Pentecostès

Greetings! A few minutes in an internet cafe to write a short entry, so I`m sure some things will get left out, but here goes:

PENTECOST
We celebrated the feast of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, by holding an all-night vigil May 30-31, from a 9:00 pm service in the church to a closing mass at 5:15 am (I was impressed that Father Carlos was up for it -- I myself was falling asleep in the pew). The light ceremony during the opening service is shown below (I helped make the styrofoam flames).


Other activities to pass the night included group games in the patio, a music concert with Roger and other guys from the parish, a talk and small group project, and a bonfire in which we alternated singing songs with people sharing prayers/testimonies(see below, and more photos at link at right). We had a great turnout, about 80+ people (even a dozen or so adults from the community) started and we finished with over 60 tired folks at 6:00 am. It was a first of its kind event in the parish, and was organized by JUMIFRA in conjunction with the Carismatic Renewal group at the parish.



WINTER
It`s refreshingly cooler these days, some days sunny and others a bit cloudy. Our electric shower head provided luxurious hot showers for about a week and a half before giving out, so we`ve resigned ourselves to do without. Courtney and Julie opt to heat a bit of water on the stove, and Jane and I just tough it out and try to shower at warmer times of day if possible.

PROGRESO MARKET
Big local news is the impending closure of Progreso Market, the colorful but unsanitary and chaotic open air market where we buy fish, vegetables, and most other food. It apparently is all city land, gradually confiscated by squatters over the years and now the city is opening a new market at another site and for a couple days last week cleared everybody out -- though at least for the moment the stalls have returned as of a couple days ago. The small-time sellers will not be allowed in the new market, so there is a lot of consternation and protest -- and for us it might be a lot more inconvenient to shop soon.

That`s it for now, will fill in more gaps soon. God bless.

Resumen de Mayo

Arriving back in Chimbote on the 28th of April, I found it good to be home, and the month back has been a busy and exciting one, even as I am in some sense preparing mentally and practically for the moment when I will leave. Some highlights…

MOTHERS DAY
Celebration of Mothers´ Day, which falls on the same date as in the US, is even bigger – or at least a more public – celebration here. Most schools put on shows, in which youth act/dance/sing in honor of their moms. The parish is no exception: JUMIFRA was in the midst of organizing the parish Mothers´ Day celebration when I returned, each parish group being asked to perform one or two artistic numbers on Saturday, May 9. Members of JUMIFRA took charge of organizing the food that would be served, buying and putting up decorations, and hosting in general. Quite a success apart from the fact that we actually had too many numbers and a couple groups didn´t get to perform their second acts. A sampling: a song by one of the youth choirs, a couple songs by a an older gentleman who is a member of the adult choir, a solo by Father Raúl, a couple songs sung by a pair of sisters from last year´s Confirmation, Confirmation group 2008 did a choreographed dance, the new parish theater group (of which I am a part) did a short play, the Franciscan postulants also did a short skit, a boy and girl 8-9 years old danced marinera (a popular dance of northern Peru), two youth from one choir performed a song with guitar, and a rock band of parish young adults played a few songs to close the evening (see cell phone video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyVOOvwPK8E ). Afterward, we gathered with a dozen friends to celebrate Alex´s (friend and JUMIFRA coordinator) birthday on our back patio.

THEATER GROUP
As mentioned above, a new theater/acting group has formed in the parish, the project of Juan and César from JUMIFRA and directed by Sister Katty, a 26-year-old Incarnate Word Sister who has background and interest in acting. All ages are welcome, and we have participants from 10 to 50-something in the group. During our weekly meetings on Sunday mornings from 10:00-12:00 in the morning, we do excercises in corporal expression and vocalization in addition to rehearsal for upcoming presentations, such as the Mothers Day play and a music-based mime that we will present at this Saturday´s all-night Pentecost Vigil in the parish (also a project of JUMIFRA along with the charismatic renewal group of the parish). I have fun with the group members, and it helps me with my Spanish as well.

CONFIRMATION 2009
We´re up and running with the Confirmation program for 2009, this past weekend being our fourth gathering. Leaders (we are called animadores here, literally ´animators´ or ´encouragers´) are myself, Yuri, my housemate Courtney, Alex, and Consuelo – a 17-year-old from last year´s group. Our meetings are Saturday evenings 7-9 pm and we divide the group of 40 into two – Consuelo and I have one, Alex and Courtney the other, and Yuri as the coordinator goes back and forth. On Sundays we gather for a few games and short discussion on Sunday evening before going into Mass together at 7:30 (I go a bit early to sing with the choir). I really enjoy the experience of accompanying the youth, many of whom have little experience of participation in the church. We had hoped to do more of a concerted invitation campaign that included visiting in the various parish neighborhoods, but to reach that level of coordination will have to wait until next year, just too many other time demands. I won´t finish with this group, since the sacrament is given at the end of November, and I feel it will be difficult to part – especially since this year I have more responsibility as a co-leader and not just helping out.

