Just Talkin' About Jesus
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Just Talkin' About Jesus
Angela Guerrasio: From Appalachia to AIDS Camps: Serving God’s Call
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Women Worth Knowing podcast
In episode 16 of Just Talking About Jesus, Angela opens up about the profound impact of losing her son, Rob, in a house fire.
Despite the tragedy, Angela and her husband found solace in their faith, experiencing a deep sense of peace and unity. They turned their grief into a mission, speaking to youth groups and communities about their experience, offering comfort and hope to others facing similar losses.
Angela's resilience and unwavering faith are evident as she continues to find joy and purpose in serving others.
Angela Guerassio shares her journey of faith and service as a missionary in Appalachia.
She recounts her month with the Sisters of Charity in Webster Springs, West Virginia, where she helped set up a volunteer house and connected deeply with the local community.
Angela's story is filled with moments of divine intervention and profound personal connections, highlighting her lifelong commitment to serving the poor and marginalized.
In a remarkable encounter while volunteering at a local center, Angela faced a furious woman who had been asked to leave her temporary home due to safety concerns.
Through patience and empathy, Angela defused the situation by sharing her own painful experience of losing her son in a fire.
This moment of vulnerability transformed the woman's anger into sorrow and repentance. Angela felt a divine presence protecting her throughout the confrontation, underscoring her belief in God's guidance and protection in times of need.
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[00:03] Angela: I said, my life is a prayer of thanksgiving to God that he has chosen me to be his hands and his heart to the people around me.
[00:21] Jan: Hello and welcome to just talking about Jesus. We're glad you're here today. And I have Angela Guerassio with me. Welcome, Angela.
[00:30] Angela: Hi. Thank you.
[00:33] Jan: I have known you for, I was thinking it's got to be at least 32 years. Oh yeah, because Emily's 31 or. Well, you knew Jed too, right?
[00:43] Angela: So it's gotta be mostly when, when you were pregnant with Emily, right?
[00:48] Jan: So at least 32 years. Oh my.
[00:54] Angela: Go.
[00:56] Jan: The things God's taken us through over those years, right?
[01:00] Angela: Oh yeah. Love you.
[01:05] Jan: Spent some time in Appalachia too. Tell me about that.
[01:09] Angela: The other thing that happened around that kitchen table with Bob is that I said to me, the poorest of the poor that I want to help are people in Appalachia at that time. That's what I thought. I know the south, right. But that isn't what was put in my mind, it was Appalachia. So that was there. We talked about that. That was our future, my future. And I said, maybe you could come and help. And he said, that's not what I'm called to, not what God's telling him. Yeah. So I found out that our diocese had a book of missionary opportunities that you could look through. Number one, I wanted to stay with the praying community. I preferred to stay with women. And Appalachia's West Virginia, you know, that Ohio, all that area, so that was in the background. I knew about that. Okay. So one day Bob looked at me just out of the blue and he said, it's time, isn't it? And I knew exactly what he meant and I said, yes, it's time. So he was just retiring, so he had retirement income coming in and he set it aside so that I could go. And I chose the Sisters of charity to spend time with in Webster Springs, West Virginia, that was the county seat. And I worked with the priest as his assistant while I was there. I stayed for a month and funny thing is, I had just gotten to town and I went to get my criminal back. So I walked in and she said, well, you're here on a missionary trip. I thought, I don't know, I had just gotten there, so small town. Anyway, the work that I did there, why it appealed to me. It was helping to set up a volunteer house.
[03:36] Jan: Oh.
[03:37] Angela: In that county where people could come and train, do missionary work in the county.
[03:43] Jan: Yeah.
