Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Sunday

What a day and what a way to Celebrate the Faith. The theme of our program is "Celebra le Fe" which means Celebrate the Faith. We were up early and off to mass - which started at 8:20. The church was standing room only with people standing outside the doors and into the street. We were seated in the two front rows. The procession started form the rear with Fathers Rodriguez and Lane entering in a cloud of incense. As they entered they were both greated by the people in the pews - they were truly among the people. Father Lane assisted with Father Rodriguez - to very uplifting music. Fr. Rodgiuez gave a sermon on Christian Unity - which included themes of patience and humility. He stated that it was a great sign that the members of ASA were here during the week that the Pope is celebrating Christian Unity. After mass the people of Church made a line and they greated us one by one with hugs - well wishes for a great mission trip. The welcoming lasted about 30 mins and at the end we were all overwhelmed with emotion.

After the mass the childern arrived to receive their lunch. About 250 kids filled the pews - each with their own plate, cup and silverware. The members of the church had prepared the food which arrived in the largest pans we had ever seen - the meal consisted of pasta w/ chicken, rice and orange juice - very heavy on the carbs! Each member of ASA took turns serving the children - they made a line in the church and filed by one by one with plate and cup in hand. The smiles on their faces as we gave them their food was priceless. We were moved by how the older children helped their siblings or other younger children. As the line grew and more and more children arrived - we were worried we would not have enough - but we were quickly reminded of the theme of our program Celebra la Fe - and put our trust in God and had faith that it would all work out - after all were feed w/ had just enough food - w/ none to spare - the children were very grateful and each child made of point of saying thank you.

After feeding the children it was off to Narome a volcanic crator lake - we piled into the microbus - our team with Fr. Rodriguez and Jairo - after about an 1 hour we finally arrived at the lake. We went swimming in the volcanic lake - had a great lunch and a chance to unwind. After lunch is was straight back to the church to register the children for the program. We arrived at the church at 4:00 p.m. to find 200 children waiting for us so they could sign up. A count was taken by age and each child was assigned to a group. We have four groups to work with all the children. It is amazing how many adults from the Parish volunteered to help us. Each team consists of two members of ASA and four member from San Juan. Back at Bill and John's we worked on putting the materials together, buttons for each child that says Celebre le Fe, education materials for each age group as well as art projects. We had a quick dinner and then back to the church to explain the program to the parish. The program is a three day program w/ each day having a different theme around how we Celebrate the Faith - the first day is how we are called to Faith, day two - is how we listen to God's call, and the final day is how faith changes us. Each day will consist of lessons, games, music and crafts. - In additon we have a group who will paint and refurbish their Parish building that serves as the education center - we have our work cut out for us - Off to debrief about the day - and to bed - at 11:00 - early day tomorrow - we start the day with mass at 7:00 w/ Fr. Lane celebrataing! Off to bed............

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