YOUTH CENTER PROJECT
I have mentioned previously in this space our hopes for a form of youth education/gathering center, and I am excited that in these weeks the hope has taken steps toward realization. Across the alley for the parish a large house, in good condition, has come up for rent, and with Alex (JUMIFRA coordinator) I put together a proposal to rent the house for use by the young people of the parish. Next came presentation of the idea to the parish priests and the Incarnate Word Sisters (Sister Juanita has had this idea since my arrival here), visits to see the house and converse with the owners, and an exploratory appeal to friends and family for funding support. As of last night, May 25, we agreed to rent the house and now it remains finalize the form of the contract, gather the money to start, and tackle the process of making a few small repairs/improvements and furnishing the space for use as a social and education center specifically for young people. For those who are interested in more information or possibly in financially supporting the project, I have posted the draft proposal in the entry below and you can contact me at tschmidt19ARRhotmail.com for more details. A joint committee of one parish priest, one of the sisters, on of the Incarnate Word Missionaries, and one representative of JUMIFRA will oversee the youth center project and finances. The generous individual promises of donations thus basically covers the monthly expenses for a year, and we are now seeking both local and outside help to gather furnishings and materials. For long-term funding, several supporters are searching out grants that would be able to keep the project going after the first year. We haven´t made public the project here beyond a small circle, but I am excited to see what might come from this endeavor.

Relatedly, we have recently learned who will be joining our IWM community here when I leave – Marcelle, who currently works as a nurse in the US and will continue in that line of work here, and Jenn, who is a new graduate from St. Louis University with a theology/international studies major with minors in Spanish and Woman´s Studies. Jenn´s primary work will be at the parish, and I am excited that a new Incarnate Word Missionary will be coming to continue the work we have begun in these two years. Helping coordinate youth center programs could be a part of her ministry here, if all goes well.

EVERYDAY LIFE
In addition to the new projects and groups described above, existing activities and programs have continued and/or re-started in May. I continue to sing with my choir, rehearsing on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:30-11:00 pm. We have been purely a men´s choir for about three months now, as the several girls who were participated have stepped back for various reasons. Aside from occasional frustration with fluctuating commitment of the members, I really enjoy the singing and camaraderie of the group. I also continue practicing music on my own, almost-daily personal practice of guitar and quena (flute), and Roger comes Wednesday and Friday afternoons to teach guitar to Courtney and I. I recently have borrowed a charango (miniature guitar-type instrument) and Roger has given me some pointers to get started with. English classes started again the first week in May, and though numbers are down compared to the summer cycle, we have about 25 students attending weekly in four groups, two nights each. I teach with one of the girls Monday to Thursday evenings (we each take one group) and Fridays we open the house 7-9 for conversation practice, to which 10-15 students come to practice their speaking and listening skills. As I have role of planning the classes and coordinating the course, there is some concern among the students about what will happen when I leave – my hope is the new group of missionaries will be able to continue to offer courses so that those who have begun can keep advancing in their studies. As I also mentioned above, I began dating Susan in January, and most days we find some time together, although usually in the afternoons as my nights are booked and women here aren´t don´t enjoy, as do many of our male friends, the freedom of staying out late very often. Two or three times (such as last Friday) we have joined Jane, Courtney, and Julie with other friends to go out dancing (she, as many Peruvians, loves to dance and says I´m getting a little better). I run four mornings a week, walking downtown the other days to save my knees a bit. Also in the mornings, I write in my journal and read a few pages out loud in Spanish to work on vocabulary and pronunciation. I find an hour or two here and there in the mornings to work on ministry projects/communication and to keep in touch with family via the internet, and I shop/cook on Fridays and Saturdays. Most afternoons will find me at the dining table planning for evening English classes, making a copy run downtown, and when I can I lay down for a short siesta.

Thanks for tuning in again, and I wish you a blessed week!

April Update

Greetings! My last entry came as we were preparing to celebrate Holy Week, so there is much to catch you up on – beginning with the Way of the Cross in the streets and the visit to Peru of my brother and sister. Returning to Chimbote after the visit to Cuzco, I´ve been involved in our JUMIFRA Mothers´ Day Celebration, the beginning of the 2009 Confirmation program, the first steps in an exciting youth center project, the formation of a new parish acting group, a new cycle of parish English classes, and the standard choir and personal music rehearsals – even warmer showers in the house with the coming of a bit cooler climate (finally). So, here goes an attempt at a concise summary (some new photos are posted a the link at right)…

HOLY WEEK
The central event of Holy Week for me was rehearsal for and the acting out– on Good Friday – of the Way of the Cross in the streets of the neighborhoods around the parish. I was chosen to play, somewhat by default due to lack of others willing to take the role. Despite initial fears that I wouldn´t have the power of voice necessary for the role, the procession – punctuated by short, acted scenes at each ¨station´ -- was a success even given a couple last minute no-shows. My friend Roger served as the main soldier, duly castigating and pushing me around, red water-based paint smeared around my face and over the white tunic I was given. I drug the cross behind me until Simon of Cyrene gave me a hand, and I remember vividly lying flat on the dirt street after one of my falls – youth actors and the general public gathered around in the growing dark – listening to Brother Tino give a short reflection. One arm of my newly-built cross busted as it fell to the pavement at the station where I was stripped of my outer garment, and the soldiers switched my cross for one of those of the two thieves, rapidly tying the other one together. I was a bit scared at the precariousness of being on the cross, picturing going over face first – but the soldiers and other actors successfully kept my cross, wedged into a hole in the ground, from tipping over. The point of view – looking over the assembled crowd in the dark, the disdain of the priests, Mary and John at the foot of the cross crying – all part of a very unique and moving experience that I was honored to have. Had to keep from smiling (I was dead, after all) on the 10-block trip back to the church after being taken down from the cross – friends from JUMIFRA carried me, wrapped in a sheet, on their shoulders, complaining about how heavy I was and even tugging a couple times at my chest hairs to see if I would respond. Will definitely remember the whole experience next Good Friday.






