god in a lion suit

^"People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them." -Mark 10:13-16

Hello everyone!

Here I am updating my blog.. I`m at the sister`s house helping to translate for a meeting, but it turns out they only need me when the connection goes bad so in the meantime I thought I`d write a little update :)

I was supposed to be leaving for a camping trip on the beach in an hour and a half... but last night the few youth leaders who had committed to going all had "last minute changes" in their availability, so the trip is postponed (which means cancelled). It`s okay for me, because we would have had to stay up all night to finish sewing our rice-sack tent.  Now we can finish it tranquilamente for the next venture.

Last night was the closing presentation for our kids summer program at the parish.  Each class prepared a little number for the parents, which included theater (La Niña de la Selva/The girl from the Jungle), dance (one from the jungle and one from the highland), and a couple of songs.  For our English class we presented the camp song "Baby Shark," so they will forever remember that tiburón is shark!  (important if they ever find themselves on a beach in the U.S.) It`s amazing how much the emotion and nervousness involved in a formal presentation can really bring people closer together, especially children!  The high emotion wasn`t enough to calm some of our most rowdy kids, but I suppose the lion running around stage attacking the other actors when it`s not his turn adds to the entertainment. 

We formed a pretty tight community, as several parents told me that their children "acostumbraron," or got used to their classes at the parish.  We hope they continue attendance!  There`s lots of work to do in terms of building up children`s ministry in our parish, and it`s a tiring job, but I think we did it pretty well!

Lately I`ve been becoming more and more interested in liturgical ministry, especially in relation to youth.  I´ve never been a huge fan of Catholic liturgies, finding that my faith really came alive in direct encounters with people, and not so much in the church building.  But the institution of our Catholic faith maintains that the liturgy is the center of our shared faith, so I´ve begun to ask, if that`s true, why don`t I feel it?  And I think it has a lot to do with the way we go about liturgy.  Instead of asking how to make the liturgy come alive for its participants, we restrict ourselves to the way it "should be" or the way it`s always been done.  The point of Eucharist, of liturgy, is communion.  Why do we not create a space the promotes encounter with the person sitting in front of or behind us? Why our style of praying really reflect the intimacy and union that their words express?  If young people are going to see that the liturgy is even more important for our parish community than game nights, sports tournaments, and trips to the beach, all of which we do really well, they need to be shown that it`s true.  Just repeating "the liturgy is important, the Eucharist is the center of our fatih" isn`t going to do it.  They have to be shown, they have to feel it. 

Anyway, theory is one thing.  Practice is another.  And right now, chasing around a growling 5-year-old boy in a lion suit is what brings us together, what reminds us of our common call.  So we`ll continue looking for ways to enhance our faith, but we won`t reject the value of what we have!

Thanks for reading.  Would love to hear from you!

Wishing you PEACE in your heart and RESTLESSNESS in your spirit :)

not forgetting, but forgiving

This weekend I went for the first time to mass in one of our parish’s chapels, Santo Domingo. The neighborhood is on the outskirts of Chimbote and has a very rural feel. I’ve been walking by it for several months on my way to LENTCH, always noticing it but never inquiring. This past week I finally decided to bring it up to Padre Luciano and see what’s going on there. I went Sunday in hopes of meeting the right people to start developing some kind of outreach to the kids or youth in the neighborhood.


When I walked into the chapel, I saw a very simple room. At the front was the altar, and behind it there was no wall but instead a garden. There were two rows of simple wooden benches and a handful of señoras (elderly women) sitting on the right. I walked in, took a seat near them, and they greeted me and everyone else as they arrived. There ended up being a total of about ten people. Padre Miguel arrived a few minutes after four, and the Mass started.

Until that Mass, it was like any other Sunday for me. Then Padre offered the opening prayer, and added, “Today we are lucky to have here Emily, from the United States, as we commemorate ten years of the attack on her country at the World Trade Center and pray for the thousands of victims from the U.S. and from all over the world.” Ah, of course, the ten year anniversary of 9/11! I had completely forgotten, but as the Mass proceeded, it turned out to be a better commemoration than I could have asked for.

