Hello family and friends, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the spring weather. Here in Bolivia it is fall and the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees since I left Brazil. It is cloudy and a bit rainy and I haven’t seen the sun since arriving in Santa Cruz on Sunday the 25th of April.
My last couple of days in Brazil were a whirlwind of activity and preparations getting ready for my trip to Bolivia. We had the graduation mass for my English classes on Thursday night. The mass was very nice and the priests thanked me for all of my work and dedication these last 4 and a half months in Ji-Paraná. My students performed a tribute for me singing “Amigo” a Brazilian song by Anjos de Resgate and they also sang the song “Pelas dores deste mundo” (For the troubles of the world) the first song I had taught them in English. At the end of mass we presented those who were present, certificates for completing the English course. The whole mass and certificate ceremony were taped by the local Catholic TV station “TV Nararet” and afterward the station interviewed me and segments from the mass and ceremony were aired the following day. After the mass we all walked over to Furlenha, the local pizza place and had a nice dinner to celebrate completing the course and to say our good-byes. On Friday I had my final English class to give out the certificates to those that study or work at night and who couldn’t come to the mass and party. We played some games and I gave out prizes and said our good-byes again. On the weekend I cleaned my room and packed up my stuff for my trip to Bolivia and bought my bus ticket to Porto Velho. I said my good-byes to the priests and staff on Monday and then left that afternoon for Porto Velho. The trip took about 6hrs. and 45min. and Padre Jefferson the director of the community in Porto Velho picked me up and I stayed the night at the Salesian house. The following morning at 10:00 a.m. I left for the border of Brazil and Bolivia called Guajará-Mirim which took another 6hrs. to reach. In Guajará-Mirim I got a hotel and scouted out the Bolivian Consulate in order to go there first thing on Wednesday. Wednesday morning I talked to the Bolivian Consulate and was told that not all of my papers and documents were in order for the visa that I was trying to obtain. This didn’t make too happy because I had the same official documents that every other volunteer currently serving in Bolivia had when they all got their “objeto determinado” visa in New York prior to leaving for Bolivia. The Consulate wouldn’t budge and I was forced to go onto plan B. I talked with the director of the Salesian Lay Missioners, Adam, and we both decided that I should just cross the border on a tourist visa and that we would figure out the next step once I got to Bolivia. I only had about 4 or 5 days remaining on my Brazilian tourist visa so there was really nothing more that I could do there. I went to the Federal Police to get my exit stamp from Brazil then I checked out of my hotel and walked down to the wharf where I could get a boat to take me over to the Bolivian side. The 10 min. boat ride down the Mamoré River into Bolivia dropped me off in Guayaramerín and there I found the immigration offices to enter Bolivia. I had no trouble getting my tourist visa stamped for 90 days, but that is the maximum days allowed for one year in Bolivia with the tourist visa. I changed my Brazilian Reais into Bolivian Bolivianos and grabbed a taxi to the bus terminal. There wasn’t a bus going to Riberalta, my next stop, until the next day so I got a trufi or long distance taxi to take me for about $6. The ride was twice as much as the bus would have been but I got there in half of the time, only 1.5hrs. In Riberalta I bought my bus ticket for the following day to Trinidad and then checked into a hotel. The bus from Riberalta to Trinidad left at 11:00 a.m. and was only supposed to take 21hrs. according to the guy who sold me the ticket. If you remember from my last update this is the route that is only open during the dry season which starts in early April. The route is a dirt road that passes through the Eastern Bolivian Amazon and is literally in the middle of nowhere. Two minutes after we left the bus terminal we were on the dirt road and had only “monte” or tropical forest on each side. We would pass by a house every hour or so and there weren’t any places to stop and eat like the normal bus routes that I had taken in the past. I did buy water and some crackers and cookies before leaving so I figured I would be ok for the next 21 hours. The road was pretty dry and bumpy, but we were making progress and I didn’t think too much of it when 24hrs had passed and we still hadn’t arrived to Trinidad. At 3:00 p.m. on Friday, hour 28 on the bus, is when the road started to get sloppy from the rain the previous night and where unfortunately we got stuck. We were in a massive rut and the tires were only spinning and sinking us deeper into the mud with every effort to get out. The majority of the people got off the bus including myself to see what we could do. We were in the middle of the road and had lagoons on both sides of us which didn’t help the situation when we started to dig out the tires and then they would fill up with water immediately. Traffic was stopped behind us and in front of us. Other drivers and passengers from another bus tried to help but it was all in vain. After about 3 or 4 hours of digging out and using ropes and man power we were still in the same place. Everyone was caked with mud and my shoes were about sucked off my feet a couple of times. The other bus and vehicles behind us turned around and tried to find alternate routes while we were left to fend for ourselves. 