More signs of life

I have my car back finally. The brakes were fixed in Esperanza, Intibuca – disks, pads, and boosters – to the tune of a little over $300.  But there was a problem with the right candado – the thing (lock) on the wheel that you turn to activate four-wheel drive. So I went to my local mechanic who replaced it – and didn’t charge me. Oh, the mercy these people show me!

He had mercy on me since he knew how much I’d put out in the last six weeks to get the car repaired.

He also knew that I am planning to find a newer pickup and sell this one. He’ll tell someone interested.

But even though I have been without a car, I did manage last Sunday to get out to Dulce Nombre on the bus.

I wrote in an earlier post about the celebration of Padre German’s birthday. But I forgot to mention that as I left I ran across a group of young people learning how to play musical instruments.  It’s a program that is getting outside funding and is being organized by the municipality. They are using the church grounds for the classes and instructors are coming in from Santa Rosa.

Here are some photos.

Yesterday I went out to Dulce Nombre for the Parish Council meeting. I couldn’t stay the whole time since I was taking part in a workshop in Caritas. But it was good.

The parish is being re-organized in several ways. Padre German hopes to have the parish organized, form the Base Communities to the parish council, to reflect the varied ministries of the church. It’s been hard for some parishioners to understand this but it is slowly being implemented.

Each base community and the church councils of the villages, sectors, zones, and parish will have seven representatives from the lower levels. So the parish council will have seven representatives from each of the four zones – who have the same roles even in their base communities. There will be a general coordinator, a secretary, a treasurer, a catechist, a coordinator of the liturgical ministry, a coordinator of the prophetic ministry, and a coordinator of the social ministry. The idea is to have people on the parish council who are rooted in their role from the base.

In addition, the parish will now have four zones instead of three. The fourth zone will include the villages furthest from the town of Dulce Nombre.  Hopefully this will enable better communication and better coordination of ministries.

At the parish council, Padre German brought a box of goodies for them: a box sent by St. Thomas. He showed them the two holy cards – of Our Lady and of St. Thomas Aquinas. 

 

Then he passed around the letters that had been written by St. Thomas parishioners. There weren’t enough for every village, but they will be distributed to villages throughout the parish.

Today, Saturday, I’m resting – getting wash done, cleaning the house (for two visitors on Monday), preparing material for the workshop I have to do in the parish next Thursday, and doing the last edit of materials for the catechumenate in the parish (and printing them off.)

There are lots of other little details to do – but I’ll try to take it easier. I do need to rest a bit.