The Gospel for this Sunday was the parable of forgiving others as God forgives us (Matthew, 18: 21-35). Padre Miguel started out his Homily by highlighting the most common message that we understand from this reading – so many times we are so grateful that our loving God forgives even the gravest of our sins, but we are unwilling to forgive our brothers and sisters for the smallest offenses. Then he said, “We have a good opportunity today, as well, to consider the social message of this Gospel.” The message that he proceeded to give re-awoke in me the emotion of 9/11, and it re-ignited my own sentiments about the way we respond to it:

What if warring nations, instead of retaliating with hatred, started with forgiveness? Obviously many people will present arguments of practicality – the government has to worry about the safety of its people, and we should also work to combat systems of evil in the world. But does not hatred simply breed more hatred? Why not strive for national sentiments of forgiveness, understanding, and solidarity with the millions of other people who deal with terrorism every day? Forgiveness does not mean letting the same atrocity happen twice, but it does mean changing the attitude behind our reaction.

With these thoughts I sat as the Mass continued, and Padre Miguel invited me to offer the petitions, even though I was a fist-time visitor in this tight-knit community. This allowed me to step outside my internal reflections and participate in an active way with the community. I received the body of Christ that day with perhaps more conviction and belief than I have in a long time, because I felt the truth of Christ’s message of forgiveness, on the smallest and largest scale.

So as we move on with our lives and the anniversary of 9/11 passes, let us carry not more hatred toward those who carry out acts of terrorism, but forgiveness. Let us pray not that they suffer for what they’ve done but that love, more powerful than the strongest hatred, may fill their hearts. And let our hearts also be filled with love and the courage to work for a more peaceful world.

we are a resurrection people

I’m so sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written! I didn’t realize. There have been so many occasions in which I thought about writing, or had something to share, and just never got to it…. But here I am!

We just got back yesterday from our annual retreat. We went to Tortugas, a little beach town about an hour south of here. It was really rejuvenating to have the ambiance of the ocean waves and tranquility of Tortugas to facilitate a few days of reflection and prayer. It was led by Herman Katty, one of the Incarnate Word sisters here. She is our age but much older in wisdom and at the same time much younger in the childlike joy that she finds in everyday life. She is also Peruvian so the retreat was led in Spanish which was an exciting challenge for us. I could share lots of details but overall I feel like I have a new energy for my service sites and my house community! You can read a small piece of my reflections at the IWM blog, where we posted personal versions of the Beatitudes that we wrote during the retreat.

We celebrated Easter here with lots of enthusiasm! A Peruvian (and widely Latin American) tradition is to act out the Way of the Cross through the neighborhood streets on Good Friday. Good Friday is actually a bigger celebration than Easter, I think because for a people who have suffered or are suffering greatly, it is easier to identify with the crucified Christ than with the Risen Christ. And with all the killing in the world, whether it be the slow and subtle murder of a malnourished child by an imbalanced society or the direct and calculated murder of an identified individual in the midst of war, it is easy to see Christ being crucified in our world today. The difference is that we weren’t there when Jesus walked the way of Calvary, so we couldn’t take a stand, though we like to think we would have. But today we can. That’s why we are called to accompany those who suffer most—so that we can say no to the suffering of Jesus in our world today and all rise up in the Resurrection together.

Back to the story… the theater group I participate in in our parish coordinated the acting and I played the part of a bad person in the pueblo, yelling “Crucify him, crucify him!” through the whole process. Since we rehearsed the Vía Cruces, as it’s called in Spanish, for weeks beforehand, I felt like I was living the Passion of Jesus for a long time, and was thus really ready to live the Resurrection!

