The Church in Montero

Well hello, hello!

It’s been a while since I’ve written, and that’s because it’s been CRAZY!  The Lenten and Easter Seasons have been an incredible time to be in Bolivia.  I gave up English for Lent, which didn’t turn out to be as difficult as I thought.

This email is dedicated to the recent events in the Church in Montero.  About 95% of Bolivians are professed Roman Catholics.  Not all are active, but there are many Catholic churches in Montero, and each of them seem to be filled to overflowing during each Mass, be it Sunday, a Holy Day, or simply daily mass.  There are times when I am convinced that, for many, being Catholic is more cultural that spiritual; however, I have generally been moved by the faithfulness of the community. 

The Sister Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (which run our orphanage, a nearby school and the youth ministry programs in our neighborhood) have a special devotion to masses on Fridays, being the day that Jesus died for us.  So all of the youth in First Holy Communion and Confirmation classes are strongly encouraged (required) to attend mass on Friday evening, along with all of our older girls. This is something that the girls love.  (In my opinion, because there are boys involved; a rare commodity when you live with 120 girls and attend an all girls high school).  I love Friday night mass because it is filled with teenagers on an evening that, without our programs, many would probably be causing ruckus.  It’s really a beautiful thing.

That being said, Friday night masses during Lent were followed by Viacrucis, or Stations of the Cross.  Viacrucis is not your typical stroll around the church.  We walked through the streets of the neighborhood, stopping at little shrines set up outside of homes, each of which had been assigned one of the 14 stations.  This was all done following a truck full of nuns praying and singing with a megaphone (and popular item, you will see).

The masses of Holy Week were extra special, and accordingly, the number of altar boys was increased from the typical 6 or 8 to 18. That’s right, 18.  I’m not even sure that all of them had something to do, but they were all there, being extremely reverent and on cue, everyday from Thursday til Sunday.  The mass on Thursday included the youth acting out the Passion, with a fairly realistic crucifixion with fake blood.  On Good Friday, the service was followed by a special Viacrusis, each station acted out on the back of a flatbed, with at least 500 people walking through the street (2 megaphones were required).  Saturday’s Vigil mass started with a bonfire directly outside of the church.  From there, we entered into the church for a candle-light mass.  Fireworks ensued afterwards.  Easter morning started at 5am for me and the teenagers when we marched around the neighborhood with a statue of Jesus before arriving at the church, while a nun proclaimed that Jesus has been resurrected, with a megaphone.  Easter dinner was followed by a marathon egg hunt that lasted until dusk.

I thought that the 5am Easter stroll was a novelty, until I learned that during May, being the month of the rosary, I would be rising before5am daily to accompany girls as we pray the rosary while walking through the streets, following…guess who!  A statue of Mary and a nun with a megaphone.  Because of this, I know that Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury are currently very closely clustered on the eastern morning sky, an absolutely beautiful sight.  Check it out a good half hour or so before sunrise, when the skyline is a murky blue-green.  And imagine that there are palm trees framing them.  That’s my morning.

Because we are entering winter here, the nights are becoming frigid.  (My opinion of frigid after sweating for months may differ from yours). Anyway, I feel very much like my father, because I’ve been rocking the socks and sandals.  Don’t laugh, it’s not so bad.  And oh so convenient, as I can just take off the socks when it warms up!

I hope that you are all doing well.  Congratulations to the students who are finishing finals, and some graduating!  You can all rest assured that at 5am, I will be praying for you, asking that you are still sound asleep!

Peace,

Andrea

Carnival!

Carnival is here!  It’s such a big deal that no one has school, work,
etc yesterday or today.  The girls made masks and costumes for our big
party Sunday evening.  Which I might add, was the talk of the town!
We had seven queens, with very elaborate homemade costumes, and then
crowned the one Carnival Queen.  One of the many Carnival traditions
here is throwing water balloons (or paint or mud or used oil,
whatever’s on hand I suppose).  That being said, I’m avoiding leaving
the Hogar premises until Wednesday.  We had our water fight in (and a
little outside) the Hogar yesterday.  It’s crazy out there.  There
were packs of boys on foot or motorcycles running around with water
guns filled with blue paint.  Two little girls that live next door had
buckets of watery paint that they’d been throwing on anyone that goes
past.  Our girls held their own.  They made their own mud and schooled
a group of boys, who then ran away because Angelica stole their
supplies and Maritza threw her brother in the mud.  It is now 9:30 am
on Tuesday and I can hear the ruckus beginning.

On Tuesday, I walked 16 kilometers with 40 of our girls.  A guy from
the US gives lots of money to different sites around Central and South
America.  He decided to visit all of his sites, and I guess he likes
to walk because he’s been doing it on foot for around 14 months.
Apparently, though, he doesn’t like to walk alone, because all of the
kids have to walk stints of it with him.  Now this sounds like a
fundraiser, right?  I thought so too, but I’ve been told it’s not.  So
we walked through the heat and dust and wind.  Bolivians travel very
lightly and aren’t really well known for being prepared for the worst.
 Sooo, this means the girls didn’t get fed a good breakfast first, we
didn’t have someone carrying more water, the lunch stop didn’t have a
bathroom, and the police escort yelled at us if we walked too slowly.
At least there was a police escort.  And I provided sunscreen for
everyone, so NO ONE got sunburnt.  (Ok, so the girls don’t really burn
that much, but they used the sunscreen very enthusiastically anyway).
All in all, a good bonding experience.

In other big news, our pet zebra jumping spider now has a name:
Abuela.  It means grandmother.  She lives in our kitchen.  We also
have a hairier, less friendly spider that may or may not be a young
tarantula that appears every now and then.  We decided that he won’t
get big enough to be really threatening this year, so we’ll just leave
him alive for someone else to deal with in the future.

I’ve been reading the Harry Potter series in Spanish.  I started in
September because I wasn’t studying much, but I love reading.  I
somehow resolved that I should read the whole series this year.  We
have at least two copies of each book in the library and a lot of the
girls love them, so it’s been a good way to connect with the older
ones.  At some point, I started a competition with Sahara (16 year
old) to see who can finish first.  She was currently on number 1 and I
was on number 4.  Seems equal enough considering she’s reading in her
native language right?  We are both now on book 6, but I’m still
ahead.  The competition is getting pretty fierce.  Wish me luck.

Here’s your girl-of-the-update.  This is Deisy.  She was burned by
melting plastic as an infant and has been at the Hogar since the age
of 2.  She’ll be turning 8 in about a week.  And she’s coming to the
US today!  She’s scheduled to have plastic surgery at the Shriners
Hospital for Children in Boston.  American Airlines is giving her and
the Madre that is accompanying her free tickets.  Deisy is very bright
and spunky, and I hope that she learns a good bit of English during
her three-month visit.  If you are passing through Boston, give her a
shout!

Melia and I are giving up English for Lent.  Don’t worry Mom, I’ll
still use English to communicate outside of Bolivia.  To celebrate Fat
Tuesday, we’ve been making the girls repeat meal prayers in English.
I pray that everyone has a blessed season of Lent!

Andrea