The elderly home and soup kitchen in Yapacani

Two of the parish projects in yapacani are the elderly home and the community soup kitchen. These are two places that I wished I was able to spend more time at, but I have been involved in so many other things. These two projects are targeted at the elderly who do not have family to take care of them. They receive really great treatment and love from the workers that tend to them.

From the time I arrived in yapacani in septemeber 2014, I have been eating my Sunday lunches after mass at the elderly home called hogar Don Bosco. There are about 16 elderly men that live there. There is a family that lives at the elderly home that cooks, washes clothes, and many other things for the elderly. Its always nice to chat with them and pick at their brains of their lifetime of experiences in Bolivia. One of the family members that lives there is an 8 year old little girl and sometimes together we will read the Bible together to them until they fall asleep at the lunch table. Some of them suffer from physical problems like blindness, have no legs, are in wheel chairs. Father Arturo told me Juan use to be an alcoholic and would pass out drunk in front of the church. They offered him a place at the hogar and now he is much better and love the hogar. He lets me talk about God with him and he likes to ask me questions about God and myself. The elderly are really fascinated that I have come from the united states and they are always asking me questions.



I always love watching these two together. The one man is blind and so his buddy guides him around. Ive seen them at the elderly home, the soup kitchen, church, and even in the market area. How great it is to have a friend that is always at your side, even until death.

There is a community food kitchen that caters to over 50 elderly men and women 6 days a week in yapacani. Once again this project is aided by Chalice and the Salesians and it amazes me of all the things the Salesians do to makes sure help is given to the community.There is another family from our church that cooks at the soup kitchen. They also invite the elderly to help prepare the food. It’s a nice atmosphere for the elderly to come together to chat and share a meal. Lunch usually starts with a community prayer of thanks for the food that we are eating. It’s a lot of fun to pray with old people I had the honor to lead the prayer a couple times. Im usually shouting really loud when praying because they have a hard time hearing. In the beginning of the year, the elderly had to bring their own dishes, utensils and cups. Except they didn’t look like regular dishes or cups. They would bring cheap plastic containers that look like dog dishes and for cups they brought empty containers of like Nescafe. Meanwhile the family at the soup kitchen treated me as a king with nice silverware. It was a little uncomfortable but now I can have solidarity with them because the soup kitchen has now provided silverware for everyone. Except that the old people sometimes walk away with the forks and spoons after lunch, I think unintentionally.

The elderly are patiently waiting for their food, they are teaching each other the abc’s

 

Sister Angelita distributing the lunch



The Senoras know not to serve me my soup with chicken feet or chicken heads it. They think it scares me.

 

 

 

sometimes Fr. Arturo stops by for lunch and will give the prayer of thanksgiving

 

This is a photo of the Italian salesian priests that I lived with. They are elderly men so I figured since this post was about the elderly, I would include them here. Im gonna miss them too, they were like my grandpas.

This will be my last blog. I will be leaving Yapacani after all Soul’s day, I will be doing some travelling now and will be back in the states at the end of next month in time for thanksgiving. I cannot believe I spent 20 consecutive months here and I cannot put into words. I wish I could have showed more to you of the mission in my blog. I faithfully kept to my promise of providing one blog per month during my stay. No one can say that I didn’t try to let you all know what I was doing while I was away from the USA. I want to give a special thanks to the Salesians for this gift of being here. Another special thanks to Fr. Mike for commenting on my blog almost every month and giving me your thoughts and prayers. I hope future Salesian Lay Missioners come to Yapacani, Bolvia. The kids and the adults cannot stop expressing how they are going to miss connor and me. Right now we do not have volunteers to replace us. Part of my reason for having a blog and updating it each month was to motivate all of you who are on the fence about doing a mission here in yapacani with the Salesians or doing a mission in general. If you are young, donate your life for a year to a group of people. In particular in yapacani, there are countless of opportunities to get involved here with a great supportive community. If you ever have questions feel free to leave  a message on my blog or email me. I will be happy to answer your questions. God bless you in whatever you do.

