Graduate on a mission from God
by Jeff Dixon, ETC
For most young people graduating from college means going out into the real world and finding a job. For one St. Michael, Jasper, parishioner, it meant going out into the third world and helping the poor.
After Michael McFall graduated from Lamar University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, he felt a strong call to the religious life and also to mission work. He prayed for an answer, and then an idea came to him to volunteer in Latin America. Soon he found a group called Mission Honduras.
“I was looking around on the internet for mission work and just stumbled onto it. It helped that it was a Spanish-speaking country because I took Spanish in college and wanted to use it,” McFall said.
McFall signed on for an assignment lasting from September 2008 until March 2009 to journey to the second poorest region in the western hemisphere. Honduras is a democratic republic located in Central America.
Mission Honduras is an organization that assists Hondurans in poverty by offering education, food, shelter, and medical care. They provide dormitories and schools for the children and the organization supports a child’s education from first grade through college or trade school.
McFall said that it was quite the shock to see the poverty even though he thought he was prepared for it.
“It’s just extreme poverty. There’s garbage everywhere, and kids are sitting on sidewalks outside eating off the street. It’s just not something you can prepare yourself for,” McFall said.
During his six-month stay he wore many hats including fourth-grade English teacher, P.E. coach for grades one to six, work site coordinator, and at times taught catechism on the weekends.
He said that attending church at the local parish was a much different experience than back home.
“They didn’t really have an altar or a pulpit, and the priest just walked around during Mass. A few times during Mass a cat or a dog would just stroll through the church, and we did our best to keep them out of the priest’s way,” McFall said.
