Peru Trip Day 11

January 21, 2008
Greetings All,
So on this day we went to Santisima Trinidad (The Most Holy Trinity) where they have a Church and a school for children. Dcn. Anderson (his first name, again English names are popular here) serves here and his wife, Isabel, runs the dayschool.

(Isabel)

(Dcn. Anderson)

(Some of the ninas clowning around in their toy house.)

So we were given our choice of projects today. Paint walls outside or paint a mural in the kids playroom in the school. We eagerly asked to do a mural. Marco is a painter and has done many of the murals in the Churches around the Diocese. So we were asked to paint Jesus con los ninos and I asked if we could paint kids in traditional Peruvian attire and the ladies who run the school were very excited at that suggestion. So we spent the afternoon having the time of our lives painting a mural for the kids at Santisima Trinidad.

(Here's Marco drawing the outlines of everything on the completely blank wall. Marco is an incredible artist and it was fun to watch him effortlessly create his art.)

(It starts to take shape. The painters, L to R: Mark, Dcn. Anderson, Sven {crouched down with sombrero}, Sandy, me, Edith and Marco.)

(Me adding details to the chico on Jesus' lap.)

(Mark, Sven, me, Edith, Sandy and Marco.)

(Lots more color now, and clowning around...Marco painting Sven's face while Juan Carlos is unknowingly painting Marco's head. Ha ha!)

(It's really starting to look like something.)

(We ran out of time so weren't able to completely finish it but here it is! Aren't the traditional Peruvian costumes way cool?)
(Los artistas!)

After painting we visited a mission parish in a shanty town. Most of us agreed this was the toughest area we visited. While the poverty was extreme in places like Oasis and Collique this area felt very rough, more edgy. This area was very steep and had a lot of pigs being raised here.

(The steep hike up to the mission.)

(Here it is.)

The Vicario, Fr. Julio was the celebrant and he invited Micah to assist. There were a lot of kids there and one of the more funny moments was when the kids were dismissed for kids Church during the sermon. They all rowdily ploughed their way through us to the little Sunday School room and Fr. Julio starts reading the Gospel and then come bursting back into the room and are all grabbing chairs literally out from under us. They made so much commotion that Fr. Julio had to stop reading. So kids are milling around everywhere grabbing chairs, plough back through us and take them all into the Sunday School room. It was like a tornado blew through and took all the chairs in like 30 seconds. It was hilarious.

(Micah assisting while Fr. Julio prays the Eucharist.)

(Fr. Julio distributing the elements.)

Our visit here was filled with all kinds of unique experiences. One was that all during the Eucharist we could hear pigs squealing, which was kind of strange, and I could help but think of when Jesus was met by the Gerasene man possessed by demons that Jesus sent into the herd of pigs.

(Mariela and Juan Carlos standing at the back of the mission. A pretty incredible view, eh?)

That said, this was some of the most Spirit-filled worship I experienced here and many of us agreed that was true here. We were originally going to sings some different songs but I felt compelled, maybe even lead, to sing a song I learned in Brazil called Sua Prescena e Real (Your Presence is real) which Marco helped me translate into Spanish from Portuguese. It's a song about God being present with us in our worship therefore with will praise Him with the Cherubim and Seraphim .
(Fr. Julio administering the sacrament to Bill while Marco and I sing praises.)

So after a short (for Peru) Eucharist we headed back to the apartment ready for some rest. Today Joe and Ellora stayed home as weren't feeling well. Many of us picked up a stomach bug in Ica and weren't feeling well, myself included.(Sandy with one of the little ninas.)

After coming home we found out today is Bill's birthday! So we had a little festivities and Mariela and Marco came over. We had some great conversation with them about our trip. They were very concerned that we were enjoying the trip and getting a lot out of it, they've been incredible hosts and have puts tons of work into this for and made lots of sacrifices. We talked a lot about future trips and how we can strengthen our relationship between the seminarians here and at Nashotah House. I pray God will bless our future together and we can be a resource and encouragment to one another for many years. Gloria Dios y Feliz Compleano Bill!