We got up this morning and had Mass with the older boys and girls in the chapel at Santa Maria. One of the things that still confuses me is the culture surrounding reception of the Eucharist. In the States we all go in order of the pews we are in and if you are not receiving you simply stay in the pew. However, here it is just kind of random as to who goes up when. You just go when you feel like it and there is no order to it which means you may have to crawl over people only to have them follow you a few seconds later. Another thing that Fr. Jeremy was telling us is that the older boys will just sit there until one of the boys they respect goes up first and then they will all follow, but if that boy doesn’t go that day, none of them will receive. There is a stigma surrounding the reception of the Eucharist and it is just very strange to me!

After Mass we went back to the cabaña to make breakfast. The sisters gave us leftovers from our lunch the day before so we used the rice and put that in our scrambled eggs. 

We then met up with Fr. Jeremy and we took a trip into Bernal, which is a town about 30-40 minutes from Colon (where the mission is). Bernal is known for having one of the largest monoliths in the world, it is a very small town but it was very pretty. When we arrived we walked to the Church in town (St. Sebastian). They have a little garden right next to it and so we all sat down there and Fr. Jeremy gave us a short reflection on the first reading from yesterday, which was from Jeremiah. He talked about how there are so many times in prayer that we are asking God “what is next?” or “what do you want me to do?” And while this isn’t a bad thing, we sometimes forget to just let God show us His love. Because if we know God’s love for us in a deep and intimate way we will also know His will for our lives. He then invites us to spend some time in prayer asking the God show us His love for us and that if we wanted, to reflect on the first chapter of Jeremiah. I spent a lot of time reflecting on these verses:

“The word of the LORD came to me: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. “Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “I do not know how to speak. I am too young!” But the LORD answered me, Do not say, “I am too young.” To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you—oracle of the LORD.

But you, prepare yourself; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Do not be terrified on account of them, or I will terrify you before them;

They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you—oracle of the LORD.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭1:4-8, 17, 19‬

These really struck me as there are times I am called to be a witness for my faith and yet I feel I don’t have the words or that I am not smart enough or eloquent enough to say what needs to be said. Or times where the ways of the world are stacked against me and I fear they will over take. But I have to remind myself that God is always with me and he will not let me fail or fall into harm.

After our time of prayer we went for lunch and attempted to order Fajitas and Espagueti however then we found out they were only serving breakfast and pizza at that time…I should note that it was 12:30pm…which to us Americans is lunch time, but apparently here that is still breakfast. So we had to order off of the breakfast menu and this time we got what was essentially nachos…I am still not sure how nachos qualify as a breakfast food, but they were delicious! I had them with salsa verde and Abby had salsa rojo.

After lunch we made our way back to the car and then drove back to the mission.  The tile of today’s post is inspired by our drive back.  There are some very strange road signs here in Mexico, like one with three pink cacti and another with two clay pots.  We decided that these are to remind you that you are still in Mexico and thy out gen every 1000 meters or so so that you can answer the question: “Are we still in Mexico?”  

When we got back Abby and I took about an hour long siesta…WHICH WAS FANTASTIC! Then we walked down to San Jose to play with the little boys again. We taught them to play a game called “Ninja” and they loved it. We also sang them a few Disney songs which they thought were hilarious!

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After playing with them for a bit we made our way back to Santa Maria and went to prayer time with the older boys. Tonight we had adoration and Dani (the volunteer) played some praise and worship music…in Spanish…but I understood most as they were pretty popular songs in English as well. Then we went to dinner with the older boys. After dinner we talked with Fr. Jeremy and Dani for a while and then went to bed!