Since 1985, the sisters Canossian sisters have held an
annual Congreso Canossiano or a meeting of young people that they work with
throughout Argentina and here in Paraguay. This year more than 400 young adults
gathered to celebrate in Posadas, Argentina. I was a little apprehensive about Congreso
since it was a weekend long retreat packed with having to talk in complete
Spanish for more than 48 hours. Retreats in the past have been somewhat
difficult for me (remember
Pentecost?), but I tried to go in with a positive attitude.
I asked a lot of people to pray for me, and gracias a Dios it worked. With the exception of a few uncomfortable moments (sleeping
on a concrete floor in a room full of girls giggling and unfortunately
snoring,
having a stomach ache for 2 days, and taking a cold shower with barely
any
water pressure) it was a blast! I will admit thought that when Aldo
(one of the guys in our group) asked me on Friday night if I wanted to
go home I lied when I said no. After Friday however, time really did fly by and at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday I couldn't believe it was already over.
We didn’t have to travel very far (only across the
international bridge) to get to Posadas, but our trip was anything but short. Occasionally
the bridge between Posadas and Encarnación closes, and Friday happened to be
one of those times due to a protest in Posadas. Cars weren’t allowed to cross,
but luckily the international buses between the two cities were allowed to drop
people off at the customs building and then turn around. We were about 35 in
total and split up into groups to fit on the buses and make our way across. As
we drove past all the cars lined up on the Paraguayan side waiting to cross I
couldn’t believe it. The line went on for at least a mile and the bridge didn’t
open until 8:30 that night (we crossed around 2 p.m.). I later asked Gladys if
this happens a lot and she yes; people will even wait in their cars overnight
if they have to.
Our group was first to cross and our last group arrived 2
hours later. If anything, my time here has taught me how to patiently wait.
Luckily one of the buses from another group came and picked us up on the Argentinean
side and finally made our way to Congreso.
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| Waiting on the Argentinean side of customs. |
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| Walking to catch our bus to Congreso. |
Each day different groups from all of the
cities where the Canossian sisters work planned activities (prayers, games,
dances, songs and videos) and shared a little bit about what they do in their
community. It was a great bonding experience with my group JOMICA and was fun
to meet new people and catch up with the sisters. I practiced speaking English
with a group from Posadas, got to meet Hermana Hilda who just came to Argentina
from Monterrey, Mexico (part of the Cristo Rey/North American province so she
knew a lot of the sisters that I met in Albuquerque), and spoke with lay
Canossians about my volunteer experience. With 400 young people willingly and
enthusiastically giving up a weekend to participate in Congreso you can tell that the
sisters are making a huge difference here, and you can tell how much they’re
loved based on the constant stream of young people
running up and giving them hugs.
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| The sign I made of photos of JOMICA to display at Congreso |
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| With Gabby, the girl that visits our house on weekends in her discernment about becoming a nun. |
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| The sisters' rock band that performed Saturday night. |
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| Mass Sunday |
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| With Hermana Hilda who just arrived from Monterrey, Mexico (Cristo Rey Province represent!) |
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| Gladys came! So glad to have someone else that wasn't really into dancing! Plus, she was willing to escape with me Saturday night so we could actually have a hot shower. |
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| After JOMICA did their dance everyone else joined in. |
In short, I survived my first Congreso, and yes, even enjoyed it.
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