by Mariela Gomez
Frassati Missions, a volunteer run non-profit dedicated to serving the poor and vulnerable through short-term international and domestic missions, has visited and served the area of Annotto Bay, Jamaica, for seven years. This is our eighth mission trip. Each mission, we tell the new missionaries that it’s not strangers that we will meet. We’re visiting friends.
On Jan. 19, we hosted “Family Sunday”— a day where parishioners brought friends and family to St. Theresa Church in Annotto Bay to celebrate Mass, participate in catechetical skits (this year, the theme was “Hope and Mercy”), and have a delicious lunch. It took me a while to get to the kitchen because I kept stopping to say “hello” and ask how they and their families were doing — people who I have seen throughout the years as we’ve come on mission trips, people who I have talked to and prayed for.
Amore, a student from May River, was with some friends. I first met her in 2022 when she helped us clean up, and I knew she just wanted to hang out with the mission team. Carnet was there, and each time I see her, I’m reminded of my first visit to Jamaica in 2019 and how she taught us to plant flowers in the garden. Marge was still in the church singing, her voice and praise carried over into the yard.
Dieon and Michael Buckley — two great friends who’ve helped us prepare for all of our mission trips in Jamaica — were outside eating in the sun. Primrose was staying in the shade, but her son was running and playing with the other children. And Dahema — someone who always made it a point to come and find me on Family Sundays — introduced me to her husband and her daughter, Danalisa, who was also one of the “100 sheep” during our skit on the parable of the lost sheep. Annotto Bay is a small and beautiful town. However, it is poor, and the people who live here are humble. Going on a mission trip changes your perspective on the poor, the sick, and the marginalized. People’s lack of material goods is noticeable, but there is a richness in them.
Each “good morning” from passersby on the road is filled with cheer. On Sundays, the term “Sunday best” really is lived out. It’s not just that they’re wearing their best clothing, but you can tell there is a bright light shining from within them, that they are giving God the very best of themselves by being joyful, dancing, singing, and praising the Lord. That trust and love for God — in the midst of life’s sorrows — is contagious. It has taught me I can give the very best of myself to God in all situations because God wants the best for all of his children.
In the words of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Verso l’Alto (Toward the top).
Mariela Gomez is the director and catechist at Frassati Missions Inc.