Life Goes On

 

I’m afraid this might be an even more uneventful update than usual. From Wednesday to about Sunday afternoon/evening, I was actually sick, but I couldn’t tell you with what to save the life of me. All I know is that I had horrible sinus pressure, really tight achy muscles, no appetite, and literally zero energy. I even did what I never thought possible: I went home from school early one day. And granted I’m still working on getting my energy and strength back, but on the whole I would definitely say I’m feeling better. But alas what this means is that I could tell you about the 5 days of lying around and sleeping I had. Instead I’ll just skip to the good stuff.

Ok first things first: how cool would it be if we could climb on the walls? I’m actually writing this Monday night in my living room and I’ve just noticed the lizard on the opposite wall. He’s just hanging out. I mean think about it, how cool would it be to just climb a wall? Like it was no big deal.

Alright, well an update on our little lives here: with a lot of prayer and sound discernment, Becky (who had just come down in January) decided that this wasn’t her mission, so on Saturday she went home. I had been joking that I was slowly weeding out the downstairs: last semester Monica moved upstairs due to a potential mold problem, Betsy left after 3 years, Kelley went home for her health, and now Becky realized she’s meant to serve elsewhere. Jen (who isn’t a volunteer teacher but is a nurse so she goes around doing nursey things) just moved back in after being gone a while. If she moves out of the house again, then we’ll know that I have some secret subconscious power to drive away housemates.

There was one really exciting part about the sad occasion of bringing another volunteer to the airport:

That's right! The Belize Central Prison has a gift shop. Joe and I first saw it when we brought Kelley to the airport and we were so shocked at its existence that we were already too far by the time Joe realized the items sold were probably all made by inmates and would actually be cool. So we added it to our Belize bucket list having no idea we would be back in just 3 weeks. So this time with Monica in tow we made the long awaited stop. And it was actually pretty cool! The inmate/clerk was telling us about all the different types of woods that everything was made out of. Unfortunately, they were all larger items, so we didn't get anything. I was totally ready to buy something though! How awesome would that have been? Some of you would've gotten some one of a kind souvenirs. Also worth noting is that we of course stopped for ice cream in Cayo on our way home. 

Do you know what else is happening right now?? THE OLYMPICS! I can't emphasize how much I love the Olympics, so these are a really exciting couple of weeks for me. Of course it's hard to watch them and if I was in America I would spend every free moment I had watching, but Brynne and Victor have had us over for the primetime sports which has been really fun. 

I have 2 more important things to say and then I have to go be a taste tester/judge for the Food Processing/Nutrition class (which means I get to test their Valentine's Day, red velvety desserts!)

1. Happy feast day! Today is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes who happens to be my favorite gal (or more reverently speaking, my favorite Marian apparition...). This is the 156th anniversary of when Mary started appearing to St. Bernadette asking her to bring everyone back to prayer and penance. As some of you may know, when I studied abroad (already 3 years ago!), I spent my 10 day break serving at Lourdes in the miraculous baths there. That is by far the best week of my life thus far and Lourdes reigns as my favorite place on the entire planet. (Fun fact: St. Maximilian Kolbe also had a great devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes)

2. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the death of a student at Mt. Carmel. He was in second form last year and he drowned in the river. Last night they had a memorial Mass for him and a good number of students were there which was really beautiful. Please offer a little prayer for him and his family. His name is Rodney. 

Ok, I think that's all I've got! Well, it's not because I could write a whole separate blog just on Lourdes, but it's time to go test yummy desserts! Keep praying for me please. It's doing wonders!

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

Totus Tuus, Maria.