7 hours after being stuck some of the men from the bus went to go chop down some trees with a machete hoping that we could get out that way. At hour 9, with logs under the tires we finally made it out of the rut and were on our way again. A couple of minutes down the road, 15 minutes after midnight the two lagoons turned into two lakes and everyone had to get off the bus and walk to a higher point while the bus tried to make it alone. It got stuck again in the low spot and we all waited an hour and a half outside with the mosquitoes while they tried to dig and push it out again. 1:45 a.m. we are back on the bus and moving along slowly trying to pick our way through the sloppy mess when we get stuck for the 3rd time. The driver and a couple of the men get out to assess the situation and then they decide to give up, get some rest and tackle the problem in the daylight. Early morning Saturday we dig out for the last time and finally get past the wet stuff after being stuck the for 5 hours. It took 15.5 hrs. to go about 2 miles and by the end I was rationing my food and water not knowing when we would actually get to our destination. At noon on Saturday after two barge crossings with the bus over rivers and 49 hours after leaving Riberalta we arrived in Trinidad. I checked into a hotel so that I could shower and rest and get something to eat before my next bus to Santa Cruz left that night. The Trinidad to Santa Cruz trip was uneventful, thank God, and I arrived 10hrs 15 min. later on Sunday in Santa Cruz. I stayed the day and night in Santa Cruz and was picked up by Chris, the volunteer from Yapacani, on Monday morning in the Salesian Sister’s truck. The trip to Yapacani from Santa Cruz only took 2 hours in the truck for which I was thankful. In summary, my trip took me 7 days to go from Ji-Parana, Brazil to Yapacani, Bolivia, 75.5 hours of which were in vehicles. I am now relaxing and getting to know my new site here in Yapacani. Chris has been great, showing me around and I am excited to get started with this new mission. Thanks for all of the your prayers and well wishes, as bad as the actual traveling was, I am grateful for arriving here safe and not getting sick or hurt along the way.
God bless!!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Moving Day
Hello family and friends, I hope you are all well and had a Blessed Easter Celebration. As you might have guessed from the title of this email “it’s that time again.” The time in my life that brings both dread and excitement. Dread: because I will be leaving another community that I have grown close to over the last 5 months. Leaving a country, culture and language that I have enjoyed immensely. Leaving creature comforts like air-conditioning, having my meals cooked and my laundry done for me. Having daily mass, evening and morning prayers and shared meals with the Priests. These things will be hard to leave, but no one said missionary life would be easy and I am up to the challenge of my next site. Oh, the excitement of going to some place new. Meeting new people, speaking a different language and experiencing a different culture. God has indeed blessed me over the past 6 months while I was here in Brazil and I have faith that He will continue to bless me and watch over me when I go to Bolivia.
Moving day will be on the 19th of April. I will leave Ji-Paraná behind and travel 6hrs by bus to Porto Velho. The following day I will travel another 6hrs by bus to Guajará-Mirim, the border town between Brazil and Bolivia. This is where the adventure will surely begin. I have never been there before and haven’t heard too much about it. I know they have a Bolivian Consulate and that is why I am going there in order to secure a visa into Bolivia. Hopefully it won’t take more than a couple of days because my Brazilian visa expires on the 27th and I need to be in Bolivia by that date. New visa in hand (keep your fingers crossed) I will take a boat across the river to Guayaramerín, the border town on the Bolivian side. From there (if the roads haven’t washed out due to the rainy season that they are in) I will take a bus to Riberalta and grab connecting buses heading Southeast until I get to Yapacani in the Santa Cruz department. Yapacani is my final destination and where I will be spending the next year of my life working with the Salesians in those communities. We have one Salesian volunteer there now named Chris and he is expecting me in early May. If the roads are closed I will have to find an alternate route or means, probably another 5 day boat ride down the Beni River to La Paz. After already serving penance for 5 days on my boat journey on the Amazon River back in November, this is something that I would like to avoid. Have I mentioned, no one said missionary life would be easy : )
Apart from preparing to leave and finalizing things on this end I had a wonderful Lenten Season and Holy Week here in Ji-Paraná. I remember when I was in grade school and those 40 days of Lent felt like an eternity. Easter couldn’t come fast enough when you were a kid and gave up sweets and pop (soda-for everyone on my email list living outside of the Midwest) for Lent. Oh, how times have changed. Lent this year felt like it was over in a blink of an eye. I was so busy with my classes and church activities that the time flew by.
