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
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
oh, where to start...
hello everyone,
today's post will be a bit of a random one, i've got a lot of things on my mind and don't know how to organize everything...
after another couple of weeks away from the creche, nick came back today... he had been sick again and has missed more work than he's actually been there, glad he was able to come back to work... we had a little pow-wow at lunch today to clear the air and i think things are going to be okay...
i also heard back from the MKLM missionary in sao paolo today and she will give me the final word on what days they'll be hosting me at their missionary center... i'm so excited!!! please pray that everything goes well for the planning stages of this trip...
more, more, more to come, running short on time... for now, here goes another picture update:
DRAWING WITH MENORES - love these kids!!! and on this day, they were cooperating peacefully! :)
TRUST WALK WITH THE MAIORES - great activity to remind them to count on each other! ;)
COMEDIAN SHOW IN SAVASSI
BH STREET ART - saw lots of interesting ones a few days in a row! lol
today's post will be a bit of a random one, i've got a lot of things on my mind and don't know how to organize everything...
after another couple of weeks away from the creche, nick came back today... he had been sick again and has missed more work than he's actually been there, glad he was able to come back to work... we had a little pow-wow at lunch today to clear the air and i think things are going to be okay...
i also heard back from the MKLM missionary in sao paolo today and she will give me the final word on what days they'll be hosting me at their missionary center... i'm so excited!!! please pray that everything goes well for the planning stages of this trip...
more, more, more to come, running short on time... for now, here goes another picture update:
DRAWING WITH MENORES - love these kids!!! and on this day, they were cooperating peacefully! :)
TRUST WALK WITH THE MAIORES - great activity to remind them to count on each other! ;)
COMEDIAN SHOW IN SAVASSI
BH STREET ART - saw lots of interesting ones a few days in a row! lol
Saturday, July 3, 2010
much needed update!
hi everyone!
wanted to share some things with you about my past week... i moved families (AGAIN!) this past sunday and was surprised at how attached i had become to andrea and carlos... they asked if i wanted to stay another week at their house and i definitely did, but i also heard bianca's voice in my head (bianca was my first host sister) saying that i should embrace every change of families to really see how brazilian families live... they're all different and all interestingly similar... so, i went on to my next family...
on sunday, i went to church for the last time at são joão batista igreja catolica in the salgado filho neighborhood, took a bus to downtown afterwards and walked around mercado central for a bit, had a sanduiche from a street vendor (which was soooo good!) and then hopped on a bus back home to start packing for the move... i reveled at how my things seem to be multiplying and no longer fit in the one suitcase i brought... i cleaned my room, made my bed, took a shower and waited for andrea and carlos to get back from picking up andrea's mom from the other side of town... they arrived at the house and we had a quick lunch, then off we went to the other side of town to nazarè where my new family lives...
carlos, andrea, andrea's mom and i drove from the southwest-ish side of town to the east side of town and met at a metro station, estacão são gabriel, where regiane (pronounced 'heh-jee-ah-knee') and her dad picked me up... as we waited, andrea and carlos gave me a gift, a worship cd from a concert here in belo... they are such great young people, i started to tear up... then, as it was time for me to move my things and go with regiane, a big tear rolled down my cheek... i remember that feeling as i hugged bianca and her family goodbye and moved to andrea and carlos' house... i didn't think it would be this hard becoming part of a family and then leaving after a couple of weeks... but it is.
we drove away and when we arrived to the arevalo family's house, i was so thankful that i took bianca's advice and have been taking every experience as it comes... just walking in the house i was comforted by the familiar picture of the sacred heart of Jesus hanging in the family's dining room, a missalette (spelling?) on the coffee table and a crucifix hanging on the wall... regiane's mom, gloria, made me something to eat and we got to talk a little bit that first night, even though it was pretty late... i learned that their family is very involved in their church, the parroquía santa maria de nazaré (the parish of our lady of nazareth) e communidade nossa senhora de lourdes (community of our lady of lourdes). five communities in the neighborhood make up a parish and they are very involved in both. the mom and the dad are both leaders in the church, the mom attends various prayer groups throughout the week with other women, has another group much like the guadalupanas back home in west texas, the youngest daughter, aline, studies at a catholic university here and is a catechist at the church as well, and regiane is a catechist, too, and uses her communications degree to help produce a radio show that her priest hosts every week for the young people in the city... i could not have been more blessed to come to this family at this time!
