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nicaraguamissionstories · 5 years ago

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TRIP TO KARA

Wednesday, May 1st: We were pretty much ready by 5am for our trip but Nicaraguan life was on its own schedule. Our team gathered and ready to go by 7am. The new boat was offered by Carlos who also accompanied us, driving the motor. Then we had Vicente, Felix, Mauricio (the new parish priest), Sister Lydia, Chuckie and myself. This was a NICE boat – complete with canopy and large seats to accommodate our Large Seats. Here we are ready for our adventure!

I have to say that Father Mauricio and Deacon Felix were the greatest trip companions. They had such a good sense of humor and playfulness. We really had a good time with them.

This group of Colombian Missionaries have been here in Nicaragua for a few years now. Their congregation is called “Missioneros Kardimissio de San Juan Eudes” and were founded by Humberto Lugo Arguelles in Colombia. They have been welcomed into the Siuna and Bluefields Dioceses They have a wonderful missionary spirit and fraternity. Father Elberth is in San Pedro with two members of his community, and here in La Cruz is Father Mauricio and two deacons, Felix and Victor. It is lovely to see how they interact between themselves and within the community. They support one another across parishes and work together to share the load. Mauricio came to La Cruz just a couple months ago, so it is very impressive to see him visiting Kara for the first time as their new parish priest just two months into his term…whereas Father Tomas went to Kara FOUR YEARS after he took on the parish (yikes) for a one time visit.

We made our way down river slowly because of some problems with the motor but eventually it got going. Unfortunately it consumed more gasoline than we expected so we had to stop midway on the river to buy some gasoline. We ended up doing the same thing on the way back too. Our methodology was quite good I think….I would jump off the front of the boat with the line to keep us close to the shore, Felix and Vicente jumped off with the large jug for gasoline and trekked up the hill to buy what we needed while I held the boat. Chuckies job? Taking a picture of me!

We arrived into Kara at 1:30pm and this time it was very different from our first visit because the people were expecting us. I had made several contacts with Deacon Eliseo and they were so excited to see Father Teddy’s sister, the new parish priest, and to receive a second visit from me, Sister Lydia and Vicente. All the little kids clamored around to haul our bags speaking Miskito, Spanish, English and who knows what else! I had brought some rosaries so I gave one to each little one who had helped us. Outside I heard a woman saying that her son had helped carry bags but didn’t get a rosary…so I ran out to repair the error: well, here was a ten-month old who was just starting to walk! I busted out laughing along with the mother and I gave her a rosary for creativity.

There was a big lunch of rice and shrimp (delicious) and immediately afterwards our group naturally broke into two and the people took us on a tour of the town – something which didn’t happen in our last visit. We saw their baseball park, school, houses, parks and animals. It was very cool. Since we were a group of 7 now, the men stayed in the parish house and we three women stayed in someone’s private home. It was amazing – individual rooms, a place to bathe and the bathroom close by. I felt weird being in a room by myself with two large beds so I invited Sister Lydia to join me and we were very happy together. The funny thing is that all the beds were really just boards with a sheet over the top, and no mattress in sight. Chuckie hadn’t seen our beds and in the morning I said to her: “man, my bed was so soft last night I could hardly sleep!” Chuckie had this surprised look on her face and asked how it was I had a soft bed when she only had boards to sleep on!

Once we had our things sorted out, we jumped in the boat with the deacon’s son, Vidal, and he zipped us over to the other community called Sandy Bay. When we visited there a few months ago, it was a pretty decent visit, but this time felt different. It was all kind of sketchy and uncomfortable feeling. The church continues to be a run-down mess. The delegate, Stanley, arrived but was very ill. Father Mauricio was very kind and compassionate with him as they talked about the church and the limited number of people attending (there are only 8 and they are all Stanley’s family). It just isn’t viable. It was sad to see this building in such disrepair and the members looking basically the same. We left feeling discouraged and disappointed.

Then Vidal took us to see a couple sea turtles that had been harvested from the ocean, and it was probably the saddest sight I have ever seen. Here were these amazing creatures, maybe three feet in width, upside down on their backs…dying. Suddenly I remembered being at Como Zoo as a kid and being able to ride on the backs of the turtles. And then a stuffed animal turtle I had won in a raffle at my grandparent’s church. Turtles have always held such a special power for me…and now here was one upside down, dying and looking at me with its soulful eyes. I asked Vidal why they were torturing the poor animal by leaving it there upside down. He told me that it could survive up to 36 hours like that. It was terrible to see. I wasn’t interested in the slightest of taking a picture of this horrific scene, but found this one on the internet so you too might feel some compassion for this magnificent brother of ours.

The boat ride back to Kara felt sad, long and tiring, but when we disembarked, the community was ready to go with a mass and celebration of their new image of St. Francis. In our first trip, the community had talked about St. Francis being their patron saint but that they didn’t have an image of him. The church was packed with people! Mauricio and Felix did a precious job celebrating the mass with Eliseo – all in Spanish, English and Miskito. At the end of the mass, Eliseo and other members of the community lifted up the wooden St. Francis statue, together with his fond wolf, and carried it around. Chuckie shared a few words about Teddy’s affinity towards animals (I wanted to add a word about turtle care!) and the story of Francis and the Wolf. She talked about Teddy’s liturgy book and how it held three photos: one of his parents, one of his goddaughter and one of a wolf. Chuckie’s family donated the money to have this statue made and here it is in front of the altar…along with the photo Teddy had in his liturgy book.

After mass, Eliseo and the pastoral committee began a meeting and I wondered where Mauricio had disappeared to. Here he was outside the door listening to confessions. About thirty minutes later, with the meeting well in progress, Mauricio entered and pardoned himself for being occupied. With all the benches and chairs occupied, Mauricio took a squat on the floor to meet the members. It was such a natural gesture for him to sit there at everyone’s feet as he began to ask each one their name and what their responsibility was in the church. There was an automatic chemistry between him and the community – it was beautiful to observe. There was a man who only spoke English and Miskito so Mauricio asked if I would translate. He expressed how happy he was to hear Chuckie talking because he could understand everything she said! It was a very special time and it lifted my heart to feel a sense of encouragement and excitement among the community for themselves and for the new priest who responded to them with such compassion.

As the meeting was winding down, I noticed that Sister Lydia was fading fast. I mentioned that the three of us looked beat and maybe we should hit the boards (hee hee). Without a pause in her step, Lydia sprang to her feet and we were off to bed. We were so exhausted that Lydia and I fell asleep immediately. All of a sudden she woke me up to say that dinner was ready! I told her I wanted to sleep so she went to the door and I heard her say: “Monica says she is asleep and not able to have dinner.” Good grief.

With that I was between awake and asleep, and I could hear Chuckie in the distance trying to shew kids out of the house who were looking for more rosaries. Over and over she repeated: “No more rosaries. No Spanish. Night night.” I fell back asleep with a smile on my face.

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