[03:43] Angela: So I lived and worked with one of the sisters and did a lot of different things. I, you know, I visited people. One of the places that I went to visit was for. With an elderly woman. And father said, I need to tell you, she keeps a shotgun right by the door. And he said, she's pretty crusty and don't mind her language. And I said, that's not a problem. I don't mind. So when I went to visit with her, not only was she sweet, but she told me things about her background and that at 13, she was told that she would be married and the man was way older. She told me about a lot of the heartache from that, because I was a woman that was there and she could trust me. She realized she could trust me. And she. It was hot. I went in the summer. She was wearing cardigan sweater. And I said, aren't you warm? And she said, well, the doctor said that I should keep warm, you know, and not be round drafts. So I thought, okay, if that's the way you want to do it, is wear sweaters. But, yeah, anyway, it was a beautiful experience of one month, and I felt very fulfilled and did everything. I was very, very, very busy every day that I was there.
[05:25] Jan: Well, you've always had a heart for the poor.
[05:28] Angela: Yes.
[05:28] Jan: Anyway, yes. You've been involved in a lot of other ministries that way as well.
[05:33] Angela: Oh, yes. So I thought that the way I could serve God the best with that was by becoming a nun. And because then I.
[05:44] Jan: After you were married?
[05:45] Angela: No, no. Oh, no, no, no. I've had a heart since I was a little girl. I remember praying when I was my mother and grandmother, we had a faith filled house, and my father, but the mothers were the teachers. I remember not needing to talk to Jesus. I remember. I remember what it looked like. He was sitting on a chair or something. I was sitting by his left leg, and we were connecting, but there was no need to have words. And I felt it, and I still remember what that felt like because it's remained with me. And then as I grew up and was ready to receive communion for the first time, when I did receive communion for the first time, I felt like my world changed. People could say whatever they want to say about communion, but mine was a physical, physical change. And going forward. When our first child received his first communion, I said, well, you know, well, what do you think? You know? How do you feel? He goes, oh, it was all right. My face just dropped. The second child, well, how was it? Oh, fine. The third child, it went through all. And I realized, okay, that's just my experience. Yeah, it was not.
[07:27] Jan: But you wanted that so much for them.
[07:31] Angela: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And although they do not, none of them go to church now. They're extremely filthy faith oriented, and they're social justice oriented, and they all reach out, all of them. So that makes me really happy. Yeah.
[07:50] Jan: You wore off on them just a different way, huh. Interesting. You had a son that was killed in a house fire.
[08:01] Angela: Mm hmm. Was that like our children? We were with marriage encounter, and our children were used to being with other families while we went and gave marriage encounter weekends all over the country. So we were preparing to do a great big convention in Washington and Oregon, and we were going to help with that convention. So we sat the kids down before it was time to go, and we told them how proud we were of them and how peaceful we felt about them, accepting, going to different families while we were giving weekends, because we were very, very active, told them how much we loved them, all of these things. And you wonder, in retrospect, why did we choose to do it then? Because the next morning we woke up to a fire. We had an older house, but the electrical, the wiring was good. It was just. And the fire started right underneath an Avon collection of colognes, because I was an Avon representative, so I had a collection of men's colognes, women's colognes that were collectors. So that fueled the fire. It was built in 1909, so it was wood structure. And we woke up to the smoke alarms. We gathered everybody to go outside, and Rob wasn't outside. He didn't come out.
[09:46] Jan: How old was he?
[09:47] Angela: He was twelve, almost 13. So Bob went in to go look for him, and the wires burned his face, and it was pretty bad. But we realized that he had gone back in because he'd come out with us. But we. He wasn't there afterwards. He had gone back in because he was a collector of World War two memorabilia.
[10:14] Jan: And I wanted to say he had.
[10:15] Angela: Some special things, and he had just earned money, and he wanted to buy his jacket, what he wanted by himself. So he went back in, and we were told that he just was overcome by the smoke. And while the firemen were there checking everything out. When did he go in the woods? You know what happened. Bob and I really felt called, if this is your will, Lord, we offer Rob to you. And we meant it. And as a result of that, he did something to us. He built us up. He gave us everything that we needed as far as peace and wisdom and love. And Bob and I were very close as it was, but that brought us truly as one as one. And they did find Rob, and he was hiding under the bed to get away from the smoke. And after that, when we had the funeral, it was joyous. It was a time of joy, because we knew he was with the Lord. We had no doubt. One of the ways we realized was that he had been going with the gal from California that he met at a ranch. Our family was a part of a ranch, and they had just reconciled. He and his buddy went into a neighbor's house and took the guy's collection of pennies that was sitting there on the floor. And we said, you really need to ask for forgiveness for that. So he went to confession, cleared all of that with forgiveness. And I can't remember the third thing, but there were a series of things that let us know things were being cleared, made ready. Made ready, made ready. And at the funeral, people that were greeting us, you know, were grieving with us. And they said, if we'd have known that you were in this place, it wouldn't have been so hard on us.