they asked me if i go to church and i explained to them about what i'm doing in the fall at ust, and they asked if i had already been to Mass that day... i told them i went but i would love to get to know their church, too... regiane took me to church and i met the priest--who was hilarious! he's a young-er priest, probably in his 30's, but i was blown away by his personality and the way he gave his sermon... he may be young, but he runs a tight ship at his parish and is likeable... regiane suggested i visit with him about my discernment and what i'm doing in the fall, so we made a time for me to visit in the near future... great first day!
moving to the east side of town has had its ups and downs... i am physically closer to the creche so the good thing is that it takes only about 45 minutes to get from my house to the creche... the bad thing is that there is no direct route to get from my house to the bus stop that takes me to the bottom of the hill so i can walk to the creche, so now, i take 3--yes THREE--modes of transportation each way to get to and from the creche... in the morning i catch a neighborhood yellow bus to the metro station, i ride the metro and get off at another station where i catch another bus to the bottom of the hill... all in all, it's about RS$ 12 per day, a couple of bucks over what i had been spending... definitely cutting into my bottom line. :( but, i get to sleep a littler later, which is great, and the buses are never as packed as the ones i used to take through downtown to catch my second bus! score!
ooh, also, a couple of days ago i was talking with aline about vocations and what i'm doing when i go back to school, and she suggested i talk to some family friends of theirs who are missionaries in são pãolo... so...
são pãolo bound for my vacation!? yes, please! i actually have been in communication with maryknoll missionaries about visiting their community while i'm here in south america and seeing what they do from day to day... i have just over a week near the end of july and then another week right before i return to the states, so i'm trying to get these things organized... sadly, i won't be able to go with bianca and her family to campo grande because their ferias happen to fall on weeks where we don't have off... i guess it was a blessing in disguise, too, because i only have a certain amount of funds to get from belo to wherever it is i'm going... são pãolo is definitely more cost effective than flying to cochambamba, bolivia where i thought i might need to fly to in order to visit MKLM's missionary training facility... i heard back from the MKLM missionary in SP and she's trying to work out accomodations and visits between the lay missionaries, the sisters and the priest in their community... please pray that everything works out and that i'm able to visit with them while i'm here... :)
other things over the past week: watched a brazil win with regiane and her friends, went to a zouk lesson at the dance school of one of the NAC instructors, went to a luan santana concert (!), went to a street fair at their parish in preparation for festa juninha, learned how to dance the quadrilha (square dance) with the kids at the creche, and watched the last brasil game for a loss :( with some coworkers. going to get my haircut today, it's been long overdue... hope it turns out well! lol
honestly, brasil has just been awesome for me, a great internship experience, with great people and even greater host families, wonderful kids at the creche, delicious DELICIOUS food, amazing climate, great music, things just could not get any better... or can they?! :)
miss you all, thank you for your continued prayers and support... i am hoping to break with culture and spend my vacation time here doing more than working on my tan... please keep praying for a worthwhile experience for me and my fellow bip's.
to my good friend victoria, the now mrs. rodriguez: congratulations on your wedding, i'm sure you made a beautiful bride! you and frank are in my prayers today and always...
much love, miss you all... safe travels to yall for your summer vacations...
peace and love,
crystal
wanted to share some things with you about my past week... i moved families (AGAIN!) this past sunday and was surprised at how attached i had become to andrea and carlos... they asked if i wanted to stay another week at their house and i definitely did, but i also heard bianca's voice in my head (bianca was my first host sister) saying that i should embrace every change of families to really see how brazilian families live... they're all different and all interestingly similar... so, i went on to my next family...