To celebrate the Resurrection we planned an all-night vigil/retreat for the youth movement. It started with the Saturday night vigil Mass at 8… though for me it started Saturday morning with a market run to get all the supplies. Saturday afternoon we started cooking the lamb and unleavened bread. After Mass we did some icebreaker-type games and then sat down to share a Jewish-style Passover meal—a very cool experience. The rest of the night was filled with more games, a movie, and a campfire. Around the campfire each individual got to share a bit of their testimony… or really how they were drawn into the parish. It was a really neat time to hear their stories and reflect on how God’s call is uniquely designed for every one of us. We ended at 6 a.m. with a short prayer… then I went home and slept for two hours before returning to the church for First Communion class, which was also really fun! We have class from 9:30-11, and at 11 we have a children’s mass. We still have communion, though obviously there are only a few of us who receive it. That day I went up to receive communion, and when I went back to my seat two of my 9-year-old girls turned around to face me. Their eyes were filled with curiosity and they excitedly asked me, “Does it taste good? Is that what we’re going to get?” I said yes, it tastes like happiness and peace, and yes, you will be able to receive it in November, and they looked at each other as their eyes and smiles widened. It reminded me of my own excitement to be able to walk up with all the grown-ups and receive the Eucharist, and even though I had a very simple understanding of what was happening, I think we would do well to share a bit of that childlike excitement as we walk up to communion!

After First Communion I went to theater practice for a little while, which was a celebration of the completion of the Vía Cruces and Easter—also lots of fun, because I just love being with the other members of the group. I left early to return to my house for Easter lunch… lasagna and brownie sundaes! It was a WELCOME treat after our Lenten diet. In the afternoon I was able to talk with my family and in the evening went to a meeting with the Confirmation catechist team before going to Mass in the evening. By that time I was started to crash but the whole day was very joy-filled and I wouldn’t change a second of it! (Re-reading this paragraph I realized it was FULL of exclamation points… and still has lots… but that’s because it was a very exciting day, even meriting multiple exclamation points in true Peruvian style!!! (sorry, Ginger ))

It’s a crazy thing to write a message to the general public, never knowing who might read it, but whoever and wherever you are, thank you for reading! We share our experiences so that we can all become better at loving and serving our neighbor, and we all have a perspective to offer. I thank you for considering mine and would love to hear from you as well!

I wish you joy and energy during this Easter season and beyond, and wish you the strength to respond to the call that you feel in your heart!

accomplishing the common things

“You are a unique person made by God capable of loving and being loved. Accomplish the common things in life in uncommon ways.” –George Washington


At this point in my life, I am realizing that being a missionary isn’t necessarily about have a packed schedule of organized service, but about turning everything I do into an act of service. With that, I’d love to fill you all in a bit on my day-to-day activities…

It’s about ten o’clock in the morning right now and I’m sitting at my kitchen table typing on the laptop. We don’t have internet in the house but it’s nice to have a computer so we don’t have to spend so much time on the internet when we want to write e-mails or blogs or print documents. I’m realizing that I haven’t shared many details about my living situation in general, so I’ll share a bit more about the house. Our house is located on the edge of Dos de Mayo and Magdalena, two neighborhoods in northeast Chimbote. They are well-established neighborhoods, but still considered “young towns” because they were originally started as invasions, or essentially squatter communities. Most of the houses around us are constructed of cement and are fairly good in terms of quality, but many have unfinished second floors or attachments constructed of estera, or a woven reed-like material. Walking north or east of our house will lead you to the edge of Chimbote, where there are many more houses constructed completely of estera. Our house is very similar to those in the immediate vicinity minus the fact that it’s huge. We have two complete stories, with four bedrooms, a huge living room partially divided in two, two bathrooms, a large dining room, kitchen, and large patio and garden out back. Just before Thanksgiving we painted our living room orange, so it feels much more lively and homey than it did before. We are slowly making changes and improvements using the resources we have to make it our own and make it a welcoming space for visitors. In terms of amenities, we are a step above most of our neighbors because we have a water well behind our house and a pump that carries the water to a tank on top of the house. All the houses in this area of town have running water, but the water is only turned on for a couple hours in the morning and night, so houses without a well are more limited in terms of water usage. A few weeks ago our pump broke for about a week, so we filled buckets from the well to use for showering, drinking, washing clothes/dishes, flushing toilets, etc. For drinking or cooking the water must be boiled. What else… ah, yes, we don’t have a water heater, so the options are a cold/lukewarm shower or a hot bucket shower. When it was colder I generally opted for the bucket shower, but now that it’s summer the cold showers are no problem. We also don’t have a washing machine so we wash clothes by hand and hang dry them, but it’s not a bad chore. Our other big chore is dusting and sweeping, because our street isn’t paved yet so the dust is incredible. We cook all our own food in the house, but fruits or vegetables must be eaten cooked and/or washed with dish soap.

