(ANS) – In July 2026, five volunteers from Spain’s St. James the Greater Salesian Province (SSM) arrived in the Divine Saviour Province in Central America (CAM) to undertake a missionary volunteer experience. Three of them carried out their mission in San Pedro de Carchá, Guatemala, while Alejandro Martínez and Eterio Morán joined the Salesian work in Comayagüela, Honduras. Two different experiences, one shared desire: to serve and engage with young people in the spirit of Don Bosco.

Nuria Esgueva Camacho, a nursery and primary school teacher; José Javier Esgueva Hernández, an automotive mechanics teacher and Salesian Cooperator; and María del Pilar Camacho Gil, an administrative assistant and volunteer at an educational center, began preparing for this experience as early as November 2025. Their arrival in Guatemala allowed them to engage with a different culture and, above all, with communities that taught them to live out their faith with closeness and simplicity. María del Pilar acknowledges that her initial fears gave way to learning: “Jesus places you where you need to be, and it has been wonderful everywhere we’ve been.” Nuria, for her part, admits: “I’ll never forget it; Guatemala has won a little piece of my heart.”

In Comayagüela, Honduras, Alejandro Martínez and Eterio Morán also undertook their missionary experience. Alejandro, an architectural technician originally from Vigo and a Salesian Cooperator, undertook his first mission, the result of a journey shaped from a young age by his closeness to the Salesian charism. Eterio, on the other hand, an electrical engineer originally from León with more than 40 years of service at the Don Bosco Salesian Institute, arrived in Honduras for his seventh missionary experience, motivated in part by the example of his wife, who had carried out a mission in Nicaragua years ago.

In Guatemala and Honduras, encounters with children and young people took center stage. In these young people, the missionaries discovered hope and the possibility of a future built on education, faith, and support. For the communities that welcomed them, their presence was also an opportunity to experience that the Salesian mission knows no boundaries and that the spirit of Don Bosco continues to unite people and communities across national borders.

These experiences serve as a reminder that being a missionary does not simply mean traveling to a different place. Rather, it means learning to see with fresh eyes, allowing oneself to be moved by other realities, and discovering God in the faces of others. On their return to Spain, the missionaries will undoubtedly take with them much more than memories: faces, stories, lessons, and the affection of the communities that, for a few weeks, also became their home.