One of the Altars in the Racho Chapel's
Dona Anita with the cross Sean got for her.
The home visit team praying over Dona Maria
When you think of Missions, most people don't think of 80 plus hours of the time in a 15 passenger van. So when God called us on mission to Mexico, I was questioning our decision to drive from Georgia to Mexico. Little did I know how blessed the journey would be. Now call me crazy for thinking of our journey and remembering that Mary and Joseph made a journey as well. Coincidence that our journey happened during Advent? I think not. In true Covecrest style we set off into the unknown with eager hearts to serve, and little understanding of what to expect. The first day we traveled from Tiger, GA to Lafayette, LA. Imagine 10 people in a 15 passenger van with all our luggage and donations piled up high. Three more missionaries were following in a car behind. After sing alongs, morning prayer, and rosary and 10 hours in the van with 2 stops...we made it to our first check point in Lafayette, LA.
We were blessed by the people in Lafayette. The Clement's opened their home to us and gave us a true LA meal of Gumbo. We claimed our air mattresses, prayed in thanksgiving for the trip, did consecration, night prayer, and slept through the night. The next day brought the feast of Immaculate Conception!! We got to have mass at the Cathedral in Layfette with the bishop. And I got my first taste of a po' boy sandwich in true LA style. We hung out for the day and picked up 4 missionaries from Family Mission's Company: Neil, Joseph, Chris, and John Paul. We set off again to drive through the night and meet the Mesa Missionaries in Texas. It is funny how journeys bring people together. We arrived at our destination at about 5 in the morning. That was a harrowing adventure, as Mr. Frank almost took out a trailer and did take out some construction cones as lanes on the highway narrowed without any warning. He was so calm and prayerful about it...I was a nervous wreck. He is way more holy than I! We dropped Mr. Frank off at a truck stop near where he had to pick up a mission's van that had broke down a couple of weeks before. Lesson 1 of a Missionary: Take a ride when you can get one! It's okay to go off the beaten path.
The Mesa missionaries were behind schedule, so Lesson 2 began: Always be patient and flexible. 3 hours later at the truck stop...I was questioning my decision to come. Maybe God was calling me to minister to the truckers, I was too tired to even contemplate, but as Joseph our fearless leader gave us Lesson 3: "Praise God in all situations" so all I could say was "Praise God"! Danielle taught up Lesson 4: Humility, humility, humility, when she scraped up her face when she tripped and fell at the truck stop. It looked like it really hurt, and she took it like a champ and didn't complain once. I am learning holiness from those around me! We went to breakfast and met the Mesa Missionaries and our journey to Mexico continued.
Journeys take you to places unknown, to see things that you haven't seen before. Mary and Joseph's journeyed to Bethlehem to meet Christ. Our journey led us to the location of General Cepeda, Mexico. But more importantly our journey led us into the heart of Christ much in the same way Mary and Joseph received Him. We met Christ in the people, in their poverty, in the generosity that they showed in that poverty, to their joy and despair and most of all their great faith. Each day we would journey to our work projects to help Dona Anita fix her roof and wall or Luz, a mother with 4 children, to put a roof on her house. The journey took us to the home visits, into the hearts of the people. At night we would journey into the desert, to the small ranchos communities, where people had so little, but had great faith. I journeyed door to door and invited people to prayer in the Chapel of their community, and there we prayed for them, we prayed with them. We shared how God was moving. I saw Jesus in them.
They journey home also reminded me of the holy missionary family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. They went back a different way to get home. While we did follow the same path home, we defiantly came home different. I came home with a renewed understanding of what it means to be a missionary, to have a heart full of Christ, a heart full of generosity, not just to pray for others, but pray with others. That God invites us to be missionaries to every single person He puts in our path! God knew what He was doing when He called us on this journey, as He invited us into this mission. The greatest lesson that He showed me was that it can't end in Mexico, that it is something that I have to live out everyday.
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