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.

The date is set!

We have our group set that will travel with us April 9-16th. There are 13 of us that will go including Jim and I. Our priest is also traveling with us, so that will be great! Jim spoke to Sister Ana Cristina today and she is SO excited to hear that we are coming. We will be having a fundraiser dinner at the Knights of Columbus Hall on March 20th that will benefit the center. She has asked us for rosaries, childrens vitamins with iron, and money to pay the utilities and employees. If you live in our area and can come, please do! We will keep you posted as more details are known.

Guatemala 2010!

We are happy to announce that we have a group that we will be taking to Guatemala this April! We have a total of 12 of us that will be traveling. We will spend 3 days traveling with Food for the Poor, visiting different projects. We will also spend a day in Antigua, will go to Mass at the Cathedral, and visit the Mayan History Museum. We have a great group of people going, we are sure it will be a great trip! Please keep us in your prayers as we make all of the plans. We have a meeting with our group this Tuesday, Jan. 12 and should know definete dates after that. We will keep you posted!
Jim and Michelle

Letter from Sor Ana Cristina

I would like to share a letter from Sr. Ana Cristina Ferraro.

Guatemala, December, 2008

Dear Bacarella's Family:

I am so happy to express my profound gratitude through this letter.

This special season before Christmas, makes us feel closer to the most important event throughout History: Jesus Christ's birth, son of God, humble, poor, made man for love. We see him so helpless, and we see Mary holding him in her arms, both taken care by Jose. This is the best example for allof us, who call ourselves Christians.

For this reason, we want to let you know that we really love you, we are really grateful with you and we wish you a Merry Christmas and we also wish that Jesus is at the center of your lives.

Thank you for your support during this year 2008. Your financial support has helped us carry out all the expenses from the Nutritional Center "Sor Lucia Roge". The number of children has risen in the center, during this year. The average is 60 children. Most of them are in bad health conditions, due to the lack of nutritional care. Thank God, by working altogether for them, and with God's providence, we are witnessing great results in their health.

We trust God that next year we will continue receiving your support for these children from Guatemala, who really need it.

We will pray for you so that you remain healthy and most important, that you continue feeling this love for the poor and the people in need.

Sincerely,

Sor Ana Cristina Ferraro

H.d.l.C

San Lucas Tolimon Mission School

The mission at San Lucas Toliman has a mission school. We didn't work in the school, but were given a tour of the facility and had the opportunity to speak with the principal, and some of teachers.

The school is located behind the church, and was much larger than I expected. The schools we have visited previously, were generally much smaller, went to 6th grade and usually have combined grades in just a few rooms. One of the schools we visited in Zacapa, held classes outside, because they have too many children for the classroom.

The mission school has separate classes for each grade, and includes a pre-school. Usually, only a few select (very wealthy) children go to a pre-k program.

The mission school, also has a library! The family of Daniel Mauser, one of the victims of the Columbine shooting, donated the money for the library. The library has his photo and a small shrine for him, and is named after him. His family has worked hard to spread his story, and make it so his death was not in vane. You can learn more about Daniel and the work of his family at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIz0ixdLFA0 or http://www.youtube.com/v/sQ-2PRWHyeQ

We spent a very long time speaking to the pre-k teacher. She has a neat program in which she teaches the children about personal responsibility. She has a piggy bank for each of the children and teaches them to save money. At the end of the year the kids get to see how saving just a little money over time adds up to a lot of money.

An interesting part of the program has the children cleaning the classroom after school. Two children from every class have to stay late and clean the class. They empty the trash, put up all of the chairs, sweep and mop the classroom. I think its a great lesson in personal responsibility, and respecting the school's property. Unfortunately, we don't always see that kind of respect or responsibility out of children in our country.

The school also included an number of "extra" programs. They have gym class for all grades, music and art.

Stiching Ministery

When we travel to Guatemala, we require each person traveling to commit to only bringing a carry on for their personal use. We then use their allotted suitcases for humanitarian goods. Most people are not thrilled about that idea at first (mostly the girls who want to bring more clothes/hair dryer etc), but once they see all the donations we bring they are excited about it. On most trips we have taken over 1000 pounds of donations. One of the items we bring are sweaters and blankets made by the ladies in the stitching ministry in our church. From the very beginning we have done this.

When we first came into contact with Sister Ana Christina, and asked her what she needed for the children. One thing she asked for was warm clothing, like sweaters. We were shocked by this, after all the center is in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The question was, isn't Central America always hot. The answer is, it depends on where you are at.

The Nutritional center is located in Guatemala City. The elevation is about 5000 feet. A lot of the children live in the mountains and at greater elevations. When we were at the mission in San Lucas, the temperature during the day was in the 60's and 70's and at night 50's and 60's. Great weather, but not what you expect for Central America in July.

