what a weekend!

i´ll try to make this post short as it´s late and i´ve got work tomorrow at the creche...

just got back today from visiting veú da noiva in serra do cipo, about 2 hours north-ish from belo horizonte... veú da noiva is the site of the YMCA´s campgrounds in the mountains, the BIP´s and i went to vdn to ´see the scenery´ and help out a little at the Y´s festa juninha party... we arrived late on friday around 9 p.m., hung out a little bit and went to sleep in the bunks... it was a pretty standard camping place--there was space on the site for the actual tent-ing campers, space for the RV-ers, and space for the cabin people... the camp also had sand volleyball courts, peteca (spelling?) courts, tennis and even ping pong! i heard from everyone that it was going to be supercold in the mountains and was not looking forward to freezing my behind off... thankfully, this time around, we were put in the cabins, all in all, 4 bunks, a table with 4 chairs and a bathroom... surprisingly on friday night, i was so hot at night that i only used my sheet to cover with! ha! saturday, we woke up, helped decorate for the party, hiked up to the waterfall and JUMPED OFF A CLIFF AND INTO THE WATERFALL! :) pretty awesome! to this day, i seriously cannot believe i did that! lol the boys all jumped in and i didn´t want to be a wet blanket, also, jumping off a cliff and into a waterfall is not something i´d normally do... so i HAD to do it... so glad i did! after the waterfall we hiked back to the campground and ate lunch at the restaurant there, took a nap and then it was time for the festa juninha party... we danced the night away with the locals before crashing for the night and riding the bus back to BH this morning... fun trip! pics to come!

i wanted to share some pretty cool news with you that i learned about today: the Maryknoll Lay Missionaries in são pãolo have agreed to host me for a week at the end of this month!!! so, so, so excited!!! i´ll fly out on monday, july 26th and spend different days with the lay missionaries, the sisters and the priest accompanying them on their individual work ranging from parish ministry, youth/young adult ministry, work with indigenous populations, civil and social justice work in the prisons and lots more... from the looks of the schedule they sent me, i´ll be spending about a day and half to two days with each of the missionaries shadowing their work... my portuguese is sure to be tested (and hopefully strenthened) those days that i´m without my fellow bip´s... still, i can´t wait!

went to Mass today and found out it was the last time for the young priest to celebrate with the parish before he leaves for his new assignment in rome over the next 7 years... he is about 32 years old or so and has only been at this parish in nazaré for about 3 years... before he was assigned to the parish, my host mom said that everything was a mess there, from the inside-out-- things were just amock... once he arrived to his first parish assignment, he turned things around and the parish and bairro did a complete 180... there are countless prayer groups literally on every block, the youth program is alive and vibrant, there is a strong interest in vocations in the parish and the sense of community is repaired and i think, probably stronger than it was before... i heard today that before the priest was a priest, he was just a regular guy in a small town up north in minas gerais, had a serious girlfriend and was minding his own business... but something happened deep in his heart and he decided to end his relationship with the girl to pursue his call to the priesthood... and he´s the most amazing priest ever, the kind of priest that can revive a neighborhood, person by person.

it just struck me at how much difference a priest can make in a parish community... monsignor halfmann and father jerry at st. john neumann in lubbock and monsignor bill at st. vincent de paul in houston have been those priests for me, the priests who have called to my attention God´s unending love for me and sparked the desire within me to help others in my life... in my youth (many moons ago), monsignor halfmann supported the youth program and brought in a full-time youth minister, who then brought in the LifeTeen program to our parish... little by little our youth group began to grow and one by one, lives were changed. even after msgr. halfmann left and father jerry came, the youth program was an important part of our parish and i can´t tell you how amazing it has been to see my old friends from my teenage years slowly but surely responding to the call of ministry in the church. go figure... :)

well, that´s all i have for now... will post pics soon!

peace and love,
crystal