More from Sister Confianza del Señor

The predawn ride I described in this meditation occurred during the winter of 2022.  I left our monastery in the town of Limón (on the Caribbean coast of Honduras), at 3:45 a.m. and rode my bike 3 miles along a dirt road with only the stars and a small headlight illuminating my way.  After 25 minutes, I arrived at David and Olga’s house.  They are the caretakers of a cattle ranch outside of town, and they let me leave the bike there as I continued my day.  Then I waited at the head of the Road to La Fortuna for the milk truck to give me a ride two miles up the road to our motherhouse in the countryside, where Sister Alegría and I lived for 16 years until health issues led us to move to town in 2022. 

Soon, Nesmin and his helper arrived in their old but sturdy red pickup.  “¡Buenos días!” I greeted them as I climbed into the back, positioning myself among the 50-gallon barrels and holding on to the rails for the bouncy fifteen-minute ride. What a strange experience it was not to recognize where we were along the road as we made our way up into the hills!  I spent the morning checking on the house and the pineapples and other things we have growing there.  Then I walked the two miles back down the road, grabbed my bike, and made my way back to Limón under the midday sun. 

In April of 2019, Nesmin began making the daily two-hour trip from his home to the village of La Fortuna in order to collect milk from the various dairy farms along the road.  He takes the milk back to a holding station in his town, from which it is transported across the country in large milk trucks to the processing plant in the big city of San Pedro Sula. 

Nesmin soon started giving us three liters of milk once or twice a week when we asked for it, and he never accepted payment.  A year later, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Nesmin became an angel for all of us who lived along his route.  With the country in lockdown, it was difficult to go out to buy

groceries and other supplies.  Nesmin was willing to take our list of items along with the money needed to buy them and purchase them for us in his town, bringing them back the next morning.  He did the same for many other people, charging for his service only if the order was of significant weight or bulk.  Sister Alegría and I continue to give thanks for the kindness and generosity of Nesmin and so many others like him.

In 2012, the Sister Alegria and Confianza (wearing straw hats and blue dresses) caught a ride in a pickup full of patients from the village La Fortuna.  Don Marcos, the driver (in the cowboy hat at left), dropped us all off at the public health clinic in Limón, where the Sisters provided care as volunteers until 2020.