The sweaters made by the women in the stitching ministry are beautiful. They are hand made, either knitted or crocheted. They are soft and warm, and we have learned that the kids love colorful sweaters. The brighter the better, and without the American color/gender issues we are used to. This July we let the kids choose their sweater. A boy about 10 years old picked a pink sweater with a bunny on it. He loved that sweater!

The first time Michelle took sweaters to the center there was a boy who was blind. She put the Sweater on him, and his face lit up. He told Michelle, "I can't see, but I feel like I look really handsome. I feel like this is something very expensive."

We gained a lot of insight from Fr. Greg at the San Lucas mission on the last trip. He talked about things that you cannot get a Guatemalan to talk about. One of the things he discussed was the philosophy of the mission. Part of the philosophy at the San Lucas mission is the dignity of the person. These sweaters not only keep the children warm, but they make them feel good about themselves.

The sweaters are very special. We really appreciate the amount of time and love that the stitching ministry puts into making the sweaters. The ladies who make the sweaters, pray for the health and safety of the child that will wear the sweater. They also pray for the child's family. In return, the children at the center pray for them, as well as our church, and all the people who donate to help the Center and the people of Guatemala. The boy in the green sweater with stripes on it is Lester. You can see his photo below in the post from August 11. What and amazing transformation!

We all know how good it feels to have something new. Most, if not all, of these kids have never had a piece of new clothing. You can see how they are feeling by the smiles on their faces.

On a trip a few years ago, there was a girl named Fatima. She was 9 yrs old. She had this "lost" look in her eyes, such a deep sadness, something I had never seen before. We put the sweater on her and she got this big beautiful smile on her face. Sister Ana Cristina looked at us and said, "If there was any child in the world that needed to feel good about themself right now, it's her". She went on to explain that Fatima had come into the center two days before. She had been beaten and raped. I was so proud that someone in our little town of East Tawas had been so kind to make something to comfort this broken child. The person who made that sweater was so loving, to make and donate something that would literally cover this child in love and prayer. Someone she didn't even know.

Leap of Faith

The Cliff

The trip up the mountain

Making the jump

All of our mission trips seem to end up with a name. We don't start with one, we just wait and a name always comes up. It's similar to the way people who go with us are chosen. We just pray and leave it to God. Whenever we decide to do a trip, we put it up and say "God, we don't know who is going to go with us, but you just bring the people who were meant to go with us and we will take it from there."

Our mission trips have had names like the "Guatemala seven," and the "Guatemalan wedding crashers." Each name came up while we were in country and without much thought, it just happened. With the Guatemala Seven, that was just a play on the magnificent seven, that one of the men in our group just started calling us. As for the wedding crashers, during our free time we visited several churches. The country is filled with beautiful 500 year old churches. As we visited the churches, many times we walked in during a wedding. Of course we were in Guatemala, not the U.S., so it wasn't a big deal to have people milling around during the service. My family was invited to a wedding a couple of years ago, and most American brides would have flipped. A child walked up on the alter and strolled between the priest and the couple. Another kid did a cartwheel down the middle of the aisle, and one of the bridesmaids showed up 45 minutes into the service. None of it was a big deal and the ceremony just went on without interuption.

Maude making the jump

This year the trip became the leap of faith. This was both a literal and figurative name. On our last day of the trip we went cliff jumping. We went off a 30 foot cliff into Lake Atitlan. If was a major rush, and I would do it again. I would get all chest puffed about this, being 42 and doing crazy stuff, but two moms, both of whom are older than me went, and my sister in law Angela, who is afraid of heights and water went. In the face of that type of competition, its hard to be a tough guy. It was still and incredible thrill.

Whatever you do, Don't look down

The leap of faith goes deeper. When you go on a mission trip with us, many times it is not what you think it will be. A lot of people thought that they would go and spend a week doing hard labor. Trust me the people who go get the opportunity to do the jobs that an everyday Guatemalan gets to do, but it is also a spiritual journey, and an opportunity to face the unknown and even a few fears.

Some of the kids making the jump

Many people who go do not come back the same. Once they have had the opportunity to meet some of the people in Guatemala, they find that they have such a personal relationship with God and know more about faith than we can even imagine, it is hard to come back the same.

Yeah that's me

The trip truly is a LEAP OF FAITH.

This is the famous scene where Michelle broke her ankle. She was walking off of the mountain after we went cliff jumping. Michelle opted out of jumping. She stepped wrong on a rock, and slipped breaking her fibula in two spots. She is the toughest person I know. She walked off of the mountain, and then another two days with her foot just wrapped. The mission has a hospital, and the doctor checked it. They didn't have an x-ray tech until late in the afternoon, and we were scheduled to go to Guatemala City that morning. She decided to leave and if it got too bad she would go to the hospital at the nutritional center. It was interesting in the hospital room, because the doctor only spoke a Mayan dialect, so he had someone interprete to Spainish and then a person who interpreted from Spainish to English (I can only speak basic Spainish, anything complicated and I need help).

The scene of the crime