SCHMIDTS IN PERU
While I was being whipped and crucified, my brother Ryan – and his wife Michelle – and my sister Suzanne with her boyfriend Cory were arriving in Lima. The next evening, Holy Saturday, I was very excited to meet them at the bus terminal, where we had a short scare when Suzanne couldn´t find the luggage claim tags. We packed in a great amount of visiting and activity during their four-day stay in Chimbote, as I wanted to help them experience some of the sites, sounds, tastes, and friends that are a part of my Chimbote life. Our time together here included: Easter egg dyeing with friends (a foreign curiously-viewed custom here), a Sunday morning walk to the waterfront and shopping/tour of the chaotic Progreso Market, preparing and sharing Easter lunch here at the house with the Incarnate Word Sisters (they loved the Easter egg hunt, a first for the Peruvian sisters), Easter night mass (I sang with the choir, complete with drumset and electric guitars for the occasion), music and song with friends on the patio after Mass, a climb up the nearby Cerro de la Paz with Courtney and my girlfriend Susan (since January) for a great view of the city and the bay, squeezing seven people in a small taxi, eating hot soup and sweating profusely, a fun en-of-term potluck with our English class, a morning walk out in the fields where I usually go running, a tour of the sisters´ hospice facility, ceviche (no one got sick, and they actually liked it), shopping and Chinese food downtown with friends, and of course the daily afternoon nap to make up for the early mornings. Suzanne just barely tolerated the various smells (lucky it wasn´t full fishing season), and Cory was a good sport about getting up early and compiled a great collection of mototaxi photos, Ryan received a number of ´Oh, un otro Raymundo!´ greetings, Michelle would hear ´chinita´ in the street, and everyone made good efforts with their Spanish. They did manage to avoid hand-washing their clothes and made limited use of the cold showers .

Following our stay here, we traveled to Lima by bus and then by plane to Cuzco. Though I had been there with my mom and aunt Janie, and with Michi, the year before, we had a few new experiences. First, staying overnight in the Sacred Valley town of Ollaytantambo – a small town with a difficult name, more-impressive-than-Cuzco Inca stonework and a substantial set of ruins which we explored in the early morning before the tour buses arrived. From Ollantaytambo, we traveled to Pisac, where we navigated negotiations in the large tourist market and make the substantial climb to the hilltop Pisac ruins on a beautiful Sunday morning, getting the lungs accustomed to the altitude for our four-day Inca Trail trek a couple of days later. As before, the walk through the misty Andes on actual Inca paving, great food and beautiful campsites, all topped by arriving at Machu Picchu on the final morning made for a beautiful shared memory. Our area tour was capped by a visit to Chilean missionary friends Claudia and Teresa in Combapata, a very non-tourist mountain small town two hours south of Cuzco complete both tranquility and the hard reality of life for its inhabitants. Unique memories include high-pitched bus singers in Quechua, a nauseating ride for Michelle on the local bus returning from Combapata, some cool folks from our Inca Trail group, climbing Wayna Picchu with Cory and a couple other guys in just 32 minutes, popcorn at campsite happy hour, hit-and-miss hot showers in our hostal, and tasty vegetarian restaurant in Cuzco as a nice change from the ubiquitous French fries and rice. We spent the final evening navigating Miraflores and downtown Lima, completing a decent introduction to the wide variety of geography, cultures, and demographics that make up today´s Peru (and contribute to a general lack of national unity/identity). I was sad to see everyone fly away, but knowing that I will myself be home in a few months made the parting easier. I am grateful that my family, whom I love, were able to taste a bit of my life experience here.

Reference: Youth Center Proposal

Below is the text of the draft proposal for a new project we are working on with the youth council in the parish (see Resumen de Mayo entry above for more details).


Proposal: Franciscan Youth Center
Chimbote, Peru

I. Mission: To open a welcoming space to complement youth ministry efforts of Parroquia San Francisco en Chimbote, Peru, and allow for increase outreach to young people that live in surrounding neighborhoods.
II. Background
1. The city of Chimbote
Chimbote is a port city of about 400,000 inhabitants in the coastal desert of Peru, about seven hours by bus north of the capital of Lima. The fishing industry flourished here – at the price of substantial environmental pollution and disappearance of tourism – from the late 1950´s through the late 1980´s. The fishing industry remains a central economic activity, though due to overfishing the quantity of related jobs in this sector has shrunk considerably. Even in its 1970´s heyday in which Chimbote produced world-leading volumes of fish products for export, the vast majority of owners and beneficiaries of this wealth were either foreign or Lima-based, and little of the substantial income was invested in Chimbote itself in the form of infrastructure, etc. A general search for good work in recent decades has brought to Chimbote a steady stream of immigrants, largely from the Sierra, the mountainous inland region – a trend which continues to the present day. Especially with the current downturn in employment within the fishing industry and its smoke-belching processing plants, steady jobs are few and far between, poverty is widespread, and many turn to very creative means (legal and otherwise) in order to generate income, create a very large informal economic sector. Socially, the handicaps of corruption, crime, and drug and alcohol abuse stem from and contribute to climate of economic hardship and insecurity faced by many Chimbotanos.

