While our work is important, it’s only one part of a larger process of getting to know and developing a basic understanding of the lives of the people with whom we share this relationship called Ixim. Our few days of work can have the life-changing effect of a word of encouragement or moment of kindness, but the transformative impact we seek requires a deep, ongoing relationship in which we become more than nurses and patients or teachers and students.
Most of our team spent all day Thursday accompanying their host family in their daily lives. They made breakfast, took the kids to school, and did some work, while also taking time to have a look around their communities. Leah Schwartz, a St. Frances Cabrini parishioner and Gross Catholic High School teacher, spent time with a young family in the community of Santo Domingo. She put her years working in education to good use to entertain some of her host family’s younger members. She also helped with the cooking.
Our medical team saw over 20 more patients before spending the afternoon with their hosts in the community of Cenegal. Most of the community, especially the young people, showed up to play games and talk about life where they live in the higher mountains. The missionaries in Cenegal were impressed by the sights and sounds of the natural beauty there.
After a day of activity, we were blessed with an evening of entertainment to thank us for our time in the parish of La Libertad. The families who hosted us sat at our sides while we enjoyed dances and songs. As a children’s choir sang the theme song of their parish for us, the electricity went out across town—a common occurrence during our time here. Undeterred, the children kept singing while the assembled crowd pulled out their phones to light the choir.
This impromptu lighting continued for a couple more acts before some battery-powered lighting could be brought in. The resiliency and adaptability demonstrated by the community were only two of the many qualities we’ve come to recognize in our hosts throughout our week in Huehuetenango. As we’ve worked and prayed, danced and ate, sang and lived with one another, we’ve begun to see what makes each of us who we are.
Maria Alejandrina, the coordinator of Ixim in Huehuetenango, closed the evening with words that have defined the core mission trip of Ixim for many years: We come as strangers. We depart as sisters and brothers. Returning to our host families for one final night of fellowship, each missionary could start to see what it means to live out those words. Our prayer is that these new relationships continue to bear fruit in our lives in Omaha and in the lives of the people of La Libertad.
