Here you will find reflections, memories, and inspiration from students, alumni(ae), and collaborating partners that compised the Emmaus Encounters Puerto Rico cohort that travelled to San Juan, Puerto Rico from January 3-10, 2026. The stories and thoughts shared here exemplify the unique impact and learning that occurs through Andover Newton Seminary’s Emmaus Encounters travel seminar.

Rev. Abner Cotto-Bonilla, (MDiv ’18)
National Coordinator for Latino Ministries, ABMHS

The Emmaus Encounter in Puerto Rico was a great experience of collaboration between the two organizations. The engagement with the students began with a unique   experience at El Yunque that helped us connect with them and, at the same time, with the nature of the island.

The spiritual experience helped us to have a moment of reflection on what the students had learned, were learning, and would continue to learn. There is so much history in Puerto Rico regarding to colonization and liberation theology. I am very excited to continue this collaboration with Andover Newton Seminary at Yale.

Nicqueva Haughton, ’27
Student, Hamden, CT

Participating in Emmaus Encounters Puerto Rico was important to me because it integrated theological education with cultural immersion and community engagement.

It allowed me to encounter faith as something lived and practiced within a specific cultural and historical context, rather than studied only through texts.

The program created space to learn alongside communities, honoring their stories, traditions, and resilience. This experience shaped my continued education and ministry by reinforcing the importance of culturally grounded, community-centered learning. It affirmed my commitment to ministry that is attentive to history, identity, and lived experience. The trip strengthened my understanding that effective ministry requires humility, presence, and active participation in the lives of others, particularly those who have been historically marginalized.

I expected academic study paired with cultural exposure. What was realized went far beyond those expectations. The integration of site visits, service-learning, and embodied cultural practices—such as learning bomba and preparing traditional foods—deepened my theological understanding. I gained insight into how faith, resistance, culture, and community are inseparable in Puerto Rico’s history and present reality.

Caroline Kirk, ’27
Student, Tallahassee, FL

It was a gift to develop community alongside my Andover Newton classmates–while we have opportunities to live into a ministry of presence for one another in our day-to-day academic lives, it is an entirely different experience to travel together.

The opportunities to lean on one another, grow in dialogue and connection, and encounter joy across community partners in Puerto Rico was unmatched. This trip brought up questions for me around the community development initiatives we visited with in Puerto Rico: how can being in proximity be a faithful and hopeful practice for sustainable justice-seeking ministry?

B Laboy, ‘26
Student, Chicago, IL

When I say I am a product of the Emmaus Encounter: Puerto Rico, I am saying I am a part of something bigger than myself. I am saying I am a diaspora Puerto Rican, a journeyer, a student. I am saying I am the delayed flights, I am 3am wake up calls, I am an elevator stalled for 2 hours.

When I say I am a product of the Emmaus Encounter, I am saying that I am a product of “take what you need,” “can I use the restroom while you shower,” and “I get carsick too” When I say I am a product of the Emmaus Encounter, I am saying I am winding roads and rainforest sounds. I am cemetery walls and the waves that lap unto them. I am saying I am chopping papayas, a happy giver.

When I say I am a product of the Emmaus Encounter, I am saying I am bomba beats and fresh coconut juice. I am saying I am nightlife filled with laughter and salsa dancing. Emmaus Encounter, on the road together. This is not to say that I know all things Puerto Rico. It is to say that I have witnessed and I am changed.

When I say I am a product of the Emmaus Encounter, I am saying thank you to my fellow travelers, to my trip leaders and to the donors who got us here. I am saying thank you to the island of Puerto Rico, the people, the land, the food, the essence, and more not named.

When I say I am a product of the Emmaus Encounter, I am saying I am me, and you are you, and we are each other.

Min. Matthew Rivera ‘25
National Coordinator for Healing & Transforming Communities, ABHMS

As one who had the privilege of being a student of the Emmaus Encounters during my time at ANS, I am grateful to now stand as a partner to support this incredible work.

Although the trip was initially interrupted due to the capturing of Venezuelan Dictator Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores such a global event—that is only approximately 500 nautical miles away from Puerto Rico—only heightened the scholarship that the students had been studying all semester long.

This offered a unique opportunity for us to continue to reckon with missional and colonial history, and the many ways in which both of those have been intertwined as one collective project. I am thankful that ANS continues to lead this necessary work—through firsthand experiences—as they shape future leaders of the church and beyond.

Benji Suprice, ’27
New London, CT

One day at Happy Givers, a few of my peers and I went to deliver stoves to the homes of elderly community members. I was struck by their willingness to invite us into their space and the moments of hospitality we enjoyed because of this.

I began reflecting on the story of Jesus and Zaccheaus—the unexpecting tax collector who opened his home after Jesus’ request. Home, like our faiths, are sacred and deeply personal places for many. Being invited into these spaces was an honor.

Antonio Vargas, Jr. ’25
New London, CT

One day during our seminar, we visited Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, home of The Happy Givers—a nonprofit committed to serving people with dignity. More importantly, it’s the hometown of its founder, Carlos Rodríguez. Carlos is part dad, part pastor, part graphic designer, part administrator, all of it while casually whistling Bad Bunny and Rubén Blades.

A man of the people.

When we asked why he came back home, his answer was both spiritual and painfully honest. He spoke about exhaustion with congregational leadership, with unchecked power, and with systems that ask communities to survive instead of flourish. He also grieved what Hurricane María revealed and intensified in Vega Baja — not just destruction, but abandonment.

The Happy Givers has these one-liners that feel tailor-made by a charismatic preacher. “So what’s your favorite?” I asked. Without hesitation, he pointed at: “El Pueblo salva el Pueblo.” The people save the people. That’s not a slogan. That’s theology. That’s survival wisdom. That’s what happens when institutions fail, governments disappear, and yet the music keeps playing, the food keeps cooking, and neighbors keep showing up.

El pueblo salva el Pueblo. The people save the people. That phrase isn’t just descriptive—it’s defiant. It says: “We know who has shown up before.” It says: our survival has always been communal. It says: joy, resistance, and live in the same body.

2025-2026 Report:

Andover Newton Seminary Publishes Emmaus Encounters Puerto Rico 2025-2026 Report