Let me paint you a picture...

Of my beloved "barrio" or neighborhood. 

La Ensenada is nestled between the hills that separate it from the Pacific Ocean. At the top of the middle hill, there is a white little cross that was constructed by a former community of Heart's Home and a little old lady, Abuela Victoria. The houses are often tiny. Many are one or two room homes but are inhabited by families, large and small. Most have the ground or cement as their floors. Laundry is still washed by hands in most homes, and pantries don't exist, the shopping is done daily and depends on each day's lunch and dinner. There is no such thing as a yard and greenery is scarce. Besides all of this, La Ensenada is my Promised Land. 

The time I spent there was most valuable and precious. Despite the lack of paradisaical landscape, it was a beautiful place. What made it beautiful? The people. So welcoming, generous, loving. They seem to know no boundaries when it comes to loving their neighbor. You ask for a cup of sugar, they give you the whole bag just because you'll need it eventually. They are always willing to tell you the best home remedy when you are a little under the weather.  They seem to spend more time smiling and laughing than complaining and being pessimistic. In front of the most difficult circumstances, they are more valiant and hold their head high and don't lose faith in God above. 

I miss my brown hills and seeing those smiling Peruvian faces day after day, but they continue to be in my heart and that is where they will stay until I see them and feel their warm embrace again someday.

Something Beautiful

Yesterday, one of the most beautiful things, post-mission, took place. It was quite simple, really. I woke up and went to Mass at 8. I was hoping to either run into my grandpa or two of the people that sponsored me, Marv and Bette. Entering the church, I did not see my grandpa so I looked to where Marv and Bette are normally sitting and, sure enough, I found them! I went up to their pew, and surprised them both with a hug.

We sat together during Mass and afterwards, they invited me (and my mom) to breakfast, but first they needed to take communion to a sick man and asked if I would go along. WOULD I EVER?!? I was so excited to be there to witness Mr. Ryan receive communion and to see the friendship between Marv, Bette, and Mr. Ryan.

You might be asking why it was so beautiful to me. For me, it was the first example outside of a Heart's Home where I saw God's love radiate in its simplicity. To go along on this visit and simply talk to Mr. Ryan and to see the way that Marv and Bette interacted with him reminded me so much of a "typical day" in Peru. It showed me that, despite being told over and over by various Heart's Homes priests, sisters, lay consecrated, it is possible, and seemingly quite easy, to live this charism in my every day life. It was a simple, and very necessary, reinforcement.

Have a blessed Monday all!

More to come...

Please just give me time to get settled back into American life and I PROMISE I will write plenty of blog posts...

Marangita

So I have been wanting to share our other apostolate with you all for some time now but simply have not been able to fit it into a sponsor letter and since there are a few of those left I figured I would take advantage of my blog to share it with you.

Every Thursday we go to visit a place called Maranga which is more or less a juvenile detention center for boys under 21 years old. It is not a jail but each person has a certain amount of time they are required to be in Maranga for some crime that they committed (usually drug or theft related). There are programs that teach the boys skills that hopefully they will use once they leave instead of returning to the way of life they had before ending up in Maranga.

Whenever we go visit, we simply sit and talk with the guys we know. Maranga is divided into patios, some are a little more laid back than others, and there isn’t really any place to walk around or play soccer or “do” anything. We know people in various patios and try to visit at least 2 if not 3 every week. The conversations are about things that happened this past week in Maranga or in La Ensenada, their families, our families, our countries, what they want to do when they get out, what we will do when we get home, etc.

