Goodbye storm, Hello Home.

(Sign on my door from the volunteer coordinator Katie)

On Wednesday we led the new group on tour in the morning and then we got to move home the the long term house in the afternoon because the storm left Guatemala! 

(My bed)

(Mine and Gracie's room) 

(View from the roof)

Right now we have only had one group in the mission from University of Scranton so we've been splitting them up and taking them to projects. For the past two days I've taken them to stoves which is personally my favorite project. It's also very powerful to the groups because you are literally building the stove inside the home of the family that it is going to and you get to meet them and see a little piece of their life. The first house that we went to was very poor and of course they had a ton of kids (it's Guatemala!) So I just kind of translated for the three missioners that I had and the workers, let them do most of the work (because it's really only a job for a couple people), and played with the kids. This little boy that was I think four years old just stole my heart. I played with him most of the time. We danced together, walked around forever with his feet on top of mine, and so many different things. The was attached to me the whole morning we were there. Then as we were leaving he wouldn't let go of me and started crying. It absolutely broke my heart. Then we moved on to a second house which took a day and a half and that house was a little richer and also had tons of kids including a baby girl who turns one today! They were such a sweet family and even bought us sodas and chips to thank us. I love seeing the stove projects through the eyes of new volunteers and connecting with the families. 

(Kids from the first house)

( new best friend) 

(My favorites <3) 

(We all carved our first initial with the kids in the extra cement at the first house) 

(My group at the second house) 

"We're diverting to El Salvador"

I woke up early in Houston and went back to the airport and coincidently was on the same flight as one of the other long terms that was flying in. Our flight started off fine (there was turbulence basically the whole time but it didn't bother us) and I was sitting with a ton of pastors and a super sweet girl about ten years older than me. We talked a lot and slept for a little bit on the flight. Then we prepared for landing and about 30 minutes later the pilot announced "we're currently in a holding pattern above Guatemala City. We can't land yet and we don't have any information about when we will." Then after while we tried to land and we got super close to the ground but then all of a sudden we started heading back up in the air and then the pilot announced "We're diverting to El Salvador. We can't land due to the weather conditions in Guatemala City." So we flew to El Salvador (featured above) and waited for a couple hours. Which actually went super well and everyone got to meet other people and use the restrooms and such. Then we flew back to Guatemala got our luggage and drove to San Lucas. We're currently staying in a hotel because with all the rain the Long Term House is dangerous because of land slides. We just ate dinner and went to bed. Then this morning (Tuesday) we slept in and had breakfast an hour late and then sorted coffee. Then we watched Tangled in the biblioteca that afternoon because there's not much we can do with the constant rain due to Tropical Storm Boris which is affecting us right now. Another group is coming in tonight though. 

(Tangled projected in the biblioteca)

Oh hey there Texas! Nice to see you again!

May we never lose our wonder. 

Wide eyed and mystified,

May we be just like a child,

Staring at the beauty of the King.

May we never lose our wonder.

I finally left California for Guatemala! My first flight from Sacramento to Houston had a lot of problems and ended up leaving extremely late. The flight went super well once we took off. I had a window seat which I was totally happy about because I love watching the clouds and land go by. Plus I had a ton of new music to listen to including one of my favorite songs right now, Wonder by Bethel Music (lyrics above) which fit perfectly with the flight. We even flew through a little bit of a storm which was beautiful to watch. To be honest I slept most of the flight. 

I ended up landing in Houston about two and a half hours late so I missed my connecting flight. It's probably my fault for saying I was bummed I wouldn't be in Texas longer. :') Everything is good though because United was amazing and set me up with a hotel overnight (my room featured below) and a flight in the morning which coincidently I just found out one of the other long term volunteers will be on as well. 

Anyway I'll update probably in a few days or whenever there's something worth blogging about!

Summer 2014

So my summer plans changed recently! I will be volunteering in both Guatemala and Honduras from June 1st through July 31st. 

In Guatemala I will be working at a Catholic mission in San Lucas Toliman as a long term volunteer June 1st-11th and June 25th-July 31st. I will be leading various groups that come to work from the states, doing orientations, leading tours, and translating. 

In Honduras I will be participating in a two week mission with the Missioners of Christ in Comayagua, Honduras June 12-24. I will be working in an evangelization mission and working alongside the Missioners of Charity (Mother Theresa's order) and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. 

I am very excited to serve in my first young adult mission and see what God has in store for this summer. Keep me and everyone involved in your prayers this summer! 

