From a place where time is irrevelant

Today I remembered why I love hiking; we got to hike in the rain up to the Cave of Saint Francis. We also brainstormed ideas of how else we could use the cave for other than small pilgrimages and retreats. We thought of concerts, weddings, and my personal favorite, movies in the cave. Just think, Saturday morning cartoons on Saturday mornings in a cave! You can’t get much better than that. Sarah and I are settling into more of a routine, but at the same time we are also really excited to have the third member of our team arrive in now less than a week! Once China gets here, we’ll really be able to get the ball rolling with the mission team of 2010-2011.  We’ve also had a chance to hang out quite a bit with the interns with Medical Missionaries this year, Fidel and Emily. They work in Thomasique, Haiti and they come here to reorganize supplies, etc. The four of us just graduated this past May, so it’s nice to have that connection with other young adult Americans in a foreign country. Today marked the start of a ten day long fiesta (party) in Bánica with the feast of Nuestra Senora Mercedes (Our Lady Mercedes). Another name for Our Lady, she is the patron saint of the Dominican Republic. We all met at the church at 6 am for a two-hour procession to Calvario, which is at the foot of the mountain of Saint Francis, on the outskirts of town. Starting tomorrow evening, there will be a novena for the next 9 days until the feast of Saint Francis, which is October 4th. These people really know how to celebrate a good time. With Mass, processions, food, music and dancing, parties can’t get much better than that. Well, I’m off, I’ll update again soon!