July 24th, 2003
Once again the delegates were dropped off at the Parish Center to have some down time and do more work on their homily. It is titled “La paz es fruta de la humilidad" (Peace is the fruit of humility"). Sounds like a great St. Joan’s homily. They say the homily is coming together well. It is a lot of work for nine people to put together and I’m sure it will be great. Around 11:30 they piled in 2 cars and headed to St. Paul for lunch at the Covington Inn on Harriet Island. The Inn is a bed and breakfast managed by Judy Miller’s daughter, Liz. See their web site at www.covingtoninn.com. We received a tour of the inn which included the rooms, the decks on the top of the boat and Liz’ apartment. We were on the other side of the river looking at the Science Museum and the Cathedral which they had toured on Monday. We were treated to a great America lunch of grilled chicken and corn on the cob prepared and served by Liz and her twin, Martha. We ate on the dock under a canopy protecting us from the sun, watching the barges and ducks floating by. The dessert of root beer floats was especially appreciated. They all love root beer floats. It was a restful lunch with many photo opportunities.
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From there we walked a block to the Jonathan Paddleford for a boat ride down the river. Most of them had not been on a boat before. The boat ride takes about 1 ½ hour traveling from Harriet Island to Fort Snelling. Landmarks depicting the history of St. Paul were pointed out. Mark had a copy of the speech in English and started translating for the group but everyone seem to have their own agenda. Groups of 2 or more were talking, some just rested or enjoyed the great scenery. I think they needed this time to process all they had been shown. The rest was well appreciated as some are wearing down which is showing by the amount of headaches in the group. They left at 4:00 to join the rush hour traffic and return to St. Joan’s for the Camp St. Joan’s potluck and party. I heard they did not mind the slow trip back and used the time for a rest.
The delegates celebrated with the Campers in an African potluck meal as well as African music and dance. Alba and Juanito joined a group of SJA’ers and African-American dance leaders in a particularly frenzied group dance. Everyone ate on the floor in traditional African custom.
At 7:00 the delegates and the Sister Parish committee met in the Parish Center to work on the projects they would like in light of the budget we have. We only had time to talk about the Women’s Groups, the Scholarship Committee and the Candle Project. We were told by Ruth, the Sister Parish representative from Guatemala, we should be judging the projects on how they benefit both groups according to the new Sister Parish guidelines. We have one more meeting scheduled on Saturday morning. It is a long process mostly because every word has to be translated.
It is a privilege to be with this group who are sincerely appreciative, humble, and non judgmental. They are an amazing group.
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