This week we got a new addition to the house – ducks! A friend of ours has about a hundred ducklings to get rid of, so after a careful decision process we decided to adopt three of them. As you can see in the picture, we built a little corral in the back corner of our patio for them. We have yet to name them but that’s our next task! And that’s our hammock in the background… :)

Now a little bit in terms of daily activities… it’s a little difficult because I don’t necessarily have a regular schedule, every day is a little bit different. That fact is intensified because of summer vacation (Jan-Feb), when most programs take a break. I’ve started to fall into a bit of a routine this week, though. I’ve been getting up at 6:15 to go running with a couple friends, which I love! Some mornings it’s a little painful but we run down the street I love on straight out of Chimbote to a sand dune. I love this little escape into the country, seeing all the farmers heading to town with donkey carts loaded with goods to sell (usually corn). This morning while the others ran laps on top of the sand dune (which my legs don’t find very agreeable… haha), I picked a little peak off to the sand and did a little meditating… it was so beautiful to sit there, looking out over the fields, listening to the sounds of birds, donkey hoofs, and distant mucic, letting the cool morning breeze wash over me. I’ve learned to wear bug spray when I go running, because the other day I returned to the house with 30 bug bites between my legs and arms. I’m still recovering from that one!

Anyway, back to my daily activities. My mornings right now are generally filled by cleaning the house, going to the market, or running random errands downtown. Yesterday morning I went with Sister Katty, who recently returned from a semester studying in Mexico, to the public university, where she was part of the leadership team for the campus Catholic ministry. It was their last gathering of the school year, as classes just ended about a week ago, but it was so good! The priest was super animated and the mass was very participatory and informal… it was the most life-giving mass that I’ve attended here. They don’t start again until April but if it seems appropriate at that time I might get involved with student ministry there. Sister Katty, who is actually a student at a private university here, prefers to participate in the campus ministry at the public university because tuition is free, so the students with more economic challenges study there. It also just felt really good to be back on a college campus. So we’ll see what comes of that!

There have also been some exciting advancements in the parish: we have officially opened the youth center! With a couple games sent by my sister (they love playing UNO, Ginger!) and some games that we bought here, we open the youth room three nights a week from 8-10 so they can come hang out and play games. We also open the parish center for sports one additional night and Saturday afternoons to play soccer or volleyball. So right now I am at the parish Wed-Sat from 8-10 at night plus Saturday from 4-7, and then I have theater practice at the parish on Sundays from 10ish-1ish, plus masses and miscellaneous meetings. I love this time with our parishioners and am really starting to feel at home with them.

And I can’t forget to mention the blank spaces filled by summer activities! Trips to the pool or the beach are also at the back of my mind to plan, though so far I’ve only made it once to the pool and have yet to get to the beach. But summer in Chimbote means VOLLEYBALL! Peruvians love their volleyball and they are GOOD… it’s a sign of summer to see a group of kids (or adults, really) playing volleyball on side streets with their nets stretched between two telephone poles. There are a couple families that put up their net every night about a block from our house and I finally went and played with them a few nights ago. Since then I’ve played almost every night, and even won a little money! It does make for some late nights, but hey, that’s summer! The weather is hot, but there’s usually a cool breeze and it’s quite comfortable in the shade, so taking advantage of our hammock is a favorite after-lunch activity…

Okay, if you made it this far, you are probably tiring of reading, so I think I’ll stop there. You are all continually in my thoughts and prayers… my prayer for you all right now is that you continually find the JOY in the small things. I had a conversation over ceviche the other day with the coordinator of the theater group and expressed my doubts about having anything real to offer to this community. He said, “Of course you have something to offer, tu alegría!” (your happiness!). So that we all remember that in every encounter, in every situation, we do have something to offer!