Im going to miss these kids at the boarding school the most where I spent most of my time. I pray to our Lord that He sends future salesian missionaries to this boarding school.

La fiesta de La Virgen de Guadalupe en Sucre, Bolivia

I had the opportunity this month to go to Sucre, Bolivia for La fiesta de la Virgen de Guadalupe. If anyone knows me well, I’m a big fan of the visitation of Mary to Mexico in 1531. Even if you do not know me well, you could tell I have a devotion to her by clicking on the “patron saints for mission” tab on my blog J. In Sucre the Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron saint of the city.

Mary’s visitation to Mexico came after the conquistadors forced the Aztec people to stop sacrificing their people to their gods. Mary appearance to a humble indigenous man rather than a Spanish conquistador, gained the confidence of the indigenous to believe that her divine son was and is the true God. Thousands of indigenous became baptized Catholics in the following years of her visitation. About 60 years later Jesuit priests from Spain brought the devotion of Our lady of Guadalupe to Potosi, Bolivia (near sucre), relying on Mary’s protection when they were evangelizing the indigenous who were sometimes hostile. A painting was painted in 1601 of the Blessed Virgin with the Divine Child Jesus in her hands. Over the years the people of Bolivia decorated the original painting with gold, rubies, silver, and jewels . Even the liberator Simon Bolivar who liberated a number of south America countries from the Spanish throne gave a nice sized ruby to the image. Today the decorated painting is worth millions of dollars, and sits inside the cathedral in front of the plaza and brought out in processions on September 8^th, the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.

The faithful praying in front of the encased painting of Mary and baby Jesus

  

She is known as “the richest virgin” of the Americas.

 

 

 

To me the beauty of the image is a small reminder of the beauty and richness of Mary’s soul. The image is a beautiful reminder of her beautiful Fiat to be the mother of our savior who is the reason of our Joy. Visiting the cathedral the last night of the novena served as a reminder to me that she is not just a model for women but a model for men as well. The church was packed with people and it wasn’t even Sunday or Christmas! Mary is not outdone in generosity and she will give her spiritual children spiritual gifts which will pay off more in the long run than all the gold in the world.    

Many people keep an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in their homes

 

Our Santisma Madre unites families together

 

 

 Mary has a lot of cute nicknames that the faithful have given her. They call her La Mamita de Guadalupe as an affectionate name for her motherhood to them. They call her La Morena for her dark colored hair (dark colored hair is very dominant in the Americas). All her nicknames indicate the love and affection that the faithful have for the mother of God.

There was a big procession with the painting on September 8th

 

you cannot call it a fiesta without dances

 

getting "under the skin" of the culture with an old friend

Had some fun in the outback 

 

This trip was a very good precursor to my next pilgrimage. In less than 2 months, on my way back to the USA, I will be stopping in Mexico city for a few days. Not to go clubbing, not to go Cancun, not to taste the Mexican cuisine, my motivation is to finally make a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. To visit the American soil where she visited and to see the only divine image in the world that she gave to her humble servant. I will pay thanks to Mary for her presence on my mission, for helping me and guiding me to bring others closer to her son Jesus. If there are any prayers you would like me to bring to this Holy site, feel free to let me know.

 

Being an educator

One of my main duties as a Salesian Lay Missioner is to be an educator to the youth. I interact with the youth in a variety of places and teachings opportunities arise all the time. I could be teaching good sportsmanship on a basketball court, having a discussion with teenagers while they are doing there chores at the boarding school, or teaching in a formal classroom setting at a school in the country. This is what I came down to Bolivia to do, to be Don Bosco for the youth that is to point the children to God and help them discover their gifts to help each other.