The parish of São José put on the Paixão de Jesus Cristo this year and I played the part of the thief and murderer Barabbas. I told Padre Alberto I wanted the part with the least amount of lines and where I could skip shaving for the next couple of months, Barabbas fit the bill on both accounts. We had rehearsals the first couple of weeks during Lent and then had shows on the weekends after mass leading up to Holy Week. I really enjoyed it a lot and the people in attendance did as well. I still get people calling me Barabbas once or twice a day now.
I also really enjoyed the Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent and the procession on Palm Sunday. 1,500 of us walked about 20 blocks down the main drag in Ji-Paraná; singing, praying and waving our palms in jubilation it was quite a sight to behold. I wanted to do something special with my English class for Holy Week so I asked Padre Alberto if we could sing a song in English on Good Friday. I have always loved “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” and have fond memories of singing it back in my home parish every year, so I spent the better part of Lent teaching it to my students. We had a smaller group show up this time on Good Friday but they did an exceptional job and once again received many congratulations from the parishioners after the service.
Holy Week was a joy as always with the Holy Thursday mass of the “Last Supper” and “Washing of the Feet”, Good Friday’s service and on Holy Saturday’s Easter Vigil we welcomed 6 women into the Catholic Faith. On Easter Sunday after mass we were treated to a fabulous breakfast buffet brought in by the parishioners.
The Salesian Provincial was with us during the first part of Holy Week and I was able to talk with him about my experience and about the future placement of volunteers here in Brazil. He invited me to join Padre Alberto and Padre José in Porto Velho on Monday following Easter to attend the mini-assembléia Salesiana on their discussions of the 26th General Chapter. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how far my Portuguese has come over the past 6 months in discussing such “heavy and complicated topics”.
I am back now in Ji-Paraná for my remaining few days and am trying to get everything done for my departure. We are going to have a mass for my students on Thursday the 15th and I will give them their certificates for completing the English class at that time. Following the mass we are going to have a pizza party at a local restaurant and my final class will be on the 16th. I have to admit out of all of the places where I have taught English (Bolivia, Africa and Venezuela) my students in Ji-Paraná have progressed the fastest in such a short time as 3 months. I am extremely pleased with their dedication and progress and enjoyed immensely teaching English here. My last weekend the 17th and 18th I will say my good-byes, pack my bags and will take a bus to Porto Velho after lunch on Monday the 19th.
Looking back now and reflecting over the last 6 months of my time here in Brazil, I would say the greatest highlight from the many that I experienced would be the arrival of the urn of St. John Bosco’s Relics. I am sure I will have many great highlights and experiences in this next year in Bolivia as well and pray that you all do too.
In closing I would first like to thank God, for allowing me another opportunity to serve Him, for protecting me and watching over me during my time here and in strengthening me spiritually in my conviction to do missionary work. I thank St. John Bosco for his commitment to the youth and establishing an order that continues in his charism. I thank the Salesians in New Rochelle and in Manaus for their collaboration in making this experience here in Brazil possible. I thank the community of Ji-Paraná (Pe. Alberto, Pe. José and Pe. Edmundo) for welcoming me and making me feel at home here. I thank the parish and especially the youth here for once again showing me, why I do what I do, is a blessing and a treasure from God. Lastly I thank all of you for your continued support, prayers and well wishes.