Jose* is a guy from Colombia that spent 4 years in Maranga and just left in May. He had a hard life before Maranga and since he is from Colombia, never received a family visit. In 4 years, Heart’s Home had become his family and some of the few people that genuinely cared about him and wanted the best for him. He would tell us stories about his time with his gang, his son that he hardly knew but wanted to see so bad, his small jobs here and there helping an electrician in Maranga, everything. There was a huge amount of trust in this relationship as he often told us things and asked that we not say anything about it to anyone. As he was getting ready to leave, we often asked him what his plans were. Was he going to go back to Colombia or stay in Peru? Did he want to go back to “work” with his gang or as an electrician? If he stayed in Peru where was he going to live? Things of that sort. Our hearts ached when it became obvious that even though he wanted to stay in Peru he was going to “work” as he did before (aka theft) for a little so that he could have money to go back to Colombia. We tried to subtly tell him that maybe working as an electrician would be the best way to get back to Colombia and see his son or that maybe he should just go straight to Colombia and look for a job there instead of staying here for a while. As his birthday got closer and closer (he got out when he turned 21) we began praying even harder that he would make the best decisions for him and for his son. We invited him to the house the day after he was supposed to get out for his birthday, gave him our number, our email addresses, everything within our power to how him that he was someone important for us and that we only want the best for him but we aren’t going to judge him for whatever decision he makes.

We never got a call or email from Jose when he left and have no news of him now. I simply hope that he is safe and that he can see his son some day.

Two of our other friends that we visit are Ricardo and Juan. They are pretty much a tag team and full of laughs. Juan is finishing high school and is involved with the theater group and is always sure to invite us to one of their little shows knowing that we love it and won’t stop talking about it for months (I’m still talking about the one back in November…). Ricardo used to be in the same patio as Jose but was moved to one with lower security on account of good behavior. He works in the office every now and then and hopes to study something similar to MIS once he gets out.

About a month and a half ago, we went to Patio Don Bosco looking for Ricardo and Juan but they were nowhere to be found. Some of our other friends told us that something had been stolen from the guard’s office and half of the patio was being punished and had been moved to other patios. Juan and Ricardo were included and had been moved to Patio San Martin de Porres. It was a no-brainer for us. We were going to go find them and talk to them, see how they were doing, and to find out what happened. When we showed up in San Martin de Porres both boys seemed a little shocked and surprised that we had looked for them and that we weren’t going to leave until we had seen them. They were definitely a little down about everything that had happened and both say they are innocent, and we believe them. This whole event is now a thing of the past and we are simply waiting to hear about the next theater performance or about when the boys will get to move back to Don Bosco.

There are many chicos that we visit in Maranga and I ask that you please pray that each one may make the best decisions for their life. Please pray especially for Juan as his dad was killed a few months ago and he didn’t know about it for a few weeks. He seems to be doing fine now but I’m sure there are days when it is difficult for him.

Until next time!

Kari

*names were changed

Ps…please don’t be afraid to send snail mail my way :D 

Darilo

Darilo has quickly taken the place of Marcos and is currently one of the top loves of my life. Darilo arrived with his little sister at Villa Martha (an orphanage we go to every week that I talked about in one of my sponsor letters) in March and hardly talked. I was first touched by him because I could see the pain and loneliness he had inside of his little 4 year old heart. He didn't say a word other than "si" which means "yes" and was hardly ever found running around with the other children. This went on for two or three weeks and my heard ached and ached and I wondered if he would ever be able to say any other word or play with the other children.

One day I went to Villa Martha with Mayte, a Peruvian girl who is now on mission in the Phillipines, and we started to play a simple game with a group of children, which included Darilo. The game was whoever could say a word that started with whatever letter we said got to wear my sunglasses until the next round. All of the other kids were really good at this game and Darilo never said anything. The others quickly got bored with this game, gave me back my sunglasses, and went to go play on the playground equipment. Darilo stayed with Mayte and I and we tried to get him to say SOMETHING, ANYTHING just to prove he could. He finally repeated the word "zapato" or "shoe" and I can't tell you the joy I had in my heart. I wasn't sure if he realized what the word meant, but he at least repeated something! I left that day with a kid in a candy store look on my face and was super excited to tell everybody about my little friend who had made a big step that day.

Darilo playing the drum

Since this day, Darilo has advanced immensely in his talking abilities and now is able to have a small conversation. Just yesterday, he was asking me what things were called and was thirsting for more knowledge. We often think that the children of Villa Martha don't realize when we are gone or don't remember who we are, but Darilo also squashed that thought to the ground yesterday when he came running up to me with arms wide open to give me a huge hug letting me know that the time I spend with him means something to him. I hope he knows that he is loved not just by me but by Christ as well. I am so excited to see how he grows in the little time I have left here.

