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