Wow! So as many of you should know, we are in Ecuador right now. The nuns that we are going to be working with next cannot recieve us until the 3rd of March so while we wait we are enjoying our time here. Two nights ago we arrived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Besides our hostal being really cheap and great, the town here is amazing! We woke up yesterday morning and headed out in search of a huge gorgeous church that we had seen from the roof of our hostal. It didn't take long to find it. When we got there Mass was almost over, so we waited for the next one to start.
This is the main thing that I wanted to blog about: The preist who said Mass was incredible! Besides giving a powerful homily about the need for all of us to trust God, in every part of our lives, he did something else that shocked the congregation.
As many of you might know, in South America, it is not normal to knee at all during Mass. Even during the Consecration. But today at Mass, right after Andrea and I knelt, before beginning the words of the Eucharistic prayer the priest says, "St. Francis said, if you do not kneel, truly you do not understand what is going to happen." Immediately the entire congregation dropped to their knees. It was a wonderful sight to witness! It was so great to see a priest influence an entire congregation to give Christ in the Eucharist the respect that He deserves. It was also nice not being the only ones kneeling for the first time in 6 months!
Please pray that more priests in South America and throughout the world will have the courage to speak out about getting our Eucharistic Lord the reverence that is due to Him.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
A lot has happened since we have blogged.!
Here is the short version.
First after going to the Post Office ever single day for a week and a half straight while we were in Sucre, our package of amazing chocolate chip cookies arrived! Courtesy of Patrick and Elise! Thank you guys so much!
At the end of January we finished up our work at the home for troubled teenage girls. It was sad but our time had come to move on. But before we completely left Sucre for good, we took a small side trip to the cities of Cochabamba, Villa Tunari, Oruro, Potosi, and Uyuni. We were fortunate enough to experience a tour of the Bolivian desert, including the largest salt flats in the world, and the other incredible elements of nature that southern Bolivia offers. Some of the highlights of our entire little trip were, playing with monkeys in the jungle, eating and chasing llamas, meeting many other travellers from all over the world and enjoying their stories and company, seeing snow in the desert, swimming in hot springs, experiencing a hail storm, seeing flamingos, sleeping in a mud hut, and experiencing the generousity of a young hostal owner, who let us sleep on the couch in the lobby of his full hostal. It was an incredible adventure that we'll never forget.
We arrived back in Sucre on the morning of the 4th of Feb. That weekend we got our things together, said goodbye to our friends, and just enjoyed the town one more time before we left. We headed to La Paz on Sunday night and arrived Monday morning. We bought our tickets to leave for Puno that afternoon and then set out to see a little bit of La Paz, before we left. We went to the Plaza de Armas and enjoyed the cathedral and some of the churches around. From there we walked to the main touristy center and looked around a bit. When we stopped for lunch, we ran into our friend Annie, from London, who we went on the tour of the salt flats with! It was great to see a familiar face! We left La Paz at 2pm for the Bolivian city of Copacabana! The ride there was absolutely gorgeous, because it was along the shores of the Bolvian side of Lake Titicaca. When we arrived, we had to wait a bit until we switched into a van that would bring us to the border, which was just a little bit further. They dropped us off at the Bolivian side, and we had to walk to the Peruvian side, where they said another bus would be waiting for us. It was interesting how as soon as you crossed the border, (after having spent 3 months in Peru before,) we were immediately able to tell that we were in Peru, by the people and things around us. As it turned out that there was another van, waiting for us and the other 40 people who were told the same thing. Of course with our luck, everyone got a seat in the vans except for us and some Brazilian men who we luckily made friends with before we crossed the border. They made a really big deal about not getting seats, and they made sure that we got seats too! If they hadn't been there, we for sure would have been stranded. We love how much backpackers take care of each other!
It was only a two hour or so ride to Puno Peru where we stayed that night. The next morning we decided to explore a little bit, since our bus to Cuzco didn't leave until 2pm. Our explorations led us to visit the man-made floating islands of Urs on Lake Titicaca. They were pretty incredible. There are about seventy islands, and on them each lives about 3 families, a total of around 10 people more or less. They have a primary school island, and each island has their own president. Everything on the island, including the island itself is completely made of reeds.