10 months...

Mis queridos,
I can't believe it has been 10 months since I left my dad's house with Beth for our epic roadtrip before coming to Peru. This reality hit me as I am getting ready to share this beautiful country with my dad, stepmom, and little brother later this week. I could write about all of the things I have missed back home in the last 10 months, but that would be a little pessimistic. I could also fill you all in on the things that I have learned in Peru in the last 10 months, but that post would be extremely long. Instead, I just want to ask you all for your prayers for my family, their flight, and their time here in Peru. I am super excited to see them. It has been 10 months since I hugged my little brother or played games with my family. Things that I didnt realize until I actually sat down and thought about the fact I will be able to hug my little brother in a matter of days, I will be able to actually hear my dad's voice without the internet connection cutting out, I will be able to cook a meal with my stepmom, all things I am looking forward too. This trip is definitely a blessing for me and is much needed at this point in my mission. I can´t wait for my family to meet Elvira or Sra. Victoria. I am excited to share this culture which I have slowly adapted as my own over the last 10 months, the colors, the dances, the food, the history. I hope I will have the opportunity to post shortly after their visit.

Cuidense mucho,
Kari

Holy Week

I know it´s a little late but we are at least still in the Easter season. Here´s my Holy Week in a nutshell.

Palm Sunday-Went to Mass in La Ensenada...even though it was the same liturgy...I really missed starting in the Newman lobby..

Tuesday-Chrism Mass. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I seriously can´t describe how happy I was during this Mass. I was absolutely overwhelmed at the sight of many of our priestly and seminarian friends who were present. It was the first Chrism Mass I ever went to and it most definitely won't be the last.

Wednesday- I found out my grandpa passed away. I was a little surprised by it but clung to my faith as I went to Mass downtown. Thank you all for your prayers during this time.

Thursday- Mass of the Last Supper. Same liturgy but inside the church, there was a large table with fruits and bread...literally...a supper. Afterwards there was Adoration for a few hours. It was so beautiful to share this moment with all of our friends here. Also, we had to have the Blessed Sacrament removed from our house making the absence of Christ even more real for me during this Tridium.

Friday-Statsion of the Cross in the neighborhood! We went from house to house for the first 11 stations and for the last ones, every part of the neighborhood met at the church and finished them there. It was so awesome to see crosses arrive from all parts of La Ensenada followed by all sorts of friends. Afterwards there was Veneration of the Cross and Good Friday Liturgy.

Saturday-Easter Vigil! We were in charge of the liturgy so we had to make sure we had enough people to read and organize everything. It was a beautfiul experience that taught me a lot more about the Easter Vigil than I ever knew. In Lima, there arent a lot of people that enter the Church during the Easter Vigil like in Tulsa so that means it only lasted an hour and a half and not the usual 3 hours. Afterwards, we headed home with some of our friends to eat all of the goodies we couldnt eat during Lent. This list includes: cake...but really awesome chocolate cake, beer bread, no bake cookies, candy, pisco sour, you name it!

Easter Sunday-We decided to head downtown to go to Mass in the cathedral and met up with the community of Barrios Altos (the other Hearts Home here in Lima). When we arrived, there was a procession going on. It was impressive. Processions in Lima are a huge think and this one was a procession of Mary and when she arrived at the door she "greeted" Christ Resurrected and He returned the greeting and afterwards both statues made their way in the church followed by a sea of people. Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop..who also happens to be a cardinal..NBD. The music was beautiful and I cant describe how thankful I was this day. After mass, we went out to lunch (a rare occasion) and headed home to spend the afternoon visiting our friends. That night, one of the priests from our parish returned the Blessed Sacrament to our house and we ended the day with an hour of Adoration. How awesome!?!?!!

I hope you all had a blessed Holy Week and continue having a blessed Easter season.

With all my love and prayers.

I'm on a roll...

