Feliz Navidad!

feliz friday.

Paz En Las Piedras

Literally.

Now Meet Helen.

The girl who my community mates know far too well because of the amount of times I’ve said, Helen’s coming over or Helen and I are doing this..and then… it doesn’t actually happen. .womp womp…the psych practicante at my morning job who quickly became more than a coworker, a friend that I find myself laughing until my stomach hurts with at probably the most inappropriate times at work..Buuuuut when I mentioned Las Peñas, this girl came through.  Instead of making brownies at my house or eating empanadas por el centro, we went on a total of an 8 hour caminata through the desert of chile to “peregrinar” to La Virgen de Las Peñas crossing 24 bridges over rivers, tripping over lots of rocks, climbing cerros, not sleeping, waiting in lines, being hungry and sharing in a beautiful pilgrimage experience though our feet were on fire afterwards.

After many times of laughter in the Pastoral office of Fe y Alegria spent with Helen, the third musketeer found her way to us, adding the most contagious uncontrollable laugh of us all, the biggest smile, a beautiful heart and just a profound joy to el equipo Pastoral! Senaida also tagged along for the Las Peñas adventure.

Can’t forget my wonderful community mate Emily, don’t underestimate her, this girls got wings on her feet and was totally killing it on the caminata even if she had no idea what we were getting ourselves into (hope your shins are 100% healed Em!)

and Jose, Helen’s other half, I’ll remember him eating pollo frito on a rock in the middle of the desert and avoiding my video camera ALMOST the entire viaje, a little shy at first but don’t worry he’ll try and sabotage your documentary, all with the best of intentions of course.

So what’s Las Peñas, whats the story?

Check it here:

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiesta_de_las_Pe%C3%B1as

So the “paz en las piedras” …..I believe I started this caminata fresh and rejuvenated from retreat but still battling some anxieties and I really needed to walk it off, reground, practice patience and give thanks.  Regrounding just happened to mean tripping on rocks and nearly slipping into roughly flowing rivers more than 20 times in the deep dark of the night in the middle of the desert in another country.  People might think I’m crazy for my willingness to go again but I really did find peace in the rocks (paz en las piedras) and in the walking and walking for hours BUT at the same time I was giving thanks to God for my life so far here, all the times I’ve listened, all the times I’ve received, all the times my heart has broken, all the times Ive felt human, all the times I’ve fallen in love, all the times I’ve been ruined, all the times I’ve made a friend...

Con un corazon agradecido I leave the following with you:

Food for Thought:

Have the courage to lose control.

Have the courage to feel useless.

Have the courage to listen.

Have the courage to receive.

Have the courage to let your heart be broken.

Have the courage to feel.

Have the courage to fall in love.

Have the courage to get ruined for life.

Have the courage to make a friend.

-Dean Brackley, S.J.

Thank you ALL for your continual support, abrazitos y besitos :)

Below is a video mini documentary of my journey I made for my family and friends. It is in Spanish. Enjoy it! I’m talking especially to you Mami, Papi, Tias, Tios, Primos, Primas, Ileana, Jose, the whole GT gang & Garcia crew, Yami y Caro y mis queridos amigos peruanos!!  

Con Corazón baby!

Give Love. BE HUMAN

 “The measure of our compassion lies not in our service of those on the margins but in our willingness to see ourselves in kinship” Fr. Greg Boyle “The Calling of Delight_ Gangs, Service, and Kinship”

(A quote from mid-year retreat in July with the Andahuayillas JV community that prompted this blog post about 3 months ago… mil disculpas for the delay.)

11 months in…

I’ve missed more. I’ve loved more. I’ve dove deeper.  I’ve cried harder but laughed even harder. I’ve smiled bigger. I’ve made messes. And I’ve thanked God for the beautiful humans in my life, little and big. One of my community mates said it ever so perfectly with three words on one of our spirituality nights where we were given the task of describing each other. She gave me the following words, “a bleeding heart.”

Its in the sacred moments that I feel it most, my heart bleeding.  When I ask one of our 6 year old students about 20 times if hes walking home by himself, to try and find a way to accompany him because I want to protect him from harm. He probably walks home every day by himself in the dark and its nothing out of the ordinary for him. But for me, it’s a crisis.  I have nightmares of dogs chasing me. mini crisis.When one of my students tells me to go away and I feel as if Ive lost the battle completely. Crisis.  I just want to reach him.  To let him know how much he is loved. How much he is capable of. I haven’t made it to him yet.

When Im forced to face these feelings, feel these feelings, fully. It’s a crisis.

Although sometimes my heart may be heavy, I find words that reground me and remind me of the beauty of it all.

