Shopping, El Piccacho and a night of theater!

Wow, it was a busy day today. We started the day with morning prayer at 7am, with Friar Isodora and Friar Fabio. Fabio has the most beautiful singing voice, and also played the guitar. If he was singing to me every morning, it would be much easier to wake up! After breakfast we headed off to Piccacho, a mountain of sorts, outside of Tegucigalpa. It is a large park, with a huge statue of Christ stretching His hands out over the city. It has amazing gardens, trails, rock formations, and of course a beautiful view of the city. We all piled back in the landcruiser, and headed off for Valle de Angelos, for some shopping. We have gotten extremely close with one another, in a very short time. Literally. 9 of us in the back, and 3 up front. Thank goodness it really hasn't been too hot, so with the windows down it's bearable. But still extremely cozy!

Valle de Angelos is about 45 minutes out in the countryside; a beautiful drive through the mountains. Our amigo, Mario, has been gracious enough to drive us all over this region. Valle is a small town, quite charming, and a little more touristy. We all did our best to support the local economy with some shopping and lunch.

This evening, a theater group from San Max treated us to a play. A reenactment of the Story of San Max Kolby - our church's patron saint. It was beautiful - the people were very talented, and took it very seriously. They really put their hearts into it, and as always, were so gracious and happy to have us there. We spent some time afterwards playing a theater game with them. We may put a video up of that event - very silly!

Our group of 10 is such a wonderful, diverse group, and we are all loving being here with the community. The "young'ins" infuse lots of energy and laughter into our days, and have saved our butts many times with their translating skills, and ability to just let loose, in what could feel like an awkward situation.

Off to bed, for an even EARLIER morning tomorrow! LuAnn and I were just wishing for one "late start" day....I think we will have to keep wishing.

Michelle

More pictures!

Hola to everyone back in los Estados Unidos.  Well today has been quite an eventful one where Kyle and I held the fate of our parish's relationship with San Max Kolbe in our hands due to the fact that we had to translate everything that was said in our pastoral meeting.  Speaking spanish is definitely the easy part because listening to the language with the speed that these people talk is very very difficult.  However, we did manage to pull it off and now we have a very  healthy relationship with the parish despite the fact that Deacon Jim fell asleep during this important meeting.  I am also proud to say that I have never gone to mass so many times in one weekend.  Having to hear the same sermon four times in 24 hours in a different language is quite the experience.  We are learning so many different things about the culture and language.  We are also beginning to understand the struggles that these people deal with every single day and it is obvious why so many people want to come to America for a better opportunity.  Well we miss all of you and we hope that you learn a little something from our blog because we are definitely learning a whole lot down here.

-So I guess I'll just put my name down or something......Peace Out, Tucker

Saturday in Comayagüela

After morning prayer with the Friars, we had breakfast. Eggs, cheese, tortillas, fruit were good but the highlight was pancakes with mantiquia and honey. The mantiquia is made from cream but it's more like a light cheese flavor that blends really well with honey. The coffee is great.

We helped distribute "pounds of love" (donated food) to needy families. We received lots of hugs and well wishes. Afterward we toured three nearby churches and met some of the parishioners. After lunch, everybody took a siesta. We attended mass at the Church of Monseigneur Oscar Romaro. Our own Deacon Jim DeShane presided along side Friar Isidoro. He was a slight bit nervous but did a great job.

A Happy Landing

Friday was a long day of airports and airplanes that began at about 3:30 am. The corkscrew landing into Tegucigalpa took place around 2:00 pm. We all arrived safely and so did the luggage. We had a little extra time between Miami and Teguc because of lightening and engine failure. While they brought in a new plane, Tucker enjoyed his last hamburger before leaving the country and a little snooze.

Made it to Chicago

Thursday, July 21: We met at the airport around 3:00 pm. Check-in and security went very smoothly. We had a little time to spare before our flight to Chicago started boarding. It was a full flight and we arrived on time. Checked into the hotel, had dinner and everyone called it a night around 10:00 pm. Our wake up calls are for 3:30 am and we leave for the airport at 4:20. Our next flight is to Miami and then to Tegucigalpa. We should arrive in Teguc at 11:55 am.

Ready, Set, Go!

Tomorrow, our Delegation group will be leaving for Honduras. We have been preparing for several months now and our departure day is finally just about here. The trip is sponsored by Most Holy Trinity's Social Justice Committee. Deacon Jim DeShane is our honored guest, Phil Grisez and Jane Flannigan are leading the group of ten which also includes Kate Dale, Michelle Davis, Kyle Erickson, Tucker Everett, Teresa Garvey, Luanne Kuna and Susan Sundlin. The trip participants are from both Most Holy Trinity and Our Lady of Grace churches.

The purpose of the trip is to celebrate our sister-parish covenant and to deepen our relationship with the San Maximiliano Kolbe community. The majority of the trip will be spent at San Maximiliano Kolbe and will include a visit to the NPH Home for Children and the Velasquez Coffee Farm. The desired outcome of this trip is to help our merged parish grow in solidarity and faith with the people of Honduras. It’s an opportunity to meet our sisters and brothers face-to-face so that we understand them better and how our lives are interconnected.

Sending Forth Masses

We celebrated two sending forth Masses, one at Our Lady of Grace and one at Most Holy Trinity. Both parishes have been very supportive and a big thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts, good wishes as well as the donations of suitcases, soccer equipment, school supplies, shoes, socks & flipflops and more.