Missionaries in Guatemala support neglected Mayan communities
Thanks to support from ACN, three members of the Missionaries of Saint Mary of Guadalupe are committed to serving indigenous communities in remote and forgotten regions.
“I don’t mind busting my sandals, Lord, in order to follow you and serve you,” says Sister Aura Marina López, one of the three Missionary Sisters of Saint Mary of Guadalupe, who work in Guatemala. And the fact is that these religious sisters do trek very long distances on unpaved roads to meet the needs of ethnic Mayan communities.
The sisters sacrifice their personal comfort to take the message of the Gospel to the most remote locations, such as Pueblo Nuevo, a village with only a few inhabitants, located at the foot of the Tajumulco volcano, in the Boca Costa region, which is composed of 21 local communities. This is where the missionaries carry out their work. Most of the population in the region belongs to the Mayan Mam ethnic group, but there are others, such as the Kekchi, an indigenous community that is largely concentrated in the mountainous regions of southwest Guatemala.
“For years, these communities have lived in neglect, struggling against extreme poverty and lack of access to basic services. Most of the population makes its living off small-scale coffee plantations, and many migrate due to the lack of available land, or the impossibility of finding steady employment,” the missionaries tell Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
They add that over the past ten years the vulnerability of these communities has increased. However, the religious also note that the Mayan communities are “strongly committed to keeping alive the testimony of the experience of the Risen Christ and show admirable faith and courage. The faithful have done all they can to keep alive this witness of faith .”
“The parish priest asked for help, and we decided to stay”
“In the best-case scenario, the priests would visit these Mayan communities around once a year for the celebration of Holy Mass, since they take eight hours to get here from the parish of Tajumulco,” the sisters recall. “In 2012, after assessing the situation, the then parish priest of Santa Isabel, in Tajumulco, asked for our help, and so we ran a month-long mission. Following that experience, seeing how necessary it was to keep accompanying the faithful in the area, we decided to stay for good, to support the parish priest.”
At the beginning, the sisters did not even have a parish house to stay in. For seven years, they lived in private houses, depending on the generosity of two families who lent them their homes. The needs were such that for two years they were not even able to buy the traditional material with which they make their religious habits, though they finally managed through the support of ACN.
In 2021, thanks to a collective effort, the religious were able to build their own house, and in 2023, the new Parish of Saint John the Evangelist, in Pueblo Nuevo, was erected.
The future in mission territory: the arrival of new vocations
The sisters have no intention of slowing down their mission. On the contrary: “With the help of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we want to begin with the challenge of reaching out to another ten communities in Toquián Grande, another centre in Tajumulco which also needs a lot of support. Our main goal in this mission territory is to provide general pastoral support for all people, from the youngest to the oldest.” They have also set in motion a project to evangelise through social media, to “make our mission more creative”, and are preparing a course to train pastoral agents.
The three religious are now accompanied by a young indigenous girl who is in formation. “At the moment we have a young girl living with us who is from the Kekchi people,” the missionaries explain. “She accompanies us, and helps in the house, and her heart is set on a religious vocation. We support her, since she receives no support from her family. This is another way of living our charism of supporting women with greater needs, or with few opportunities,” they explain.
The sisters are overflowing with gratitude to ACN, for its unconditional support. “The financial help we receive has been a true blessing, that allows us to keep up our work among the poor and needy,” they explain. “We are deeply grateful for your kindness and generosity, and we offer up our humble prayers for the intentions of your benefactors.”
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