 “Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” 
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

  Our compassion is our shared humanity, so BE HUMAN.

GIVE LOVE. Speak even if your voice shakes, your soul is shaking alive.

Con todo Corazon.

Mini updates:

·         Los Cubanos will be visiting me in this beautiful desert in just 68 days!!!

·         I‘m gonna be a madrina, (confirmation sponsor) come December to one of my students, Milagros from Mes de Mision! :D

·         Maddie and Shannon, the baby JVs arrive in just about a month, end of november-ish, which means I become a second year jv and put on my big girl pants. Maddie is a fellow spring hill badger so I am extra excited to welcome her into her new home! Can’t wait to meet Maddie again and meet Shannon for the first time! All good things to come. :D

·         I’m taking a marinera class on Fridays for a month,  a traditional dance from Lima which I’m super excited about to learn, it’s a beautiful art, fingers crossed I can learn well.  My host cousin Melissa is also taking the class!

·         My host sister turns 7 on November 8 and is having the biggest princess party ever, which I’m excited to help out with, decorating, maybe baking, etc.

·         My best friend since Kindergarten will be visiting me next August with her husband ANDDDDD all those in my uptown funk video will get to meet THE Mr. & Mrs Bryant!

**Stay tuned for another mini update in my next blog post on my pilgrimage to visit La Virgen de Las Peñas.**

Something Beautiful

May the Grace of God be with you always, in your heart
May you know the truth inside you from the start
May you find the strength to know that you are a
Part of something beautiful... 

"Something Beautiful"  -Alexi Murdoch

Check out the photo slideshow for the full song:
ReODisO 2015 in Mejia 

ReO

2 months from today, I'll be a 2nd year JV in Tacna, Peru. Feeling so blessed to a part of something so beautiful. digging deep for this next post, coming soon, te lo prometo <3
for now here's the squad, ReODisO 2015.

To My Best Friend Since Kinder

       In honor of my best friend who got married last weekend, as a bridesmaid from afar I made her this video , with lots of heart from Peru to the states. Here it is. #werenotinkindergartenanymore

 

To the Mr & Mrs.

 

 

 *Cameo appearances held by my host family, coworkers, community mates, friends and students. Special thanks to all those who contributed, enjoy :)

 

 

 

Heres my favorite picture of the Mr. & Mrs. looking beautiful on their big day <3

 



Consejos del Corazon

*a view of Tacna

 

Para Ti Mama

 

Mami, me esperaste por años y luego meses antes de traerme a este mundo.

Me esperaste por horas el dia que nací

Me esperaste en el hospital por días hasta que mis pulmones podrían trabajar por si mismos

Cuando llegue a casa esperaste que mis lágrimas pararan de caer hasta que el sueño me llegaba

Esperaste mis primeras palabras y mis primeros pasos

Cuando empecé el colegio esperaste a mis hermanos y yo con la famosa pregunta ¨como te fue tu día?¨junto con snacks y caprisun antes de ayudarnos con nuestras tareas

Perdiste sueño esperando que mis pesadillas pasaran

Cuando tenía fiebre esperaste hasta que la fiebre pasaba, allí, conmigo

Cuando me sentía mal y llame a casa del colegio, me esperabas en la puerte con un fuerte abrazo y mucho cariño

Me esperaste afuera de mi clase de baile por 11 años, esperando el momento que habrían las puertas y me podrías ver bailar, siempre con cámara en la mano

Me esperaste en cada reunión de Girl Scouts como mi líder

Me esperaste  cuando Papi pasó horas y horas conmigo

trabajando las matemáticas que me frustraban tanto

A mis quince años me esperaste con la quinceañera que tú siempre querías tener y era todo un exito

Cuando estaba aprendiendo a manejar esperaste con mucha paciencia

hasta que logre manejar con cuidado y comodidad

Esperaste el día que me di cuenta que valía la pena seguir hablando español en casa

aun que mis amigos solo hablaban ingles

Esperaste y creo que a veces todavía esperas que me pase los mal humores

Siempre nos has esperado con una riquísima cena en la mesa cuando llegamos del colegio o trabajo aunque algunas veces nosotros nos quejamos

Me dejaste vivir 5 horas de mi casa y me esperaste por 4 años hasta que termine la universidad

Me esperaste con la mejor peluca cuando lo necesitaba

Pero mejor que eso, me esperas con una mirada llena de amor que me hace sentir amada como soy

Ahora

 me esperas

otra vez mama

 

Gracias a Dios tengo muchas mamas en mi vida pero mi mami es única.

Feliz día de la Madre Mami.

Te quiero mucho

Nunca te cansas de esperarme y por eso eras la mejor mama del mundo.