2. St. Francis Parish
St. Francis of Assisi Parish is located in the sector of Chimbote called 21 de Abril, established in the late 1950´s. Administrated since the mid 1990´s by the Conventual Franciscan Congregation of priests and brothers, the parish includes two chapels in the outlying sectors of 2 de Mayo and Santo Domingo in addition to being the primary place of worship for the Catholic majority in the sectors of 21 de Abril A & B, San Isidro, 12 de Octubre, Magdalena Nueva, and San Francisco de Asís. Since total residents in the eight sectors number approximately 30,000, cautious estimate puts the number of young people (15-25 years old) at nearly 10,000 – of which only a small fraction are touched in any significant way by parish programs and services. As of February 2008 current active young leaders, mostly in their late teens and 20´s, came together to form JUMIFRA, Juventúd Misionera Franciscana – Franciscan Missionary Youth. JUMIFRA has served since then with about 15 active members to plan, guide, and motivate ministry to and with their peers within the parish, guided by Father Carlos Gómez, who has the charge of parish youth and children´s programs, and Todd Schmidt, an Incarnate Word Missionary in the parish since September 2007. The Incarnate Word Missionaries are participants in a lay missionary program of the same name that is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who have been in Chimbote providing health services (currently two medical clinics and the only hospice in Peru) since 1964. Currently participating in the parish, spread between two youth choirs, JUMIFRA, English classes, a charismatic prayer group, a recently-formed theater group and the current Confirmation preparation classes, are approximately 70 young people.

III. Objectives
1. Help the parish offer to young people a space that they can call their own, along the way encouraging and teaching the responsibility required to take care of and maintain it.
2. Support parish youth groups by offering a larger availability of gathering times and rooms for meetings, projects, workshops, activities, socializing, etc.
3. Offer opportunities, space, and guidance for the development of small business projects by groups or individual young people whom have the desire and determination to do so.
4. Increase our capacity as a parish and youth ministry of bringing to local young people educational and formational activities, including talks and seminars, skill training workshops, classes, retreats, etc.
5. Widen our efforts in the evangelization of our young people by means of creating a space that might generate in participating youth a greater identification with their parish and promoting fellowship among themselves as a community of faith, in such a way encouraging to grow in spiritually as people and as committed members of today´s church.
6. Create a space for safe, healthy fun and socialization.
7. Be a base within the youth community that provokes the and initiates service and social justice projects within the larger community.

IV. Budget and anticipated expenses
1. Monthly expenses
A. House rental: $250 (a lower price may be able to be negotiated)
B. Water and electricity: $35
C. Telephone and internet: $40
2. Kitchen needs
A. Stove
B. Gas (tank refilled periodically for about $10)
C. Plates, cups, pots, utensils, etc.
3. Furniture
A. Tables
B. Chairs
C. Stereo/CD Player
D. TV/ DVD player
E. Whiteboards
F. Second hand couches, etc.
4. Miscellaneous
A. School supplies
B. Art supplies
C. Cleaning supplies (detergent, brooms, mops, etc)
D. Games (table games, chess sets, etc)
E. Ping pong table
5. Computer and printer for ministry use by JUMIFRA (with 3-4 more computers, we could offer them to youth for completion of homework, for computer classes, etc)
6. Musical instruments (guitars, flutes, etc) that would stay in the house for classes and general use during gatherings, events, etc.

To cover the long-term monthly expenses we are researching grant possibilities because the parish will not be able to cover the cost, but for the first year and start-up expenses the Incarnate Word Missionaries are contact friends, family and parishes in the US to seek complementary monetary support in order to initiate the project. We view this first year also as a test period for the center, evaluating progress and success more formally at that juncture in addition to regular ongoing evaluation by JUMIFRA and the administrative committee (see item V below).

V. Administration
1. The Franciscan Youth Center will be a joint project of Parroquia San Francisco de Asís by means of the group JUMIFRA (Franciscan Missionary Youth, the youth council of the parish) and the Conventual Franciscan priests and brothers, the Incarnate Word Missionaries in Chimbote, and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Each of these groups will select a representative to participate in the administrative committee for the project, which will have the duty of guiding and overseeing the Franciscan Youth Center. In addition to the groups already mentioned, each parish youth group (choirs, theater, English, charismatic prayer, confirmation, etc) will have on representative on the committee.

2. The committee will meet monthly to accomplish the following:
A. Share budget report for the previous month.
B. Report on activities and events at the youth center since the previous committee meeting.
C. Present plans, goals and suggestions for the upcoming month and farther into the future.
D. Evaluate progress toward goals stated in the annual plan, previously developed by the committee
E. As a product of each monthly meeting, a monthly report will be prepared and sent to individuals and organization who collaborate with the project.