I have been spending my time lately at many locations around Yapacani. I move back and forth from the boarding school in the country to helping at the parish and surrounding schools in the “city” of yapacani. I say “city” because yapacani is not really a city on USA terms but here in Bolivia the urban area of yapacani is considered a small city to the Bolivians. Father Arturo really encourages me a lot to spend more time at the boarding school in the country. I like being at the boarding school with the kids. I miss them when I’m back at the parish, but that also means if I’m out there at the boarding school all the time, I cannot be with the kids that are in the city. Ahh the trouble of only being able to be in one place at one time.

So what do I do when I’m with the kids in the city?  I visit their schools. I try to have a 2 minute speech about God or a prayer ready to give to the kids outside on the playground. The kids who are about 7 to 13 years old genuinely stay tuned in. Surprisingly to me they love listening and talking about Jesus. They also like to tell me what they know about Jesus too. They have the desire to learn more about our Lord. Many of the small Christian classroom building schools here in Yapacani do not have religion teachers so I like to make an effort to visit these schools.

When I’m at the boarding school I usually arrive in the afternoon when the kids have already returned from school and are doing their homework. So I usually jump right in helping the teenagers with their English homework. I also can help with math and science. If you ask me to help you with Bolivian History and languages, you are out of luck. Once a week I give a “good night” which in my style is a powerpoint and video clip. The good nights are usually a lesson to the kids about our Christian faith and God. A tradition that Don Bosco carried out with his kids. I would also say that I know more about the kids here than say the kids that I visit at the school or anywhere else. I help the kids at the boarding school with their hw, I eat meals with them, I play with them, I watch tv with them( we only get two channels), I chase chickens with them, I go to mass with them, etc.

'harvesting' Yuca for dinner in the garden

dinner time!!!!

Celebrated the Anniversary of the boarding school 'Casa Don Bosco' and the Bicentennial B-day of Don Bosco. the kids invited their family to the boarding school and they played games, did skits, and danced

 

I am an Alterserver teacher. On Sundays I’m the one responsible for “recruiting” and training children who want to be alterservers. We do not have 2-3 alterservers serving at mass like the USA but instead usually 10 alterservers. I have an excel sheet of 30 alterservers with a rotation schedule. HAha I had to come up with a job list trying to give each alterserver something to do in mass. You ring the bell during the sacrifice, you two can hold the tela during communion, you can light the candles,…and you well you can just stand there and be an “angelito”. Another thing that I realized and that I thought was funny is that like 80% of the alterservers are girls. I told the girls to go ask their amigOs, only behaved boys, if they would like the privilege to serve at mass and well the girls didn’t let me down, the boys are starting to sign up. Some of the kids like serving at mass so much that some of the kids ask me to put them on the schedule for both the 9am and 11am mass.   

 

The Bicentennial birthday of Don Bosco fell on a Sunday so we celebrated mass outside on the basketball court to accommodate all the people and dances during mass. it was a beautiful Mass.

 

I’m also a religion teacher at two schools and I teach at each them once a week. There are tens and tens of small schools that are in need of religion teachers. One can make their entire Salesian missionary experience in just visiting and teaching at schools. The schools are small so classes I teach will usually have 3^rd,4^th,and 5^th graders in one classroom which usually brings the total number of kids to 25-35 students. It’s nice to have a permanent teaching role in these schools.

Escuela "Naranjal" a small school that I teach religion in

 

I use the parish moto to get around from place to place

 

I also look forward to teaching Confirmation class on Tuesday nights at our parish church in Yapacani. The kids are 15 & 16 years old. Just a note confirmation class is 2 years long. After the second year they receive there sacrament from the Bishop. Prior to this the last time the kids received formal teaching about religion from the church, was when they were 8 years old when they received their first communion. So in between the time gap of 8 yrs old and 15yrs old, the kids do not receive teachings from the church. That’s sad. They do not have CCD here like in the USA. Also many of the students have not made their previous sacraments including baptism, so Connor and I teach everything about the Catholic faith in our Confirmation class. So although I’m not going around with the Bible to isolated villages to people dressed only in Loin cloths, I’m still teaching about our Faith to people who have never come to know Jesus and how to live a Christian lifestyle…. Experiences like these makes me feel like a missionary.

