¡Viva México!

I'm so blessed to be a FOCUS Missionary!  Not only do I get to witness first hand the front lines of the New Evangelization, but there are many other perks as well.  For example, I'm directing a Mission Trip to New Orleans.  Jeff Runyan, who is head of the FOCUS Missions department, lead our FOCUS Missions Leadership Summit..... Location: Mexico City!  The vision being that we spend a significant amount of time in a "mission trip like" setting, a different culture with language barriers in such.  Being there for 5 days gave us the opportunity to have some much needed classroom time, take a pilgrimage to see Our Lady of Guadalupe, and learn how to properly lead our own mission trips to foreign locations.

I've now been back in the states for 5 days, but I'm going to attempt to recall some significant points from each day spent in Mexico City.  Here goes!

Day 1 - Thursday

FOCUS Missionaries Trevor Downey (KU) and Marnee Peterson (Benedictine) stayed with us in Kansas City the night before our 6:00AM departure so we could get out on time.  I, of course, waited till midnight to start packing.  Needless to say I didn't get to bed till 2AM and we had to leave at 4AM.

Despite the fact that I was incredibly tired, it was a great day.  There's few things on this earth that can beat being with FOCUS Missionaries (Jesus being one of them).  Conversations just seem to be better.  And since we all know the blood, sweat and tears that can accompany our mission on campus, rarely do we lack something to talk about.  I've known Trevor and Marnee for almost 2 years but never have we had the opportunity to bond like we did on this trip.

American Airlines took us from KC, MO to Dallas, TX (represent!), and from Dallas, TX to Mexico City, Mexico.  We arrived around noon.  Caitlin Mulcahy (Nebraska) was supposed to arrive next at about 1:15PM.  But after waiting at her gate until about 2:30 and seeing dozens of other passengers from flight 1597, we decided she probably missed her flight.  Remember, in Mexico you can't use your cell phone unless you paid a ton extra for it.

So the 3 of us grabbed lunch and hung out in the airport for a while.  Kevin Cotter (Denver Support Center) showed up next, around 3:30PM.  By 4:30, Jeff Runyan (Denver Support Center), Jake Mach (Denver Support Center), Tom Bruner (Georgia Southern), Mikki Breen (Georgia Southern), Dominic Paolucci (Connecticut), Katie O'Donnell (Auburn), and Cassandra Blanco (Denver) arrived.  Tim Judge (Temple) was supposed to be with them but missed his flight.  He and Caitlin, who we found out missed her first flight showed up around 5:30PM.

By 6PM, we were on our way to the hostel!

For the remainder of the evening, Jeff took us out on the town.  We visited the Basilica, which I believe is the seat of the Cardinal there, and had dinner (legit Mexican food) down the street on the 6th floor balcony.  What a view!

Day 2 - Friday

Woke up at 7:30AM.  Breakfast at the hostel at 8:00AM.

For the rest of the morning we had classroom time, learning the vision behind why we do FOCUS Missions, some odds and ends about Mission Trip Orientation and Debriefing, and curriculum for our trips.  This was all great stuff.

At noon, we went to Mass at the Basilica.  It was in Spanish.  Since being Catholic is AWESOME (and universal) I knew what was going on the whole time, but the only thing I actually understood was when they said "Y con tu espíritu", which means "and with your spirit" - the response to "Lord be with you".  I remembered this because of a facebook conversation I was involved in when Alejandro the man Teran and Raftastic Egües pointed out that the Spanish translation of the Mass is closer to the Latin text than our English translation (but that will change in November).

After Mass, we took some time walking through the Basilica.  It was beautiful!  I especially loved all of the side chapels and Altars.

I believe we had some more classroom time that afternoon before dinner.

In the evening, we went out to a local bar to have a few drinks and FREE tequila shots.  The locals treated us very well the entire we were there.  I am very grateful for their hospitality!  I also really enjoyed catching up with Katie O'Donnell that night at the bar.  She told me all about Auburn (where I spent my first 2 years with FOCUS) and the things that have been going on.  War Eagle!

Day 3 - Saturday

Saturday was our pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe.  We had about a mile or 2 of a walk from where we got off the metro to the location of the Shrine, which we spent praying a rosary.  As we walked, I was picturing all of the people (especially Alejandro Teran) that have made this exact pilgrimage before us.  Imagine how many people have been effected by Our Lady!  It's incredible!