3. Roles of groups represented on the administrative committee
A. Incarnate Word Missionaries – contact person for the youth center, will have the duty of managing the center´s budget and finances in addition to working with JUMIFRA to provide general oversight of daily programs and activities.
B. JUMIFRA – in charge of planning and organizing specific programs and events that are offered in the youth center and of being present as well as providing or arranging for responsible supervision in the center during hours in which it is open (see Section VIII, Rules).
C. The Conventual Franciscan priests and brothers, who have charge of the parish, will designate a representative from their community to serve on the administrative committee in addition to supporting JUMIFRA in their work in the center, providing guidance and spiritual direction as being a contact person for the Conventual Franciscan community.
D. Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word – seeing that the community of Incarnate Word Missionaries has fluctuating membership, the sisters will provide continuity of presence on the administrative committee as well as support the IWM´s in their ministry in the center.
E. Representatives of parish youth groups – will serve as communication links between their respective groups and the administrative committee of the youth center, bringing ideas and suggestions to committee meetings and communicating the committee´s decisions and general youth center news to their group´s members, thus facilitating collaboration of parish youth in communal parish youth projects and events.
4. In order to provide additional security, JUMIFRA members will sleep at the house on a rotating schedule.

VI. The house itself
1. Being directly across the alley from the parish, the house location brings many advantages in terms of maintaining a strong identification of the Franciscan Youth Center with the parish itself.
2. The house has three floors, the first two consisting of a large open room and 2-3 bedrooms that could be used for group meetings and classes. It is equipped with a kitchen, stove, and hot water heater. The third floor also includes several separate rooms, but is unfinished and would be good space for craft, carpentry, or other workshops. The entire rooftop is open as a patio/porch.

VII. Why is a parish youth center needed?
1. It would make the parish more accessible to young people, offering a more flexible and expanded schedule for holding programs with young people without inconveniencing the Conventual Franciscan Community in always asking for keys, wanting to stay later than the current limit of 10:00 pm, etc. Tentative weekday schedule would be to open the center in the mornings, 9 am – 1 pm, for academic programs for youth who study during afternoon shift at their schools. Then, to open the center from 4 pm to 11 pm in the evening as a gathering place, for classes and meetings, etc. Weekend schedule be the same, with the possibility of later hours at night for special events or gatherings.
2. Projects such as workshops and the library that we propose would occupy the current small number of available parish rooms, making them unavailable for use by other parish groups.
3. To generate a greater identification of young people with their parish community through having a space that is more their own, which sends the message that the parish indeed welcomes youth and invites young people to actively participate in parish and community life.
4. Offer the possibility of adapting and customizing spaces for specific uses and ends, thereby creating more opportunity for the development of skill training workshops and projects with youth that require specialized materials, avoiding the necessity of always brings and removing materials each day.
5. To make possible more opportunities for skill training and personal development for young people in our community.
6. In additional to and by means of the programs, fellowship, and fun that the youth center could offer, we can further various aspects of mission of the parish and of the larger church, evangelizing young people and forming Christian citizens that participate actively in society in order to help others and change our current unjust reality. The parish has the unreached potencial to be a base of positive influence and change for youth, and opening a youth center would be a step toward making this potential a reality.

VII. Examples of possible programs
1. Meeting space and resources for existing and new parish youth groups.
2. Spiritual retreats and workshops.
3. Formation and maintenance of a small library for youth.
4. Academic support and guidance by older youth and young adults to younger peers.
5. Informative talks and job skill training.
6. Art and drawing workshops
7. Music classes
8. Movie nights
9. Celebrations (i.e. New Years, independence day, monthly birthdays, etc)
10. Communication and cultural interchange between Chimbote and US youth.

VIII. Proposed Rules
1. For reasons of security and safety, sign-in system for entering and leaving the house will be instituted.
2. No drugs or alcoholic beverages of any kind will be allowed.
3. No violence.
4. Maintain an attitude of respect toward the people, house, materials.
5. No foul language.
6. Each group that utilizes a space within the youth center should leave it clean, and neat, materials stored away in their place in good condition.
7. Groups will have responsibilities to help take care of the house (cleaning, maintenance, etc).
8. There will always be at least three people (one for each floor) present in the center with supervisory responsibility whenever the center is open to the general youth community. JUMIFRA members themselves – or persons of maturity designated by JUMIFRA – will assume this role.
9. Rooms in the center will be opened only when they are going to be used.
10. In the case in which overnight retreats or events are held, men and women will sleep in separate rooms and will be properly supervised.
11. Individuals who don´t comply with the above rules may be restricted from entering the youth center.

Semana Santa Preview

Greetings! A short entry today before we jump into Holy Week and, this Saturday, the visit of my family – brother Ryan and his wife Michelle and my sister Suzanne, with her boyfriend Cory.

We actually began Holy Week preparations in earnest last Sunday, when our young people began rehearsals for acting the Way of the Cross through the streets on Good Friday. The surprising part for me was that, after originally volunteering for the part of Simon the Cyrenean, I was pulled into playing Jesus by the vacuum that existed – none of the several guys we considered were willing to do it. So, despite doubts about my ability to project my voice loudly and clearly in Spanish, I am scheduled to be carry the cross to my crucifixion in what will surely be a unique experience. In many ways I feel honored to play the part, even with the doubts that I am the best one available here for the role. We´ve had rehearsals all week, directed by Ginno and Sr. Katty, and we´re getting better all the time. Some new faces, apart from the existing groups, are participating and it is fun to get to know them.

As a prelude to Holy Week, Courtney and I joined a small group from the parish in participating in the yearly diocesan youth pilgrimage/ stations of the cross up a mountain just outside of town that has a church part way up. We joined about 1500 people, many of them from local high schools, in the two hour journey of walking, singing, praying, and watching the various groups of youth that were immersed in the experience to various degrees. Without the cloud cover we had last year, the sun beat down strongly upon us and therefore mass inside the open air but roofed church at the top was a welcome and celebratory break. I´ll soon be posting photos of the trip and of Chimbote taken from the church.

