Ida y vuelta a Lima

Hello everyone! First of all, there are four new photo albums now posted for perusal -- access through the link at right.

Second, sorry for the long delay in writing. I returned Saturday, February 9 from a two-week trip to Lima with 14 youth and young adults from the parish, where we attended workshops on leadership, singing, and working with youth in parishes (more below). Aside from battling a case of diarrhea (sp?), eventually winning with the help of an antibiotic, the last few days have been full of catching up on rest, doing laundry, starting new terms of English classes, teaching a children´s vacation English class twice, processing input and next steps for our youth ministry efforts, undertaking initial planning with two guys who want to start a children´s basketball team in the parish, and celebrating Sr. Juanita´s (73rd?) birthday. I have just fifteen minutes left to write at the moment, so I will do the best I can to bring you up to date and may have to add more later.

Lima Trip Preparation-
Preparing for this trip was quite different that it would have been in the US. First of all, I can´t picture getting commitments from 14 young people to take a two week trip to attend training courses in youth ministry. Second, the planning happened much more last-minute that I would have liked -- for example, I didn´t have confirmation on our lodgings (in two houses owned by different congregations of religious sisters) until Wednesday evening for trip that was departing Saturday. The group didn´t seem too concerned about it, though: an advantage of the relatively low-key approach to planning, everyone trusting that something will work out. Third, compared the mountains of forms and paperwork for taking the 11-day Los Embajadores trips, I had almost none to do for this two week experience -- no permission forms, medical releases, etc. I did have some extra money to pay for any hospital emergency, but the difference in preparation was significant.


Pre-Trip Hopes
-- I tried to post these pre-trip sharings from eight of the trip participants before leaving, but was unsuccessful. Here´s another try to show the responses to my question of why they chose to participate in this experience:

Maritza Silva Guzmán
Current parish involvement: Lector, youth ministry planning
Age: 28
- Me gusta la idea de compartir con el grupo y de aprender nuevas cosas para colaborar con la parroquia.
- I like the idea of sharing the experience with the group and of learning new things in order to help out at the parish.


Juan Machco Flores
Current parish involvement: youth choir member, youth dance group coordinator
Age: 24
- Bueno, mis ganas de ir al curso en Lima es para apoyar a la parroquia en lo que es reunir más jóvenes pero no para hacer vida social sino para hacerle ver que Dios está con nosotros. Quiero a mi parroquia y por eso lo quiero ayudar y pienso que eso es un primer paso para hacerlo.
- Well, my desire to go to the course in Lima is to support the parish in the manner of gathering more young people, not for social life but instead to make them see that God is with us. I love my parish and for this reason I want to help it and I think that this is a first step toward doing so.


Yelina Piscoche
Current parish involvment: Post-confirmation group, youth choir member
Age: 17
- Bueno, me encantaría participar de estos talleres porque es una gran oportunidad ya que nos ayudará personalmente en el desarrollo social para la parroquia. Acercarme más a Dios y poder contribuir con su Plan Liberador. Aprenderemos cosas nuevas que tendremos que ponerlas en prácticas.´ Incrementar nuestros conocimientos cristianos.
- Well, I would love to participate in these workshops because it is a great opportunity that can help us personally as well as in the development of the parish; bring myself close to God and be able to contribute to his liberating plan; we will learn new things that we will have to put into practice; to build up our Christian understanding.

Yuri Agreda Peña
Current parish involvement: choir member, Confirmation team, president of youth council, co-trip coordinator)
Age: 29
- Yo quiero participar en este taller para mejorar mi trabajo con los jóvenes, compartir las experiencias de otras comunidades para mejorar y sacar a adelante nuestra parroquia.
- I want to participate in this workshop to improve my work with young people and share the experience of other faith communities in order to improve and move forward our parish.

Billy Tandaypán
Current parish involvement: youth ministry planning
Age: 15
- Quisiera aprovechar esta oportunidad para mejorar como persona y en mis relaciones con los demás. Tambieén, quisiera poder hacer de este año el mejor de mi vida.
- I would like to take advantage of this opportunity in order to improve as a person and in my relationships with others. Also, I would like to be able to make this year the best year of my life.

Adriana Tandaypán
Current parish involvement: youth ministry planning
Age: 17
- Quiero ir a este viaje para aprender nuevas cosas, crecer como persona, y después ayudar en mi parroquia con lo que aprendí. También, quiero conocer amigos de otras ciudades, relacionarme con los jóvenes de mi parroquia, y pasar un buen momento.
- I want to go on this trip in order to learn new things, grow as a person, and afterward to help in my parish with what I learned. Also, I want to meet friends from other cities, relate with the young people of my parish, and have a good experience.

Milagros Huanca Llamo
Current parish involvement: youth choir, lector
Age: 19
- Quiero ir a este encuentro juvenil, porque quisiera compartir nuevas cosas, experiencias, y anécdotas con todas las personas que me rodean y a la vez, acercarme más a Dios, a mi parroquia y a mis hermanos, tratando de renovar mi fe, con una actitud muy positiva para todas las oportunidades diarias.
- I want to go this youth event because I would like to share in new things, experiences, and anecdotes with the people around me. At the same time, I would like to grow closer to God, to my parish and to my brothers and sisters, trying to renew my faith with a very positive attitude toward all my daily opportunities.

Efrain Juilan
Current parish involvement: subcoordinator, youth dance group
Age: 24
- Bueno, me aventuro a estos proyectos porque de alguna manera me van a enseñar y me van a enriquecer culturalmente ante la sociedad y espiritualmente ante Dios. Aparte también de compartir momentos gratos con personas nuevas, conocer un poco más de lo que la vida nos pueda ofrecer en esta oportunidad
- Well, I take this adventure to attend these projects because in some way they are going to teach me and enrich me culturally in society and spiritually with God. Apart from this, also to share gratifying moments with new people and to know a little more of what life can offer us in this opportunity.


The rest will have to wait until later, but stay tuned the next couple days. God bless!