Overflowing

Chiapas January 9 – 18, 2026

It’s been a week since our team of nine volunteers got back from Chiapas. I always like to wait for a few days after our return to write this reflection because I think this pause gives me a little perspective and allows for the fatigue and emotions of our trip to settle a little. Then I can see more clearly what remains, what stands out.

This time around, however, the same feelings that flooded my heart from the very first day our team met at the airport, and every day thereafter, remain. I couldn’t help marvel with deep emotion at the fact that the good Lord was allowing us to serve in Chiapas for the 15 th time. But who’s counting, you may ask? Does it really matter? It does if you consider that the following has happened on every trip without major incident.

The lives of the volunteers in our MDP team coincide and our fates are intertwined with each other’s and with those in Chiapas who make our mission possible. From the volunteers who meet us at the airport in Tuxtla; the people at the retreat center where we spend our first night; Vicente, our faithful and reliable driver for many trips; the nuns who feed us and Nico our coordinator in Coapilla; Norma of Cáritas, and her team who guides around San Cristóbal; the volunteers in each little community where we serve, scurrying around, carrying chairs and tables borrowed from the community to help us create the space for our clinic; to the patients who walk from faraway–regardless of the weather– and patiently wait for hours to be seen. We are invariably met with such joy, love, trust, and gratitude. Think about this happening on 15 different occasions since 2010. Yes, we have faced some challenges at times, but always without a major incident. Yes, I am certain the Lord walks alongside us.

And so, the same feeling that flooded my heart that early morning at the airport, on January 9th , remains. I realize my cup is overflowing with gratitude for the beautiful minds and hearts of our team members here and for our collaborators in Chiapas. My cup is overflowing with sadness and compassion for what we cannot cure, but also, my cup is overflowing with the trust and appreciation we experience from each of the patients we serve. And so I pray in gratitude for the privilege of serving in Chiapas, I pray that I can keep the feelings, the images, fixed indelibly in my mind and in my heart. I pray that we are blessed with many more trips to Chiapas.

Lía Price Jan 25, 2026

Picture taken by Adrian Brown, volunteer interpreter. He photographed his brother Max on the dock of Laguna Verde, in Coapilla, Chiapas, México. Max volunteered in our pharmacy and did reading glass assessments.