Photo Gallery

Lent is over! I have been trying to catch up on all my e-mails and everything else. Thank you for all of you who wrote me and sent things to me over snail mail.

The Okinawa Volunteers with Padre Miguel

We have a new volunteer in Okinawa. His name is Erick Large. His sister was a volunteer at this same site 10 years ago. He has been so fun to have around. The kids here love him and love all the male attention they don’t get from their own fathers.

I spend most of my time making fun of him and teasing him. To help him improve his Spanish, the Sisters decided to put him in a first grade class so he would learn faster. Of course this is another opportunity for me to humiliate him. He is 6’5 and looks so big compared to Bolivians but especially the first graders. He doesn’t seem to mind.

I have already played a lot of cruel jokes on him. I am so happy he is here because he reminds me a lot of my cousins. I seriously see him as a brother. We act like siblings too. It’s great to have him around because the kids love to be thrown in the air and he is the only one strong enough to do that.

A few weeks ago we said goodbye to Padre Miguel. He is a Maryknoll priest who has been here for 57 years. He is an awesome priest and inspires all the volunteers that have passed through here. He invited us over for a nice lunch and we had a lot of fun. He is respected and loved by everyone. It was such a blessing to have gotten the chance to get to know him.

Taking a walk

During lent the Internas, (boarding school girls) Sor Gladis, and the volunteers went to spend a day out in the campo. It was one of the funnest days in Bolivia. We all had a blast. We went out for a walk around the Campo, ate fruit fresh off the trees, played sports, and many other activities. It was so fun!

Michelle holding the piggies 

What melted all of our hearts was the fact that we had gone to one of the Interna’s house. They live in a mud shack and you could tell they are poor. However the mom had gotten up early to cook all morning to offer us lunch when we got there. She even killed some pigs. To eat pork here is a privilege. It meant a lot to see how giving this family was. Of course the volunteers were served the biggest plate and the best part of the pork. There was a lot of skin with hair still attached to it. I don’t really like pork and it had a lot of skin, but I knew that wasn’t the time or place to be picky. I ate it all and the lady looked really happy.

3 generations

We all were so intrigued with the little pigs running around. Our youngest and wildest interna is often teased with being a little piggy. She was taking a picture with one of the piggy’s and I jumped in the picture. I said to everyone that here were 3 generations of piggy’s, everyone laughed hysterically.

Dinner

This was really cool until they all fell on me!

Andrea showing off her cookie!

We have also had a blast going to the communities. I find it being my favorite part of the week. We get to play with all the kids and let them have a great time. Thanks to some awesome Canadian donors we were able to provide the kids with cookies, new soccer balls, and school materials. This is much needed and appreciated. The kids get a little crazy when the cookies come out and they all want to have a lot.

Love these kids!

Who wants a Soccer ball? Me, me, me!!!

Being Lazy

Girls against boys... Girls won! 

 And now a funny Story....


So Erick and I were out playing Football with the kids. There was poop everywhere. We would try to avoid it as much as we could. The kids loved learning a new sport. Erick was showing off his skills. He would throw the football on the floor and he would do a roll on the ground as he would pick it up. He was making all the kids laugh. One of those times he threw it and as he rolled half of his body landed on a huge patty of cow manure. As he got up all the kids started running away from him. They were screaming and laughing. I joined them in making fun of him. Later we helped him clean up. He rode in the back of the truck the rest of the way home

Making fun of Erik