Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
October 31 , 2001
Mission work: expecting the unexpected
Missioner shares short-term experience in Hermosillo
By Lucy Jones
Mission is not what you expect. Ever. Misperceptions might include culture or language, experience or responsibility. After spending a month on short-term mission in Hermosillo, Mexico, with the tri-diocesan sponsored Misión Sin Fronteras, my own experiences and the accounts of other missioners have shown me that God very rarely lets us know what he has in mind for us ahead of time. But he uses this daring step into the unknown to change us.
Misión Sin Fronteras is still just a growing baby mission established some three years ago in the growing desert city of Hermosillo in the state of Sonora. Three missioners —Mary Lederhos, Beverly Jahn, and Susan Gomez — were my companions during my mid-July to mid-August stay, although Mary and Bev wisely took advantage of their vacations to escape the intense August heat. As the first short-term missioner (other than the larger spring-break groups from my university, Colorado State in Fort Collins, and a Knights of Columbus group), my visit was definitely a sort of experiment for the mission and a learning experience for all involved.
When I left Colorado I had no idea what I would be doing during my month away other than speaking Spanish and learning more about Latin American culture. I planned just to tag along with each of the three missioners on different days and see and do what they did. I ended up spending most of my time with Mary at a day-camp-style program that provided lunch for kids in a poverty-stricken neighborhood. It was an amplified version of the school-year program of desayunadores, or breakfast halls, which offer one nominally-priced meal a day to poor children.
When Mary left for vacation, however, so did the other leaders and that left me in charge if the program was to continue. I love kids. I did not want to deprive them of summer camp for the remaining two weeks, and I knew it would be a good experience for me. I said "yes," I'd do it.
So I did. I spent at least four hours each day under the midday 100-plus-degree Sonoran sun (often higher than 110-degrees), drinking a minimum of three liters of water each day from thirst, not just because I knew I should. I planned, prepared, and executed daily activities. (Keep in mind camp was a six-day a-week job, and on mission, Sundays are not days off.) My remaining roommate, Sue, had plenty of right to be upset with the pompous 19-year-old who was sure she could fix the whole world in 31 days. I dealt with being sick with "some kind of turista," as my doctor put it at my follow-up check-up, and with homesickness — despite college and previous travels, mission was a new thing for me. I started to get good at pitying myself.
I was on mission and God wanted to change me. Born and raised Catholic, I've always been what some call "religious." Only during this struggle was I able to hear God speak to me for the first time. An hour's silent meditation and prayer each morning helped, as did my reading "The Road to Peace" by Henri Nouwen. In Nouwen's book, God says:
"Die to this world. Give up all your cares and desires. Love me. Serve me. Only once you are dead to this world can you really live in it. My love for you is infinite and I will never abandon you. Because I love you, I will always be there for you when you are in need, and from this place of peace you can go out and love everyone and live without fear. Love can only happen when you let go of fear. So fear not. Serve me. Love me. And you will live."
I've heard all those words before, plenty of times, but I did not understand them. In times of suffering, though, God helps us understand in a deeper way.
God is with each one of us every day. Find a quiet time and place each day to talk to him and to listen — in time you will hear him speak to you. When it's no longer the world that hurts, when it's your own deeds that hurt you inside, that's when Christ begins to save us. Because he paid the debt, we are forgiven. We must ask forgiveness from the ones we hurt, and we must forgive ourselves. Forgive — return to God's love.
Mission is not what you expect. It is usually thought of as a way of bringing Christ to others. In truth, it is first and foremost a way to bring Christ to ourselves.
For more information on Misión Sin Fronteras, contact Lenetta Johnson at 719-636-2345, Ext. 131, or visit online mission@diocs.org.
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