The last few days...

So normally for Orientation I have between 3-15 with occasional bouts of 20-25... but this was absurd...

So absurd that Sr.K let me take a picture of the lot. Though the picture has a group of Koreans in it, it doesn't have a group of English speakers that was just to the right of the picture... so this gives an accurate account of the size of my group for orientation. It was crazy... it took a very very long time to get through everyone after I had finished orientation... But it was really nice to have so many volunteers. I've been taking advantage of our huge numbers and resting more when I need rest. Which I think has been good for my health, which surprisingly hasn't had any surprises in the past few weeks! YAY! Perhaps its due to the staple of my diet... Boiled veg and cheese, 2 roti and water. Sometimes I end up eating that twice a day... good thing it tastes good. I've been concerned about my protein intake still, so I'll occaisionally through in a steak (YUM) or two hard boiled eggs (YUK). On the 3rd I took my friends to the steak place I go to... unfortunately I forgot that they are three girls, and the place is filled with tons of guys...

so they got tons of whistles upon entering... and it was quite degrading... but in good humor, the girls laughed it off (Bernadette even waived like QE2 when sitting down). Its a good thing they took it well... because the steak was good :) Afterwards we went to Flurrys to make our meal one of the best yet...



its funny though, I spent 150 rps for a steak and beer, and at flurys I spent 150 rps on an ice cream and hot chocolate... shouldn't steak cost more... or ice cream less? Good thing it tastes so darn good (the picture is Ashley's ice cream... I had a sundae).


The funny thing about being around French people is that you slowly begin to understand French... well maybe... We went to a Jesuit church that had a nice library and all watched The Passion of Christ (Mel Gibson). It was beautiful, and even though the subtitles were in French, and the voice in Latin, aramaic, etc. I was able to understand almost all of the words... I apparently know enough spanish/french to catch context clues for the bible passages and tradition. It was beautiful. I found myself crying at parts I didn't think were so sad, but were so beautiful.Yet another of my friends left... this time Claire left... She's from France and we've all enjoyed her quirky character and smiles.




Another of my friends left also... Gabriella from Chile... we went to the rooftop restaurant and I had some darn good pasta!

(Me, Renata, and Gabriella)

Yesterday, the girls (Bernadette and Ashley) and I headed to the Pauline bookstore (they're a world wide Catholic order of Nuns that has a place in downtown San Antonio across from the Cathedral!), before they went to adoration, and I went to a meeting. I think I'm going to buy out their cd collection before I leave... only 150-200rps for a CD! thats like 3-4$! and they're the same CDs as US ones!

Before that, I had taken the volunteers to Titigarh (Tieh-tieh-gah), the leper colony founded by Mother, and currently run by the MC brothers... it was definitely an experience in not knowing which train to take... but we got there and back with only losing two people on the way back... but they're confirmed alive... I saw them at dinner. ;-)

Oh, and Brendan is a Goof ball... last night after our meeting, Brendan and Mick had left before the main group... then while we were walking, I looked into a store and saw two white people looking at cars...

Ah you've got to love the silly Aussie.

My friend Marie is back!!! YAY! She also brought along one of her best friends Joachim(Austrian)... not to be confused with my friench friend Joachim(French).

Joachim(French) just left today... and is probably over Pakistan right now... or the ukraine... or wherever is between here and France.

Right now, my friend Cecy is probably at the Airport boarding her plane to go back to Mexico... and later on today, my friend Bruno is leaving! People are leaving like mosquitos are bitting! It's crazy...

This coming week I hope to go on a retreat, and if I'm unable to, I'll just tour around Darjeeling... I have a ticket with a group of Americans up there, and I'm hoping to break off and go to the retreat center, but I haven't had a chance to contact the place yet... so I'm praying that it will all work out... I am really craving sometime to just sit with God for several days straight.

And when I get back... this should be at least somewhat shocking to most people who know me... I'm going on a come-and-see with the Missionary of Charity Fathers. I've never felt a call to being a priest, but lately I've been praying asking God to show His will, and help me to follow. And I've been feeling more and more like I *could* be a priest, though not yet that I *should* be a priest. I've begun to look back at my life and I've noticed more and more things that seem a bit odd, though I still maintain that all the things I see as a bit odd are perfectly reasonable and perhaps neccessary for a husband, I also see how they could be things leading me to somewhere else. My love of the Eucharist is perhaps the biggest... maybe God has given that to me to draw me closer to Him, and to make me a holy priest? or perhaps it's to have a family and live a radical family life that places Christ at the center?

I'm voting for the later, but I don't want to be afraid of the former... so I'm giving God a chance to speak to me... and maybe He wants me just to learn something from the Priests, that is missing in modern families...

Either way, I want to be a saint. And I'm willing to do whatever He asks... which means I must lay down my life, pick up my cross and follow.