two of our students from our confirmation class

 

I am happy to teach others about the truths of our faith so that they can live a joyful life with Christ and I am very grateful for the opportunities to teach these kids that I have come to love. I also like being a good role model to the kids and teaching them good values through my actions and words. The quality of my visits depends a lot on how much time I spend preparing for my visits to these different places. I want to give these kids the best I got. I’m working for the Lord during this experience and it’s all about Him and His children. To me being a missionary here in Bolivia, is being a missionary 24-7, this is the reason why I am here in Bolivia and I want to help the spiritual lives of the children as much as I can. So these things are what make my experience so fruitful now and in the long run.

This is what I feel like at the end of the day

A Jesuit mission church of the Chiquitos

Over a year ago when I was in Cochabamba walking along the streets, I saw a man selling postcards. Thinking that I should probably send a few post cards home, I decided to look at what he had. I remember the image of one postcard catching my eye, and never fleeing my memory. It was a photo of a beautiful church with a unique and distinct style. Alongside of it was a tall bell tower just as magnificent. I remember thinking, wherever that church is, I want to see it.

Concepcion

 

Above the doors a Bible verse from Genesis is written in Spanish "casa de Dios, puerta del cielo" which means "house of God, gate of heaven."

17 months later, I found myself on a 6 hour bus ride from Santa Cruz to the desolate North Eastern part of Bolivia just to go see that church. The Spanish name of the church is “Concepcion” and was built in the 1750s. Concepcion is just one of the original 10 mission churches built by Jesuit priests and local tribes in 17^th and 18^th centuries. Jesuits came over from Spain with a goal to Christianize nomadic tribes in the regions of early Brazil, Paraguay, and North Eastern Bolivia and to also teach them trades. I read somewhere that the tribes they met were at first hostile but then warmed up to the European Jesuits after they found out they had a different mission from their brethren Spanish Conquistadors. Many Indians who joined the missions were looking for protection from Portuguese slave traders or the unfair tax system of the Spanish conquistadors.¹ The Jesuits certainly had their handful when it came to converting the tribes, some tribes had a rule of only one child per family and so would kill their second son or daughter if they had more children. The mission communities created by the Jesuits, called reductions, were self-sufficient, with thriving economies and virtually autonomous from the Spanish crown.² The government of Spain accused the Jesuits of hiding money from Spain in their missions and further also accused the Jesuit order of starting riots in Madrid. All in all this snowballed into the Jesuits being evicted from their missions in 1767. I read that for the Jesuit mission for Concepcion, a group of soldiers arrived into the mission town and ordered their eviction of the Jesuit priests.

Today, the church in the pueblo, also called Concepcion, is recognized as a world heritage site. Many of the Jesuit mission churches survived after the Jesuits were evicted because of the local tribes wanting to preserve their memories with what the Jesuits had done for them. A major restoration project was carried out in the 1970s-1990s by a Swiss Architect named Hans Roth. Centuries later he and his team of local Bolivians restored the churches in Eastern Bolivia that still remained. He dedicated the rest of his life to restoring the mission churches.

The statue of the Immaculate Conception

Connor and I arrived in the town at night and we saw the church across the plaza and it was closed. We went to eat at a place called Buen Gusto and afterwards we started walking back to our hotel. Connor asked me if I wanted to pray the rosary on our way back. As we were praying, we walked past the church and low and behold the doors were now open. So we decided to pause our rosary and go inside the church and check it out. The church was so beautiful. You can see the European styles incorporated in the church along with designs of native flowers and other native traditions, a nice blend of the indigenous and European traditions. The pews were so beautiful. The pews were hand carved with different depictions from the bible carved into them. The pews in the back had designs from Old Testament while the pews in the front were of the New Testament. We figured out why the church was open, a Rosary group was praying the rosary in front of the Immaculate Conception statue. So Connor and I sat down next to them and continued our Rosary that we were praying outside. I must say praying the rosary inside of a beautiful decorated church certainly beat praying the rosary walking in the dark outside.

