Fall Happenings

We've hardly stopped moving and doing in the past three weeks (except of course, for the time we set aside each morning for prayer). The sports league, organized and led by Mairin and Brendan, started a couple weeks ago with a kickball game. This week the girls did basketball and the boys did soccer. Since sports are a great way to teach virtue, we are trying to use the league to instill good sportsmanship. We've had a few fights and some pouting and stomping of feet among the boys, and the girls seem to be ultra-competitive, so I guess we have our work cut out for us!
After sports league on Wednesdays and Fridays we have a hour tutoring session for about 10 kids who are students at our parish colegio (elementary - 8th grade) school who need extra help in reading and writing. Most of these students came from the public school and were not able to learn to read and write well there. Now in the colegio, they have some catch-up work to do and we are trying to help as best we can. We've divided the group of kids by skill level and topics/skills they need to work on and are usually able to work with them in a 2-1 kid-missionary ratio :-)
Teresitas has more than 20 girls this year ages 7-13. We meet on Saturdays at 10am. We start with a game, then study the Bible (this week we learned how to look up verses in the Bible) and then Jimena teaches them a song (and often a dance) that we all learn. It's a lot of fun and the girls really enjoy it. It is supposed to be an evangelization tool and the girls really love it. But these girls really need prayers because many of them do not go to Mass. One of the most important rules is that in order to be a member, one must go to Mass weekly. Many of the girls have made this commitment and fulfill it, but others are struggling. Please pray for them so that they can build good habits young!
This week there was a bit of a scare. A rain storm caused 4 light poles to come crashing down in Banica, one right in front of my house. Thankfully no one was harmed as far as I know. The poles were replaced with new, cement ones the very next day! So maybe that wouldn't seem so miraculous in Virginia...but I was absolutely blown away. As a friend here put it: "Las cosas estan malas aqui, pero cuando quieren trabajar, saben trabajar."
Saturday afternoons we often have free for a trip to the river and when we can we snag a moment, we try to explore. I showed the group the Haitian "fort" and the river canoe crossing. Here are the ladies on the road to the Haitian fort.
Miss you all, but having a great time! Praised be Jesus Christ!

From One to Five!

Four new volunteers have now joined me here in Banica. We picked them up in the capital on the 25th of August in the capital where I snapped a picture of their plane. Here is a picture of all of us near the "Welcome to Banica" sign at the entrance to our pueblo. Now that they've been here a couple weeks, we have all settled into a routine and our projects have gotten underway. Mairin and Brendan (shown below working on lesson plans) are teaching English at the parish school and have organized a sports league for the school kids. Today was the first day of the girls' sports league and more than 30 kids came! Jimena, who is Peruvian and already fluent in Spanish, and I have been focusing on catechesis in the campos and are leading the Teresitas (with Mairin's help) and a Bible study for young women. Isaac is giving piano lessons to six very excited youngsters, helping with catechesis and providing musical accompaniment during Sunday Mass. We also all spend time tutoring some of the local kids who need help with reading and writing twice a week. Thank you Lord for sending more generous souls to Banica!

Summer's End and a New Beginning!

Summer in Banica was busy with visiting youth groups, building projects and campamentos. It was also time for visiting home and making more time for my family here in Banica. Here are a couple pictures of a campamento in Manyaya and the beautiful countryside.

We are now all settling down for the fall. Classes at the parish school began last week and the public school is working on getting started as well. As for me, I am happy to have some semblance of a routine back. I will be continue giving classes in Los Yareyes and Higuerito and will also be working in Los Memisos, a community witha fairly large school where many still need to receive baptism. Look for another update soon!

Blog Delinquency

I've been delinquent about updating my blog this summer. Sorry! I posted some more pictures of this summer and the past year on Facebook if you would like to check those out! Please keep praying for the mission!

The Rainy Season

The front and back of my house during one of the really big rains this past month. They had just cleared out some debris from a tree that had to be cut down and mistakenly placed it right in front of the door causing water to well up and flood into pretty much every room in the house. We all pitched in to mop up and made a fun time out of it all.

May is for Mary

For the last day of Teresitas, the girls group we have on Monday evenings, we had a little Marian feast. We met at the parish and then all went up to el centro. The girls really enjoyed the truck ride even though they were all crammed in. We had just finished making "prayer guides" for the glorious mysteries, so we used those to help us pray the glorious mysteries. Then each girl offered a flower that she had brought to our lady. Afterwards we ate brownies and celebrated. Here you can see the girls finishing up the rosary before our lady, offering their flowers, and their happy faces afterwards. Mary looked very beautiful adorned with the gifts of her daughters!

Christ comes in the Sacraments

Before I left to spend a month at home in Virginia, 22 of my students received sacraments. There were four baptisms and twenty two first communions! This was once of the best days I have had since coming to Banica because I was able to see my work bear fruit. These kids worked hard to learn their catechism and were faithful about coming to Mass, most without their parents' help. Here you see them listening and raising their hands during the homily and you can also see Aris' baptism, Pedro being confirmed and Juan Elias' first communion. I truly believe that in this one day the darkness of sin and ignorance often so present around us here in Banica was diminished by the light of Christ that began to take hold in their hearts. May the Lord guard their innocence and purity as they grow older and fill them with His Holy Spirit so that they can be little missionaries in their own families and communities.