I would love to hear from you, or answer any questions or cloudy spots that may exist about what I’m doing here… or about life… or really anything!

PAZ y ALEGRÍA for you.

the church in chimbote

Since studying a bit of liberation theology in college I have developed a strong interest in the Catholic church and how it lives out its mission, but I had no idea what I was getting immersed in by joining the Incarnate Word Sisters in Peru.  I really had no intention of getting super involved in parish activities… and then by some strange twist of fate (or maybe that’s just how God works) the parish work here just drew me in.  It has been in many aspects frustrating, in others encouraging, in others very life-giving.  I have definitely seen mixed signals of the vitality of the church in Chimbote… we face challenges of participation and commitment, but we also have many religious and lay people are who dedicated to building the reign of God here in Chimbote.  

This week was the Diocesan Assembly to reveal the pastoral strategy for the coming year in light of the most recent Latin American bishops conference, Aparecida (a conference in which the bishops gather to re-orient the direction of the Latin American church).  I really enjoyed hearing the bishop speak on this topic – he spoke very passionately and directly about the challenges and opportunities facing the Church in Chimbote.  Always being a bit cynical I would have liked to hear more about our personal responsibility to restore dignity to the poor and less about the need to make sure young people learn the Creed… but it was made clear that the Church has a preferential option for the poor, and I do understand that there are real problems with catechesis programs here, so I’m overall pretty satisfied.  He also said that every family should have a copy of Aparecida in their home, which is pretty amazing, especially for me, coming from the U.S., where it seems very, very few people actually read anything put out by the bishops.

Along the same lines, our monthly diocesan newspaper came out this month and included an article written by a Spanish priest who works in San Luis, one of Chimbote’s “young towns/pueblos jóvenes” (area of new development, but very poor development with terrible living conditions).  He offers a great introduction to the message of Aparecida and the preferential option for the poor, which I have written about before.  I liked it so much that I took the liberty of translating it into English so you all could read it and understand a little bit more about the role the Catholic Church plays, or should play, or tries to play and often fails, or plays in some occasions but not others (you get the point), in Latin America and in the world.  I especially love his interpretation of charity, which is inseparable from a critical assessment of the structural causes of poverty.  Enjoy.

The Church and the hope of the poor

by Father Fernando AsínCastellón (Mar Adentro, January 2011)

“(The option for the poor) asks us to dedicate time to the poor, pay kind attention to them, listen to them with interest, and accompany them in their most difficult moments, choosing to share with them hours, weeks, or years of our lives and searching with them to transform their situation” (Aparecida, 397).

“All that which has to do with Christ has to do with the poor, as Jesus said, ‘When you did this for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me’ (Matthew 25:40)” (Aparecida, 393).

The preferential option for the poor should permeate all of our structures and pastoral priorities.  It must be manifested in visible options and gestures, principally in the defense of life and of the rights of the most vulnerable and excluded and in the sustained accompaniment in their efforts to be agents of change and transformation in their situations.

The social doctrine of the Church (I prefer to say “the social message of the Church”) is capable of stirring up hope in the midst of the most difficult situations, because if there is no hope for the poor, there will not be hope for anybody, not even for those called rich.

“Only the proximity that allows friendship permits us to profoundly appreciate the value of today’s poor, their legitimate yearnings and their own style of living the faith.  The preferential option for the poor should lead us to friendship with the poor.

“Day after day, the poor make themselves agents of evangelization and integral human promotion: they educate their children in the faith, they live a constant solidarity between relatives and neighbors, and they constantly seek God and give life to the Church’s pilgrimage” (Aparecida, 398).

Of course, each parish community should have a catechetical team and a liturgical team.  But it would remain crippled without also having a team for parish charity.  And, at the diocesan level, the diocesan charity team promotes and supports the parish when they don’t have the capacity for full human development projects.

The charitable team must meet three objectives.  First, it must provide social assistance, which would help and accompany those who suffer from immediate lack of food, medicine, money for transportation, etc.  A second objective is the communication of these necessities to the greater Christian community and the denunciation of the situation of poverty and injustice and its causes.   The third objective, no less important, is to carry out human and social development projects which signal the Reign of God.