God bless (Deus abençoe)
Moving day will be on the 19th of April. I will leave Ji-Paraná behind and travel 6hrs by bus to Porto Velho. The following day I will travel another 6hrs by bus to Guajará-Mirim, the border town between Brazil and Bolivia. This is where the adventure will surely begin. I have never been there before and haven’t heard too much about it. I know they have a Bolivian Consulate and that is why I am going there in order to secure a visa into Bolivia. Hopefully it won’t take more than a couple of days because my Brazilian visa expires on the 27th and I need to be in Bolivia by that date. New visa in hand (keep your fingers crossed) I will take a boat across the river to Guayaramerín, the border town on the Bolivian side. From there (if the roads haven’t washed out due to the rainy season that they are in) I will take a bus to Riberalta and grab connecting buses heading Southeast until I get to Yapacani in the Santa Cruz department. Yapacani is my final destination and where I will be spending the next year of my life working with the Salesians in those communities. We have one Salesian volunteer there now named Chris and he is expecting me in early May. If the roads are closed I will have to find an alternate route or means, probably another 5 day boat ride down the Beni River to La Paz. After already serving penance for 5 days on my boat journey on the Amazon River back in November, this is something that I would like to avoid. Have I mentioned, no one said missionary life would be easy : )
Apart from preparing to leave and finalizing things on this end I had a wonderful Lenten Season and Holy Week here in Ji-Paraná. I remember when I was in grade school and those 40 days of Lent felt like an eternity. Easter couldn’t come fast enough when you were a kid and gave up sweets and pop (soda-for everyone on my email list living outside of the Midwest) for Lent. Oh, how times have changed. Lent this year felt like it was over in a blink of an eye. I was so busy with my classes and church activities that the time flew by.
The parish of São José put on the Paixão de Jesus Cristo this year and I played the part of the thief and murderer Barabbas. I told Padre Alberto I wanted the part with the least amount of lines and where I could skip shaving for the next couple of months, Barabbas fit the bill on both accounts. We had rehearsals the first couple of weeks during Lent and then had shows on the weekends after mass leading up to Holy Week. I really enjoyed it a lot and the people in attendance did as well. I still get people calling me Barabbas once or twice a day now.
I also really enjoyed the Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent and the procession on Palm Sunday. 1,500 of us walked about 20 blocks down the main drag in Ji-Paraná; singing, praying and waving our palms in jubilation it was quite a sight to behold. I wanted to do something special with my English class for Holy Week so I asked Padre Alberto if we could sing a song in English on Good Friday. I have always loved “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” and have fond memories of singing it back in my home parish every year, so I spent the better part of Lent teaching it to my students. We had a smaller group show up this time on Good Friday but they did an exceptional job and once again received many congratulations from the parishioners after the service.
Holy Week was a joy as always with the Holy Thursday mass of the “Last Supper” and “Washing of the Feet”, Good Friday’s service and on Holy Saturday’s Easter Vigil we welcomed 6 women into the Catholic Faith. On Easter Sunday after mass we were treated to a fabulous breakfast buffet brought in by the parishioners.
The Salesian Provincial was with us during the first part of Holy Week and I was able to talk with him about my experience and about the future placement of volunteers here in Brazil. He invited me to join Padre Alberto and Padre José in Porto Velho on Monday following Easter to attend the mini-assembléia Salesiana on their discussions of the 26th General Chapter. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how far my Portuguese has come over the past 6 months in discussing such “heavy and complicated topics”.
I am back now in Ji-Paraná for my remaining few days and am trying to get everything done for my departure. We are going to have a mass for my students on Thursday the 15th and I will give them their certificates for completing the English class at that time. Following the mass we are going to have a pizza party at a local restaurant and my final class will be on the 16th. I have to admit out of all of the places where I have taught English (Bolivia, Africa and Venezuela) my students in Ji-Paraná have progressed the fastest in such a short time as 3 months. I am extremely pleased with their dedication and progress and enjoyed immensely teaching English here. My last weekend the 17th and 18th I will say my good-byes, pack my bags and will take a bus to Porto Velho after lunch on Monday the 19th.
Looking back now and reflecting over the last 6 months of my time here in Brazil, I would say the greatest highlight from the many that I experienced would be the arrival of the urn of St. John Bosco’s Relics. I am sure I will have many great highlights and experiences in this next year in Bolivia as well and pray that you all do too.
In closing I would first like to thank God, for allowing me another opportunity to serve Him, for protecting me and watching over me during my time here and in strengthening me spiritually in my conviction to do missionary work. I thank St. John Bosco for his commitment to the youth and establishing an order that continues in his charism. I thank the Salesians in New Rochelle and in Manaus for their collaboration in making this experience here in Brazil possible. I thank the community of Ji-Paraná (Pe. Alberto, Pe. José and Pe. Edmundo) for welcoming me and making me feel at home here. I thank the parish and especially the youth here for once again showing me, why I do what I do, is a blessing and a treasure from God. Lastly I thank all of you for your continued support, prayers and well wishes.
God bless (Deus abençoe)
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