We had a wonderful trip!!!!!!! The girls are just great. It was really hard to leave them. From the first minute that we met the girls they were giving us lots of hugs and kisses. They are super sweet! Wait until you see the pictures! And we completed all of the projects! The Madres were very happy and they also are very nice. On the last day, we sang "Rancheras" with them. On Sunday we went to Rancho Nazareth with the girls to visit. We were there only for a few minutes but we saw the boys and I talked to Madre Maru. They are doing fine and they were happy to see us.
Jonathan, Ashley, Marcia, Helen, Nick and of course, Eduardo were an excellent group. They worked hard and they all interacted wonderfully with the girls without any problem of the language. We all played, sang, danced and smiled in the same language. It was fantastic!!!!!!!!
I had one of the best experiences of my life with all these people.
A Spanish hug! ~ Rosa
I think everyone in our group would echo Rosa's sentiments. The girls and the madres at Salvatierra were truly delightful, fun, warm, open and immediately accepting of us. Apparently, the girls were thrilled about our visit and had been talking about it all the previous night.
Shortly after we arrived on Friday, we were introduced to each of them at lunch. Rosa did a wonderful job of jumping right in and introducing everyone, having the girls repeat each of our names and we theirs, explaining that some of us couldn't speak Spanish but that we could still all be friends. It just seemed like we connected wonderfully from this moment on.
We ate most of our meals with the girls and were in fairly constant interaction with many of them throughout the entire visit. There was much dancing on Friday and Saturday nights, with one or two of the older girls making serious business of operating the stereo. We also joined the girls in praying the rosary on Saturday and Sunday nights, gathered around in a big circle with Madre Socorro at the beads. On Sunday night we joined the madres in the dining room for some rousing Mexican "ranchera" songs (roughly the equivalent of country & western music in literary content) a very large character named Benny Medina at the guitar and the madres belting out the lyrics.
On Sunday and Monday, after the girls had gone to sleep, we also had long talks with Madre Socorro. She related a lot of details about the girls backgrounds and situations. Marcia wrote a lot of this down, with Helen translating and the rest of us drinking margaritas. Madre Socorro obviously deeply loves the girls and her vocation, and her feisty little dog, "Chikalyn" and her soap opera, "Tres Mujeres."
We delivered the "pajamas" to the girls and they were very happy to receive them. We also managed to do a bit of painting (Nick personally painted Madre Socorro's ceiling, which was badly stained) and patched a bunch of bicycle tires.
There's much more to tell. The place was saturated in goodness somehow and we were well-blessed to take part in it for a few days.
Jonathan
P.S. We did make it to the Rancho, once with the girls on Sunday and again very briefly on Monday. We delivered the "pajamas" and other presents but we didn't have much time with the boys. Madre Maru was very gracious and appreciative and said they would repay our kindness in prayer.
I loved reading Jonathan's report, it took me back to so many of the events of our trip. I am sure we each have our own special memories of the days there, so many of mine center around Madre Socorro and just being absolutely amazed at her way with the girls -- I found myself wishing that I could have gone down there before I had children and canned what she is doing --she is an artist in the area of rearing children. She walks a line between letting them have a blast and keeping them in tow - and loving them every second of the day. She just loved telling us about the histories of each girl, you could tell it was as a mother would talk of her very own children. I loved her (and each and every nun and child there). She wears an apron over her clothes each day, so she projects a maternal image to the girls, she does sewing for them, leads them in the rosary, keeps them moving along and/or right at her feet. She is with them seven days a week, most of the day until nine at night when they go to bed. Madre Socorro is 70 and has had a breast removed three years ago from cancer, she takes "chemo" in pill form every day.
There are so many things to tell you, so many precious things happened that the written word just doesn't suffice. It was a miracle that we ended up there, I am sure of it. Those nuns are the greatest, putting it mildly. You will have to see pictures, you won't believe how cute these girls are.
We all want to return!!! One of my favorite memories is Nick standing in the kitchen in his flannel pajamas asking this old sweet nun for a cup of coffee - they were so cool (I think they thought we were funny!!) and just put up with us so well!! But I am sure they have NEVER seen a man in pajamas in their kitchen in the morning!!! And I would venture to say that only Nick could have pulled this off!!! The girls that are there are so fortunate to have these women dedicating their lives to them.
Helen
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