Joliet Diocese - We Are Mission

06/08/2023

A sad note to share, on Monday Susie Butler’s husband passed away. It was a long journey for him. Visitation will be at Frederick-Jones in Naperville and a funeral Mass at St. Raphael in Naperville.

04/27/2023

Well, it's been a busy day the last couple of days with lots going on with the mission team. Construction is making progress on our houses. The pictures below show the progress of the rooms for the family. Another exciting event is going to the bakery project. We got to see the various items they produce. We are preparing to close the mission down starting tomorrow, Thursday. We will work through the morning and start to close down our activities.

04/25/2023

04/25/2023

Today started off as any other day. Mass at the chapel, breakfast back at the hostal, and everyone breaking off to their appointed areas by 8:45 am. Medical folks are off to the hospital, construction to the second site, and Water With Blessings is preparing for their afternoon workshop. The construction team worked the morning and came back to the hostal for lunch. After lunch the construction broke off in the Water With Blessing team and the rest of the construction team headed for Tarabuco. The meeting in Tarabuco was with the Yampara and Qhara Qhara nations. Bolivia is considered a multi-national country. There are 36 indigenous groups of people. Each with its own customs and traditions. Each nation establishes Houses of Justice to rule on disputes based on their beliefs. For the last six years, we have helped fund this process. Today we met with the leadership of each nation to hear their initial request for a sixth year of support. The meeting is steeped in their traditions and ceremony. The welcome was music and dancing and sharing of coca leaves. During the presentation portion, each speaker spoke with passion and care for their people. For centuries the indigenous people, even today, have been persecuted and taken advantage of, something we can see in our own country today. We ended the formal part of the meeting with a traditional sharing of cooked potatoes and spicy sauce. Of course, we couldn't leave without a number of photos being taken and address information being shared. In my mind, this is what mission is about. Going to people of other nations and cultures, learning about their cultures and how we can share ourselves. In doing so we can create a better understanding of needs and ways we can help each other. We can learn a lot from each other.

04/24/2023

The mission to Sucre, Bolivia has completed the first week of work. Our mission is not just a mission for helping people. We don't come for two weeks, leave and go on with life. Our mission is one of relationship. We return to our mission sites annually and many of the missioners are returnees. Friendship with the people we come to serve is created, it continues outside of the mission and in some cases becomes a lifelong relationship. When we return to a mission site, it is not unusual to hear, "You came back, you care about us." Hugs and kisses are part of returning to a mission site. It's not unusual to be walking through a mission town and be greeted by someone who recognizes us or our mission shirt. This is our mission, to build relationships with people and share our faith and ideas. The following is one missioners' thoughts on our mission to Sucre. My call to diaconate began in Bolivia during a medical mission with the Diocese of Joliet Peace and Justice office. Since then, the sound of the cries of the poor draws me to that blest city of Sucre, to see Christ indeed in the eyes of the people whether in the operating room as a nurse or in the streets as a deacon experiencing what unrelenting desire to serve the poor indeed is. We are all called to mission and I pray you too may find your deepest self to serve with the talents God has given you. Deacon Julio Jimenez
Almost every missioner will have something similar to say. Going on a mission will bring your faith alive. It's in the challenges one faces and sitting with them and finding peace. To be in solidarity with the poor and feel their pain. Mission helps you to see things in a different way. Mission is the "Road to Emmaus".

04/22/2023

We have arrived at the end of our first week of mission in Sucre, Bolivia. It has been a busy time and much work has been done. Our surgical team working alongside the hospital team is doing an average of five surgeries a day. The clinic team has a steady stream of patients throughout the day. They see many people coming into the hospital that would normally not see a doctor.We are looking into the possibility of going out into the countryside to get closer to those in need. The construction team started work at a new site today.This is a finishing job. We started by the roof deck. Then dug twotrenches and poured concrete to build a footer for the walls. We had a first, as faras I can remember, a cement mixer was available in the morning. Normally, wemix concrete on the ground. In the evening we had a celebration with one of theBolivian music groups They played traditional Bolivian flutes and sang songs ofthe local culture. All in all a great week. As we go into the weekend we willenjoy seeing the people of Sucre and their culture.

04/21/2023

One of the joys of mission is to see the results of the projects we support through our mission program. Today we had the opportunity to visit six of the health project sites. These sites are an outgrowth of the covid-19 pandemic support we gave to PASCAR. During the height of the covid-19 pandemic, since we couldn’t travel to Sucre, we supported the development of sanitation stations so people could go out of their homes to get the food and items they needed to live. As the pandemic subsided the realization that the health of the people was something that needed attention. PASCAR approach us and asked if there was some way Partnership In Mission could help fund a program. A little over a year ago we sent funds to cover the building of greenhouses that use irrigation. The project also taught the families the value of good eating habits, sanitation, and community development. The greenhouses help families grow good, clean vegetables without chemicals. Community development helps families work together for their common good. To understand their rights in law. The families we met with were very thankful for the project.