World Youth Day- Brazil days 7-10

(Part of our group after the Mass with the Pope)

Day Seven. I woke up on copacabana beach. Probably everyone on the beach was already awake except my house mate and me. Everyone was dancing and singing to the flash mob song. We brushed our teeth, carefully changed clothes in our sleeping bags, sang some songs, and talked to people around us. That's the thing about World Youth Day, you get to talk to people all the time, everywhere you go. The fact that I had been in Guatemala for two months before (and only got home two days before we left) made me really confident in my Spanish and that helped a lot because everywhere we went people spoke Spanish. Then the Papal Mass started. We watched it on the screens that were across the beach just like every major event that week. The Mass like most things that week was in Spanish so I actually got to understand what was being said, such a blessing! After Mass we decided that since we were already at the beach we would stick around there for the rest of the day instead of trying to fight our way out of the 4 million person crowd. Our priests came back from serving mass AND BROUGHT OUR ENTIRE GROUP COMMUNION! Like no one except the priests got communion that day because with the last minute venue change it wasn't possible but our entire group did! We made sandwiches, body surfed and just hung out on the beach all day. Then we went back to our host houses, showered because we all needed it after spending two days on the beach, and went to our pizza place for the last time. We stayed there really late for our last night and maxed out our wyd food cards because it was the last day to use them. Then we went home and went back to bed.

(Copacabana Beach Sunday morning)

Day eight. We woke up and had our daily mass. Then our group split. The two priests and a few other people left to go to the Amazon that day and the rest of us enjoyed our last day in Rio. We finally got to go see Cristo Redentor! The huge Jesus statue that Rio is known for had become a daily topic of conversation. We would even tell the weather by whether or not you could see "Giant Jesus." We got to Corcovado (where Giant Jesus is) a few hours before our tickets said so we got to do some shopping for the first time and spend a lot of time in the church there. Then we went up to the statue and saw some monkeys and took a TON of pictures. It was SO unbelievably crowded. There is a small chapel in the base of the statue and a bishop from Spain was celebrating Mass which was so cool to see. Then we went to the base of sugar loaf and decided we would just hang out around there on the beach instead of waiting four hours to go up there. We had dinner with the Minnesota group that we were paired with and our guide Alessandra for the last time at a Brazilian BBQ place. It was amazing! My chaperone left that day and so did our host mom so my two other house mates and I moved to another host house when we got back. Our new host house was our previous neighbor and where our priests had been staying before they left. Beth, her husband, her daughter and son, her daughter's boyfriend, and her nieces were all waiting for us when we got there. We had so much fun staying up and visiting with them. We got to know her nieces who were SO excited to meet Americans. We got their contact information, cried a little, laughed a lot, and of course ate. We got internet for the first time that night! I was so happy because it was my mom's birthday so I got to write her. We stayed up talking for a long time and finally got to sleep. I got a bed for the first time that night. Definitely a treat!

Day nine. We woke up really early, showered, packed our things, and went to our church. There we said goodbye to our guide and all of our host families. Needless to say we were all crying then. Our second host mom gave all three of us girls brazilian treats and containers of goiaba to take home. She's the sweetest. We got on a bus with a group from San Diego and started the drive to São Paulo. I slept most of the way to be honest. Then we went to the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida. It was so huge and gorgeous! When we got in there Mass was being celebrated so that was cool to see. Our bus driver gave us a couple hours there which was definitely not enough time. Then we drove to the ariport. We got through security surprisingly quickly considering the whole airport was packed with people from WYD. There were priests everywhere so my friend and I decided to pick one to ask to bless the religious items that we bought for ourselves and as presents. We went over to this group of three priests because they spoke Spanish. We asked one of them if he would bless our stuff and he laughed and was like, "Yes, but these other two are Bishops so they should probably do it." So then we asked them and they did and we talked to them for a really long time. We were so excited that we got our stuff blessed by Bishops from Spain that we kept telling everyone in our group about it when they walked by and pretty soon alost our entire group was there asking for blessings. Then we got on our plane to fly home.

(The outside of the Basilica) 

(Inside Aparecida)

(Samantha and I when we found the Bishops... we learned what Bishop crosses were that day :') )

(Our group with the Bishops from Spain)

Day ten. We flew all night and landed in Chicago. Most of our group didn't sleep much but like the flight there I fell asleep after about an hour and woke up as they were serving breakfast less than an hour before landing in Chicago. We had a pretty long layover there but there were still some other wyd people in the airport. Then we flew home. It was definitely an amazing trip.

Random Pictures :)

(Group that went to Guatemala a few years ago and Brazil. Note: Emilio is filling in for his sister ;p)

(Father Joseph Mary in his vestments from the Papal Mass)

(Our church, Our Lady of Aparecida)

(Upstairs in one of the churches)

(In the adoration chapel at the voaction fair site)

(With one of the Missionaries of Charity)

(The screens where you could watch all of the main events. That's four million people not a blacksand  beach ;) )

 (With some of the military who were everywhere, always)

(With the American flag and our Jmj flag on copacabana)

World Youth Day- Brazil days 4-6

Day Four. Our entire house forgot to set alarms so we got ready really quickly and ran to our church just in time for mass. Afterwards we went to the bakery and bought waters and some snacks and headed towards to beach to get good spots for the Pope's entrance. We got there and got spots at the very front where he was going to come out of the gates (our spot is pictured above). We waited there for six hours but it didn't feel long at all. We sang a lot, met people around us, took pictures with a ton of people, got interviewed a lot, and handed out holy cards. Then the helicopter landed and the Pope came out. Since we were in the front he drove really slowly by us. Pope Francis was the first Pope I had ever seen. I didn't know what to think. Then, HE LOOKED AT US. Oh my word we were freaking out. A successor of freaking Saint Peter was only a couple of feet from us. It was insane. Seeing a Pope for the first time is literally so crazy.. such a rush of so many different emotions. After that we went to our pizza place (this became a nightly routine) and went back home.

