Posted On 2020-03-14 In Covenant Life

The first Schoenstatt Conference of 2020 in Guatemala.

GUATEMALA, Adrian Vieto y Laura Solís •

A month ago, February 9th, the First Schoenstatt Conference 2020 took place in Guatemala City. On this occasion, the workshop on temperaments and the Personal Ideal Workshop were held, with the participation of members of the Family Branches, ladies, young professionals and the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign. —

 

Distance was not a limitation for those who gave the workshops, such as the couples Valverde Royo and Escorriola Morera, both from Costa Rica, who again enthusiastically gave their “yes” to the Blessed Mother to give a little of their time, this time to the community of Guatemala. Nor was it a limitation for the 23 brothers from Esquipulas, more than 200 km. from the capital, who organized to travel very early in the morning to arrive at the workshop that the Blessed Mother had prepared for them.

It was a day of much work and great blessings, since during the day the Workshop on Temperaments was held, which allowed each participant to deepen their knowledge about themselves, their temperament, character and personality that mark their lives. In the second part, the Personal Ideal Workshop was held, where with the help of the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Mother, each one identified the ideal or mission for which God created them, and in this way they worked to accomplish it during their lives.

There was also an opportunity to share and to get to know each other better as a movement, to pray, to sing, and above all, to thank the Blessed Mother for all the graces that she gives us in life.

This is how the first Schoenstatt journey of the year in Guatemala took place. With the certainty that we all have a clear and defined personal ideal, the participants returned to their homes to continue building on it.

 

The emotion of being accompanied

Lizeth Pacheco belongs to the Ladies’ Branch and is the coordinator of the movement in Esquipulas. She says: “Whenever we have the opportunity to share with members of our beloved Schoenstatt Movement, our hearts burn with the emotion of feeling accompanied.

The Workshop on the Temperaments helped me very much to get to know myself and to discover which are my strengths of character and which are the virtues that I should take care of and place at the service of God and my brothers and sisters.

The Personal Ideal Workshop came to confirm the mission that the good father God has given me. The spaces of meditation in both workshops were opportune for this encounter with our ego.

Thank you, older Schoenstatt brothers, for coordinating this workshop and for everything that was shared on this day in which we shared with fraternity and strengthened family attachments.

 

A mission that I only have to discover

Marta Cristina Pérez, also from Esquipulas, was present at the blessing of the Costa Rica Shrine, the first Shrine in Central America. After traveling 6 hours by bus to participate in the workshop, she says: “As Schoenstatt Youth, we were excited and eager to share with different branches in the same workshop. Rita Molina, Emily Yus and I were marked by the topic of temperaments, since it made us get to know each other better, but above all, to accept each other and to discover that no temperament is bad, since we are children of God, but we must improve the negative side of that temperament.  Personally, I felt confident, surrounded by friends and family. The two themes marked me: in the theme of temperaments, it helped me to know myself better through the test, and in the theme of the personal ideal, I discovered that I have a mission in God’s plan for me and that I only have to discover it.”

On the way from Esquipúlas

Thanks for the ride

Daniela Madriz is from Guatemala City and says: “This is how our first intensive workshop went yesterday. Thanks to Gaby and Esteban, Gaby and Antonio, and Maga and Luichi, for traveling all the way from Costa Rica to teach it!

The workshop touched on a typical aspect of Schoenstatt: We learned and evaluated our temperament types and analyzed our personal history to formulate our personal mission/ideal.

It was also a great pleasure to have the participation of Schoenstatt Esquipulas”.

 

It’s a privilege, said the married couples from Costa Rica

The workshop was led by Antonio Tous and Gabriela Yglesias, with the help of two other couples from Costa Rica. The Tous’s shared why they did it and why they enjoyed it so much: “Last Sunday, February 9th, a team of three Schoenstatt couples from Costa Rica had the privilege of sharing with the members from Guatemala a Conference full of joy, in which the subjects of temperament and personal ideal were discussed.

The desire that existed in Guatemala to deepen in the Schoenstatt pedagogy was accomplished, for the first time with the participation of the Schoenstatt community of Guatemala City and the community of Esquipulas.

There were 49 members with inflamed hearts, who confirmed this desire to inject new energy so that all would be united to develop the movement in the country.

It was very beautiful to confirm this creative result of how the personal ideal, when it comes to light, makes me very happy and it confirms the road that God has for me.

In the annual planning that had been developed in November 2019, which was a joint work with the Archdiocesan Coordinators of the movement in Guatemala, Adrian Vieto and Laura Solis, and the married coordinator of Mission Guatemala from Costa Rica, Antonio Tous and Gaby Yglesias, it was established as an important objective for the development of the movement to carry out a national work day in the first semester of 2020.

From that moment on we defined the theme and began to work on getting the exhibitors who could travel to Guatemala to give these workshops.  A work of several months, in which we tried to coordinate the agendas of the members of the movement in both cities, and to establish the ideal place for the day.  There were changes of dates, places, exhibitors and participants, but the Blessed Mother guided them with her hand and she rewarded the effort of everyone involved to carry out a unique journey, where some would infect others and the Schoenstatt charisma would impregnate the newest participants, and where the interior fire of the members who had more time faithfully in the movement would be renewed.

It was truly a gift that gives a light that indicates the direction to follow”.

 

Eleven years ago, in 2009, the Schoenstatt Movement from Costa Rica was present for the first time at an International Leaders’ Conference in Schoenstatt – even without a shrine, but with all the strength and grace of a foundation.  Thanks to the commitment of this family of hope, willing to pull the MTA’s cart of triumph throughout Central America, Schoenstatt Guatemala will be present at the Congress of Pentecost in Schoenstatt in this 2020.

Original: Spanish 14.02.2020. Translation by: Maria Aragón, Monterrey, Mexico

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