Joy

Well, Im on the computer tonight and I am supposed to wait until tomorrow to take care of this, however, I will be staying in the mountains with Father Balthazar, so I wont get a chance to do any of this up there.

Things have been going very well, Thanks be to God. Life is slowing down a little bit here, things are settling in and now more than ever, I am feeling at home and getting quite used to my responsibilities, activities, and way of life here. It is a beautiful life here, one that I wouldnt trade for anything at this moment. I feel more blessed than ever, being here and having the honor of working and growing with some of the people I am living with as well as the people in this neighborhood whether it is them coming to the door to chat, or the opposite, when they have me in their house. It really is an honor, I can think of no other word to describe the attitudes and love I feel here from our neighbors.

I have continued to work with The Ramirezs, the family with 3 of the children who can not walk or move most of their muscles, however as of the last month of visiting, we have gotten the oldest son to walk and he actually thinks of it as a game, Praise God. The other siblings are anxious to do therapy when I get the chance to visit, and they have opened their hearts to me in ways I could never repay them in. The doctors say they will never walk, but I believe with all my heart that he, and perhaps his sister will walk in the next year given much practice - a miracle in the making.

Maynor one of the Hondurans that I am living, Joseph and I have been really involved with the catechism class with Brother Mateo, and it has been a gift too. We have been preparing activities that reflect the topic such as vocation, prayer, etc. We try to lead praise and worship, but the best times so far, in which weve gotten alot closer with the kids in our class have been praying Bible Jeopardy, and last weeks treasure hunt, involving a clue being tied to the leg of one of the chickens.....hilarious....

With Gods grace I have been able to understand Spanish farely easily, my grammar in speaking is still farely rough, but I am also able to speak and communicate way beyond what I expected or could be capable of with His Grace. Maynor and I have been visiting houses with the rest of the days that we have, houses of the children in our class which has really built some strong relationships with them, and houses of people we dont know yet, which has brought us closer to understanding our call in life as missionaries in every moment. Again, the stories and situations at times are beautiful and joyful, at other times, horrible and also unbelievable, but here these things become common. This is where I have learned so much about the power of my prayers, and the importance of simply sitting in silence and interceding for others....in fact this is where all the power is, because without this, we are in fact, doing simple social work.

As for sharing stories, there have been way to many to recount in this blog, and also way to many to choose which would depict life in the best way possible, I pray that God with bring us together one day again and I will have the honor to share them with you, but for now I can only ask for your prayers. We are praying very hard for this neighborhood, for it is under attack. There are institutions attacking the faith of the people, whether it is Planned Parenthood with their birth control schpiel they give to the poor in schools and other places, or the Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses, using the name of Christian and utterly confusing many faithful neighbors of ours to the point that people have approached us and the Friars in tears out of confusion of what they have taught them.....pray for this neighborhood, for many are not entirely and completely educated and can innocently fall for lies such as these, and pray for these other religions, because they are further than just seperated brothers, they are an entirely different religion in itself, devoid of the Salvation given to us by Jesus on the Cross.....

As for everyone of you, I miss you all extremely, I think about each of you at least once everyday, and It is difficult being away, however I know and am being affirmed in my prayers everyday that this is where I am called...and even more that alot more people are called here as well, for this I am praying for any of you who are called and wrestling with the idea of dropping everything and serving our brothers and sisters in this world. I have to admit, at times when I look back at where I was 6 months ago or what I would be doing in my house or apartment, its easy to think that I dropped everything, but in actuality it wasnt until I dropped everything that Ive started to tase what it is going to be like to gain Everything. Please pray for me, and for all those I work with....we need it everyday.

I love you Mom and Dad, Travis, Lindsay, and Chris, in case you guys are reading this....and all you others...your in my heart and prayers.....

The Peace of Christ

Andrew Charles Pocta