“God’s dreams are always better than ours” – Mission experience of Patricia and Menchu in Guayaramerín (Bolivia)

It all started inside me when I saw a bus shelter that read: “May the summer of your life not be the winter of your soul. On this vacation, don’t treat God the way you wouldn’t treat your friends”.

I kept pondering it silently and didn’t say anything…

Patricia and I had planned a vacation with diving, cultural visits, sleeping in the desert, and traveling across Morocco. Upon my return from Rome — where I had been giving training to the teachers at the Ciampino School — I had arranged to meet Patricia to book the flights to Morocco. But as I passed by the tabernacle, I couldn’t stop thinking about that phrase on the bus shelter, and I laughed just imagining having to tell Patricia that I was NOT going to Morocco…

We met, and as everything goes better over a beer, I shared my concern. I thought she would send me away… but to my surprise, her reaction was: “I’m going with you and the Claretian Sisters to the ends of the earth. I love them, they are amazing”.

She lifted a weight off my shoulders but put another one on: now we had to tell the Claretian Sisters about our concern and express that we wanted to give our time, our money, and our presence to whatever mission was needed…

The Claretian Sisters, always open to new proposals, got to work, and within a few weeks, our destination was set: Guayaramerín, in the Bolivian Amazon.

Obstacles began: we didn’t have a vaccination appointment… without the yellow fever shot, we couldn’t go. Flights were extremely expensive… and only the sisters could book domestic flights…

But when things are from God, they work out… so we kept trusting. During the new teachers’ gathering, a Mater teacher heard me in a café saying I didn’t have the vaccine and told me: “Tomorrow I have an appointment at an international vaccination center; I’ll authorize you.”

So Patri and I went there, and we both got vaccinated. We secured flights, documents in order, and…here we go!

The journey there was a real adventure. It took us 2 days to get there and 3 to return. When we arrived at the airport, Sister Lucía hadn’t been able to come because some cows were blocking the road, and she kept sending us photos. When we finally saw her, we immediately felt like we were HOME.

In Guayaramerín, we arrived at the Claretian Sisters’ house. We were literally in the middle of the jungle, two blocks from the Mamoré River, a tributary of the Amazon. The light, the wild nature… simply SPECTACULAR.

As soon as we arrived, Lucía gave us the keys to the house without knowing us at all: TRUST. And she said: “Be free”.

A phrase that accompanied us throughout the mission, and Patri and I took it literally.

I am sure these small gestures fully immersed us in the life of the community, making us feel “one of them.”

At the first dinner, already with Norma and Lucía, they explained the schedule of missionary activities: intense, deep, tough days, filled with emotions.

We visited Roberto Fransen School and worked with kindergarten children (5 years old). We toured the school and greeted all teaching and administrative staff.

Then we went to the Elderly Home. There I began to notice God’s presence. I found Him in the vulnerable, in the poor.

I was fortunate to kneel before Ana. She kept stroking my head and wouldn’t let go of my hand. She said: “How good God is. I feel joy and sadness because you came. Joy, because you come to see me, who am poor. When will you come back? And sadness because I’d like to invite you to something you like, but I am poor…”

Her face shone with happiness, and I will never forget it. She had just had a blood transfusion and was very weak. Just in case, I spoke to her about the immense heaven that awaited her.

We also visited the General Hospital. You can imagine the infrastructure, the lack of hygiene, the flies in the rooms, the dogs roaming freely… but amid it all were God’s treasures: His patients. We visited José Luis, stroked him, prayed, spoke with the doctor… he was in his final moments. Lucía began an impromptu prayer and gave him words of peace and comfort for his journey to heaven.

Yes, we encountered the crucified, but amid pain and suffering, we also experienced peace. That same afternoon, we were called: he had passed away…

God bless you, José Luis!

We visited the rural school Santa Rosa.

It had no electricity or water; the engine had broken. A friend gave me a donation to fix it, and the sisters are handling it. Patricia noticed that the children’s chairs were broken and had nails sticking out. She thought of taking them to the carpentry vocational program at San José de Fe y Alegría School for repair.

At this school, I was moved by the commitment, strength, and humility of the teachers and the principal, striving to help these 72 children despite corruption and lack of resources.

I was also fortunate to give training to the leaders of the Vicariate of Pando on teacher support. It went well, though I lacked prior knowledge of the reality, and that frustrated me a little. From that training came my work for the following week: training in several schools of those same leaders.

By the way, every time we went to a school, rural community, etc., Lucía introduced us as missionaries. Every time I heard that word, I got a lump in my throat.

We are discovering richness in poverty and, as Patri told me: “Menchu, we are not only seeing poverty, we are living it with the sisters”.

The human capacity to adapt is incredible, and living in poverty is also impressive: how free you feel, joyful, in control of yourself, and available for whatever God wants…

On the 19th, Sister Josi arrived from Peru, and on the 20th we celebrated her birthday. She accompanied me on a motorcycle to an important challenge: giving training to the teachers at the Special Education School Sagrada Familia. I thought: How can I care for those who care for the most vulnerable? And it occurred to me to help them reconnect with their teaching vocation: “Your vocation: your sacred space”.

We did a series of activities that helped them connect with the history of their teaching vocation, their natural gifts, and discover their value in the world. I also enjoyed sharing my own teaching vocation. I introduced them to Cala, the girl with autism who changed my life and inspired me to study Speech and Language Education.

Another school that captivated me was Guayaraguazú and its principal, Beni. I’ll share two anecdotes from this school: I trained the teachers in Cooperative Learning, and at the end of the course, a teacher said: “Thank you for giving us the Canbas training with a spoon”.

The other anecdote: when I met the principal, a person radiating enthusiasm, joy, preparation, and strength, she said: “Menchu, I tell my children I will be immortal, because what I sow in the school, in the children, in the families… when I die, it will continue from generation to generation”.

It made me reflect on the transcendence of our work and the vision of eternity.

Thank you for everything and for so much, sisters.

“God’s dreams are always better than ours”.

Menchu Garralón