The bus to Cuzco took about 7 hours, so we got to Cuzco at about 9pm on Tuesday. Found a cheap hostal and rested. The next day we had some free time, so we just enjoyed the atmosphere of Cusco, and visited many of the numerous Catholic churches around. That night we again had llama for dinner! The next morning we checked out of the hostal and took a taxi to the Convent of The Missionary Sisters Servants of the Poor of the Third World. It was in a gated neighborhood type place up on a hill that overlooked all of Cuzco! It was absolutely gorgeous. They were so happy to see us and immediately gave us time to rest, then came lunch. We won't bore you with the details of our five day retreat, but only the best parts. Our days were filled with Laudes, Mass, helping in the home for severely disabled children (for Kelli) and Andrea helped in the section for orphaned and sick babies. We had our own section of the convent to ourselves, and ate by ourselves. The best part was being able to accompany the sisters on missions on two separate occasions to Pueblitos. The first time we went with three sisters, and a group of 6 & 7 year old orphan girls who live at their home. We went with them to a town that had about 250 families called Punacancha. The reason we were there is because, for months the little girls begged and begged to be able to be part of a mission. Finally the sisters agreed and there we were! The second mission was to a pueblito up in the mountains where a few nuns are able to live. The nuns teach catechism, grow food for the poor, and many other things.
This picture was taken during the second mission. We are in the kitchen of a very poor family.
Ok we're running out of time to finish this so here is the really fast version.
We finished the retreat on the 15th and headed to Lima that afternoon. Spent 2 nights on buses and finally made it back to the small city in the north of Peru, Chulucanas, where we were before. While we were there we spent all of our time visiting with the kids there! One day we were even able to go to the beach with them!
First after going to the Post Office ever single day for a week and a half straight while we were in Sucre, our package of amazing chocolate chip cookies arrived! Courtesy of Patrick and Elise! Thank you guys so much!
At the end of January we finished up our work at the home for troubled teenage girls. It was sad but our time had come to move on. But before we completely left Sucre for good, we took a small side trip to the cities of Cochabamba, Villa Tunari, Oruro, Potosi, and Uyuni. We were fortunate enough to experience a tour of the Bolivian desert, including the largest salt flats in the world, and the other incredible elements of nature that southern Bolivia offers. Some of the highlights of our entire little trip were, playing with monkeys in the jungle, eating and chasing llamas, meeting many other travellers from all over the world and enjoying their stories and company, seeing snow in the desert, swimming in hot springs, experiencing a hail storm, seeing flamingos, sleeping in a mud hut, and experiencing the generousity of a young hostal owner, who let us sleep on the couch in the lobby of his full hostal. It was an incredible adventure that we'll never forget.
It was only a two hour or so ride to Puno Peru where we stayed that night. The next morning we decided to explore a little bit, since our bus to Cuzco didn't leave until 2pm. Our explorations led us to visit the man-made floating islands of Urs on Lake Titicaca. They were pretty incredible. There are about seventy islands, and on them each lives about 3 families, a total of around 10 people more or less. They have a primary school island, and each island has their own president. Everything on the island, including the island itself is completely made of reeds.
The bus to Cuzco took about 7 hours, so we got to Cuzco at about 9pm on Tuesday. Found a cheap hostal and rested. The next day we had some free time, so we just enjoyed the atmosphere of Cusco, and visited many of the numerous Catholic churches around. That night we again had llama for dinner! The next morning we checked out of the hostal and took a taxi to the Convent of The Missionary Sisters Servants of the Poor of the Third World. It was in a gated neighborhood type place up on a hill that overlooked all of Cuzco! It was absolutely gorgeous. They were so happy to see us and immediately gave us time to rest, then came lunch. We won't bore you with the details of our five day retreat, but only the best parts. Our days were filled with Laudes, Mass, helping in the home for severely disabled children (for Kelli) and Andrea helped in the section for orphaned and sick babies. We had our own section of the convent to ourselves, and ate by ourselves. The best part was being able to accompany the sisters on missions on two separate occasions to Pueblitos. The first time we went with three sisters, and a group of 6 & 7 year old orphan girls who live at their home. We went with them to a town that had about 250 families called Punacancha. The reason we were there is because, for months the little girls begged and begged to be able to be part of a mission. Finally the sisters agreed and there we were! The second mission was to a pueblito up in the mountains where a few nuns are able to live. The nuns teach catechism, grow food for the poor, and many other things.
We finished the retreat on the 15th and headed to Lima that afternoon. Spent 2 nights on buses and finally made it back to the small city in the north of Peru, Chulucanas, where we were before. While we were there we spent all of our time visiting with the kids there! One day we were even able to go to the beach with them!
We only stayed a few days though, before taking a night bus to Ecuador this past Sunday night. Yesterday we took another bus to a small town called Vilcabamba, but since we were completely exhausted we didn't explore or anything we just slept. This morning we are off again. We're heading north to Loja, then on to Cuenca and Riobamba. And maybe a few more places before we reach Quito, the capital. We are expected to arrive in a small town called Chone. We will be there for about a month working with the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother. While we are there, we will be helping in the fields that the sisters have to grow food for the poor of the area and helping some young girls who recently opened a restaurant to raise money to go to WYD. Please of course keep us in your prayers! We love and miss you all!
Kelli and Andrea
Kelli and Andrea
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