We spent the whole day at the shrine praying, going to mass, having some more "classroom time", visiting the various chapels and such, and, of course, seeing the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe!  One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing this:

Let me try to tell the story.  At one point, someone attempted to destroy the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  A bomb was planted near the Altar where the Tilma was located.  Everything was destroyed, except the Tilma.  The crucifix in the picture was directly in between the bomb and the Tilma, taking the hit for our Queen Mother.  BOOM!

Can you say spiritual warfare?!  The devil tried to destroy our Mother and Jesus said "NO, don't touch my mama!" and punched him in the face!  This gets me all jacked up!!

Biggest lesson of the trip:
Later that night, Jeff asked us how God worked on our hearts at the Shrine.  As everyone went around the circle sharing their experiences, I began to feel like a failure.  Everyone had such awesome experiences and I seemed to not have anything to say at all.  I looked back on the previous 14 hours and noticed that I wasn't in the right mindset for, more or less, the entire day.  I was very excited about our pilgrimage, but for the wrong reasons.  I acted more like a tourist than a pilgrim.  I was so excited to see and experience a new culture, that I was never in a very prayerful mood.  "Look at this!  Look at that!"  I was constantly taking pictures of the moments I was missing.  Regrettably, I even took a picture of the Tilma with a flash.  Oops.  I got in trouble for it.
The next day, I had an encouraging conversation with Tom about this.  He reminded me that this trip was training.  And this experience trained me.  The idea that anyone should take a pilgrimage and tell God what He needs to show them is wrong.  We might want to get A or B out of an experience, but God might want to teach us X or Y.  And who are we to argue with Him?
God allowed me to be humbled so that when I take a group of men on a Mission Trip, I can be in the right state of mind - not making the same mistake twice.  What a great lesson I learned.  God is real.

"If we are faithless, he remains faithful." - 2 Timothy 2:13

After our 12 hour pilgrimage on Saturday, Jeff took us out for some live mariachi music.  I never thought I would enjoy mariachi music so much in my life!  It was so fun.  It was in a wide open plaza in downtown.  Scattered all throughout the plaza are different professional mariachi bands just waiting for business.  When you want to be entertained, approach a band with the proper amount of pesos and request some music.  They will then surround you in a circle and give you a personal show.  It's up close and personal.  I hope everyone can experience this before they die.

Day 4 - Sunday

Breakfast on the roof of a hotel over looking the city.  Woohoo!

We went back to the Basilica for Mass and a holy hour.  After having "brodda" Tim Judge hold me accountable to entering into a prayerful mood that morning, I was ready to roll.  Mass was fantastic.  Jesus was there, who could complain?!

Quick tangent: Mexico City is built on a swamp.  The city is actually sinking.  In certain places, like the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, it is very visible as buildings are tilting and cracking.  You can kind of see it in this picture.

So back to Sunday.  After Mass and holy hour, we celebrated the Sabbath by going on a boat ride.  I guess the Aztecs that used to be in Mexico dug out a bunch of canals and one of them still exists.  So one of the popular activities to do there is grab a bucket of beer, hop on wooden boat and float down the river for a few hours.  It was very relaxing.  We also had dinner on the boat.

Day 5 - Monday

Day of departure.  We woke up, ate breakfast, and finished up by having some solid prayer time for each other, our mission trips, and all students attending missions this year.  It was very powerful to know that my brothers and sisters were praying for me the mission trip I will be leading to New Orleans.

Most of the group had to depart pretty early, but a few of us went to Mass at the Basilica again.  Trevor, Marnee and I had the latest flight so we got to hang out a little longer.  We prayed a holy hour at St. Dominics (which isn't far from the Basilica) where I fell in love with a statue of Our Lady, Queen of the Rosary.  I spent my whole holy hour in front of her.  She was beautiful!

Now, the best ending to an incredible trip.  Trevor, Marnee and I had some leftover pesos that we weren't going to spend so we decided we'd buy a homeless man lunch.  Thank God for Trevor because he knew enough Spanish to have a conversation.  We met Fernando on the street, asked him if he'd like lunch, and he responded with an ecstatic "yes!".  We walked down to a restaurant, which took quite a while because he was slow, and let him order what he wanted.  Trevor talked to him the most but also did a little translating for us.  We told him we were Catholic missionaries and asked him if he was Catholic.  He said yes but was very hesitant when Marnee tried to give him her rosary.  I'm not sure if he knew how to use it... But he took it anyways.  He ate, we prayed with him, and departed.  Pray for Fernando.

Overall, the trip was great.  I'm glad I had the chance to experience a different culture and see some very holy places.  I'm thankful for God teaching me so much throughout the 5 days and for all the FOCUS missionaries that I got to be with.  You all make me a better man.

Adiós and Vaya con Dios!