Thursday

Dear Friends,

We are having a blast here. We can´t believe how much joy and laughter a person can have while doing a mission, serving Christ.

The work team is almost finished painting the house. The bedrooms are painted with three walls light pink and the fourth wall a purply pink. It looks really nice. Today the family members are helping the team paint. The other day, after the team left for the day,the little six year old boy decided to paint too. When our team arrived in the morning, he had paint all over himself and he even painted the refrigerator! Today, Br Damiano, Br Matteo, and Br Andre are helping the team. Once they are finished they will go to another house that the Friars are building and help backfill the foundation.

The Adventures of Faith team (AIF) are rearranging their schedule because the children in the first aldea have to go to school this morning. This afternoon, the AIF team will split up so that they can go to both aldeas to present their program.

Last night after dinner, Br Gabriel gave us his testimony of how he came to be a Friar. Afterwards, Jennifer and Sarah had us do a group activity and we all laughed hard...and what we found out is who can make up a really believable wild story.

This morning is the Solemnity of St John the Baptist. Br Daniel (who is a transitional deacon Friar who will be ordained a priest in May) gave the homily at Mass. He talked about living a radical life like St John. St John said that He must increase and we must decrease although we are frequently tempted to do the opposite....increase ourselves. John preached God´s truth and we must also be bold and do the same.

God bless you and thank you again for your prayers. We are keeping all of you in our prayers.

The Mary Our Queen Mission Team

PS I am having trouble uploading photos today so I am sending this without photos....what we take for granted in the US!