At the Centro de Formacion where I live and work our biggest program of the year is the Gran Mision de Enero. We spend one week in the pre- mission in Trujillo- preparing missionaries to go out and live in solidarity with a number of our pueblos for 2 weeks. We equip the missionaries with themes and catechetical strategies for the pueblos and also work at forming community with the teams that will be sent to the pueblos for the mission. After the week in Trujillo the teams are dispatched to the pueblos to help form community and a pastoral team in each pueblo.
This is the general outline of the program that we at the Center are in charge of organizing and executing, but what happens during these three weeks is all accomplished by God's grace.
In the three weeks spent together, community is formed. Relationships are built between the members of the missionary team and the pueblo community. Something special happens during this mission every year, and this special something is what helps propel ministry for the entire year in each pueblo...and I think helps each participating missionary remember in Whom they put their confidence and trust when they are 'working or ministering' throughout the rest of the year in their 'regular jobs'.
My experience in the community of Chagapampa was both beautiful and challenging. For me, living in solidarity with the community was difficult at times. We had a struggle with bed bugs, fleas and other types of unwanted friends which at one point in my experience of the mission really dampened my spirits. I had to reflect midway through about how these nuisances are difficult to deal with, but not paralyzing and also that these nuisances are a reality of this community in their everyday lives. The community is currently a community without potable water in their homes (they are in the midst of working with ISF to get water to all their homes, but the project is still in process) and this for me was another difficulty. This means- no showers, no toilets, no sinks, and most importantly no clean water to cook with or drink. There are posts to retrieve water from in the community, but you can only carry so much water from the post in buckets at any given moment to the colegio...we needed either bigger buckets or stronger arms...or both.
So with these challenges what did I learn? The community of Chagapampa leads a life that is distinct from mine, but a life that is beautiful and simple. They are working for the betterment of their pueblo as they finish the ISF project of potable water.
Before my experience in the mission I did not need to think much about my daily water supply or about where I was going to sleep but my experience in the mission put me in a situation where I needed to think about these basic necessities. In my experience I learned that I believe there are some basic rights that all human beings deserve. These rights might not be defined in exactly the same terms that I am going to propose them, but having lived for a while in solidarity with the community of Chagapampa- I believe that all human beings deserve clean potable water, nutritious food, electricity, and a safe (bug free) dry place to sleep.
I have an awakened sense of justice and hope that we can continue working towards the betterment of our world so that all- not just some- people can be assured of these basic rights.
What else did I learn in the community of Chagapampa? I learned that living side by side with people-through the easy and difficult- breeds community and that this life of community is how we can change the world, one person at a time. I was welcomed in Chagapampa by numerous families: invited into their homes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, allowed to stay on their land and play with their animals, permitted to catechize and spend time with their children- the future of their community. I was greeted every evening by the sometimes smiling, sometimes tired, faces of the community members who attended our catechesis after a long day's work in the chacra. I was welcomed as a member of the community, permitted to work alongside the pastoral team to help build God's kingdom.
My presentation- Dios Espiritu Santo- during the pre-mission in Trujillo
Our first day's lunch in the pueblo
Hanging out with Juachina and her little piglets
Outside the family home of Juachina
We did a lot (over 1.5 hours) of walking this day...decided to take a moment to gaze out across the Peruvian countryside from the Cruz Blanca in Chagapampa
The Corbatita Show paid a visit to our community and we got to spend a couple hours dancing and singing with our ninos
The whole crew after the Corbatita Show
We had a small problem with some unwanted insect friends in our room...so we had a fogata (that is bonfire) of eucalyptus in the room to fumigate...one of our ninas stood by to watch
Now that is what I call effective fumigating!
These are some shots of our meetings with the adults in the evenings...the first shot is of a sketch the adults put together to share the parables of Jesus
This shot captures the sharing of one of our 'agentes pastorales' Don Enrique
At the close of the mission we have a Mass of the Sacraments in each community
This Mass was celebrated by Padre Beto in Machigon
I was the godmother of a little guy named Fredy
Hermano Douglas was the godfather
Fredy's Baptism-such a special day
I hope these photos give you a little taste of what promises to be the beginning of our work for the year. The 2 week mission is over, but the mission continues in the hearts of our gente and the missionaries who joined us for such important work!
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