A Catholic Lay Mission Outreach through which men, women, and youth 16 and over can have a profound, one-week cross-culture experience with the Mayas who live in the mountains of Guatemala. There is a Home Missionary Team and a Travel Missionary Team.

SOS is a 501c3 non-profit Catholic mission organization headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1998 by Ernest and Connie Braren and Reverend Thomas Ponzini and became incorporated in 1999. SOS is not a ministry within a parish. Still, it is an independent Catholic mission organization that operates with the approval and blessing of both Archbishop Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and Bishop Rosolino Bianchetti Boffelli of the Diocese of Quiché, Guatemala.

SOS has a Board of Directors who are dedicated to not only improving the quality of life for the Maya living in the Quiché area of Guatemala but also dedicated to igniting the faith of men, women, and youth through the short term foreign mission experience. 

SOS facilitates three to four one week mission trips a year to Guatemala. It is the liaison for arranging the mission visits with the Guatemalan hosts; it recruits and prepares team members, plans the mission activities, coordinates the mission activities with the in-country leaders, accompanies the teams while on mission, and arranges all transportation and lodging. Post-trip, it seeks to help returning team members to continue growing from their mission experiences.

http://www.sendingoutservants.org/

SOS Vision Mission 2020

Week 1 Experience

Dear Adopt a Missioner Prayer Warrior 

Thank you so very much for your powerful prayers as 20 members of the Sending Out Servants (SOS) Vision Team traveled to Joyabaj, Guatemala last week.  We had some very long days with many challenges but we saw 734 patients and identified 150 patients for surgery in just five days.  We returned Saturday evening and are home safe and sound thanks to your supporting prayers.  The photo below was taken Saturday before we boarded our flight to return home.  

We left Intercontinental Airport on February 22 at 9:30 am and arrived in Guatemala City with 28 action packers (plastic bins) with medications, equipment, and supplies for the clinic, all of which had to go through Customs.  We were blessed that all documents requested were in order and we were cleared quickly to leave the airport and begin our five-hour drive to Joyabaj. When we arrived at about 7:30 pm, we were met by the 7 members of the Advance Team that left February 18^th to set up the clinic. 

Sunday morning, we attended Mass with the people of Joyabaj in their beautiful new church, had lunch and went straight to the clinic across the town square from the church where approximately 75 pre-screened patients were waiting for us.

The Vision Clinic has 11 stations: 1.  Healthy Eyes/Diabetes Class, 2. Registration, 3. LEA Distance Tests, 4A. Blood Sugar and Blood Pressure Pre-screening and 4B. Medical and Eye Assessment with General Physicians, 5 A. Auto Refractor and 5B Trial Lens, I-Test Slit Lamp and Examinations by Ophthalmologists, 6. Keratometry/A-Scan, 7. Surgical Counseling and Medical Referrals, 8.  Distance Eye Class Assembly, 9. Lensometry, 10. Near Vision Testing and 11. Sunglasses.  All patients are routed through Stations 1-4 then sent to appropriate stations based on needed care.  

The Surgery Clinic has already begun with 16 team members working together to complete 110 cataract and 40 pterygium (a growth on the clear tissue of the eye than can spread to the cornea) surgeries. 11 team members arrived on Saturday, February 29^th to join 5 members already there and all will return March 7^th.  For prayer warriors who chose to pray this week, please pray for your adopted team member as well as the success of all surgeries, complete healing of our patients and a safe return of the team.  

Most of our patients spoke some Spanish but many, especially older patients, spoke Quiche, a Mayan regional dialect.  We had double (English and Spanish) and triple (English, Spanish, Quiche) translators who worked with us to serve the Mayans.  The Mayor of Joyabaj was very instrumental in advertising the dates and times of the clinic and in getting needed space, equipment and storage.  He even brought each team member a gift representative of their culture at the end of the clinic.

We simply can’t thank you enough for being part of an excellent “Home Team”!  We saw so many blessings and mini-miracles that amazed us which we attribute to the prayers of a faith-filled people kind enough to lift us up.  We truly felt the prayer coverage you provided as we traveled to and from our destination and interacted with the patients and people of Joyabaj. 

Your prayers lifted our spirits, helped us focus on our tasks, kept us healthy and asked for God’s healing, favor and success of the clinic and ongoing surgeries.  We thank you for helping us be a ministry of presence that shared the love of God with the humble indigenous people of Guatemala. 

We cordially invite you to join us for “Share the Experience” on Sunday, April 19^th at St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church, 7810 Cypresswood, Spring, Texas in McGivney Hall after the 11:00 Mass.  Come meet the person you prayed for and the rest of the team to share a meal and hear stories from the mission.  We hope you can be with us!

We prayed for you as well and asked that God bless you with an abundance of joy, love, and peace!  We are forever grateful.

² We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, ³ remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.    1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

Monday Afternoon Photos

A patient departs from the hospital after successful surgery.

Patients returning for their one day post-operative follow up with family receive medication and instructions for their continued recovery.

Tuesday Morning Photos

Greeters welcome patients and interpreters to the clinic as they check-in for their appointments.

Doctors prepare another patient for cataract surgery.

Doctors examine patients during their one day post-operative evaluation.  It’s here that the patient's eye patch is removed allowing them to see clearly for the first time in months or even years!

*Last Updated 03/04/2020