Parishioners to embark on mission to help Guatemalan orphans

TOMS RIVER — Parishioners of St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church will embark on the church's first mission trip Thursday, when they leave for the Hogar Rafeal Ayau Orphanage in Guatemala City.

The Rev. Paul Pappas, who has visited the orphanage on his own for a decade, hopes the mission will be the first of many for his congregation. He said he wants his congregation to take part in annual missions to help people in different parts of the world.

"It is part of our faith to go out there and to help the less privileged, those people who aren't as blessed as we are, to make their lives just a little bit better," Pappas said.

The orphanage, under the responsibility of the Catholic Apostolic Orthodox Antiochian Church of Guatemala, is run by nuns from the Orthodox Monastery Lavra Mambre, according to the orphanage's Web site, www.hogarafaelayau.org. It was founded in 1857 by Don Rafael Ayau, and was expropriated by the Guatemalan government in the early 1970s, according to the site. In 1996, the government gave the orphanage to the Orthodox church.

Each month as many as three groups of U.S. missionaries visit the orphanage, Pappas said. On this trip, Pappas will be joined by Eva Tsourounakis, 56, of Toms River and Peter Lines, 44, of Howell, both members of St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church. Five members of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church of Wyck-off, Bergen County, also will take part in the weeklong mission to the orphanage, Pappas said.

Parishioners of St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church donated hundreds of pounds of medicine and clothes for the children, Pappas said. They also raised funds to pay for the costs of shipping the donations to Guatemala, he said.

"We realize only a certain amount of people can go on the mission trip. A way to involve everybody is to ask them to donate," Pappas said.

The missionaries will do landscape work around the orphanage, spend time with the children, put on a carnival for them, hold and feed babies, and attend church services, Pappas said.

"We will try to spend time with them and show them that we love them and support them," Tsourounakis said.

She said she has always had "a special soft spot for orphaned kids" because they want to be part of society, and they need adult guidance and help. Tsourounakis said she will bring along books and games for the kids.

"It would be nice to help somebody like that, and especially in a country that is so poor and so much in need,"she said.

Lines said he has always felt that one of the things a church needs to do is help others.
"I felt that it was my time to give something back to the world," he said.

Lines also said he looked at the mission as an opportunity to lead by example, and show people, especially kids in the Cub Scout pack he helps run, the importance of spreading good will and doing good deeds for others.

Cub Scout Pack 150 of Howell donated a suitcase full of children's medicine for the missionaries to take to the orphans, said Lines, the pack's assistant cubmaster.

"Many people say, "Why don't you just focus on your own backyard?' " Lines said. "But, we are a global community."

The missionaries are scheduled to return to New Jersey on Oct. 9.

After they return, the missionaries will give presentations about their trip to raise awareness of the importance of giving to others, Pappas said.

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