God’s Call To Us by Sissy Massad

By Sissy Massad

For the past 20 years, parishioners from Saint Michael have traveled to Tela, a small town on the Caribbean coast of Honduras, where we partner with the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church and School in serving its community as well as several other communities in outlying barrios.

Around 10 years ago, the Holy Spirit senior class became an integral part of our team. We now work side by side with the seniors, mentoring them during the week, all the while giving them opportunities to take leadership roles and relying on them for much needed translation in the barrios where no English is spoken. Our team this year consisted of 10 missionaries from our church and 15 Holy Spirit seniors.

When we land in Tela on Saturday, it is the senior class along with the Rev. Olga Barrera, who serves as rector of Holy Spirit church and principal of the school, who greet us at the airport. We load our trucks and van and off we go. The last time we had spent time with this particular group of young adults was three years ago when they were eighth graders in our Christian Education class. The two-hour bus ride into Tela passes quickly as we reminisce and relive special moments.

At the hotel we settle into our rooms and then that evening we enjoy dinner with the seniors on the Cesar Mariscos hotel terrace that faces the beach. Sunday morning we worship with the ever-growing Holy Spirit community who greet us enthusiastically. The remainder of the day we spend unpacking and readying supplies for the week ahead.

Our days quickly develop a rhythm. We meet for morning prayer and song before breakfast in a conference room that doubles as the staging area for our projects and as our place of worship. Team leadership meets with Olga in advance of our trip to set out goals for the upcoming week. Every year we paint the children’s teeth with a fluoride varnish that helps prevent tooth decay, we test adults and children’s vision, and supply those who need them with readers and sunglasses. We also hold Christian Education classes at the church school along with five outlying barrios. The construction team’s work varies from year to year depending upon the needs of the community. Team members get their work assignment after worship. At the end of the work day we then gather again before dinner for worship, singing and reflections on the day’s events. By week’s end these were our numbers:

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285 students participated in Christian Education in the barrios.
200 children participated in Christian education at Holy Spirit school.
235 children received fluoride treatments attended by a class on dental hygiene.
300 plus eyeglasses and sunglasses were distributed to those in need.
15 Holy Spirit students received scholarships for their continued schoolwork.
A covered sidewalk was constructed at San Martin, and the interior of a new school library at Citronella was painted.
An 18-year-old mural in El Sauce, originally painted by Mary Elizabeth and Sally Schupp, was refreshed.

That is the basic outline of our week on paper, but what happens in our hearts is an altogether different story. As we celebrate God’s love by working, worshipping, and singing side by side with our partner church and the outlying barrios, we grow in our appreciation, love and respect we have for one another. Our songs of thanksgiving and praise with the children and teachers are boisterous and joyful. It is a luminous space that lifts us all and carries through with us then and now.

Being in communion with these Tela communities for a week, we have the opportunity to live the energy, the impulse and the very essence of our faith. By week’s end, we are all physically exhausted, but spiritually revitalized in our commitments to live joyfully in the truth that God loves us and instills in us the desire to be that love for others.

As a final thought, when Father Blackmon is part of our group, he gathers the children around him and using simple core materials that illustrate a story from the Bible, he prompts the children by always beginning with an “I wonder….” question. As they wonder aloud, the hope is to encourage the children’s curiosity about their own lives and begin to explore the mystery of God’s presence in it. Through Godly Play the children are taught to listen for God and to make authentic responses to God’s call in their lives. Katherine and Bob Penn planted a mustard seed in the Tela community twenty years ago. Since then, the commitment of so many others in our parish in communion with the Holy Spirit community has surely been our response to God’s long ago call to us.

Saint Michael will return to Tela, Honduras March 4 to 12 of 2026. We would love to welcome new members to the team! For more information, please contact George Baldwin at gbinvest@swbell.net.

**This article was written by Sissy Massad and was featured in the 2025 Fall Archangel.