Our last regular English classes of this term are Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, though we´ll have a closing party Easter Monday. Also this week, we have Way of the Cross rehearsals Monday and Tuesday evenings and youth of the parish will gather to watch The Passion of the Christ on Wednesday before the Mass of the Last Supper on Thursday and then acting out the way of the cross on Friday. Besides acting, I´m also coordinating the costumes that a woman from the parish generously loans us each year for Christmas and Advent. Courtney, Julie and Jane are also joining in as actors (crowd, women of Jerusalem) in the Way of the Cross, which makes it a fun group project. Corina and Julie especially are great at yelling ´Kill him!´ and ´Crucify him!´ (I´m assuming that they are just really getting into their roles and it´s nothing personal ).

In national news, the jury verdict and sentencing of Fujimori is going on now (president/dictator during the 1990`s who is accused of numerous human rights violations that occurred during his tenure in the process of battling the terrorist Sendero Luminoso, Shining Path). Although you will find a variety of opinions concerning Fujimori, the majority of folks we know agree that he is guilty. He spent eight years in exile in Japan before being recaptured last year while visiting Chile.

In house news, we finally did get a new refrigerator, so we have enjoyed things like ice, cold drinks, storing food until the next day, buying milk, etc. I wish you all a blessed Holy Week.

New IWM Website

Just a heads up that the Incarnate Word Missionaries volunteer program, of which I am a participant, has recently launched their own website -- videos, information about mission sites, how to apply, information about current missionaries, etc. Check it out using the link above right.

Retiro Anual, etc.

Greetings from Chimbote! I write this new blog over several days from Wednesday, March 25, to Monday, March 30 – with still one written blog yet to post from earlier this month. I´ve had some technical difficulties transferring from our home computer to an internet connected site using floppy disks, but am hoping to post them both soon. I have, however, succeeded in posting some music from our choir on our music site, link at right, from a wedding that we sang at in January (songs with ´W´ preceding the title). Also, the photo site has some images from March, including our yearly retreat in Tortugas. Before going on to summarize recent life, I wish you a happy feast of the Incarnation (9 months before Christmas). March 25th is the patron feast of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, so we four gathered with the local sisters, IW lay associates, and others from the parish for a 7:00 mass and then a compartir – a simple sharing of food – at the sisters´ house afterward.

VISITS TO HIGH SCHOOLS
Elmer, an acquaintance from the parish who is finishing his studies to be an English teacher, asked me to accompany him on two visits to classes at a local public high school. As part of his student teaching, he has to do some communal work and asked me to present on the importance of learning English, the school system in the US, and bring a song in English to look at the lyrics. We visited a fifth grade class – students were about 16 years old, since high school here is five years – and a fourth grade class on two separate days (see photo of the fifth graders below). Impressions: a scarcity of resources and amenities within the rooms themselves, which were basically concrete with desks, a few tables and a whiteboard; students all wore uniforms; the first day we tried to have them do group work without much success; not a lot of respect for the authority of their teacher, though I know this depends a lot on the teacher´s work beforehand; all students in public schools wear uniforms; curiosity about school system in the US; they really liked hearing the U2 song, though didn´t understand much of it since their English is really basic, maybe similar to the Spanish of many US high school students. We arrived in the second week of classes for the year, and were told that some students had still not started attending for the year. While waiting for the watchman to let us out the second day, I had a group of 7-8 second grade youth gather around me with tons of questions about the US, why I was here, etc, realizing at that moment that in their enthusiasm youth in various parts of the world are not really that different.



ANNUAL IWM RETREAT
A couple days following the visits to República Peruana high school, we four joined Sister Leonila – a recently-arrived IW sister from Mexico – for the 45-minute ride to Casa Galilea, the retreat house owned by the Diocese of Chimbote on Tortugas Bay, where we held our yearly Incarnate Word Missionary Retreat. Though the rest of the IWM´s in Mexico, Guatemala, and Texas gathered together for a joint retreat in Mexico, travel distances oblige us to make our own retreat, united in spirit. Like last year´s retreat in Lima, this five-night experience was restful and fruitful spiritually and personally – but the site was definitely an improvement in my book. For one, we avoided the eight-hour trip to Lima and instead of being in a compound within the city, we were right on the water of the bay, the most consistently heard sound being that the small waves coming ashore down the stairs from the nice covered patio. We had a small, simple house with six bedrooms and a living room, pretty good food served three times a day (lots of rice and potatoes, not surprisingly), lukewarm showers if you waited until the afternoon, a swim most afternoons, and a refreshing ocean breeze. Tortugas itself is mostly vacation homes with a handful of hotels/hostals and a few restaurants. Though on the coast, there are few signs of greenery about – rocky shores and beach, mountains of sand and rock, dirt roads. It felt fairly abandoned with the summer over, schools back in session, and most of the families from Chimbote, Lima, or Trujillo gone for the year until next summer. There is no electricity anywhere except for 6:45-11:45 in the evening – weird to see all the lights in the homes across the bay come on at the same moment. Water is delivered by truck to private tanks which feed each individual home or complex, and a guy with a big basket strapped to the back of his small motorcycle makes bread deliveries each morning. Our schedule included prayer and scripture sharing at 9:00 at 4:00, one interview each day with Sister Leonila, guides for personal reflection, lots of personal time for journaling, reading, thinking, etc, and a time of sharing about the day with the group after dinner each night. I did some running around the bay or climbed the mountain behind the house each morning, and one afternoon we all four climbed up to watch the sunset. I went to bed early, took a short nap each afternoon, and generally caught up on a lot of needed rest (although three days back in Chimbote I felt very tired once again), and had plenty of time to play the guitar. Themes for my own reflection included my personal relationships, how I´ve grown in the past year (helped to read my journal from last year´s retreat), and priorities/hopes for the my final six months here in Chimbote. My list of last project ideas and goals from our 2008 retreat was, I now realize, quite naively over-ambitious – though I might very-well look back on my revised goals for this period as a bit far-reaching as well. I guess better this tendency than the opposite – see next headings for discussion of ministry goals.