The preferential option for the poor, said Pope Benedict XVI in the opening address of the Conference of Aparecida, is implicit in faith in a Christ who God made poor for us, in order to enrich our lives with his poverty.  I hope that we have the same attitude as Christ and continue his path.

affirming graces

I used to be really intimidated by the thought of teaching high school-age youth. I walked into the Confirmation class here less than three months before Confirmation day and introduced myself to a room of 20-some teenagers.  Some looked at me with curiosity, others with amusement, the rest with boredom.  All made me self-consciously stumble over my words as I spit out some attempt to explain why I was there.  A few were interested to know a little more about the U.S., but most paid me little attention.  After a few more classes of minimal involvement on my part, the bishop informed us that our Confirmation celebration was moved a month earlier.  This provoked a somewhat frantic response from Tino, the Franciscan who leads the class, as he attempted to spread the word to the students, whose telephone numbers and addressed he hadn’t thought to gather beforehand.  We held a couple of emergency meetings with no more than ten students in attendance.  Tino quickly made a plan for the next two weeks leading up to Confirmation, squeezing a month’s worth of final preparations into little over a week.  We lost about half the class who couldn’t commit to the daily activities newly required in order to be confirmed. 

As Tino also had little time to prepare, this was an opportunity for me to take on some of the responsibility for our activities, one of which was a weekend retreat now cut down to one Saturday morning.  As my Spanish is still developing, we decided to leave the talks to Tino and Sister Sofia and let me lead icebreakers and small group discussion.  I would have liked more than the one afternoon I had to prepare, but I was satisfied with the material I found and excited to carry it out!    On Saturday morning, we started with the icebreakers, which really helped me as much as it helped them.  As I attempted to explain the directions, it became clear that I was lacking a few key words but they were patient and helped me along.  Overall, it wasn’t as I imagined it (is it ever?) but it was successful.  After a talk by Sofia, the group was really lacking energy, but Tino, who usually fires them up, hadn’t arrived yet.  So it was up to me!  I pulled out a little “God is good/all the time” chant (in Spanish, of course) to animate them and then put on some music while they broke into groups to come up with three reasons why youth are (or aren’t) important in the Church.  We chose this question because one of our goals is to keep them active in the Church even after Confirmation is done, but I had no idea what to expect from their responses.  When it came time to present, I was blown away!  In turn, they presented statements like, “We are important because we have the ability to change the world” and because “we are the new face of the Church.”  In that moment it became clear to me that some of them, at least, understood the importance of their role in the Church and in the world. 

Perhaps their preparation could have been fuller with more time, but the urgency of the moment created a sense of camaraderie.   I began to see their personalities, learn their names, and have more conversations.  At the same time, the plans for developing a youth center were completely stagnant and I was very discouraged.  We seemed to lack interest, initiative, and organization, and at times I was questioning my involvement.  I had momentum with this small group of students, but Confirmation was soon approaching, and I feared it would all be lost once the class was done.  Still, by Confirmation day I was very excited for them and the celebration was successful.  Though I had done very little, I was proud that this group of 16-strong followed through on their commitment.  Camila, one of the students, came to hug me before she left, and asked if I was going to continue being involved in more activities.  I told her yes, we are hoping to plan many more things for the youth.  She told me she would be attending mass on Sundays, and asked that I keep her updated.  I told her I would, of course, and reminded her of the open invitation to visit my house at any time for whatever reason.  She received it very warmly, then she told me she would see me Thursday to plan the retreat that they didn’t get to have!  It was a simple exchange, lasting only a few seconds, but within it were the seeds of everything I hope to experience with the youth.  As she said, this week we will meet with those who still want to have a retreat.  I don’t know how many will show up or what the likelihood is that we will follow through with the idea, but this seedling was an affirming grace from God to press onward, even when it seems fruitless!  That we all may hold tight to these moments which keep our hearts burning with hope and energy!

what we do is very little

It feels like I just wrote a blog entry but it was over two weeks ago!  That is a testament to how fast time is going already. 

