego!

Kelsey Rohm

Leaving the Mission

Hello!

Today is our last day at the mission. From here we will be leaving for Lake Atitlan and Antigua. We want to keep updating the blog but I am not sure of the internet service we will have access to. I know many more students are waiting for the computer so they can write before we leave, so you will have more to read later tonight or tomorrow morning. Heavy rains knock out internet service here in the evening so it is hard to say when we can post if it isn’t in the morning.

This morning we spent the day driving very high up into the mountains to a village called Palaca. Three years ago when we visited this village the bridge was knocked out from Hurricane Stan. The bridge is now rebuilt which shows progress. We climbed around on the rocks and took in some of the beauty Guatemala has to offer.

When we leave here it will be very challenging to stay focused on our trip because we will be going to tourist destinations. My hope is that it allows us to see the separation between areas where economic development is possible and areas such as we are in that struggle with economic development. On our way, we will be stopping by the New Ulm, MN Diocesan Mission at the the Lake. They have a coffee coop that allows them to take out the middle person in exporting coffee. They can roast and bag their coffee right at the mission and then export it for sale in the U.S. My hope is that this will allow us to think about the ways in which we can help the people of this country in something as simple as making sure the coffee we drink each day is Fair Trade.

Thanks Again for Reading!!!

Peace,
Colleen

Tonight we will be celebrating Laura’s 20th birthday with a cake and some Fireworks (which is custom here).

Final Thoughts

Final thought:

Sometimes it is hard to explain to people the idea and meaning of an immersion trip. Before we left, many asked us “What are you going to do in Guatemala” or “What are you going to build in Guatemala?” To answer “We are going to build friendships” does not explain the depth or meaning behind this statement.

During this past week we have talked with the Guatemalan people and spent time with the poor. We were invited into their homes, met their families, and heard their stories. We laughed and cried together. We sang, played games, shared pictures, and danced together. We shared meals, and went to Mass. We held their children in our arms and we became friends. We learned the truth about poverty and we ended up with more questions than answers. Did we make a difference? Yes, love always does. Did we make a change? Yes, it was within.

Ask me what we did in Guatemala and I will tell you “we built friendships” and I believe it was the most valuable, lasting, and worthy thing we could have built.

Patrick Harris

What is a Moose?

Today I woke up feeling a little bit sick, but thankfully, after a four-hour siesta I was feeling quite a bit better. I decided to sit out on the patio and enjoy the “quiet” (which would definitely not be considered quiet at home) and try to get feeling all the way better for the mothers day celebration the youth were putting on at the mission this afternoon. Five minutes after I sat down three girls came walking around the corner and sat down on the bench next to me and began asking me questions. Talking with these girls turned my day right around and somehow got me feeling better than any medication could have.
The children that came today were filled with so much joy; joy that can brighten anyone’s day. As some others and myself were visiting with the kids, they took a great interest in Colleen’s laptop that was sitting on my lap. I was going to begin writing this blog, but had no idea what to share with all of you, there is so much that we have experienced here. As they were staring at foreign words on the screen, Colleen had the idea to show them pictures of Montana. We showed them pictures of Legendary Lodge, Carroll, Glacier Park…beautiful pictures of our home that has a landscape so different from the place they know. I was struck by how different the world I grew up in was from what these children knew when a picture of a moose head came up and one girl asked if it was a horse. I am able to speak some Spanish, but trying to explain what a moose is posed a rather difficult task. I told them that it was bigger than a horse, to which they replied, oh, giraffe? Ah, not quite, shorter than that. Logically, the next animal they came up with was elephant, which isn’t quite the ideal description of a moose either. I ended up telling that a moose is an animal similar to a horse, but larger.
The language barrier that exists here creates a challenge with every encounter, but the people here are so patient and willing to help us understand. The kids especially have been wonderful teachers. The girls who came and visited with me today will never know that they made my day. Their excitement and curiosity about the cold place called Montana, their patience with my poor Spanish, and their smiles that cross any language barrier are lessons that I will always remember.
God Bless,
Kellie Kalbfleisch

Photos!

Hey everyone, here are some photos from the trip thus far.