Buenos Aires #6

From Lauren Youngblood from
BL:
This morning I woke up an hour early to the roosters outside the windows of the girls’ room, and I stayed up and reflected on the past few days at Buenos Aires which have been amazing. Once everyone was awake, we went to breakfast where Dona Carmen made eggs, rice and beans, plantains with crema, and we also had the sweet bread Mrs. Fierro got us from the store. We split up into our work site groups, where I stayed at Buenos Aires and our group met up with our painter Arturo to work on painting the fence around the church. We went over the gray from yesterday and did the first coat of gray on a new wall. Then we went over to the Pre-K-6th grade school across the street to visit with the kids who were having a “Transferring of Powers” Ceremony. The kids were told we were international delegates who understand the importance of democracy and want to see their celebration of democracy. Once we walked in, I realized this celebration was honoring the inductees of what is essentially the Costa Rican version of Student Council. Last night we talked about solidarity, and I felt like I didn’t really have a moment that spoke to me in that regard; however, seeing the young girl being sworn in as Student Council President was most definitely that solidarity moment for me because Student Council is so important to me back home, and I will be sworn into that same office in a few weeks. It was even more special because the outgoing officer swore in the new officer and passed down his or her sash that read their position on it. That portion of the ceremony gave me the sense of community they have here in Buenos Aires. I got the chance to meet with the “graduating” officers as well as the newly inducted officers after the ceremony, talked with them and congratulated them. Mr. Brandt from Bishop Dunne helped translate for me, and it was such a beautiful moment. I got the chance to take a picture with the former and current Student Council Presidents as Mr. Brandt was shouting “¡¡TRES PRESIDENTES!!” Overall, the school was beautiful, and I realized how much we have in common with people who live in a country that is so different from ours. After lunch, we met up with the group at Volcán to spend the afternoon and evening there. We played soccer at first, but after halftime, most of the girls stayed on the sidelines with the young girls in the community. We taught a few of the girls how to do cartwheels on the sidelines of the game which was so much fun and they were such cute girls. Then, Alex, Elizabeth, Mariana, Isabella, Nikka, and I got to interact with a 14 year-old girl named Tatiana who went to the school across from the soccer field in Volcán. She was still wearing the top of her dance outfit from their own Transfer of Powers Ceremony, and we told her it was beautiful and the Volcán missionaries told her how much they loved the dance in the ceremony. Shortly after, she ran home and came back with the beautiful dance skirt that went with the top she had on and let us all try it on. She taught each of us part of the dance and took pictures with us. We asked her what the colors represented and a little bit more of her story, and the colors represented the colors of the Costa Rican flag. That moment was so special for the rest of the girls and me because we all came on this Mission Trip expecting to give so much and share our stories, but in that moment, she was sharing such a big part of her life with us through teaching us dancing and letting us wear her special costume. Tonight during Circle Time, we discussed a moment when we saw God’s Face today and all of the girls who were there for that moment agreed that Tatiana was the person we saw God’s face in today because of the pure joy that came with sharing her talents and skirt with us. We had Mass in Spanish at Volcán after our afternoon of playing with the kids in the community.  We made a choir of Missionaries led by Mr. Brandt and Mr. Broussard, and it was amazing especially after only 20 minutes of practice. Overall, today was such a special day that was filled with lots of interaction with the people and children of the community. I absolutely love it here, but I definitely do miss and love my family and friends back home in Dallas.