Saturday, March 10, 2012

My last two nights here in New Jersey have been amazing. Last night Mireya, Gloria, Sr. Roxanna, Sr. Glorina,  Sr. Maria Louisa and I gave our farewells and thank-you presentations to the Sisters at the Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon. All of the Sisters have been so warm and loving. It is unbelievable how much they made us feel at home and at ease in a strange new place. I would love to come back and see their smiling faces some day...

After our farewells with the Sisters at North Haledon, the Mary Help of Christians Academy hosted a talent show for its jr. high and high school students and they invited Mireya, Gloria and I to attend. The talent show was magical... There were so many young people performing their best and finally executing acts that they worked on for over two months. The energy in the gym-auditorium was awesome. There was so much love and support in the air. There was so much appreciation and acknowledgement of others and their talents and their worth. It was beautiful to be in a place focused on being and sharing with others. There couldn't have been a better night for Gloria, Mireya and me to share as our final night together with the three of us.

Tonight, is my last night here... I am sad that this experience has to end. I am happy that God has blessed me with this wonderful experience. It has been far richer than I could have ever imagined, and shows that we can never know how great our Lord is and we can never know what wonderful plans He has for us if only we have the courage to let go, trust in Him and to give, love and live freely.

Earlier today, when it was time for Mireya to leave for the airport, I was definitely very sad. Mireya has truly been a wonderful friend and companion throughout these two weeks. I would have been lost if she could not have been here. She always brings so much joy and laughter to anyone and everyone she is with. Mireya was an essential component, a secret ingredient, that made our whole team click. Both, Sister Maria Louisa and Sister Leonor, who traveled from Rome are originally from Mexico and speak primarily Spanish. Sister Roxanna, who is from El Salvador also speaks Spanish and English... Gloria, from Honduras, speaks Spanish and no English. I speak English and practically no Spanish. During these entire two weeks, Mireya patiently spoke English with me and often acted as a translator for Gloria and I. I know that both Gloria and I would have been lost without her. I am so thankful to have shared this experience with her.

Once Mireya left us, I could feel some nervousness in the air between Gloria and I... How would be get along without her? How would communicate with each and coordinate our day's plans? We returned to one of the waiting rooms at the Saint Joseph's Provential House where the older Sisters stay and Gloria picked up an informational brochure from one of the CSW sessions and started to read the English words that she knew out loud. I followed her queue, and started to point to some of the pictures and guess the Spanish word. We continued doing this, giggling at each other's inability to correctly pronounce a few strange words until we ran out of brochures and magazines. I think that for both of us, this was a really good time for us bond... relax, and accept each other and again, be free and present with each other.

In the afternoon, I was fortunate enough to be invited by Sister Roxanna to tag-a-long with her, Sister Ramona and Gloria on a shopping spree for things that Gloria might be in need of back in Honduras. At first I felt like I may have been intruding on a special experience that Sister Ramona wanted to have with Gloria and Sister Roxanna thinking that since they're all native Spanish speakers that they wanted some time away from all the English at St. Joseph's. I cannot express enough, how happy I am that I was able to join them. Gloria needed a couple pairs of new pants, shoes, and shirts. I had a lot of fun helping to find what sizes she needed and trying to help her find the style of clothes she wanted. Sister Ramona let Gloria and I go off by ourselves so that we had some extra girl-bonding time. My favorite thing that Gloria found and chose was a Snoopy T-Shirt...

Once Gloria had found all that she needed we all headed to Costco so that Sister Ramona could pick up a few essentials for the Convent. The whole time I was thinking to myself what an amazing "American" experience this must be for Gloria, Costco??? At Costco we also split up into two teams - the Sisters and Gloria and me. This too was a wonderful time for me and Gloria navigating through jammed packed Costco snack and candy isles trying to find everything on our list.

To end Gloria's big "American" adventure, Sister Ramona thought it would be appropriate to swing by McDonald's for dinner. I agreed. What could get more American than a trip to the mall, then to Costco and a McDonald's cheeseburger with fries. I do not know if Gloria really liked her cheeseburger all that much, but this afternoon and evening was a perfect way to end our mission. Today, on our last day together, we really got to bond. I think that sharing this together, and sharing our fear of Mireya leaving us really helped our relationship to grow, even if it was just for a few hours.

My experience here at the UN and in New Jersey could not have been better. It was so much more than I expected it to be, and for being such a short mission trip, it has been undeniably spiritually enriching and uplifting. From the issues addressed at this year's CSW, which focused on the need for the development of rural women and girls and their ability to empower themselves, to my experience with Gloria, my friendship with Mireya, my experience with Sister Rose... It was truly beautiful and could be nothing but a gift from God.

I hope that VIDES and the Salesian Sisters find some of my recommendations and my report beneficial to their future work and the future development of their organization, and I hope that this is not the last time that I am blessed to work with the Salesian Sisters.

I am so grateful to all my friends, family and love ones for all of your support and prayers. I could not have experienced this without each and every one of you. Thank you for accompanying me on my mission. You all have been such blessings and gifts in my life. Thank you all for sharing all your love with me. I know that my mission and my journey does not end here. There is so much love to discover and to share with the world. Thank you so much for being a part of this with me and thank you for sharing Christ's love with me! I pray that we all can continue to share with others the part of Christ that lives in us. I pray that we all experience the love of Christ through the love and lives of each other.




... Throughout these next several weeks, I will continue to use my blog to share more on the information and discussions from the UN 56th CSW. I realize that not many of you can even know our days consisted of or what kind of information we were soaking in day after day. 

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