 

An original column from the 1750s that was used to support the
roof of the church. Now this column is in the museum in the plaza.

In the workshop in the pueblo making the new columns
 during the renovations in the 1970s.

Centuries later the impact of the Jesuits can be seen in the Santa Cruz department. I was talking  to the carpenter at the boarding school here in Yapacani and he told me that he went to a trade school that taught wood carving techniques that the Jesuits taught in their workshops in the Chiquitania region. Many of the churches throughout Santa Cruz have the traditional spiral columns that are a characteristic of the Jesuit churches. A matter of fact the altar area for the mass in Santa Cruz for the visit of Pope Francis here in Bolivia was based off the front of Concepcion.

The Concepción based altar área at the Holy Mass in Santa Cruz. Pope Francis is at the lecturn on the left giving his Homily!

I had a great time at Concepcion, It would be nice to see the other Jesuit mission churches in Bolivia. They are far away from each other though. I like making trips to holy places. Maybe one day I will return to Bolivia and have the opportunity to visit the other churches but if I do not that’s ok. I’m just happy I got to see Concepcion.

Our San Carlos misión and another town recieved the left over 10,000 consecrated hosts that Pope Francis consecrated. Its been a month and we are still recieving the same hosts from the Papal Mass. 

 

^1,2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_reduction

First Sundays

First Sundays of each month here are exciting and are a little different than following Sundays.  I want to talk about the devotion to the Divine Child in one pueblo and I also want to talk about the beauty of the Baptisms in Yapacani.

There is a pueblo called Buen Retiro (Good Retreat). It is about 13 km (8 miles), a 4 hour walk, from San Carlos where I live. They have a church there named after the Divino Nino (Divine Child). Every first Sunday of the month people from all over Bolivia make a pilgrimage to the Church. If you are looking for a place to worship Baby Jesus in Bolivia, than this is the place you want to be. People arrive in mini buses and trufis. The major influx of people brings many food and memorabilia vendors. Its like an outdoor flee market. The inside of the church is packed with the faithful shoulder to shoulder. I am always happy to watch people pray in front of the giant baby Jesus statue. That might sound weird but I don’t care, I’m inspired by their faith and I pray for them while they pray to Jesus.

 The first time I went to this small pueblo for daily mass with Padre Carlos, I was wondering why the church was so big for such a small community. He told me that a lot of people come to mass on first Sundays. Further he told me that they are planning on building a larger church.  I remember taking a look around and seeing hundreds of pews inside and even outside the church. I was thinking you could fit the population of Buen Retiro into this church with room to spare….But that was before I ever experienced a first Sunday mass here.

The mini buses that people come in

 

 

Last week confirmation classes from Yapacani, Montero,and Buena Vista made an annual hike from San Carlos to Buen Retiro for Mass at the Divino Nino Temple.

There is no more room inside the church so there are pews outside the church.

 

A little shrine outside next to the church where people can pray to Baby Jesus

 

Who wants a Divine Child souvenir

 

 

One of the sisters blessing peoples' cars outside of church at the end of mass

 

Now, over the river and through the woods (literally), we are back in Yapacani. At the end of first Sunday masses we have baptisms of little children after Mass. We are not just talking about 3 or 4 babies receiving the sacrament of baptism; It’s more like 30 or 40 little children becoming little brothers and sisters in Christ. Baptisms take place at the end of Mass, its usually quite a sight. The babies are very cute in their outfits.