04/20/2023

A joint team of PASCAR employees and mission volunteers dug the footers and did the predatory work for the pouring of a concrete foundation. Working beside the family, the team accomplished a great deal, while maintaining lighthearted banter and good cheer.
Later we visited the sites of the prior year's builds, finding grateful families enjoying their new homes and ɓaños.

At our final stop for the day, we received a warm greeting and flowers from the Water Women. These women, having benefitted from the Water With Blessings program, have formed cooperative alliances which have led to feelings of solidarity, empowerment, and personal growth. With gratitude for the Health benefits realized by having clean water available to them, they look to use the skills and connections they have gained to pursue other development opportunities.

The report from the hospital is cases with interest diagnosis. This is not unusual as many people who come into the mission clinic have not seen a doctor or have not seen a doctor in years. One heartwarming story was of a family member caring for another family member and being told by the doctor that she was doing exactly what should be done to create a healing environment. The medical staff told the caregiver she had done everything perfectly for her family.

04/18/2023

We started mission tasks today. We all met at the hospital for a greeting, welcome, and introductions. We then broke into our assigned areas of work. The medical team began to unpack the supplies in the duffels and begin to see patients. The construction team went out to see our construction sites. The following report and pictures are from Margaret Gering who shares her insights into what she saw today.

Today we visited the families where we will be doing construction. The first home was of a couple and their extended family. They have lived in this two-room structure for ten years. The space is shared with 7 children, the couple's 70-year-old parents, and 100-year-old grandparents-13 people in total. The family has acquired a 4-year bank loan to purchase land at 40 USD per square meter. On this property, they will build a new, attached home and bathroom, with space for growing fresh vegetables and sewer availability. Below is the plot where the new home will be built. This is how the family obtains clean water through the filter attached to the bucket. The bucket is filled and water passes through the filter into a one-gallon pouch with a handle that the women can carry into the fields. The construction and Water With Blessings programs are part of the mission, along with 30 free surgeries and free clinics.

04/17/2023

We are in Sucre, Bolivia! The mission has started. Our travels to Sucre went well. Getting a visa is always a challenge, but everyone who needed one came through with flying colors. No baggage was lost. Customs only flagged 5 bags to be inspected. After they pulled out a few things in each bag they let us go through. The team is coming together very nicely. Everyone is excited to get to work. We had a wonderful surprise tonight at dinner. Bishop Alodfo stopped by and had dinner with us. He will do Mass for us on Monday morning. The bishop has worked with us over the years to help make the mission the success it has become. Monday morning after Mass and breakfast we will all go to the hospital and participate in the welcome and introductions with the hospital staff, PASCAR, and our mission team. The hospital team will unpack the medical supplies and get set up to see patients and start surgery. The construction and outreach teams will visit the sites from last year and see how they have been completed. It will give us a way the strength the relationship we began a year ago during the building of the construction projects. In the afternoon we will review the construction projects for this year. The attached pictures are of our landing at the Sucre airport, the plaza of the Hostal Sucre (if you have been there before it probably brings back memories), our Mass on Sunday evening, and Bishop Aldofo and us during dinner at El Huerto. I'll try to keep up with the news on a daily basis.

02/05/2023

If we have a morning tradition then an evening tradition sounds like a good idea. Saturday night we gather first for Mass. This was the first time we were able to celebrate Mass at St. Francis church in Oikos Village. After Mass, we traveled to the Province house for a great dinner and presentations by the Oikos kids. For those of us who have traveled many times to the Oikos' home, it's amazing to see how the kids have grown from toddlers to young adults. The kids entertain us with songs and dances. Even our construction and medical teams get into the act. As we come to the end of the evening Sr. Minerva gave her talk on the work the Oikos do and thanked us for our partnership to help the poorest of the poor.

02/04/2023

Our tradition on Saturday mornings when in Borongan is to go and visit a village. We bring food supplies for families and provide lunch for the kids of the village. We passed out 200 bags of food to families and approximately the same number of lunches to kids. All of the missioners help in distributing the food and lunches. Then the fun begins The kids come and sing songs to the missioners and play games. The village leader took me and Rich Paulsen around the village to give us an idea of what life is like in the village. It is primarily a fishing village. The boats are designed to catch bluefin tuna. The boats are built to go up to 20 km out to sea. They can be at sea for up to two weeks. As we wrapped up our time at the village we then headed of a beach area for lunch and a little bit of time to reflect on the sound of the waves rolling on shore. We got back to the hotel as the rain came. It rained the rest of the day.