I am still trying to find my place in the community here.  I’ve decided to pursue involvement in the parish as my primary service site.  Right now, that means supporting existing ministries and getting to know the Franciscans, adult leaders, parents, children, and young people… no small task!  I’ve begun attending Confirmation and First Communion classes, both of which I am very excited about.  This preliminary involvement will (hopefully) lead to the development or expansion of some of the youth catechesis programming, but it’s hard to say right now what form that will take.  It is a slow process as the classes are only once a week, so I am not really busy with it right now, but I want to try to keep my schedule relatively open and flexible so I can adjust as opportunities arise.  A very exciting aspect of this for me is that I am learning so much about the church’s role in Peruvian society.  This is a topic I have struggled with endlessly in the United States, and I can already see that I will learn much from the church of Chimbote.

This week I will also be going to with a small group to the prison in Cambio Puente, a smaller town a few miles outside Chimbote.  The Comisión de Justicia Social (Social Justice Commission) supports of group of women who visit the men and women in the prison every week.  I’m doing that on Thursday, and it may become a once- or twice-per-week activity.  If not, I am still thinking about spending some time at Lentch (Luz y Esperanza para los Niños Trabajadores de Chimbote/Light and Hope for Child Workers in Chimbote), a ministry founded by one of the Franciscans of our parish.  I’ll keep you posted as things unfold!

This weekend we went with Daniel, a friend of Marcela’s who works in Hospice, to Sierra de la Paz, a small mountain overlooking Chimbote.  During Holy Week, Chimbotanos make a living-stations-of-the-cross pilgrimage to the chapel about three-fourths of the way up the mountain.  Then you can hike the rocky terrain to the top, where there is a large cross.  On Sunday we drove up to the chapel and then hiked to the top, where we could see the ocean to the west, some smaller towns dotting the valleys to the north, and Chimbote and the bay to the south.  It was beautiful, and so quiet!  Looking at the Pacific Ocean and the coast to the north I realized thousands of miles further up Scott (my brother) lives on the same ocean!  Pretty crazy.

We also experienced our first Peruvian celebrations this weekend!  We were invited to a couple different birthday parties, where to food was absolutely delicious and the music and dancing were abundant!  Every Peruvian has a unique dancing style, it seems, so it’s not too intimidating!  As much as I feel like I AM moving my hips, though, they still tell me I need to move my hips.  Two years is a long time to learn… though it’s probably hopeless.  Oh well, still fun! 

Especially right now because my activities are still pretty minimal, I feel like I’m floundering a bit.  I think I have a tendency to hold myself to some ideal of the perfect missionary because I want to be up to meeting the challenge, but then I am left feeling unsatisfied and critical of myself!  I’m also afraid that I’m getting attached to my current slow pace of life… which is good, but I also feel like I should be keeping busier and doing more things.  All in finding the balance…

The writings of Dorothy Day have been particularly helpful for me, as they both comfort me in feeling like I’m not “doing” anything and challenge me to meet each person with love.  Here’s a bit that I’d like to share:

“What we do is very little.  But it is like the little boy with a few loaves and fishes.  Christ took that little and increased it.  He will do the rest.  What we do is so little we may seem to be constantly failing.  But so did He fail.  He met with apparent failure on the Cross.  But unless the seed fall into the earth and die, there is no harvest.  And why must we see results?  Our work is to sow.”

Sometimes I wonder what people think about us as missionaries.  Sometimes they ask why we’re here, what work we’re doing, etc.  It’s hard to describe, for sure, especially because it doesn’t really look like we’re doing much.  I find myself saying I am here to learn, to share, and to get to know the people.  With the Confirmation class the other night they all introduced themselves and said a little bit about why they are preparing for Confirmation.  Many of them said that they want to become better Christians.  When it was my turn, I said that while I hope to teach them something while I’m here, I also hope to learn from them, to see how God’s love can manifest in different ways and, ultimately, to become a better Christian, or to learn to love more fully.  They seemed to be satisfied with that answer.  So am I, sometimes. 

I hope you all can also continually discover new ways to love each person you encounter, even if it seems like very little.

Paz y esperanza.