Mission team from diocese leads powerful retreat in El Salvador

I met very dedicated people who came from far away and were involved in service, with great humility and willingness.”

Cruz Fajardo

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“I am willing to do whatever it is you want, no matter what it is ... I have a missionary soul, lead me to the land that thirsts for God.”

— Translated lyrics from “A Missionary Song”

Deysi Velasquez had a vision and responded with her heart and her feet.

“I felt I was in a very faraway place, at peace, surrounded by many people,” she recalled.

She saw deacons, exhausted.

“I was praying, and God told me, ‘Go, I will strengthen you,’ and I followed that calling,” she said.

Ms. Velasquez, a member of St. Peter Parish in Marshall, was one of 12 people from this diocese who served on a mission team to El Salvador one week this past August.

The group led an intensive, Spanish-language encounter retreat in a Salvadorian village.

“It has strengthened my desire to serve the Lord and to continue dedicating myself to his service,” Ms. Velasquez stated. “I feel called to be an instrument of God, bringing his word to other places.”

“It’s an experience where you receive more love, affection and gratitude from the people you serve than you give,” said Selvin Ruano, who’s also a member of the Marshall parish.

United

Similar to a 2023 mission to Mérida, Mexico, this mission was also sponsored through a collaboration between the diocesan Missions and Hispanic Ministry offices.

The team members brought diverse perspectives to the mission — different gifts and strengths, different ages and different movements in the Church.

“I found it interesting to travel with this group of brothers and sisters, sharing an experience that is not very common in our communities, while working together as a good team where everyone showed love and eagerness to serve the people in El Salvador, most of whom we don’t know,” stated Mr. Ruano.

“We all stayed united and helped each other in whatever way we could,” said Trini Flores, a member of the Marshall parish.

The retreat they led was an God-centered proclamation of salvation through Jesus Christ.

It focused on God’s love; sin and its consequences; Jesus as the center of the Christian life; and the power of the Holy Spirit.

The goal was to help each of the participants want to learn more about and grow in their faith.

“The most surprising thing for me was seeing people forgive each other — young people forgiving their mothers — and seeing how the Lord manifested himself in each person,” said Flor Granados, a mission team member from the Marshall parish.

Multiplication tables

Ms. Granados first felt the rumblings of mission during a conference at her parish.

“Through prayer and by listening to how Jesus sent his disciples to preach the Gospel — that’s when I felt in my heart the desire to serve as a missionary,” she said.

She served as an intermediary between the community in El Salvador and the mission team and helped with the logistics and organization of the retreat and preparation of the food.

“We planned, exchanged ideas and contributed our experiences and knowledge from other retreats to help with the organization of this retreat,” she said.

Ms. Flores was prepared to do whatever God asked, which led to praying throughout the day for the retreat’s success while caring for a participant’s 6-month-old baby.

God made his presence abundantly clear through the entire mission.

“God is present in the simple, humble people, and in the great love he showed through them,” said Ms. Flores.

“We could feel his presence, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose,” she said.

Ms. Velasquez said she always asks the Holy Spirit to give her and others the strength to do what God has commanded.

Many joined the retreat from neighboring villages.

“At one point on the retreat,” said Ms. Velasquez, “I prayed to the Holy Spirit, asking him to multiply the food so we could feed all the brothers and sisters who live there.”

Everyone had their fill.

Beyond borders

Deacon Amparo Orozco was amazed at the number of young people who attended the retreat.

“I learned from their humility,” said Deacon Orozco, who assists the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Sedalia and serves as spiritual advisor to the Hispanic Cursillo Movement in the diocese.

He volunteered to serve on the mission because God helped him see the need for it.

“Through our Baptism, we are called to serve,” he said.

Mr. Ruano noted that the mission team members had to be patient and adaptable in order to fulfill their roles and had at times to improvise due to limitations of the retreat venue.

He was deeply moved by the love and openness of the locals to the evangelization they were receiving.

“They would walk for hours to receive Christ’s message with joy and hope,” he observed. “Personally, it made me feel that my journey from the United States was as difficult as what these brothers and sisters went through.”

El Salvador is a traditionally Catholic country whose name means “The Savior,” but deep wounds are still healing 33 years after a long and bloody Civil War that brought many deaths and broke many families came to an end.

The mission team members took their preparations for the trip very seriously.

They attended meetings, fasted, prayed intensely, studied Scripture and frequently received the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“It was about praying and putting myself in God’s hands,” said Ms. Flores. “It was something new; some said there would be 200, so there was nothing else to do but pray and fast.”

“I prepared through prayer, meditating on the Word, and becoming aware of the call to serve beyond borders,” said Mr. Ruano.

Cruz Fajardo, a member of the Marshall parish, said God has always placed on her heart the desire to serve him as a missionary.

“When I was invited to the first retreat, I didn’t hesitate to accept, and I continued with the second retreat,” she said.

She was delighted to see how many people were freed from their burdens and convinced to ask for forgiveness from their children or friends.

“I met very dedicated people who came from far away and were involved in service, with great humility and willingness,” she said.

Love lesson

Every mission team member played an important role.

“We distributed the work and service so that everything would go as God wanted, because the work is God’s, not ours,” said Deacon Luis Reyes, who assists the pastor of St. Peter Parish in Marshall and served as a preacher on the retreat.

He was amazed at how hungry the people were for God and how open they were to his Word.

“Above all, the love with which they received us,” he stated. “They gave us a lesson in love.”

Deacon Orozco was most aware of God’s presence during the moments of prayer and while participants were giving their personal testimonies.

During a time of intense prayer on the retreat, Ms. Fajardo saw people resting in the Holy Spirit, “and I called out to the Spirit with all my being and love,” he said.

Mr. Ruano said going on the mission has helped him become more empathetic to the spiritual and physical needs of God’s most vulnerable people.

“I believe it makes you more aware of your mission as a Catholic, realizing that you can’t wait for someone else to do the work for you,” he said. “You need to give your time, talent and often your treasure.”

“Go for it”

Throughout the retreat, God summoned forth gifts that some of the mission team members didn’t realize they have.

All said they are different back home because of what they saw and experienced in El Salvador.

“It gave me an even deeper desire to serve the Lord,” said Ms. Fajardo.

“Today, I have even more desire to bring the Word to those who truly need it,” said Deacon Reyes.

The mission team members requested prayers for the people on the retreat to continue growing in their relationship with God, and for the message of the retreat to continue taking root in people’s hearts.

“Pray for their political leaders, that they may govern with justice and responsibility for the Salvadoran people,” Mr. Ruano suggested.

“Also, pray for the Catholic ministers in El Salvador, that they may grow in their service to the dioceses and parishes, especially in the most vulnerable and underserved communities,” he added.

Ms. Granados suggested praying “that the Lord continues pouring himself out on that community, that they persevere in prayer, faith and love for God and their neighbor, and that the Word of God that was shared with them bears fruit so that service to God may grow.”

People who took part in this mission suggested that anyone planning to have a similar mission experience gird themselves for spiritual battle.

“Be prepared for whatever comes, not just in service but also in terms of food and sleeping arrangements,” Ms. Flores suggested.

“My advice is to prepare spiritually with much prayer and fasting,” said Ms. Fajardo.

Deacon Orozco said to serve without hesitating.

“Go for it, because it’s a very beautiful experience to share our faith with others,” he said.