being out of the good 'ole U-S-of-A means that i am a little slow catching up on news back home... i caught wind of the turmoil in the big 12 about a week or two after everything happened... i in suspense to see where my beloved texas tech red raiders would end up but was glad to hear (another week or so later) that we're staying with the big 12... at least that was the latest a few weeks ago! lol
anyway, my point was to say that i had no idea that today (yesterday?) was father's day in the states... had i not logged in to facebook today i would have never known! so, i did what i could to let my daddy know that i miss him and i love him... i sent him an online text. yes, i texted my dad. from brasil. thank God for sprint online!!! lol i also got to send a text to my oldest brother, noel, who is an amazing dad to two wonderful and bright kids... i wanted to also leave a message here for all of my wonderful friends, cousins, uncles, brothers-in-law and everyone in between who are dads: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY & THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH WONDEFUL FATHERS!!! YOU ARE TRULY A GOD-SEND TO US ALL!!! <3 i miss you & i hope you got to celebrate your special day with your kiddos! :)
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a small confession: while things have been going great outwardly, on the inside i have felt kinda beat up, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually... over the last week i have missed my young adult faith community back home at st. vincent de paul in houston... tuesday nights are an anchor to my week, so it's been hard not celebrating Mass with them, or praying the rosary, or just having people around to keep me accountable to who i am and who Christ calls me to be... i got sad today at Mass, too, because i couldn't figure out the readings so even though i had my bible and i understood what book the readings came out of, they don't say what verses we're reading, so i was lost the whole first part of the Mass... then, i remembered that today was father's day and that all the dads back home would be getting blessings at church and hanging out with their kids and i just missed my dad so much... anyway, Mass turned out to be just amazing... over the last two sundays, the church hasn't had a seminarian at the Mass i went to but today there was... at the end of Mass, he invited anyone with questions about vocations to go to the back of the church to visit with him, so i went... we had a great conversation about life as a missionary, the sacrifices and the joys of service in the Church, and where i should go from here... he asked me what was troubling me because he said i seemed in turmoil, so i let everything go: questions about my future, missing my dad, how what i'm doing in brazil fits in to the bigger picture, etc... God surely knows what He's doing by placing the people i need in my life from day to day... what a God-send to have someone here to help me sort through everything, it's hard enough trying to figure out where God is calling you in ENGLISH, it's ridiculously hard trying to figure it out in portuguese... what i am most encouraged about is knowing someone here in belo who is going through a process of discernment on their own, and that is willing to let me ask questions... and i've also got an accounability partner now, too. thank you, Jesus, for sending help exactly when i need it.
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quick re-cap of the weekend: friday night - dinner with andrea at church friends' house... about 10-15 people there, they loved asking the american questions about life back in the states... saturday - slept in, ventured out on the bus and found the ymca caicara, swam and relished in the sun for a while, returned home and got ready for the rock-n-roll concert for "skank" (pronounced eskunkee) at minerao stadium, andrea won tickets for 4 to go, after the show we waited for an hour to catch a bus and a taxi back home, hit the hay at 2 a.m... sunday - went to Mass, visited with the seminarian, world cup viewing party with andrea & carlos' church friends, about 15-20 LOUD brasilians all excited about a great win!, braved the bus again to go to a savassi dance studio "incomodanca" where two of the directors from the creche teach zouk (pronounced zoo-key) and other styles of dance, came home, watched marley & me with andrea and carlos, online update time. phew. busy weekend fo sho.
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in other random news, my ipod is kaput. deader than a doornail. i charged it overnight last week, woke up the next day, turned the thing on and looked for my favorite artist (matt maher--an amazing artist, and catholic, too!) and the whole thing was empty!!! seriously, a gajillion songs, gone in the blink of an eye... i reset the ipod and it cycled off and on again, and everything came back, but it only plays for 15-20 seconds before the ipod shuts itself off... sad day. do ipods have an internal battery or something? maybe mine has gone berserk? in any case, the hour-long bus ride seems much longer when all you can do is stare out of the window or look at the back of the head of the person seated in front of you... ay ay ay.
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well, enough updates, i hope you all have a great week, yay for monday!!!!
peace and love,
crystal
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