[12:42] Jan: Because they were grieving for you.
[12:44] Angela: Yes. But they could see that our grief was a little different.
[12:49] Jan: Yeah.
[12:50] Angela: So we thought we had better share that with other people. So we would give talks or people would invite us to youth groups and that kind of thing. And so we use that as an opportunity to help other people.
[13:07] Jan: Exactly. Yeah. Comfort those.
[13:10] Angela: Yeah. So, you know, I have allowed, and we have allowed ourselves to cry when the crying comes, because it doesn't necessarily all come at one time, for sure. I might see something or smell something or see someone that looked like Rob or whatever it might be, and I let the tears come because they're healing.
In volunteering at a center that provided food and clothing and services, service information. I was volunteering at the welcome desk that day, and a woman came in who we had to ask to leave the home that we had provided her because she was homeless. We had provided her for a time being, but neighbors saw smoke coming out of the electrical box, so we had to ask her to leave. We put her up in a motel until that got taken care of. I'm at the welcome desk, and she walks in furious. Furious. She started yelling at me, calling me names, saying, how could we kick her out of all that? All of the other volunteers left. They went to the back of the center. So not it. There I was. Yes. And so I listened to what she had to say, and I told her why we were doing that. And I had told you the story about Rob perishing in a house fire as she was talking. I said, I'm so concerned for you because we've had a situation in our family. And I told her about it, and she started sobbing, and she said, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I should never have talked to you like that. During the whole time we were talking, when she first began to yell at me and the volunteers left, I felt this dome around me, and I knew it was God. I knew it was God's protection, and it was physical. It wasn't just a thought that's protecting me. Thank you, Lord. It wasn't that. It was physical. And I felt like we were in another dimension, if you will, while we were talking. And I knew that the Holy Spirit was giving me every word that I said. When she started crying and we talked about it, she wanted to hug me and kiss me, and I absolutely put my arms out for her, and I said, we will get this taken care of. And she was okay. Everything was fine. After it was over, number one, I bawled out all the volunteers. I said, you left me by myself. And they said, we weren't gonna get in the middle of that.
[16:27] Jan: They were gonna be in the middle of the war.
[16:30] Angela: So one of them said, you know about her, don't you? And I said, no. He said, that was the woman that's been in the news that purportedly killed her mother.
[16:47] Jan: Oh, my.
[16:48] Angela: Previous to that, she had killed a dog and cooked it and gave it to her mother to eat. And she. She's bad news. She was. I don't know if she'd already had some jail time. I'm not sure. I'm not clear about that, but I'm clear about the story. And I thought, Lord, you gave me what I needed at the time. At the time, if I had put thoughts to it, I'd be afraid, what's she gonna do to me? Or whatever. And I had absolutely no fear. So that was an experience. That was of God.
[17:38] Jan: Yeah, it was a book of acts experience.
[17:41] Angela: Yes, yes.
[17:42] Jan: Right.
[17:43] Angela: So I just wanted to share that with you.
[17:45] Jan: Absolutely. How does God speak to you?
[17:49] Angela: Oh, my gosh. It's unending. We're sitting right here, and there's beautiful snow on the ground, and birds are flying. I say thank you a lot.
[18:01] Jan: Yeah.