on sunday, i went to church for the last time at são joão batista igreja catolica in the salgado filho neighborhood, took a bus to downtown afterwards and walked around mercado central for a bit, had a sanduiche from a street vendor (which was soooo good!) and then hopped on a bus back home to start packing for the move... i reveled at how my things seem to be multiplying and no longer fit in the one suitcase i brought... i cleaned my room, made my bed, took a shower and waited for andrea and carlos to get back from picking up andrea's mom from the other side of town... they arrived at the house and we had a quick lunch, then off we went to the other side of town to nazarè where my new family lives...
carlos, andrea, andrea's mom and i drove from the southwest-ish side of town to the east side of town and met at a metro station, estacão são gabriel, where regiane (pronounced 'heh-jee-ah-knee') and her dad picked me up... as we waited, andrea and carlos gave me a gift, a worship cd from a concert here in belo... they are such great young people, i started to tear up... then, as it was time for me to move my things and go with regiane, a big tear rolled down my cheek... i remember that feeling as i hugged bianca and her family goodbye and moved to andrea and carlos' house... i didn't think it would be this hard becoming part of a family and then leaving after a couple of weeks... but it is.
we drove away and when we arrived to the arevalo family's house, i was so thankful that i took bianca's advice and have been taking every experience as it comes... just walking in the house i was comforted by the familiar picture of the sacred heart of Jesus hanging in the family's dining room, a missalette (spelling?) on the coffee table and a crucifix hanging on the wall... regiane's mom, gloria, made me something to eat and we got to talk a little bit that first night, even though it was pretty late... i learned that their family is very involved in their church, the parroquía santa maria de nazaré (the parish of our lady of nazareth) e communidade nossa senhora de lourdes (community of our lady of lourdes). five communities in the neighborhood make up a parish and they are very involved in both. the mom and the dad are both leaders in the church, the mom attends various prayer groups throughout the week with other women, has another group much like the guadalupanas back home in west texas, the youngest daughter, aline, studies at a catholic university here and is a catechist at the church as well, and regiane is a catechist, too, and uses her communications degree to help produce a radio show that her priest hosts every week for the young people in the city... i could not have been more blessed to come to this family at this time!
they asked me if i go to church and i explained to them about what i'm doing in the fall at ust, and they asked if i had already been to Mass that day... i told them i went but i would love to get to know their church, too... regiane took me to church and i met the priest--who was hilarious! he's a young-er priest, probably in his 30's, but i was blown away by his personality and the way he gave his sermon... he may be young, but he runs a tight ship at his parish and is likeable... regiane suggested i visit with him about my discernment and what i'm doing in the fall, so we made a time for me to visit in the near future... great first day!
moving to the east side of town has had its ups and downs... i am physically closer to the creche so the good thing is that it takes only about 45 minutes to get from my house to the creche... the bad thing is that there is no direct route to get from my house to the bus stop that takes me to the bottom of the hill so i can walk to the creche, so now, i take 3--yes THREE--modes of transportation each way to get to and from the creche... in the morning i catch a neighborhood yellow bus to the metro station, i ride the metro and get off at another station where i catch another bus to the bottom of the hill... all in all, it's about RS$ 12 per day, a couple of bucks over what i had been spending... definitely cutting into my bottom line. :( but, i get to sleep a littler later, which is great, and the buses are never as packed as the ones i used to take through downtown to catch my second bus! score!
ooh, also, a couple of days ago i was talking with aline about vocations and what i'm doing when i go back to school, and she suggested i talk to some family friends of theirs who are missionaries in são pãolo... so...
