April 2010 Mission Trip

We just returned from our April 2010 mission trip to Guatemala. This was an adult trip, and the group consisted of 13 people. We had an incredible experience. Food for the Poor and Caritas were our guides through part of the trip. We had a couple of tourist days mixed in, and of course we spent our last day at the Nutritional Center with Sister Ana Christina and the kids.
Sr. Ana is doing well, she seems healthy and is always a joy to be around. She has some very sick children right now. One boy named Yonny is 10 years old and weighs 18 pounds. She received him the day before and he was too sick for visitors. I also spent a considerable amount of time with a boy named Darwin. He is 12, I estimate his weight at about 30 pounds, he came in a couple of weeks ago. The recession is hurting people around the world. In America, we have some bad situations, and sad stories, but at least we don't have to see our children starve to death.
Caritas took us to some very remote Mayan villages, and the experience was incredible. We were the first visitors to one village in the mountains. The people there were wonderful and so excited. Fr. Charlie said Mass at their church, and we were told that they got there an hour and a half early, because they were being visited by us and the priest would say Mass. That is a big deal, because a lot of these places may only have a priest visit once every month or two.