Maria Duchi

Dear Saints John & Paul,

Hello, my name is Maria Duchi, and I went on the Honduras mission trip with Soles4Souls. I cannot express my gratitude enough to Father Mac, Sister Annie, Jen Katzfey, Scott Lieb, the wonderful people from Soles4Souls, all of our absolutely amazing chaperones, my fellow missionaries, my parents, and all of the parishioners for all of your prayers and support. Without you, this trip would not have been as successful and fulfilling as it was, and for that, I cannot thank you enough. It has been almost a week since we have been back and I have had a lot of time to reflect on this powerful experience. It has been hard adjusting to life back in our Wexford bubble, but I cannot say I want things to go back to how they were before the trip. Honduras and all of the people I met and encountered there really changed my view on how I look at the little things in life. I really did not know what to expect before going there, because pictures can only help so much, but it puts things that I had taken for granted, such as filling up my cup with clean water, into perspective. Every day I think about the kids that I met there and what an impact they had on me. Every day I pray for them, the ones whose names I remember, and the ones that I do not. I look at the pictures of their smiling, happy faces, and realize that I saw Jesus with skin on through those kids. They allowed me to see past myself and serve others. Though they probably do not realize it, they gave me more than I could have ever given them. One of the hardest things was to hug them goodbye and watch from the window of the van as we left them. When we got home, I constantly thought, “How could we leave them? Shoes and toys are just materialistic things.” I came to realize that we did not just leave those kids with just shoes and toys. We left them with hope. With love. With showing them that someone cares about them.

Throughout the trip, we went to four different distribution sites. Each one touched me in different ways and were full of amazing, unique people. Even though my Spanish was not too good, I did not see the language barrier as an issue that took away from the trip (although the kids did like to laugh at our attempt at Spanglish). I would have loved to be able to talk to them more, but I feel like myself, and all of my fellow missionaries connected with the people in a way that did not need to use words. I instantly fell in love with everyone there, because of how kind and welcoming they all were. The kids treated us as if we had known them for a long time and were jumping up for us to pick them up almost immediately as we stepped out of the vans. Washing their feet and putting on their shoes was so humbling for me, as it reminded me of when Jesus washed his disciple’s feet. The best was when they saw the shoes that they were getting, and a big smile would go across their face. That is when no matter how hot, or how many mosquitoes were biting me, nothing else mattered but being there completely present in that moment. I am so unexplainably grateful for being given this opportunity. It is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It also made me realize how fulfilled I feel after serving others, and I hope to use this experience as a guide for my future. So thank you Saints John and Paul Parish for all of your prayers and support through this journey, for me, and all of our missionaries. And lastly, thank you God for allowing me to see Jesus through every one that we encountered. I am so eternally grateful.

Sincerely,

Maria Duchi