são pãolo bound for my vacation!? yes, please! i actually have been in communication with maryknoll missionaries about visiting their community while i'm here in south america and seeing what they do from day to day... i have just over a week near the end of july and then another week right before i return to the states, so i'm trying to get these things organized... sadly, i won't be able to go with bianca and her family to campo grande because their ferias happen to fall on weeks where we don't have off... i guess it was a blessing in disguise, too, because i only have a certain amount of funds to get from belo to wherever it is i'm going... são pãolo is definitely more cost effective than flying to cochambamba, bolivia where i thought i might need to fly to in order to visit MKLM's missionary training facility... i heard back from the MKLM missionary in SP and she's trying to work out accomodations and visits between the lay missionaries, the sisters and the priest in their community... please pray that everything works out and that i'm able to visit with them while i'm here... :)
other things over the past week: watched a brazil win with regiane and her friends, went to a zouk lesson at the dance school of one of the NAC instructors, went to a luan santana concert (!), went to a street fair at their parish in preparation for festa juninha, learned how to dance the quadrilha (square dance) with the kids at the creche, and watched the last brasil game for a loss :( with some coworkers. going to get my haircut today, it's been long overdue... hope it turns out well! lol
honestly, brasil has just been awesome for me, a great internship experience, with great people and even greater host families, wonderful kids at the creche, delicious DELICIOUS food, amazing climate, great music, things just could not get any better... or can they?! :)
miss you all, thank you for your continued prayers and support... i am hoping to break with culture and spend my vacation time here doing more than working on my tan... please keep praying for a worthwhile experience for me and my fellow bip's.
to my good friend victoria, the now mrs. rodriguez: congratulations on your wedding, i'm sure you made a beautiful bride! you and frank are in my prayers today and always...
much love, miss you all... safe travels to yall for your summer vacations...
peace and love,
crystal
Thursday, June 24, 2010
picture update...
these are some pics that i borrowed from andrea's photo album when we went to the skunky concert... [i wrote skunky because it looks nicer than the actual title of the band and that's actually how it's pronounced! lol]
carlos, me and andrea with the stage in the background...
it's hard to describe how ridiculously packed and loud that stadium was with all the people... i'll post some video soon! [i hope]
these are some pics i borrowed from bianca's photo album from her birthday... i'm sad i couldn't be there but i wanted you all to see the wonderful family that i stayed with when i first got to brazil and my family i'm going to return to in july! i miss them a lot! :)
this is bianca's mom in the green, bianca in the yellow and her dad in black
this is isabella on the left, bianca in the middle and amanda on the right and their little brother caua in the middle
i hope to have more photos for yall soon... i'm going to check out a "LAN house" tomorrow afternoon to see if i can upload my pics from my memory card after the game... by the way, brasil is playing portugal tomorrow at 11 a.m. here, we are off from work at the creche the whole day for the game!!! can you believe it?! they eat, sleep and breathe World Cup here! here's hoping for a big win tomorrow to put us in the #1 seed for the second round! brasil! Brasil! BRASIL!!! :)
oh, and definitely gotta say WAY TO GO, USA!!! we didn't get to watch the last US game because it happened during working hours, and no one really gives a flip about the US team here except us... anyway, we've been getting lots of updates from friends who know we want to know... heard we had an excellent performance! let's keep it up for next week! yay USA! :):):)
more updates soon...
peace and love,
crystal
carlos, me and andrea with the stage in the background...
it's hard to describe how ridiculously packed and loud that stadium was with all the people... i'll post some video soon! [i hope]
these are some pics i borrowed from bianca's photo album from her birthday... i'm sad i couldn't be there but i wanted you all to see the wonderful family that i stayed with when i first got to brazil and my family i'm going to return to in july! i miss them a lot! :)
this is bianca's mom in the green, bianca in the yellow and her dad in black
this is isabella on the left, bianca in the middle and amanda on the right and their little brother caua in the middle
i hope to have more photos for yall soon... i'm going to check out a "LAN house" tomorrow afternoon to see if i can upload my pics from my memory card after the game... by the way, brasil is playing portugal tomorrow at 11 a.m. here, we are off from work at the creche the whole day for the game!!! can you believe it?! they eat, sleep and breathe World Cup here! here's hoping for a big win tomorrow to put us in the #1 seed for the second round! brasil! Brasil! BRASIL!!! :)
oh, and definitely gotta say WAY TO GO, USA!!! we didn't get to watch the last US game because it happened during working hours, and no one really gives a flip about the US team here except us... anyway, we've been getting lots of updates from friends who know we want to know... heard we had an excellent performance! let's keep it up for next week! yay USA! :):):)
more updates soon...
peace and love,
crystal
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
more randoms...
hi everyone,
so, i thought i'd post a pic of me and the other three in the brazil internship program (BIP)... this pic is our first world cup game, cheering on the brasilian team at a local pub/restaurant with some friends... pictured are me, leo, diego and nick!