 

Aunque el hijo se alejara del hogar
una madre siempre espera su regreso
que el regalo más hermoso
que a los hijos da el Señor
es su madre y el milagro de su amor...

 

 

Canción: Una Madre No Se Cansa de Esperar

 

Una Soledad Acompañada

soledad: the act of being in solitude, or alone.
acompañada: being accompanied by someone else

 ¨Una Soledad Acompañada¨ This phrase was first introduced to me on our community's retreat at the end of March at Padre Fred's beach house during Padre Quique's homily.  It reminds me of many moments I have experienced these last few months with the start of the school year, work in full, and the beginning of the feelings of being at home here in this beautiful desert. It's the moments that bring me the raw beauty of God.

Reminding me I am alive.

And I am not alone.
In this. In anything. Ever.

“No escogimos con quien vivimos, nos encontramos en el camino”  -Padre Quique

“We didn't choose who we live with, we encountered each other on the journey”

     I like to think I encountered God on the journey this Lenten and Easter season and continue to do so every day.  Some days it’s hard to open my heart to the people who so generously open theirs to me. They know the reality of my stay but they don’t for a second hesitate to care for me, be my friend.. to love me. I see raw beauty in this forma de ser (way of being). I don't think I'll ever not be in awe over how much a heart lives and gives here.  I often find moments throughout my day where I am reminded of God's presence with little surprise blessings and catch myself smiling, call them God moments if you will.

 Whether its encountering one of my mes de mision kids on the side of the road getting ready to make his trek to school, yelling out the window of the bus after seeing one of my mes de mision kids slap the side of the bus and run after it trying to get on—only to finally get on after being stopped at a red light and then getting to catch up on life after mes de mision, or running into my host sister and host mom on their way to school the day I woke up a tad late and getting to walk in to school together, maybe even the time I was standing leaning against the door of the bus hoping the door didn´t fly open while in transit because the bus is literally bursting at the seams, or running into a third grader on the bus (who remembers me from when I taught the second grade ONE day in December with Kelly) and having him just give me a huge hug and keep his arm wrapped around me until we arrived at school, or the first day the kid at the center who tries to flip tables when he’s frustrated gives me a hug, its coming home from a silent retreat and having someone else there to listen after it all, it’s the time I happen upon a huge group of my Mes de Mision girls as I explore a new parish to buy things for the capilla in Habitat and instead of listening to their charla (a talk) they whisper “zumba miss?!” to me, its the moment I realize my little brother's words of advice “be strong” have a completely new sentido (feeling) now, it’s when my host sister Micaela sneaks chocolate toffees to me via my host aunt at the silent retreat, it’s the time I just laugh while my patience is completely shot as my kids run around like maniacs crawling under tables and on chairs during my taller de baile, it’s the moment a regular saturday turns into an arroz con leche cooking competition, or when I attempt to knock on a friend´s door and am chased down the street by angry dogs instead, or when I run into an injured Padre Francisco from Mes de Mision and share cultures and stories (a Mexican and a Cuban in Peru), it’s the time I ran to work with one of the boys at my after school job after lunch TOGETHER instead of taking the bus and it’s the moment a kid in my dance taller helps me lead the class as I totally make the moves up as we go and he belts out “Gozando en la Habana” with me, la cubana.

Familiar faces, they exist for me now.
They bring me comfort, they bring me peace, they remind me to open my heart, they remind me to let it be broken. And when we break, it reminds us that we´re ALIVE.

Alive, accompanied and not alone.

Buscando Otro Mar

¨Señor me has mirado los ojos, sonriendo has dicho mi nombre, 

en la arena he dejado mi barca, junto a ti buscare otro mar.´´

Lord When You Came to the Seashore.

These are the lyrics to one of the first songs we sang as a community with the pobladores of Titicaco at our first mass held at the Municipilidad with Padre Francisco just as the sun had come up around 5:30 am.  A song I remember as my mom's favorite church song and one whose chorus I looked forward to in the states so many times because it meant singing in Spanish.  I think all the times I sang it on the hill with my fellow badgers, I teared up because it reminded me of home.  This time though, it was different.  Completely in spanish this time, I let the words sing to me.  I remembered the song my dad played in the background of a slideshow he made for me before I left (He Knows My Name- Francesca Battistelli) and then I remembered a quote that resonated with me during my discernment of post-graduate service “You can't cross the ocean until you lose sight of the shore.”  Without a doubt, in this life I find myself dipping my feet into the unknown (i.e. going to the mountains with a group of 15 year olds, not knowing a single one of their names for some “thing” called Mes de Mision).  But, like when you finally jump into that pool of cold water and swim around a bit, your body grows accustomed.  I'm definitely still in that process poco a poco, day by day with every day being a new adventure.  When I feel like, my mom always says, “me ahogo en un vaso de agua,” I don't. I've only left my boat on the shore to look for another sea. 