Three new posts in less than a day?? I'm surprised I've found the time to make this all happen! Really, it's just that in the last week or so, there have been a lot of little "ahHA" moments I've wanted to share but have already written my sponsor letter for this month. So...I made sure to take some time to post this week.

The other day, I went with Patrick to visit Elvira. Elvira is one of our new friends and I had only been to her house once before and Patrick had never met her. She is rather sick and can't really walk. She often complains that nobody cares for her because her daughter works to help pay the medical expenses and her other children are living with their families. Her youngest daughter takes her to speech or physical therapy every weekday and makes sure she has food to eat. Whenever we visit her, she talks our ear off or simply asks what's new with our life. She remembers everyone's name and is anxiously waiting to meet Sophie.

This past Sunday with Patrick, we were simply talking and she asked if I could help her with her physical therapy exercises like Sr. Maria had done. Clearly I said yes since I plan on studying PT when I get back stateside. I started to move her arms and legs and couldn't help but recognize the confirming sign God was giving me in that moment that yes, I need to study PT when I get back, when the conversation slowed and we found ourselves in a moment of silence. She had once asked Sr. Maria to learn how to pray the Rosary and the last time I saw her, we gave her a Rosary. Patrick and I hadn't prayed the Rosary yet so I asked if she would like to pray with us while I continued to help with her exercises. She said yes with a beaming smile and a glimmer in her eyes that really warmed my heart. We began to pray the Rosary and she even led a decade by herself. In the midst of this moment, I found myself in awe of the fact that I was physically helping her with her exercises, we were emotionally helping her by simply taking the time to visit, and we were all being spiritually fed by the Rosary. Thinking of this really just blew me away. I can't really put into words what I thought or felt, but it was a moment that I wanted to take and share with you all.

Please pray for Elvira, her health, and her family. There are many days where we are unable to visit her and i know she is longing for a simple friendship.

Miss you all and praying for every single one of you.
Kari

PICTURES!!

Patrick and Pitty

Mr. Giraffe

Patrick...being Patrick...

Katy and I

Didn't know I could cut hair did ya??

When Sr. Maria came for her visit at the beginning of February, we had a retreat  where St. Rose of  Lima used to live, pray, and offer up penances...NBD.

Pitty

Yesterday, we decided to take some kiddos on a fieldtrip to the zoo. Now, I wasn't extremely enthused about this leading up to it because I have been a little under the weather lately and exhausted. However, I am extremely happy I decided to muster up the strength to go.

The whole point was to give the children something to do with their summer vacation,  especially those don't always have the opportunity to leave the neighborhood or visit an attraction in Lima. We have a friend who has a friend that works in the zoo and he made some calls and was able to make it to where 7 adults and 23 children could enter without paying. HOORAAAAY!! In the end, we were only 6 adults and 6 children, but the day went so wonderful!!

I was extremely touched by Pitty. A little girl that comes from a very poor family. First of all, I was shocked her mom said she could go, secondly that she had the money for the bus, and thirdly that she showed up an hour early (not the norm in Peru). For Pitty, it was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. She was so excited all day to just simply be in a new place, see animals she has never seen, many she has probably never heard of, and to make new friends with some of the others that went.

I learned a lot from Pitty yesterday, or rather, she showed me a lot of things that still have me thinking. Her ability to be amazed by the littlest thing was beautiful. She was so excited to see new plants and flowers (neither of which are in La Ensenada...) and animals, and even more excited when we got to the giraffe. She had been waiting all day to see the giraffe and when we finally arrived she couldn't help but flash an ear to ear smile. I don't know if it was the size difference that impressed her or the distance (Pitty is rather small and the giraffe was within arms reach). It was obvious that seeing the giraffe made the whole day worth it.

PS...totally tried to post pictures but it took too long and I have to get running to the chapel!

Ciao!

Pope's message for Lent

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/lent/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20111103_lent-2012_en.html

Sacrifice.

Life is full of it. Just try to remember that this Lent, as your struggling with your own little sacrifice, it is all for God and that no matter what your sacrfice is, Christ already suffered the ultimate. I wish you all a fruitful Lent and pray that you are truly able to enter into the mystery of the Passion.