i'm trying to figure out a way to get my pics uploaded from my camera and online so you can see what we've been up to... the sabarenses had a computer with a port for my memory card but andrea's laptop doesn't have one, so, i'm thinking it's off to an internet cafe for me soon... last week diego and i led the "maiores," or older kids, in a trust-building activity and i definitely want to show you how that went... lots of other things in between and since, too...
this is a pic i scooped from nick's facebook of one of my favorite kiddos, artur, who moved away last week... he literally said bye on a friday as normal and when he didn't show up to the creche the following monday, i asked his friend david where he was... he said his mom had to move the family to live with their grandma in another city... i was heartbroken when i heard that he wasn't coming back! :( i didn't realize how attached i was getting to these kids... i wonder what august will be like? artur had the cutest little lisp when he talked and he loved asking me questions about my life and my family back in the u.s... i'll miss that little guy, please keep him and his family in your prayers wherever they went.
i had affectionately dubbed artur and david as "the breakers" because their special dance talent is breakdancing and doing these synchronized hip-hop acrobatic moves to michael jackson songs (of all music choices! ahhh!)... they'd definitely have a dance career back in the states... lol
here's artur...
and david
***
on a totally random note, wanted to ask for your continued prayers as i prepare for my return to graduate school in the fall at The University of St. Thomas in houston... i recieved my official acceptance letter into my program weeks ago, and things have started to move along rather quickly... the Master of Faith & Culture program touches on all the things i'm interested in: living, learning and teaching about my Catholic faith and the Church's role in higher education. UST is a great fit for me and i'm incredibly ecstatic that i'll be staying in houston for the next few years! i'm trying not to get overwhelmed with the amount of things i have to do the minute i get back to the states (like find a place to live, figure out transportation, go through academic advising, figuring out the financial aspects of it all, you know, the little things)... please pray for peace in my heart and my mind as i follow where God is leading me in the near future... thanks.
peace and love,
~crystal
so, i thought i'd post a pic of me and the other three in the brazil internship program (BIP)... this pic is our first world cup game, cheering on the brasilian team at a local pub/restaurant with some friends... pictured are me, leo, diego and nick!
i'm trying to figure out a way to get my pics uploaded from my camera and online so you can see what we've been up to... the sabarenses had a computer with a port for my memory card but andrea's laptop doesn't have one, so, i'm thinking it's off to an internet cafe for me soon... last week diego and i led the "maiores," or older kids, in a trust-building activity and i definitely want to show you how that went... lots of other things in between and since, too...
this is a pic i scooped from nick's facebook of one of my favorite kiddos, artur, who moved away last week... he literally said bye on a friday as normal and when he didn't show up to the creche the following monday, i asked his friend david where he was... he said his mom had to move the family to live with their grandma in another city... i was heartbroken when i heard that he wasn't coming back! :( i didn't realize how attached i was getting to these kids... i wonder what august will be like? artur had the cutest little lisp when he talked and he loved asking me questions about my life and my family back in the u.s... i'll miss that little guy, please keep him and his family in your prayers wherever they went.
i had affectionately dubbed artur and david as "the breakers" because their special dance talent is breakdancing and doing these synchronized hip-hop acrobatic moves to michael jackson songs (of all music choices! ahhh!)... they'd definitely have a dance career back in the states... lol
here's artur...
and david
***
on a totally random note, wanted to ask for your continued prayers as i prepare for my return to graduate school in the fall at The University of St. Thomas in houston... i recieved my official acceptance letter into my program weeks ago, and things have started to move along rather quickly... the Master of Faith & Culture program touches on all the things i'm interested in: living, learning and teaching about my Catholic faith and the Church's role in higher education. UST is a great fit for me and i'm incredibly ecstatic that i'll be staying in houston for the next few years! i'm trying not to get overwhelmed with the amount of things i have to do the minute i get back to the states (like find a place to live, figure out transportation, go through academic advising, figuring out the financial aspects of it all, you know, the little things)... please pray for peace in my heart and my mind as i follow where God is leading me in the near future... thanks.
peace and love,
~crystal
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