Day Five. We had our typical daily routine; wake up and go to Mass. Then our group split. Some of the people went and saw Cristo Redentor (Giant Jesus) and the rest of us went to the vocation fair. We went through almost all of the booths, met people from all over the world, lots of religious orders, and even met up with the LifeTeen people. Then we went to the adoration chapel and prayed the rosary with the Missionaries of Charity in front of the Blessed Sacrament. We satyed there for a while and saw some relics and then went to the Youth 2000 church. We prayed there for a long time and got to go to confession finally! Then we went across the street to Botafogo Bay (pictured below) and played for a while until we met up with the rest of or group. We went to our pizza place and then went back to our host houses for bed.

Day Six. We woke up and packed our backpacking bags. This was the night we were going to get to sleep on copacabana beach!!! The original location that we were supposed to go to got flooded but that was okay because we all liked the idea of sleeping on the beach much more. We went to get food boxes but the line was going to take all day so we went and set up camp and got good spots on the beach and a few people from our group went and bought juice and sandwhich stuff for us instead. We played on the beach, met a ton of people, and took a million pictures. That night was the vigil. It was absolutely amazing. There is just something about worshipping on one of the most gorgeous beaches in the world with over 3 million people. The highlight was definitely Matt Maher singing Lord, I Need You. If you haven't seen it GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LZa6spYqHsA
  You have the link so you have no reason not to watch it. I literally have never heard the beach as quiet as it was during that song. It was SO powerful. We stayed up really late and talked with our group. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip even though getting to the bathrooms was nearly impossible. ;)

World Youth Day just kept getting better and better it was surreal. I mean to be surrounded by so many Catholics from all of the world is indescribable. 

World Youth Day- Brazil days 1-3

To be honest I've restarted this post more times than I can count anymore. Trying to put World Youth Day in words is like asking someone to count to infinity... it just can't be done. Let me just start by saying World Youth day was absolutely life changing. It was like nothing I have ever experienced before and was probably the best week of my life. Also so much happened in such a short time I decided to break this post up into shorter posts based on the days we were there.

I had THE best group anyone could ask for. The group was organized through Pan de Vida Retreat and so I was already friends with at least half of the people from retreats in the past and everyone else was so easy to get along with it was such a blessing. My chaperone was a close family friend and she and I had travelled out of country on mission together previously and so she was super easy to travel with and was just like my mom. We also had two priests with our group; Father Avram Brown (who I have also travelled with on mission a lot in the past and is like my brother) and Father Joseph mary (a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal whom I know from PDV retreats). 

The first day we all met at San Francisco airport, said goodbye to our families, and flew to Chicago. We left chicago and flew all night to São Paulo and had problems with our plane. Apparently they didn't have a gate or something for us and so we were stuck in our plane for a long time and they told us they would bring stairs so we could get out since most of us had very short layovers and the stairs they brought were broken so we waited even longer and finally they brought stairs and bussed us into the airport and we ran and caught our flight to Rio de Janeiro. When we landed we found out that another person in our group missed their flight. 

We drove to our base church, Our Lady of Aparecida, and met our JMJ guide, Alessandra, and got taken to our host houses. My host mom, Maria, was such a gift from God. She was the sweetest thing ever and I'm so happy I got to meet her. Then we walked back to the church to go to the opening mass. When we got there we took a bus to the metro station and found the metro that we needed to get us from where our host houses were to copacabana beach, where the opening mass was, broke. After a long time of trying to get to the opening mass and failing we finally gave up and decided to go home and try again the next day but then we accidently ended up at the beach right at the start of mass. 

I had no idea what to expect but as we walked up I saw all of the flags flying and everyone was singing and I was instantly so overwhelmed with joy. I fell so in love.. I can't explain it. I never wanted to leave that beach. Then when it came time for communion our leaders told us to not expect to receive communion because well, it's world youth day and there are thousands of people. Right then a communion station popped up next to us and our entire group got communion. Then on our way home that night a girl from the group we were paired with got lost and we looked for her until the metro closed. It was a crazy first day in Rio. We definitely all felt like everything was going wrong but at the same time we were so excited to be there.

After that crazy first day we decided to have a chill second day. We slept in and then went to mass at our church (because we had two priests with us we got our own mass every day). We went sight seeing after. First we saw Candalaria, the new Cathedral, a monastery (they even took us through all of this normally cloistered area, it was amazing!), and then ended up at a Franciscan monastery where our priests concelebrated Mass. Then we went home, had dinner, and went to bed. 

World Youth Day was definitely off to a good start. :)