[18:02] Angela: I am so grateful. You know, that's one thing bob and I just talking to one another and sharing our faith and our hopes and our dreams and our love and being so happy that we're in this part of Oregon. We moved here five years ago in prayer. Still, as I was as a little girl, I spend a lot of time just being with him. Yeah, absolutely. Just like I did when I was little. I guess that's contemplation through scripture. You know, I read scripture every day and I have devotions every day. I thank God when in the morning when I wake up, I don't do a lot of rote things. I do a lot of because of our presence, his presence with me and he being in me as his servant. And I am a servant to others because of that love and that connection. He speaks to me through people that I work with, volunteer with. He speaks to me when I receive communion very strongly, received the Eucharist. I spend time with him. Just the times when we had commercials, I would pray every commercial time. And the little neighbor girl said, came over to visit and she said, do you pray? And I said, all the time. I said, my life is a prayer of thanksgiving to God, that he has chosen me to be his hands and his heart to the people around me. And he lets me know. I mean, I'm involved in a lot of things, not because I say, you know, I'd like to. The paper this week, there were like three things, new things they needed volunteers at the senior center, they spoke out, and I haven't yet because I haven't prayed about that. I, you know, I need to spend time listening. So there were three different things and I had to chuckle because they got me really excited. Yeah, really excited.
[20:24] Jan: Yeah, I think for me it's, well, just with this podcast too, it's like, yeah, you need to move on to a faith field. I was like, really? Because I got enough to do already. I don't know whether I want to do that, but it was. But my spirit knew.
[20:41] Angela: Yeah, right.
[20:44] Jan: You know what it is?
[20:45] Angela: Well, one of the things that I love to do and felt very called to is working with food insecure people. And I did that in my former town, and I was on the board of directors of that. And so I got connected to that right away here in Madras, and I'm a part of the board, but I'm a volunteer, and there are a lot of Hispanic people that come in that do not speak English, and I took a lot of years of Spanish and have a lot of years of not using it. And so I know I need to get more education. I need to get reconnected to it.
[21:27] Jan: Plus, you're a lifetime learner, so.
[21:29] Angela: Yes, that's right. Absolutely.
[21:31] Jan: Yeah.
[21:31] Angela: So what I, I just interviewed someone last night who works with Hispanic wpeople. I said, what do you think are the barriers, number one, why people are reluctant to come and get food and shame. And I said, why do you think that is? Well, we have a lot of migrant workers that are concerned about their immigration status. So they want. They're not going to go somewhere where their name might be compromised. Yeah, yeah. Compromised. And so we talked about that, and I talked about what we do and how we serve people. And so we're going to have a meeting next week with all those others in our community who work with food insecure, but also other needs that they just plain old need help, and we're going to create a plan for our town.
[22:34] Jan: Same thing when I was working at the pregnancy clinic.
[22:38] Angela: Yeah.
[22:38] Jan: And for Hispanics that come in, it's just like, because you asked for, you know, some information from them and whatever, and they weren't feeling safe with that. And it's like, no, it's completely. We don't give that to anybody. We're not a government institution. There's not. They need to know that.
[22:55] Angela: That's really important.
[22:57] Jan: That's a security issue for them. Yeah. So one of the things I know you've done with the ministry was with. Tell us about that.
[23:12] Angela: I remember exactly when it happened. Unbelievably, we were just newly married, and we were sitting at the kitchen table talking about what we'd like to do in our future. And out of my mouth came, I would like to work with the poorest of the poor in America, and I'd like to work with people who are suffering with AIDS. I knew no one who had aids. I've never been around it.
[23:43] Jan: Isn't that how God does? It's like, oh, okay, well, I hadn't thought about that.
[23:48] Angela: Yeah. Right. So I called. I'm Catholic, so I called our diocese and asked if there was an AIDS ministry for the western part of Oregon. They said there was, and I said, I would really like to be a part of it. You know, even if I would go and just listen. And I got some training. And his answer to that was, most of them do not want to be identified, so that really would not work that way. So that meant that my one on one with them was switched a little bit. And so I worked with that office. I helped with a retreat for caregivers, and obviously I'd had ministerial training by that time. One of the years was the worldwide quilt.
[24:49] Jan: Yeah. What year's about? Ish?
[24:52] Angela: I don't. I'm thinking maybe seventies, eighties. Maybe eighties, early eighties, right. Yeah.
