Delegation 2000 Index
Upcoming Events | Events in Review | Meet the Committee | Meeting Minutes | Delegations | News from TNII | Political News | Links
Sister Parish Home

Tuesday, October 31st, 2000
Day 5
Today's Contact Person: Louise Eidsmoe-651.645.6821 or eidsmoel@aol.com
WebReporter- Ronnie Angelus

Schedule of Activities

9:30 am: Meet at SJA 9:45 am: Tour King's Academy 10:45 am: Tour Grace House 12 pm?: Lunch with SJA staff and Parish Council 1:30 pm: TNII only Committee meeting at SJA or Susan's house 4:30 pm: Van arrives at SJA to prepare for evening party 5 pm: Dinner(MB is cooking!) at Tim and Mary Beth's at 1290 Goodrich--1 block east of Hamline and 2 blocks south of Grand. 6 pm: Pumpkin carving/Trick or Treating Party at Tim and Mary Beth's at 1290 Goodrich--1 block east of Hamline and 2 blocks south of Grand.

Tuesday, October 31, 2000

Ya' hadda be here! It's early afternoon. The SJA staff/TNII delegates luncheon is over. I'm sitting here now -- listening to the men and women of the Guatemalan delegation singing with Anna Vagle; Dan Chouinard is playing piano accompaniment -- sometimes sweet, sometimes with a touch of barrel house-always sacred. It doesn't matter that languages are different -- they're singing. We'll hear them on Sunday. Hold on to your hats and open your hearts. The music will fill it. The spirit and love and good will -- they'll all fill it.

When the day started, I had 24 pictures in the digital camera. I took them all. Some of them are included for you to see. The textual images below are snapshots of memory:

• Sitting in a circle at George Wertin's house-interpreters, volunteers, Aura, Mario, all the men and women from Guatemala. It's the ingathering -- gathering energy and direction for the day.
• Visiting the classrooms at Kings School at St. Joan of Arc
• Seeing the littlest kids, every hand waving in the air, asking questions, saying their "favorite things"- pulsing excitement.
• Seeing the young people of Kings School; more reserved; asking questions more carefully, reticent, a little embarrassed maybe as the visitors moved to higher grades -- fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth. Warm though, always that.
• Watching the interchange between minds and culture.
• Touring Grace House 1 and 2, seeing the apartments of some of the residents, alive with plants and teddy bears and pictures.
• Coming together around the Grace House dining room table, the delegation involved and interested -- asking questions about the residents, about HIV and AIDS, about living and dying and John Whelan answering, gently, specifically, respectfully. - "We don't have this in Guatemala" one woman said. She didn't mean the illness. She meant the medications and the care facilities.
• Standing together in the warm noon sunlight of a late autumn day, in the parking lot -- hanging out, visiting, waiting for the luncheon feast.
• Gathering at luncheon tables in Hospitality Hall, an interpreter at each table -- talking, sharing; George Wertin leading grace and thanksgiving.
• Introductions of staff, parish council members, volunteers, delegates: saying who they were and how they were-laughter and sighs in the sharing
• Delegates talking of their feeling of being loved by the congregation of St. Joan
• Questions and answers -- deftly translated by Sister Parish staffer Ruth Garrido.
• The sharp intake of breath followed by riotous laughter when Aura told us mass was at 6:30 AM on Sunday mornings in Guatemala at their parish.
• The presentation to George Wertin of two finely carved, highly burnished wood chalices -- a gift from the pastor of Tierra Nueva Dos for the greater feast. The Communion.
• Sounds of singing surrounding the volunteers as they cleaned up after the luncheon.
• A rest time before the closing ceremony of the day - a Halloween party
  
• Gathering for the carving of the pumpkins, and sociability, sharing the hospitality of Tim and Mary Beth Leone-Getten
• Fond good nights. Time to get ready for Day 5.

Delegation 2000 Index Upcoming Events | Events in Review | Meet the Committee | Meeting Minutes | Delegations | News from TNII | Political News | Links Sister Parish Home
	Ronnie Angelus says: "There are three things that make my life work: Talking to my daughter who opens vistas to me and makes me laugh; being in the circle of the Divas, my writing group, who shout "go girl" and give me standing ovations with their smiles and tears; sitting next to Mary and Claude Paradis during Sunday Mass at St. Joan of Arc, which is as close to pure goodness as I will know in this lifetime."