After an amazingly blessed week at home visiting with family and friends, it was off to General Cepeda, Mexico to help staff a short-term mission trip from Franciscan University of Steubenville, my alma mater. From the moment they pulled up to our yellow and brown Casa de Misiones in the aged 12-passenger vans, I recognized that God wanted to do something wild that week! These students were willing to offer this piece of their lives (their week-long Spring Break) to the Lord, allowing Him to use them in powerful ways that made His love known.
In the mornings, we would go to our various work projects. We were able to: build two bathrooms, restore a roof, paint 2 houses and a large room, visit the sick and homebound and go with Father Rick O.F.M. to celebrate Mass in the ranchos (desert communities). For each project we had different teams comprised of staff and students (and Fr. Rick).
The first house we painted for Roberto and his family.
In the evenings, we would go to the ranchos in different teams. On our last night at the ranchos, we went to the farthest ones. The town catechists mostly ignore these ranchos because they are so far and difficult to reach. We had to drive nearly an hour and a half to get there. My team went to Benito Juarez. As soon as we stepped out of the van, I noticed a difference in these people. Most of their ranchos are poor communities with few possessions, but these people were a little worse than the others. One little boy, Marcos, came with his Mom. As I stood outside waiting to welcome the people as they arrived, this little boy caught my eye – he was filthy. Marco had dirt all over his orange-red t-shirt and blue sweat pants and his face had sweat streaks running down it, yet he was the happiest 5 year-old boy I’d met all week. He was ready to be loved. One of the students, Philip had Marco on his shoulders during our praise and worship. For that moment, all Marco knew how to do was laugh. One of the students preached on the importance of having a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and the other students shared their testimonies. Nearly everyone in the capilla (chapel) came and asked for prayer and all of them experienced the Holy Spirit in a new, powerful way that night!! Many of them rested in the Spirit (a Holy Spirit-filled prayerful experience of feeling complete peace). At the end of the night, I was walking back to the van and asked one of the little boy, Marco, for a hug. He ran to me, gave a bear-sized hug and asked, “When are you coming back??” He told me at the beginning of the evening that he was 5 years old. The Holy Spirit showed me through this 5 year-old boy named Marco that we need to thirst for the Lord with an excitement and a longing that most of us have forgotten.
Myself with some of the Franciscan students and Fr. Rick.
The next day was pilgrimage day. During each of our short-term trips, we take a day and go to Saltillo (about an hour’s drive) to visit the Catedral (cathedral), the Capilla de Milagros (Miracle Chapel) and to visit the market there. We go as missionaries – not as tourists. This means that we continue to seek to build the God’s Kingdom by our presence. When we visited there in November for the Thanksgiving trip, we met a man named Hugo. I literally see the face of Christ in Hugo’s smile. Hugo has a disease that confines him to a wheelchair as a paraplegic. He cannot talk very well, but he makes my day each time I see him. He sits outside the gate of the Catedral nearly every day, begging for money.
Pilgrimage day! Group shot in front of the Cathedral in Saltillo.
As I was crossing the street to meet the rest of the group at the Catedral, he looked over and smiled one of those heart-melting smiles- he REMEMBERED me from 5 months prior. I immediately walked over to chat with him. We talked about the other missionaries, how he was doing, how I was doing. Then, he showed me a sign he had brought for us, the missionaries. The verse written on the sign is from Romans 8:38-39: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, now powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” For me, it’s one of the most humbling things, yet one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever received. He sits outside begging for money to feed himself, to buy his medication, yet he wanted to spend his money on a gift for the missionaries. This is love – to give until it hurts. After we chatted with him for awhile, the students came over and prayed with him.
Kristen and I talking with Hugo - "NOTHING can separate us from the love of Christ."
He wanted a hug from every single one of us. It literally felt like I was embracing the broken body of Christ in the poor. Those who have nothing, like Jesus had nothing when he was abandoned on the cross, yet he poured His life out anyway for our sake – this is love. Nothing can separate us. Even as I sit here and think about Hugo and Marco, miles and miles away, I KNOW without a doubt in my mind that NOTHING can separate us because the love that we as missionaries share is the infinite, eternal love of God.
Me hugging Hugo - embracing the broken body of Christ.
At the end of the week, some of the students even shared their desires to become full-time missionaries, if that’s God’s will for them. Honestly, I can’t imagine living a better life filled with more authentic love than this.
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