Yeah, the Internet stayed up long enough to get the daily report out!!!
Missions typically have constants that help identify them. Things you know will always happen. For example car alarms. In the evening, in Sucre, if you don’t hear at least two car alarms going off then something isn’t right with the world. Another is the weather in Sucre. Mornings tend to be cloudy, but usual the sun burns through, mid to late morning, and the sun warms the afternoon. This year nature is not following the expected script. It is beginning to feel, at least as far as the rain, like the Philippines mission. We have had a significant amount of rain over the first four days of the mission. We’re still getting the main tasks of the mission completed, but the possibility of rain is becoming part of the days planning. One has to decide if you bring an umbrella or search for rain gear to go outside. Those who are runners need to plan their running route to keep them near by the hostal so they can get out of rain showers. Construction must keep an eye to the sky so they can clean up the work site in case we have to stop for the day. It also makes it interesting to get to the construction site. The roads weave though the mountains and in the barrios are dirt. Today we got stuck going to the work site and coming back out. The clinic team has to adjust their times to accommodate the arrive of patients to the barrios they are working at.
Yet, the rain has not dampened the interactions of the mission team with the people. While sitting and talking about the working day during dinner there were stories about sharing our lives with the people of Sucre. It’s not unusual to have kids running around our construction sites. They love to interact with the construction team. Today they delighted in helping move sand down to the work site. Sand was delivered on the road above the house where we were working. We had to use buckets to bring to sand to the work area. The kids would grab a bucket and get in line to get their shovel full and then dump it on the pile in the work area. As Carol was shoveling the sand into buckets she was teaching a little girl to count. When we had a break the kids would play ring-a-round the rosey with us or take turns being spun around by one of the construction team.
At the clinic taking the time to calm a scare child and reassure them about a dental process. Making friends with people as they wait to see the doctor. Developing a relationship with the children to where they want to hold your hand as you move from one place to another. Even the opportunity for Colleen and Jeff, sister and brother, to operate together for the first time in many years. Mission is not just about doing good tasks for others. It’s building, developing , and renewing relationship with people and remembering we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
Our Global Mission Sites
Sucre, Bolivia - Navajo Nation, Arizona - Bacolod and Borongan, Philippines - Kenya and Uganda, East Africa - Natural Disaster Recovery, USA,
"MissionX" High School Missions throughout the Joliet Diocese
Partnership in Mission is an outreach of the Office for Human Dignity
