Retreat at the Beach

Hola!

Well, much has happened in the past week since I last wrote!

All of the missionaries and some of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal piled in to a 15 passenger van and headed north to the city of La Ceiba, on the coast. This was my first trip to the beach, so obviously I was super excited! But our purpose there didn´t really include relaxing out on the sand…we were there to put on a retreat for 170 young people.

The name of this type of retreat is Pan de Vida, or Bread of Life. The purpose is to give young people a real experience of Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist. Often as Catholics, we grow up hearing again and again that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament, but it never really means anything…we go up to receive that ¨piece of bread¨ each Sunday at Mass. During Pan de Vida, we try to help young people experience for themselves that this is no mere ¨piece of bread,¨ but that it is Jesus among us! So yes, there are talks and activities and such, but our goal isn’t to intellectually convince anyone of the truth of this Church teaching. It´s to help people to meet Jesus, alive today. So we have adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the whole retreat! Jesus in the Eucharist is directly in the middle of the young people during all the talks, songs, dancing, activities, sharing groups, etc.

At one point, there is a vigil where all the young people sit in a huge circle, and a priest takes the Eucharist in the monstrance and lowers it over the head of each and every young person at the retreat. For me, this was the most powerful part of the weekend. It was amazing – at the beginning, many of the young people were a bit ¨too cool for school,¨ not participating in the music or activities. But during this vigil, there was such a prayerful and peaceful presence, and I definitely saw many tears shed (even from the ¨tough¨ younger guys!). Almost every single person went to the sacrament of Confession as well, which was beautiful to see.

One girl in particular, I noticed at the very beginning of the retreat, had her arms folded and a big frown on her face while we were singing some songs. By the end, she was beaming, laughing, taking part in everything. I know that God did a lot in people´s hearts during this retreat!

During the weekend, the guy missionaries all stayed in the house of the Bishop. It was really cool to eat breakfast with him, sitting there just in his undershirt and jeans. Bishops are people too, right!

After it was all over, we spent a beautiful few hours on the beach relaxing. Woo hooo!! I forgot to bring my swim trunks, but that wasn’t gonna stop me! I went in with my jeans on, and still was in paradise!

The past few days, we have been working hard to prepare things for kids going back to school. Here in Honduras, they are just starting up the beginning of their school year (they are just ending their ¨summer¨ break). School is free, but everyone has to buy a uniform, backpack, and school supplies. There are many people who cannot afford to do this, and because of this sometimes kids can´t go to school! So we help to support about 40 kids so that they can go to school. I got to go on a huge shopping spree, buying shoes, shirts, skirts, socks, etc. Thank you so much to everyone who gave me money while I was home during Christmas break! This money has gone to support these kids and their education.

Yesterday, all the kids came to pick up there brand new things. They were so excited – modeling their new shoes and shirts and skirts. It´s amazing how excited a kid can be over an eraser or some colored pencils!

On a bit of a more somber note…please pray for Honduras. The murder and crime rates are greatly on the increase. In the past few weeks, 2 mayors and one vice mayor have been killed, along with a lot of other people. It´s an election year, and here if you´re in politics, that means you have dangerous enemies. But don´t worry, I´m not going to die! I ran for mayor here, but, I lost…so I´m all good! ;)

Live in peace!

Eric