Seventeen parishioners and friends of Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Parish in the Cedar Knolls neighborhood of Hanover Township, N.J., on Aug. 8, traveled to Antigua, a small city surrounded by volcanoes in southern Guatemala. Founded in 2014, the parish’s Guatemala Outreach Ministry has been conducting week-long mission trips to the Central American nation for many years to build homes in impoverished areas.
To date, 33 homes have been built, and the lives of many families served, especially the lives of its own ministry members, have been transformed. The team works in partnership with and under the guidance of From Houses to Homes, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating pathways out of poverty through safe housing, education, and healthcare.
Since 2014, teams have been sent on a mission nearly every year — except for a hiatus from 2020 to 2023, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic — with the unwavering support and generosity of the parish. This year, Father Vidal Gonzales, Notre Dame’s pastor, joined the team.
“Building homes for families in extreme poverty is more than putting up walls and a roof. It is restoring their dignity, giving children a place to dream, and offering security to hearts that have long known uncertainty,” Father Gonzales wrote in a personal reflection about the trip. “In the act of mixing the gravel and cement and putting it in buckets, laying a brick, or painting a wall, we are touching the very flesh of Christ, hidden in the lives of our brothers and sisters. In the faces of those who receive this gift, we see the face of Christ, Christ who was born in a manger because there was no room at the inn, who wandered without a place to lay his head, Christ who identifies himself with the little ones, the forgotten, the poor.”
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Father Gonzales also wrote about the words of gratitude from the grateful families, “not only for me” and “the volunteers who worked under the hot sun,” but also “for every parishioner who shared their blessings, who gave generously so that this dream could become a reality.”
In another reflection, Andrew Kispert and his fiancée, Danielle Arnone, called the mission experience “transformative.” They wrote that they were moved by the “warmth, faith, and resilience of the family we served” and “the way it drew us closer to each other, the community, and God.”
“The highlight was presenting the keys and witnessing the family’s joy firsthand. It symbolized far more than ownership — it represented dignity, love, and community,” Kispert and Arnone wrote.
Gina Parisi wrote about the first day of work, feeling “physically, mentally, and emotionally drained. The work was challenging, the environment unfamiliar and uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure what I had gotten myself into.”
“But as the days went on, something inspiring happened. I began to embrace the task at hand. It wasn’t just about mixing gravel, carrying cinder blocks, patching holes with cement, or doing concrete brigades. It was about creating a safe, lasting home for a family who welcomed us into their lives with love and gratitude. It truly became more than helping to build a home,” Parisi wrote. “The experience left me changed forever, teaching me that when we give of ourselves, we not only touch the lives of others, but find our own lives enriched in ways that cannot be measured.”
Cristina Folan is the director of communications and evangelization at Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Parish in the Cedar Knolls neighborhood of Hanover Township, N.J.
