Padre Aplás, The Shepard Who didn´t run. Martyr of Oklahoma and Guatemala

In December last year I read on the newspaper about a priest from Oklahoma being named martyr by Pope Francis, a priest who was shot dead in Guatemala during the armed conflict. I took interest in it and did some research to find out he was a victim of that time and his case is documented in  the , the Report of the Commission of  Historic Clarification, Guatemala Memory of Silence. Since then I was in charge of the Library of the Ombudsman institution I considered important to have some bibliography on Father Stanley Rother.

We found two books The Shepard Who didn`t Run written by Maria Ruiz Scapardella and Love in a Fearful land written by Henri Nouwen. I bought two copies one for me and one to donate to the library of the first one, later my dad donated the second one.We made a small event to present the book and thanks to technology and goodwill we where able to have Maria, the author, via skype on the presentation.

This presentation led to various more that were requested in Guatemala city and in Santiago Atitlán were we did a TV interview also connecting to Maria in Oklahoma.

Not a lot of people know about father Stanley and his important contributions to the people of Santiago, an inspiration to everyone that knows him. When in Santiago you can visit the place where he was assassinated, which became since that day a Chapel.

Father Stanley and Guatemala are ONE, his heart was in Guatemala and physically remained in Guatemala. When he was assassinated his family wanted to take his body back to Oklahoma but his community could not stand letting go his Father Aplás. They reached the agreement that his heart would be buried in Guatemala in the Church and his body in Oklahoma.

Below is a trailer of the documentary that will be presented for the first time on September 23rd and the Cox Convention Center the day Father Stanley will be beatified.

Chocobananos and Mixtas Workshop

For those of you who were with us at Latin America Heritage Camp. Here are the recipes for what we did at the cooking workshop.  (will update with pics of the workshop)

CHOCOBANANOS, CHOCOFRESAS & CHOCOFRUTAS 

Ingredients
Frozen fruit
Chocolate
Wooden sticks
Topings

Preparation
Peel the fruit (in case needed) depending on the size of the banana you might want to cut them in half by the middle. Strawberries put three to five in a skewer. Other fruit like pineapple, papaya and watermelon you might make a triangle. You can also make choco pan (with pan dulce) which in the US you can buy at a Mexican bakery.

Put the fruit in the wooden sticks (or skewer for strawberries) and place in the freezer the night before the preparation.

The day of the preparation:
Heat the chocolate in double boiler. Take the fruit out and dip it in the chocolate and then roll it in your favorite toping.
Put it in the freezer for a couple of minutes and enjoy!

MIXTAS

Ingredients
12 corn tortillas
3 Avocados
6 medium size sausages
1 small cabbage
2 limes
Salt, pepper
Oregano.
1 tbs. olive oil
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Ketchup
Hot sauce

To make Guacamol:

Mash the avocados add lime juice, salt, pepper, oregano, olive oil and a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Mix.

Put two pots of water to boil. One for the cabbage and one for the sausages.

Slice the cabbage as to end with thin long strips.

Throw the cabbage and sausages in the boiling water leave them for about 5 minutes.

To make a Mixta, Take the corn tortilla spread some guacamol, put cabbage and half a sausage.

Add mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and hot sauce.