CHOIR
I still much enjoy being a part of my choir, Trovadores del Evangelio (Troubadors of the Gospel), though we admittedly are suffering through a bit of a transition period as a group. Several veteran members have dropped out – at least temporarily – largely due to time restraints from studies and/or work commitments. As it happens, those 7-10 of us left are all guys, several being quite good musicians on guitar, percussion, and/or wind instruments. Ginno, our repeat coordinator, is deeply committed but at times lacks a little tact in managing the group and stimulates unnecessary tensions. I have taken on the role of typing up the lyrics every two weeks of the songs we will be singing at mass, and still have the goal of playing the guitar with the group, but would also like to help more. What we really need, maybe, is to invite new members for a new group make-up, though we need to work a little on creating a welcoming environment for new people. This may be an area of focus for my ministry – to help strengthen the choir an provide a place for new people to be involved in the parish life. I was discouraged this past week by a couple things with the group – first, that Ginno told his fellow coordinator – and a main guitarist – on the night before we were to sing at mass that he wouldn´t be singing because he wasn´t leading well by example with the group. Partly true, I think, but could have been handled better. Anyway, he didn´t sing – and three other guys also boycotted in protest, leaving three of us who had rehearsed. We requested some emergency help, and it turned out a little off key, but acceptable. Then, this past weekend, a couple group members got on Ginno´s case for inviting others to sing with us who hadn´t rehearsed (a rule of the choir is that you have to rehearse to sing). Ginno got upset and there was an argument. I just left feeling – besides tired, at 11:00 pm – but discouraged that if even within parish groups we have trouble working with each other, how will we tackle the larger problems that face us all and face society?

BIBLE WORKSHOP
A very positive recent experience was a Bible workshop in the parish every evening during the week March 23-27. All parish groups and meetings were suspended (including our English classes) for a Lectio Divina workshop led by a team from the diocese of Chimbote. Primarily, following the first hour on Monday for introduction and orientation to they why of Bible study, we spent each evening in groups of 10-12 reading, discussing, and praying in response to a different short scripture passage each night. Each evening about 80 leaders and participants from the parish – primarily adults, but also some from our JUMIFRA youth leadership group – met to read, pray and share. Besides the benefits that it had in connecting members of the parish, I found it spiritually rewarding, something I´ve missed. I kept wanting to share all sorts of ideas and thoughts, and a couple themes kept jumping out at me. One, the missionary call of the church – to go out, no just wait for folks to come to us. As you know if you´ve read my blog for a while, I´ve had for some time a desire to initiate a more concerted effort to visit youth in their homes. The reality is that we communicate with a very small fraction of the young people that live within our parish region, the majority of whom are Catholic culturally or in name. Previously also, I´ve realized that the consistent time commitment required to plan and prepare for eight English classes per week indeed takes away energy and time that I could put at the disposal of other parish youth projects. In these weeks as we come to the end of a third English class cycle, I am discerning again my priorities in my final months – how do I best invest my limited time and energy in these five months that I have left here?

ENGLISH CLASSES
Even given the time commitment mentioned above, I do enjoy teaching English and the community that has developed within the group. We are just today getting back to our normal schedule after a two-week break – one for our retreat and the second for the parish Bible workshop. We tried to hold make-up classes on the Saturday afternoons before and after, but just a few students came. This actually is our final full week of classes – the second half of next week we will be suspending classes for our Holy Week celebrations. I took advantage of the class being cancelled last week to finish the project of an English Class IWM CD. Each of us four chose 9 of our favorite songs that we have access to here on CD and we compiled a two-disk set of music in English, accompanied by all the lyrics for students to practice – and for the fun of sharing our own musical culture with our students. Initial response has been positive, music being so popular here. We´ll finish this three-month cycle the Monday after Easter and are scheduled to start a new cycle the first week of May. Also at that time, I will again be assisting with the Confirmation program one or two nights per week and therefore am considering consolidating two of our four groups and not, this cycle, starting a new group from the very beginning.

