I headcanon that a couple of the Encanto residents, aside from the original dwellers, were lost travellers or hikers who decided to just stay. This leads me to thinking up a story for the priest and how he came to be there, and there should be a doctor too, and a boatman who went down the wrong river and landed in Encanto, and how, in the nearby villages, there's all sorts of stories about the field of mountains and the people who never came back and sometimes there would be storms coming from it. I just love going along with the whole enkanto aesthetic, of the Encanto as the literal enkanto of nature gods whisking away lost (or abandoned) people. And then this fits with Mirabel being essentially a tour guide, doing the routine of getting them settled and introducing them to the Madrigal family and listening to their stories. I also love the idea of her sewing them their personal family crests, asking them where they came from and where they want to go, and then when they've decided what they want, she'd gift them with their symbol, and as the only one without powers, therefore comparatively less intimidating, she's the perfect person to ease them into their new life.