Holidays

Many of you are probably wondering how the holidays went for me here in Peru, without snow, without family, without the traditional movies, or mom’s goodies. Well frankly, it was quite different but still amazing. I celebrated with my “family” here,  caught a glimpse of the Madagascar Christmas movie, and mom even sent me her traditional Christmas mix. I was also blessed to experience the Peruvian traditions.

At the beginning of December, we had a “chocolatada” for the children. This consisted of having music, playing lots of games, and in the end distributing hot chocolate and pannetone (traditional cake/bread thing). Yes, even in the 80 degree heat everyone drinks hot chocolate, which happens to be a little bit better than Swiss Miss in my opinion.

Christmas Eve and Christmas day were quite different for me. Christmas Eve, we had a pretty “normal” day until after Vespers at 6. Afterwards, we began to cook a large dinner for after Mass. Here, the tradition is to go to Mass and then eat dinner at 12midnight on the dot. We varied a little from the tradition and began to eat around 11. At midnight, everyone started to light off fireworks all over the city. We live on a hill so we were able to see the fireworks from the street, so we ran outside to watch. We greeted some of our friends that were outside with hugs and others passed by the house to wish us a Merry Christmas. Afterwards, we went back inside to continue eating dinner, which consisted of chicken, rice, yucca, salad, refreshments, and brownie a la mode for dessert. After our friends left around 2am, we revealed our secret Santas, shared some more sweets and finally went to bed around 3ish. Ps-from my secret Santa, I received holy medals of JP2, OLOG, and Saint Martin de Porres/ St. Blaise. WIN.

Christmas day, we went to Pachacutec, a little town about an hour and a half away to visit the two families we visit there every month. The visits were a little more special than normal since it was Christmas and we gave the kiddos gifts. Also, since Edgardo and Flo were in the middle of their saying their goodbyes, it was nice to share this experience with them but also it was beautiful to witness just how much these two friendships have touched each one of them and I got a little excited to think about how the friendship is already developing between myself and the families. We drank some more hot chocolate, caught a little bit of the Madagascar Christmas movie, and headed home in the evening.

Now, I realize that my birthday is not an official holiday, but its in the season so why not share what that was like?!

The Tuesday before my birthday, we packed up and headed to the beach! Now, ever since Charlotte (the American that is on mission in Barrios Altos) told me we could go to the beach for my birthday, I was set on it. We went to the “Beach of Silence” and had a little picnic before some of us jumped into the big blue ocean. The picnic was awesome! From packages from mom and dad, we had PB&J so I got to eat a PB&J sandwhich, cheeto type things that we bought, brownies that Flo made, and we shared a beer too (they’re not like the bottle back home, they are larger and meant to be shared). Afterwards, Flo, Edgardo, Patrick and myself all braved the cold water and went swimming. The waves were a little violent and tricky at times, but nonetheless, we all still had a good time. While I was taking a break on the beach, enjoying some matté….. WE SAW WHALES!!!! Seriously, could my birthday celebration have one any better?? Oh yea, on top of all of this, the people behind us were playing American music all day, so I got to hear some Nelly, Pearl Jam and lots of others too! The best part of my birthday...getting to start the day off with Mass, in my house on the actual day of my birthday. WIN!

Now this brings us to New Years. Again, a normal day of visits and permanencia and then mass at night. After mass, we invited some friends for yet some more hot chocolate and pannettone before preparing for the main event of the night…climbing up to the cross that overlooks La Ensenada. A few of our friends joined us for the climb that took about a good hour to do. I didn’t die from asthma, thankfully, and was one of the first ones to arrive! From the cross, we could see the entire city! Again, at midnight, everyone started lighting off fireworks so we were entertained by the entire city for a good half hour. After this half hour, it was difficult to continue to see the fireworks because the whole city was covered in smoke. At around 1230/1245, we started to make our way back down to the house. This proved to be a little more tricky seeing as how gravity was not my friend a few times and I may have slipped once or twice…oops!

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and a safe New Year and I look forward to returning to a white Christmas, a cold birthday, and a New Year with my friends in 2012.

Love,

Kari