UPCOMING VISIT OF MY FAMILY
My family is again coming to visit! A little more than a year after my mom and aunt Janie braved the summer heat of Chimbote last March, my brother Ryan and his wife Michelle, along with my sister Suzanne and her boyfriend Cory, will be arriving for a 2 ½ week sojourn in Peru. They arrive in Chimbote Saturday, April 11, and after four days here we will again travel south to explore Cuzco and the Inca trail. I feel blessed to be able (thanks to the generosity of my parents and aunt) to be able to visit for the third time sites that for many are once in a lifetime experiences. I also can´t avoid a little guilt knowing that my friends from Chimbote will likely never be able to visit Cuzco, although it lies within their own country. Still, I can´t help but be very excited for the upcoming visit – to see my brother and sister after 20 months, to share with my life and my temporary home country, to have them meet my friends. An ironic note is that thinking of the upcoming reunion I am missing home more – a feeling no doubt increased by the ill health of my dad and wanting to be able to help more.

ON THE HOME FRONT
One welcome development that came out of our retreat was the development of a more structured sharing of house responsibilities, important to me because at times I have felt recently that I was having to assume a larger than just share of taking care things around the house (cooking, shopping, cleaning, etc). With Julie and Courtney now each having two mornings free during each week, they have more time to cook, and actually wanted to take on more of this job. So, I now am responsible for preparing lunch on just two days – Friday and Saturday, and we have a rotating schedule of home cleaning responsibilities.

We still don´t have a new fridge, though our friend Alex did help us to sell the old one for parts. As a splurge, we used some of the 50 soles to go out for ceviche. We returned from our retreat to a burned out pump, once again leaving us without running water in the house. This time the bucket showers and filling buckets morning and afternoon lasted less than a week, our landlord Hector getting to repairing the pump fairly quickly. Lifting the faucet in the bathroom and having water come out is, hopefully, something I will not take for granted for a long time to come.



Last week we welcomed a two-day visit from Zach and Tad, two representatives of a US Christian organization called Harvest. The mission of Harvest is to train local missionaries in practical methods for transforming their local community socially, politically, and spiritually through concrete acts of love, of meeting peoples´ real needs. Zach´s job (he is a friend of Jane´s), as a journalist, as been to travel around three continents (Asia, Africa, South America) to record stories of the activities of local churches that have Harvest-trained missionaries. Peru is the midway point of his four month, eight country South American loop – the last of the three continents. I was intrigued to hear his stories of adventures while traveling and he was definitely interested in the activity of the local church here. It was interesting to hear that although Harvest trains missionaries from all sorts of denominations, he didn´t know of them working with any Catholic churches.

EVERYDAY IMAGES
With the months that I have left here sure to fly by, I am trying to remember more of the images of daily life here that I strike me as I walk through each day. 1) Every morning as I go running on Avenida Peru out into the fields of corn, rice, and cotton, I pass numerous two-wheeled donkey carts on the way from field to market and several groups of children I regularly see being driven to school using this means of transport. On one particular morning, I was struck by three very young school children, maybe 5 or 6 years old, perched high upon a mountain of cornstalks being carted into town. Another father can often be seen driving his two young daughters to school over the sandy dirt road – by bike – one perched on a back rack and the other between her father´s legs on the cross bar. Then there are the two sisters, maybe 12 and 8, who daily make the mile+ walk into school, almost invariably the older sister about 10 paces ahead of the younger. It strikes me that, pulled out of their radically different setting, these kids – in their well-kept uniforms of skirts and blouses – could just as well be piling out of an SUV at a Catholic school in the US. 2) I regularly see as well, walking about, people transporting large loads by their own power. The primary means for accomplishing the transport of whatever large item – a pile of furniture, scrap metal, bricks, sides of beef, crates of chickens in their last hours of life – is the ´triciclo´, or tricycle. Triciclos have one rear wheel, two wheels in front to support a large cargo box, and just one gear. For this reason, and because of the sheer weight of some of the loads, often the owner is seen pushing or pulling the card instead of actually riding, unless he is heading downhill. Apart from the triciclos, I saw a man this week carrying a metal tray – with an incredibly tall pile of cookies – on top of his head. How he managed to maintain the cookie mountain intact must me a feat of practice (and a strong neck) – anyway, the cookies must have been fresh baked, because they definitely smelled good as he walked past.

JUMIFRA
Our youth leadership council, JUMIFRA, has continued to be busy with a variety of projects, though it seems we are often a little behind in getting started. Projects accomplished recently include a first draft of a proposal for group statutes, or norms, in an effort to formalize membership a bit and emphasize the identity of JUMIFRA – a gathering of young leaders within the parish in order to serve their fellow youth and the parish at large. In fundraising efforts for a cross to use in our street Way of the Cross on Good Friday and for T-shirts that identify us as a group, we have held breakfast fundraisers on two consecutive Sundays after the 7:30 am mass. Instead of the pancakes and eggs that would be served in the US, we actually have it a bit easier – shredded chicken sandwiches (with lettuce, mayo, and thin-sliced fried potatoes on a French roll) and a hot drink, either ´quaker´ (oatmeal drink with cinnamon, cloves, and milk) or quinua, prepared with cloves, cinnamon, pineapple, and chuño (freeze dried potato flour).



Selling 120 sandwiches and 120 cups at 1.5 soles each (about 50 cents) yields us about 100 soles profit each time. Apart from visiting area schools to invite registrations for confirmation and first communion preparation, our major project of the moment is rehearsing for the acting of the Vía Crucis – Way of the Cross – that our young people (and me – I will be Simon of Cyrene this year) will perform on a route through a couple of our parish neighborhoods on Good Friday afternoon/evening, complete with crosses and a mock crucifixion.

Have a blessed Holy Week.