            This Mes de Mision I found a little pueblo of another sea in the people of Titicaco.  In their smiles, their sometimes batman sounding “buenos dias,” in the “chanchito chanchito chanchito!” I heard on our street that one time (shoutout to Johnny!), in their tattered feet who have probably walked more miles on their camino to their chacras since they began walking than I will ever walk in my lifetime, in the piedras campanas at the top of a cerro, in the espinas (cactus spikes) ridden trek to visit the duendes and in the corazones agradecidos y generosos that I encountered.  In Señora Dami, I saw an insurmountable strength and unwavering compassion in her effortlessly prepared delicious platos at every almuerzo to her adorable laugh.  In Kevin (pictured above), I saw a 3 year old whose spirit surpassed his actual age by decades.  Following his mom and older brother around all day, he worked as they did.  When he fell asleep in my arms during our clausura for the kids who attended our categuesis afternoon classes, I couldn't let him go.  I was DJ and was supposed to lead the kids in more Zumba routines.  I loved watching the girls get creative and dance their way to the end of every zumba song.  For a little while, Kevin was a toddler, cradled in loving arms sleeping so soundly the music did not even phase him in the slightest.  For a moment he rested and I wanted to give him all the peace in my heart to last him for the rest of his hard labor filled, humble life.  I accompanied the group that walked him and his brother Bryan home one day and waited un ratito as Bryan gave us all leftover pancakes to share amongst ourselves with a gracias.  He didnt have to give us anything or even say anything but he did anyway.  Its this small act of compassion that I hope the participants of this Mes de Mision, Promocion San Pedro Claver, take with them. Its significance.  Its valor (value).

            The majority of our work the entire month of January, proposed by the alcalde of Ticaco, was cleaning the caminos/paths to the many chacras of Ticaco.  By the end of the month my group wondered what the point of cleaning it was if the little rocks were just going to roll down the mountain or hill and ensuciar (dirty) the camino all over again.  More than anything this month it was those questions, those responses, that pushed me to my limits.  It took a lot of patience to take a step back and realize “yes I know why we're doing this, but its not as obvious to them as it is to me, so helloo Christie...teach them.”  Ticaco is home to many ancianos/elderly who walk to their chacras daily (up mountains on extremely rocky paths).  One misstep could lead to far worse than what would happen if you or I tripped on these rocks.  The important lesson here was that TODAY no one would trip and most likely for the rest of the week....because of OUR efforts, OUR pallas (shovels), OUR rastrillos (rakes), OUR manos (hands), we did that.  

On the days when I stopped mandando (kindly commanding) completely, I stopped talking and just watched to see if maybe MAYBE my kids would work on their own.  Justo, it was these days where one of my kids on the walk back, asked me that incredibly discernment ridden question that is difficult to answer in just one sentence, “Why are you in Peru?--what brought you here?”  Sure there were difficult moments and moments where life brought trials that very much brought me to where I am today, but there were also many moments of pure happiness (that me and my friend Caro like to call God-incidences) that put me on this path whether it be my experiences as a teacher or the moments where my faith grew for the better. The question was one of those blessings in disguise just as making new friends and zumba-ing the days and nights away with them was too.

    As much as I supposedly yelled at my group to quit the flojera (laziness) and “TRABAJA!,”  we SHARED moments of joy and we LIVED through the moments of homesickness, sunburns, ice cold showers, skipping showers, car-sickness, cleaning caminos, shoveling a collapsed concrete wall in Tarata, teaching categuesis classes and eating lentejas.  Those moments changed us. They brought us to our lema/motto, “Con esfuerzo y voluntad todo se puede lograr.” 

“With strength and a willingness everything can be attained”

But what else made all this possible? 

“us”

“eachother”

WE did it.

Together.

Juntos para “amar y servir” (#MiguelPro)

We may be apart now but the journey doesn't end here, this experience is something we are going to talk about for the rest of our lives...

I was blessed to be a part of it, to give of myself to the people of Ticaco and to share with this Promocion just what it means to “amar y servir,” Gracias a Promo SPC, Grupo 3, all the acesores, Api, Profe Carlos and JVC, I wouldn't have wanted to begin my JVC journey any other way.

This post marks just almost 3 months here in Peru.

To all those reading out there, you're spectacular and thank you so much for your support.

Para todos leeando esto, tu eres spectacular y te agradezco muchisimo por tu apoyo.

Con Corazon <3

To Love and To Serve. Juntos.  Siguimos. buscando otro mar.