Seeds Sown in Guatemala

An Interview with Millie Hennemann / SERVE Magazine / August 2023

In 2018, the Hennemann family received their first mission assignment to Costa Rica. As part of their preparation, they attended Spanish language school in Guatemala. While new missionaries might be excited to immediately settle into their new home in a new country, language school is an important part of a successful mission. For Nick and Millie Hennemann, this was the door to a future ministry.

Millie’s Spanish teacher was a Catholic woman named Florinda. During the course of their classes, Florinda asked if the Hennemann Family could help a man in her village who was paralyzed and unable to work. They went with Florinda to visit the village and were able to give some assistance to the family of this man.

The following year, the Hennemann Family returned to Guatemala for continued language classes, and they encountered Florinda once again. They returned to Florinda’s village, and this time Florinda introduced them to a mother with ten children. Several of the teenage daughters could not read or write, and did not speak Spanish, but only spoke a Mayan language. This concerned Millie, and she wanted to do something to help them with their education.

Through this encounter, the Lord put the education of Guatemalans on Nick and Millie’s heart. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these needs became even more urgent.

So many children were spending their days on the streets because schools were closed. Millie worked with Florinda to hire a teacher to begin tutoring about 20 kids. They met in the upstairs terrace of Florinda’s home.

Even after the schools opened, many of these students couldn’t return because of the cost of uniforms and supplies. So, the Hennemann family began looking for sponsors in the U.S. to help these children have access to education. Florinda’s home became a place for after-school tutoring during the week and catechism classes on the weekend.

This led the Hennemanns to work with Florinda and other missionaries to institute the “Gift of Hope” program to sponsor the education of students whose families couldn’t otherwise afford education. Millie shared, “Education is the best way to help these families.” It is a way to break the cycle of poverty and not simply give handouts."

Jhony is a Guatemalan youth whose life has been changed by Gift of Hope. Jhony lost his mother to cancer when he was barely five years old. Five years later, his father abandoned him, and he was taken in by his grandmother. Sadly, his grandmother died in an accident several years later, leaving him alone as a teenager.

Jhony’s cousin, who was like a brother to him, began taking him to church activities, and Jhony found much consolation in the Lord’s presence. Tragically, Jhony’s cousin died suddenly, leaving Jhony in a state of deep depression. He stopped going to school and barely left home.

Below: Jhony (left) hopes to serve God's people as a priest.

Through God’s providence, Florinda met Jhony in 2022. She invited him into the Gift of Hope program so that he could afford to continue school and have the support of a community. Jhony began his studies again and began to realize that one of his dreams was to support people by forming them in the faith. He decided to study in the diocesan minor seminary for high school students, and to continue discerning the call to serve as a Catholic priest in the future.

Jhony is an excellent student, as evidenced by his grades. In 2024, he will be able to continue his studies in the major seminary. Jhony is studying in the Diocese of Solala-Chimaltenango—where Oklahoma native Blessed Stanley Rother was serving when he was martyred in 1981. Thanks to the Hennemanns’ providential encounters with Florinda and those of her village, several Guatemalan youth are being provided with opportunities for a hopeful future. Please keep these young people and their families in your prayers.

By Millie Hennemann / SERVE Magazine / Aug 2023

Only after four years of working with the Guatemalan children on Lake Atitlan did we realized we were part of the diocese where Fr. Stanley Rother served as a missionary and was martyred.

Fr. Stanley was born in Oklahoma and ordained a priest there in 1963. Five years after his ordination, he began working with the diocesan mission team in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala.

He served the indigenous Tz’utujil people during the civil war, a time of great suffering and danger. Having grown up on a farm in Oklahoma, he had much to offer the people. He knew how to work a farm and read the weather, and he offered his construction and mechanical skills to the people. He became fluent in the Tz’utujil dialect despite his challenges learning Latin in seminary.

Fr. Stanley loved the people and cared for them the way a shepherd cares for his lambs. He visited their homes, built them a hospital and a school, played with the children, and labored side by side with farmers. He said Mass in the city on Sundays, then traveled to the farms to say another Mass.

As civil unrest increased in the late 1970s, people began disappearing, including some of Fr. Stanley’s catechists. Rumors circulated that Fr. Stanley was on the soldiers’ hit list, so he was called back to the U.S. by his bishop for his own safety.

However, Fr. Stanley eventually chose to return to his flock with permission from his bishop, saying, “A shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger.” On July 28, 1981, masked men broke into the rectory at night and brutally attacked and killed Fr. Stanley.
Fr. Stanley Rother’s memory lives on in the hearts of the locals, who have long regarded him as a martyr and saint. He lived a simple life as a missionary to some of the poorest people in Guatemala. By giving his life, he inspired the faith of the Guatemalan people, resulting in many religious vocations. Believers around the world have been inspired by Fr. Stanley’s witness.
 

Blessed Stanley Rother, pray for us!

Read more about Fr Stanley's life and witness here: https://www.stanleyrotherproject.org/