What do I do?

As I begin my eleventh month in Honduras, I thought it might be useful to take a look at this past week and let you know what I’ve been doing. It’s a little detailed and so I hope you have a high boredom tolerance. It also is not a normal week, as if there is any such thing here.

Last Saturday, April 5, I went to Dulce Nombre de Copán in a packed mini-bus for a meeting in the parish of pastoral workers in Zone One of the parish. (The parish is divided into three zones, which comprise eleven sectors, to cover 46 towns and villages.) During the meeting, Padre Efraín shared what the diocese is projecting for Social Ministry, from the village to the diocesan level. He and the pastoral workers talked about upcoming week-long workshops in May, in particular those for teaching people to construct silos. They decided to have one workshop in a rural village for two villages and another workshop for representatives from the three zones in the parish center.

After returning from Dulce Nombre, I went to Ten Napel café, which has wireless internet service, to check e-mail.

On Sunday, I went to morning Mass in the nearby church of San Martín, where Padre Fausto Milla preached. Padre Fausto – an eighty year old vegetarian, advocate of healthy diets, and justice advocate – gave a 30 minute homily which, surprisingly had little political content. (A advocate of the poor, he usually is very critical of Honduran politics and the country’s economic reality.)

Sunday afternoon I went back to Dulce Nombre to take pictures of the religious education classes. The religious education program at St. Thomas Aquinas in Ames is planning to raise funds to help subsidize the purchase of books for the 3000 or so children in religious education in the parish of Dulce Nombre. I went to two sites and took a number of photos. The first was in the building of the sisters, Oblates of the Love of God, who also provide a weekend program for junior high and high schools students who live in villages without these grades or who work during the week and still want to study. The second was in the home of a school teacher, Profesora Miriam. After taking photos and sitting for a while talking with the profesora and her family I headed back to Santa Rosa in a super-packed mini-bus.

Monday I was back in Dulce Nombre, this time to go with Padre Efraín to the two villages that would take part in the first silo construction workshop. To get to one village, Oromilaca, we passed over a stream, just near a major landslide. In the village we met with a few people who were very enthusiastic. (Most of the men of the village were out working on a project to bring electricity to the village.) Padre Efraín and the people decided to hold the workshop here, instead of in the other village, San Juan. The meeting was followed by Mass and then Father and I were fed lunch.

We then went to San Juan and spoke with a few people there about the workshop and then Father had another Mass. Since it was too late for me to take a bus, Father gave me a ride into Santa Rosa – about 20 minutes away.

That evening I went to the base community meeting in my neighborhood.

Tuesday and Thursday I have been spending part of each day at the Catholic University – mostly hanging around to speak with students. This Tuesday I went to the 8:30 am Mass and then met briefly with Dr. Francisco Castor, the director of the local campus. I then went downtown to the post office to mail package to St. Thomas in Ames. After a stop at Ten Napel café, doing some food shopping, and eating lunch, I returned to the University campus. Three I did spend some time talking to a student I know as well as casual visits with some students and faculty.

Wednesday I spent over two hours at a kindergarten in a poor neighborhood, Colonia Divina Providencia, as I do about once a week. There is only one teacher for about 65 rambunctious 4 and 5 year old. I am hoping to find ways to get some university students to come and help with me on Wednesday mornings.

On the way back I went and bought some plastic chairs for the house. On the way back I saw Sor MariaJesús, a Spanish Franciscan sister who lives up the block with me. She put the chairs in her truck and then asked me to get something for her in the Obispado (the bishop’s office) while she went to the bank. I went there, talked to the secretary, then got a ride home with Sor MariaJesús.

That afternoon I went with Sor Mariajesús and Sor Inez to La Granja Penal, the local jail (with about 520 men and 16 women prisoners.) I help Sor Inez with her literacy tutorials with male prisoners about once every two weeks. I spent my time with one man, helping with both reading and addition. At the end of our time another prisoner came up and asked about learning to read.

That evening I got a call from Sister Nancy Meyerhofer, a Dubuque Franciscan friend of mine who works in Gracias, Lempira, and who is – to some extent – a cause of me being here in this diocese. We’re going to meet for lunch next Wednesday when she’ll be here in Santa Rosa

Thursday I was back to the university after a short visit to the internet café. I also called Padre Efraín and asked if there is anything else I can do. There’s a catechists’ workshop next weekend and he asked me to do a section on sacraments.

Friday morning I went to Hogar San José, a home for malnourished kids under five, run by the Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. I spent about two hours playing with the kids or just holding a few noisy infants.

I left and after going to a mini-supermarket, I headed off to the Catholic University for a meeting that the students were having at noon, but which started about 12:30. After a short visit to the internet café I headed back to the university for a meeting with the director and several priests to set a date for a workshop for faculty on the Vatican’s statement on Catholic universities, Ex corde ecclesiae.

After a walk home for dinner, I headed back to the university for a meeting of a community of teachers that I am connecting with.

It is not normal for me to make three trips to the Catholic University on Fridays but these were all important.

And so I rested today – well, not exactly. I washed clothes (by hand) and swept and mopped most of the rooms in the house.

Tomorrow I’ll stay here and try to do a little reading and cooking.

And so, I try to be a sign of God’s presence here amid frustrations and successes. In some ways I have been feeling that my ministry is going all too slow (and I think that’s true, partly due to the culture here.) But I also think I needed to read these words of the paleontologist and theologian Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:

Above all trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
…
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.

(This is found in the nice anthology of prayers Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits [Loyola Press, 2005].)

As so I need to remind myself of these words of St. Edith Stein’s: “Be patient with yourself: God is.”

And so, keep us in your thoughts and prayers. And drop me a line when you have a chance.