[24:58] Jan: Yeah.
[24:59] Angela: So I was one of the readers that presented the names. Oh, of those people that were representing in Portland.
[25:09] Jan: It was in Portland.
[25:10] Angela: Yes, it was in Portland. That was one of the stops and the opportunity to walk among the quilts and see what the families had done artistically to create the life of their son or whoever. So I got to do that. I did get to pray with people, and I. That was the beginning of that. I was invited to a camp in Oregon for people living with AIDS. It was a summer camp experience. I do healing touch, praying over people. And so I was invited in that professional capacity, and so I went. And that was in the year 2000, and this is 2024.
[26:01] Jan: Yeah.
[26:02] Angela: So it's been that long that I have been working at camp, and I'm part of the clergy team. I also offer healing touch. I do spiritual support things at camp, and for many of them, the thing as I was able to sit, thank God, one to one with people who were living with that disease. Of course, now, you know, the people that come every year come. But early on, it was, you didn't know who was going to come back the next year.
[26:40] Jan: Right.
[26:41] Angela: But as I sat with people and listened to them, the thing that I heard most was, I guess God doesn't love me. And I said, oh, can we talk about that? He said, well, you know, I used to go to church, but people, I felt like they were turning their backs on me, and they looked at me funny, and that church is goddesse. So I guess God doesn't, must not let me.
[27:14] Jan: Which doesn't that speak to the importance of how we represent who he is, you know, to people, and to be that inviting and caring regardless.
[27:26] Angela: Right, exactly. You know, and looking into those eyes of people that said, that broke my heart.
[27:31] Jan: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
[27:34] Angela: And so I knew I had to do something about that. I was called to do something about that. One of the things that happened at one of the campsite camps is at the end, the gathering together. We have several ministers. This is a Methodist outreach for people living with AIDS. And although we don't talk religion, we talk spirituality. And he said to the group, I am sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive us. Please forgive us, those of us in the church, the organized church. And at that, I stood up and I said, please forgive me, please forgive me. The other leaders stood up and said, please forgive me. And it was so powerful, as you can imagine. And it was like, it's been said. Yeah, it's said. It's done. They were hugged. I love you. I say a lot of I love you. And I mean it. And so that was a wonderful experience of helping to free people up. Part of what I do at camp is we have an anointing, and anybody who wants to come up towards eight before they get on the bus to go home can be prayed over, if they would like, and blessed, anointed. And so there are two of us do that, a deacon from the episcopal church. And there are long lines of people that just want to be held and looked at and prayed over. By that time, we know them. We know them and their needs personally. We have, I would say, maybe 50 campers and about 20 staff or 25 staff. So we know them. So that when I pray with them or we pray with them, we can speak to them personally and then bless them on their way home. And we use holy oils to do that. So they feel it.
[29:54] Jan: Yeah. Oh, wow, that's rich.
[29:58] Angela: But there's so many stories and so much, and, you know, I'm getting on in age, and part of what we do is there's a lot of walking. So I noticed this last year, I grabbed onto one of the campers, and I said, well, let's walk up the hill together.
[30:20] Jan: So what do you think has been the biggest impact on the people that.
[30:26] Angela: You worked with at AIDS camp?
[30:28] Jan: Yeah.
[30:29] Angela: Oh, I think just to be seen and loved and held and not judged, the love is unconditional. I remember right at the beginning, someone said to me after talking, would you talk to my mother? Could you talk to my mother? And they. And others said, you know, they'll accept that I have AIDS, but not that I'm gay. And a good percentage of those that we know, you know, from the history of AIDS, that it affects gay men especially. And so I kind of have stood in, maybe in a way, for mama's love, you know? I know. I know I have.
[31:16] Jan: Yeah.
[31:17] Angela: So am I ready to stop? No. No.
[31:22] Jan: Because when you give of yourself that way and God is involved, it feeds your spirit.
