In 1993 he was assigned to the Oblate mission in Guatemala. He first lived within the tightly organized life of San Martin de Porres parish at Chicamán. After about nine months he moved again to take up ministry with two other Oblate priests farther north, near the Mexican border at Playa Grande, Ixcan. Most of this work involved difficult journeys to far-flung villages, offering sacramental services, and attending to the needs of people traumatized by the violence of the Guatemalan civil war.