¨Maria Auxiliadora, mi casa sera´¨

Friday, July 1 was the feast day of the order of sisters here (Sagrado Corazon) so we had a special Mass in our neighborhood chapel. Many of the Franciscan preists are polish, but 4 Polish priests came. One recently arrived in Bolivia and was chosen to do the homily, so he did it in Polish and another priest translated it. It was really cool, he was very expressive (he would hold his pose until the other priest finished translating, which made me giggle), but I really likedd what he had to say about Jesus giving His heart to us, etc.  It was really beautiful!

I took the next day, Saturday, off instead of the usual Thursday to attend another event.
I hung out in the city, went to dance in the morning and headed over to Hogar Maria Auxiliadora....¨Maria Auxiliadora, mi casa sera´¨
They celebrated 25 years of existence and the priest who built and began it all was there as well!
The celebration began with a Mass and who presided, but our own Bishop of Cochabamba, Bispo Tito. I´ve heard so much about him, it was so cool to be in his presence. The church was beautifully decorated and we took many pictures afterwards with Bishop and the 3 priests that help preside the Mass. Some of the girls sang in the choir and they even wrote a song about their hogar, it was super cute.

After Mass, the festivities moved to the hogar where Amber´s dance group (cuerpo de baile) performed a few numbers along with the girls for all invited to see. After the dances, came a slideshow from the begining of the hogar. It went through various girls (and boys back in the day) who lived in the hogar,  the various sisters who have worked there, and volunteers throughout the years. It was really great for me to see how it all started. Then food time in the courtyard, yummy Chicken, rice, sweet potato (my first time trying the bolivia sweet potato), plantain, and oka (sp?). I like oka it looks like an old lady´s finger and it´s potato-like. Of course, can´t forget the cake.

Things ended a little late and since it´s a little over an hour to get home and 2 truffi´s away, I was able to stay over in the girls´room . It wasn´t a day completely without some issues, but still nice. Got a little taste of my new home...

**Side note, I´m moving soon, so I´ll send out my new address when I get a chance...