The Encuentros Begin

Sunset at Beach at Hotel

 The meat and potatoes part of this mission for the Evangelization team are the "encuentros" or "encounters" where we meat with the lay leaders of communities for a day of formation and renewal.  Here in Honduras there is an incredible shortage of priests and most people do not have Mass on Sunday, nor do they have a resident priest.  They rely on lay leaders called "delegados" who represent the community and who lead communion services. There are also catechists who aare in charge of faith formation.

  Yesterday we went to Santa Fe, a small town inhabited mostly by the Garifuna people of whome I spoke in an earlier blog post.  Along with Fr. Felipe who works hard to serve several communities we had a wonderful session discussing the role of pastoral leaders.  I have to say that the dedication of the men and women who participated was a challenge to me in my own pastoral leadership.  We had a Mass at which many of the people in the town as well as some of  the doctors and nurses from our team who are working in the clinic there participated.   After a wonderful lunch prepared by the local people at which kingfish was served Emmot Guillory  and I with the local delegado to visit 12 sick people in their homes.  The homes were poor and simple but the faith was grand and rich.  They were so appreciative for the opportunity to receive communion and be annointed.  Walking around the town in the hot Honduran sun left us tired and at the end of the supply of water that we were carrying, but it also left us deeply grateful and satisfied for the opportunity we had to serve these wonderful people.

  The spiritual mission here is linked to the medical one and we finished the day at the clinic here to get re-energized but also to mingle with the patients and to lend support to our wonderful doctors and nurses.

  By the way pictures will be few.  I went into the pool at the hotel with my Iphone in  my bathing suit pocket. One of the men on the construction team works for a company in Little Rock that repairs cell phones that have been damaged   in that way, so there is hope.  Some of the team members are promising to send me pictures so there may be some.  The one at the top of this page is of the beach here and show the place where we have Rosary on the beach each night before dinner.