Babies certainly have the power to move and soften hearts. If babies are good at “wooing” hearts, than Baby Jesus who is perfect in His being will be able to “woo” your heart all the more. I’m finding myself more comfortable praying to Baby Jesus to soften my heart, asking the Lord to help me to love those that are difficult to love. Connor and I were joking that we prefer to pray to grown up Jesus when we pray. Ha! but we know our prayers to Baby Jesus will be heard and God’s will be carried out. To quote Tommy Pickles from Rugrats, “a baby’s gotta do what a baby’s gotta do.”

Baptisms can be a little disorganized inside the church in Yapacani.

 

 

One of the secretaries that we know in the sponsorship office had her daughter baptized. This is a photo from the dinner after mass at her home.

 

The Rehabilitation Center for Malnourished Children

In San Carlos, there is a malnourished children center that is run by religious sisters. The center provides care to children from newly born up to the age of 5. It is a pretty well-known place because there are some babies that are from the city of Santa Cruz which is 2 hours away. San Carlos is a quiet town. The malnourished children center is located at the end of a paved road on top of a big hill, so the scenic view it overlooks is really nice. It’s a great environment for the kids. Connor and I like to volunteer there on Mondays. I do not spend too much time with the newborns, I like to play and help with the kids that are just beginning to walk, the toddlers. They are the funniest and you can really see their unique characteristics and personalities that make them different from one

that’s the walking toddler Belen with his baby face

another. There is the one toddler Yoselin who likes to give the girl babies kisses but does not get along well with the boys. Alejandro who bites and pinches the other babies. Franco the very shy baby with the crying quivering lip. Erlinda the baby loving to strangers. Esperanza, the baby that is scared of strangers. Belen, the toddler that still has a baby face. Fabiola the smiling and very happy baby. This is the time of their lives when they think they are invulnerable. Sometimes I will be sitting down with my hands literally full with babies and I can see across the hall a daredevil standing precariously on a bench or worse a swing taking the world/nursery into view. I think to myself “If you fall, I will not have lightning speed and be able to catch you” Don’t they know that they have only 2 months experience of standing on their own and that they don’t have reliable enough stability to be doing those things?! Gosh! Crazy little minds! You know back in yapacani I just finished translating a letter from a Bolivian mother who is asking for funding for her 10 year old daughter who is in a wheel chair and is going through therapy because she fell off of something onto her back when she was 5 years old. So ya the little toddlers’ decisions now can actually impact their future. Guardian angles stay nearby!

 

They love to climb on things, you name it benches, tables, each other, and me. Whats great though is that some engineers invented these wheelie chair things that the toddlers can be put into and my level of alertness can go down like 70%!

I love to see them happy. The other day a bird flew into their play area and was just walking around. The expressions on three of the toddlers’ faces were like.. What.. is.. that?! The bird brought so much happiness, pointing fingers, and smiles to their faces. I think that’s why I love going there. Their genuine happiness and discovery of new things, brings me happiness….and  I am not even related to them. The more time I spend with them, the more I want to meet their families, the souls that love them the most

Leido calls me Tio (uncle) so when the women that work there see me approaching they say to the toddlers “look Tio is coming!”… Leido was giving rides to the toddlers on his moto.

 

Unfortunately for me the kids have to leave the center eventually. They do have parents and so this love for me is on loan. I asked one of the sisters who helps there if she becomes sad after the children leave. I mean getting to know the children for a couple of months, learning their names, playing with them, feeding them, etc,, one’s heart becomes bonded to theirs. She said that she has gotten use to them coming and going. She reminded me to thank God that they do get better and that they get to go back home to their families, healthier than they were before. A Catholic book author Father James Martin says that love is freely given and freely accepted. Love is not necessarily ours to keep forever. Sometimes God entrusts us with the gift of being able to love one of his children for a limited amount of time. We take turns with His works of love, teaching each other and building each other up. This give me peace and keeps me looking forward to the new souls I will be getting to know in the future here at the center and back at home in the USA.

 

The kids love Madre

and they love Connor too!

Almost all of the kids names mentioned in this blog have completed their treatment and have gone back to their homes. Muchas Gracias a Dios!