[31:29] Angela: I sat with a woman who asked to meet with me just this last summer, and she said, I'm trans. And I said, well, can we talk about that? Tell me what that means to you. And she told me of abuse and, you know, and her growing up as a woman, and she said, I want to have my womb removed. I want to have my breasts cut off. I want to be. Have the features of a man. And I. So we talked about that, and I was led to pray with her, giving thanks to God for her two boys that she has and the breasts that fed them and the womb that brought life and nourished and held them. And I said, I don't understand this. I said, I feel, I don't know how I feel right now. I just don't know how I feel. But I respect that. That's important to you and that's how you see it. And she said, I want to be in touch with you. And I said, absolutely. So we have emailed. But afterwards I asked her husband, what if you think about this? He said, I love her deeply and unconditionally, and if that's going to, oh, I had to work on using the right terms. That was hard. And I kept apologizing to her. And she said, don't worry about it. And I said, I know it's going to take time. For my whole life experiences, it's going to take time. And so that's what he said. I love her. So I had a nice talk with him for his viewpoint. So I came home from that and I talked to the bishop. I said, my body, my mind, my spirit does not know how to grasp this. It hurt me that her womb was going to be removed and her breasts were going to, that was the problem. Not that she felt otherwise. That was not, it was just removing what God had, her body, that God had given her. I know when you're sick, you have to sometimes hysterectomy or whatever, but this was something that, it was an aversion. Yes. And intentional. And I didn't want to dismiss it, but I wanted to understand it. And the bishop said, we're at the beginning of talking about this, of learning about this. I said, I need to be educated, and I need to help other people be educated so we can live in this world. And so even as I talk about it, I need more. I need whatever the more is. But that's one of the things. And I'm so glad God put me there because it's not just for me. It's for all the people that I'm going to touch and talk about things like this in a safe and secure and loving way.
[34:51] Jan: Yeah.
[34:51] Angela: So that's what I'm able to give to camp, and it feels so wonderful. I get so much back. Of course, you don't go for that reason, but Bob is always happy when I come back from camp because I'm more, one of the other ways is that I'm, I've been involved in church ministry, actually church, and for many, many, many years. I've had a lot of training. And so I continue with that. You know, I, I'm a proclaimer of the word. And I help with Eucharist, and I teach, and I'm blessed to be with parents of new babies who would like to have their babies baptized. So I get to spend time with them. And I'm on the church council, the parish council. I do a whole bunch of things that's just. I love it. I love it, I love it. And Bob is so absolutely supportive. He's just so supportive.
[35:57] Jan: Yeah. Because he loves that about you.
[35:59] Angela: Yes, he does.
[36:00] Jan: Yeah.
[36:01] Angela: And women's retreats, or something, as you well know, are one of my things that I love. And I introduced this last year, our parish women, to their very first retreat. They've never had a retreat, so.
[36:18] Jan: So high five on that. Yeah. Changes. You didn't.
[36:22] Angela: Well, yeah, and I gathered a group of women who never done anything like that, and now they're prepared. They could help another time. So it goes on.
[36:33] Jan: That's right. That's right. If you were to tell your younger self or someone who is newer or mid journey in their faith or something, that you've really learned about your relationship with God and how to enrich that, what would you tell him?
[36:51] Angela: Oh, boy, that's quite a question. I just have always had a connection, and I didn't think about teaching someone else, necessarily about looking to identify what their relationship is. But I would like to think that my answer would be by experiencing me, by experiencing who I am and my faith, and be open to answering any questions, but be involved in things, be inquisitive, be. If you have questions about is there a God even? Or I'd like to know more. It could be through scripture or prayer. Unfortunately, we don't have a women's prayer group, a neighborhood type prayer group, but I belong to one that we meet every Tuesday, and we read a name after name after name for an hour and a half and pray for all of those people. But I would present myself as being open to answering any questions that they may have. And I think without saying, I love the Lord, I love Jesus with the words. I would hope that they could learn that about me by just being with me.
[38:24] Jan: Yeah.
[38:24] Angela: Because it's important to me to be God's servant.
[38:28] Jan: Yeah. To be a. Yeah. Well, thank you, Angela. This one's been so enriching.
[38:37] Angela: You're welcome.