When I finally
checked my e-mail Friday afternoon, I had a wonderful welcome home message from
Caitlin wishing me luck and telling me a little about her last few days here
while I was gone. Like usual she told me it was full of surprise activities. At
lunch on Friday Madre Maria Jose told me that I would be traveling once again—to
the other Canossian community in Encarnación. Either she forgot to tell me or I
didn’t completely understand, but what I thought was an afternoon visit was
actually a weekend trip that was supposed to last until Monday morning. When I
went downstairs Saturday afternoon ready to go and she asked, “Where are your
clothes?” Oops!
One of the
ministries of the other community in Encarnación is a home for young girls that
are working and studying in Encarnación.
Before coming to Paraguay I had read about this mission on the sisters’ website
and was excited to see if I could help.
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| After Mass |
My first day didn’t exactly go how I
thought since many of the girls had work and/or school on Saturday. It was
pretty boring—I literally spent more than an hour ironing Madre Susana’s
clothes (for the record I do like to iron and she didn’t force me to do it but
still! Not exactly how I imaged my Saturday with the girls.) It did get better
that night when we watched Mr. Popper’s Penguins though (It was in Spanish, and
I asked about subtitles, but the girls must have thought I was joking.
Regardless it was good and even though I didn’t understand all of the words I
got the main idea and that’s good enough for me).
On Sunday, we went to
Mass in the morning at a nearby chapel of a group of Carmelite nuns. It was my
first Spanish Mass since I’ve been back, and even though I forgot my bilingual
missalette in my packing frenzy, it was good. After Mass, we decorated the dining
room to celebrate the Quinceañera
(15th birthday) of one of the girls, Clarita, later that night. Clarita
is adorable—quiet but inviting and caring. She was so cute, especially when she practiced English with
me since she’s been studying it for the past year.
After
decorating, Hna. Magdalena, some of the older girls, and I cleaned the house
while the younger girls had a catechism session. Later, the Madre Susana
prepared a PowerPoint on the importance of taking care in our lives and the
lives of others as well as vocations. Afterwards, Hna. Magdalena and I shared
our stories about being called to our vocations. I love hearing how and why
sisters decided to become sisters so it was interesting to get to know Magdalena
on this level, too. Sharing my story, although I didn’t prepare (another surprise),
was really fun as well. The girls were great listeners and even helped me with
my Spanish when I stumbled. I hope that hearing about how I struggled with my
faith in the past but am working to strengthen it now, why I decided to leave
my country and come here and to know that I actually love being here despite
missing my family inspired them at least a little bit to be open to whatever
they’re called to do. And, after our hard day’s work, we celebrated!
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| Me with the birthday girl--Clarita |
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| Clarita and her family |
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