Semana Santa y Riobamba

¡Hola mis amigos y familia!
Reciba un saludo cariñoso. I hope that you had a wonderful Holy Week and Easter Sunday and are enjoying this Easter Season. It is my favorite Holy Day of the year! We were able to participate in many of the Traditions here during this great time! We began with a Palm Sunday procession in our barrio to the church where we sand songs and everyone carried their palm BRANCHES (seriously they were almost a whole branch of the tree!) and flowers. With the children we also enjoyed eating the traditional dish of Fanesca, a twelve grain stew for the 12 apostles, explaining and reenacting the washing of the disciples feet on Holy Thursday, Holy Friday Processions with men carrying crosses, wearing crowns of thorns, and others dressed in the purple cone-shaped hats and robes and coloring Easter eggs! Mom sent me a package of Easter stuff and the kids loved coloring eggs and the bubbles! The evening of Good Friday we had the veneration of the cross and then afterwards we had the men of the church actually take the statue of Jesus down from the cross. It was really fascinating, and then we processed with the body in a sepulture through the streets of our neighborhood in silence with only our candles. It was such an incredible night, misty and cloudy and really helped me to reflect on what Mary and the faithful disciples might have been thinking and feeling as they took Jesus’ body to be buried. We were able to attend the Easter vigil Mass which began outside our church with a fire burning that Fr. blessed and then we lit our Easter candle and other candles that lit up the church for the first part of the Mass. It was beautiful sitting there in the candlelight and listening to the Easter Readings reflecting on the beginning of creation and how Jesus took on our human form and became the light for our world. When the 7th reading and responsorial psalm were finished, Father said something along the lines of and Jesus rose from the dead bringing the light back into the world and joy to our hearts and we flipped on the lights, decorated the altar with flowers, unrolled a huge banner that said “Jesus Resucito!” and sang a really joyful song! IT was my favorite part of the mass! How joyful and devoted the people are here. It was beautiful to celebrate with our community again on Easter Sunday morning with my favorite priest and lots of really joyful music! :) We had a feast for lunch with the sisters and enjoyed a relaxing Easter day at home. What a wonderful celebration, the biggest feast of the year in our faith, Jesus rising from the dead!
This past weekend we were able to FINALLY visit the sisters in Riobamba. We had met almost all of them before so it was really nice to see them and be able to make ourselves at home! They work mainly with the indigenous communities in projects in this very rural area. Saturday we got to see a bit of the town, visited the Religious Art museum where a huge, gold and jeweled monstrance was stolen in 2007 and did some shopping in the market before Mass. Sunday began very early with a ride in the back of a pickup into town to catch the train. We took the train through the beautiful countryside and saw the first church in Ecuador, a pretty little lake, tried Morocho for breakfast (a traditional milk and corn drink), and wonderful views of the indigenous farms and many shepherds tending their animals. It just amazed me how they farmed on the hillsides and in the mountains especially without a lot of the modern equipment we use! Monday was the best day! We were taken on a tour of the projects that the sisters work with in the surrounding area. Lucia, a little older Spanish sister, valiantly drove us around in her pickup, down the winding mud roads, through the probably foot deep puddles of water and up the mountain paths. It was quite an adventure! We just kept looking out the window like children and taking tons of pictures as we could see all the surrounding famous mountain peaks! The highest peak in Ecuador, Chimborazo was so clear and snowy … just gorgeous; Tungurahua is another tall peak that the indigenous say is the wife of Chimborazo, and they have a son another smaller peak. They say when Tungurahua erupted it was because she wanted to name their son after his father, but he wouldn’t allow it. She therefore got mad and erupted. Lucia was so great about explaining everything to us, we learned a lot in our quick trip! We first stopped at the Palacio Real – a llama factory where they process the wool into yarn and then make products from it. Next we stopped by a small town where they raise and sell chickens. We saw the jelly manufacturing plant where the indigenous women sell their fruits and vegetables and then process them into marmalada that is sold by the priests who run this project. The last stop was the Chorizo fabrica where they butcher, cure, and process sausage, ham and other cuts of meat from the pigs. It was so incredible to just see how they work with all these people and match the skills they have with a product market to help them live. Later that morning we ventured out to Guana a little town nearby where they are famous for their handmade rugs. We stopped by a house (recommended by some friendly local ladies) and were let in to see a man working on one. It was amazing how quickly he knotted the yarn, cut it and weaved the longer thread through to hold the design in place. We had a nice chat with him about the process and really enjoyed ourselves! It was I think my favorite trip so far! Just beautiful countryside and really loving people.
Other news … Last week I took a job for next year! I did a phone interview a few weeks ago and was hired to teach 4th grade at Magdalen Catholic School in Wichita. I’m very excited and look forward to teaching with my friend Molly who currently works there!
Know that you are in my prayers and I’m very excited to see you again in a few months!
Peace and JOY to you this season as we celebrate the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord,
April