Miguel

All is well here; this week has been a lot of fun seeing friends and the kids at the Casa Hogar. As I said, Michael Daly was here. He left yesterday to spend a couple days in Caracas before heading back to Minnesota. Walking around the same streets with him that for three months I walked alone or with Venezuelan friends was strange but awesome. As we passed people in the streets we got plenty of looks, people don’t see Americans too often and to see two talking in English is worth pause. We went to el parque Cachamay with Jakeline and Andreina a few days ago. I hadn’t been to it yet; it has a zoo and nice views of some small waterfalls. The zoo didn’t have a whole lot of animals, there were more monkeys running around wild than there were in the pens. There was a jaguar however, which was thankfully inside a pen. Michael and I also went to the Missionaries of Charity house, where there are currently 8 sisters living. Theirs is the same order as Mother Theresa’s. I’m not really sure how I hadn’t gone there before, but I know I’ll be going back soon, possibly once a week? The morning we spent there we became barbers, cutting hair and shaving the men that live in the nursing home the sisters run. The sisters speak English; it is the language of the order worldwide. They are from all over the world; I spoke with one who is from Kenya and another from India. The current Mother Superior is from Germany. Michael worked alongside her in Calcutta while he was there for three months. Overall I was very impressed by my time there, we returned the next morning for mass (in English!), which Father Greg offers there once a week.

The group of students from the University of St. Thomas arrived this morning from the Gran Sabana. They head back to Minnesota on Wednesday, so I’ll actually have a fair amount of time here with them. I’m about to go down to the church to meet them. Fr. Tim said they are going to the Plaza de Navidad tonight so I’m going to kind of attach myself to their group for the next few days and do whatever the church has planned for them. Should be fun! Jose Antonio wants them to come to the seminary on Monday to visit there and play volleyball with them. I hope that works out so I can go see Jose and the rest of the seminarians. I’ll see Jose soon most likely but this will be a good opportunity to see all the other guys.