French Architects!

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have recently been blessed with the presence of Laure and Constance - two students of architecture here on an exchange program from France.  The have decided that they have too much time on their hands and found our community asking if they could help.  We were of course very excited at the possibility to have two people with architectural knowledge ready to donate their time and skills.  Laure will be staying in our guesthouse for the next couple months finishing this semester of studies and working along with us on Project Alto and Mary Magdalene House.

Today was extremely hectic, prayer at 5:30am, 7:00am breakfast with Br. Luis-Pascal who told me about his trip to Rio de Janeiro where he and Br. Michael Therese met with a lot of different people about the upcoming World Youth Days.  We are expecting about a thousand young people affiliated with the Saint John Community all over the world to be with us in Rio summer 2013.  Of course, we couldn't let that conversation go on too long because I had to finish preparing my class on Aristotle's De Anima that started at 8:30am.  After the class - and making some copies - Laure and I were almost out the door to go to Mary Magdalene House and start taking Measurements when Dona Conça stopped us and said to wait until the police leave.  I groaned inwardly, half expecting our opportunity to be gone, but about ten minutes later Conça came back and told us that the police had left.  Great!  So we took off and got right to work measuring and drawing up the floor plan.

I also wanted to take a few videos to show you the current obstacle we are facing before we can begin any kind of construction.  There is a wall separating us from the parking lot of some government type building - that wall is leaning heavily and needs to get out of the way:

After getting the first-floor done, we went back to have lunch at the Convent.  It was right about that time that Constance showed up - she had gotten a bit lost apparently.  During lunch, we were talking about the issue of whether or not we would have to demolish Mary Magdalene House, and discovered that Laure and Constance know a third Architectural student who has a previous degree in Civil Engineering and would therefore be able to give us a good opinion on whether or not we will have to demolish - we already have two official opinions that contradict one another, so we need a third opinion.

After lunch, I left Laure and Constance to do the grocery shopping for the convent, and as far as I know they were going to go back to take measurements of the second and third floors.  Of course, it was at the store that I realized I still had the tape-measure in my pocket - well, there is still tomorrow if they weren't able to get to it today.

Peace!
Br. Francis Therese

Mission Appeal Heroes (Part II)

I just received some more photos from the Mission Appeal at Ascension Parish in Bastrop Texas from David Hall.  Thanks David!  The photos are truly awesome.  Take a look at this beautiful parish:

Here are a couple photos of Linda Hall and Br. Gabriel Maria presenting the appeal:

And, of course, a photo of br. Gabriel being funny at breakfast between Masses:

Br. Gabriel Maria got a chance to meet with Mrs. Hobby - the wife of Deacon Bill Hobby who played a very important role behind the scenes to make these Mission Appeals in the Diocese of Austin possible.  Thank you Hobby family.  I should also mention that Nancy Hobby's brother Father Jesús is also a member of the Community of Saint John currently assigned to our Priory in the Philippines.

A big thank you to Fr. Rafael who generously welcomed us to his parish, and to all the mothers whose special day we were also celebrating.  Truly the Holy Spirit is present weaving His bonds of love between us in ways we could never have foreseen - showing that our perseverance and trust enable Him to do things well beyond our imagining.  When things don't turn out according to our initial plan, we rejoice because it gives the Holy Spirit a chance to do things His way.

Mission Appeal Heroes!

Here are a few photos of (some) of our heroes from the Mission Appeal yesterday evening and this morning:

A huge thank you (and Happy Mother's Day) to Linda Hall whose hard work, dedication, and love carried this Mission Appeal to its realization - Linda, myself, the brothers, and the whole community of Alto da Esperança cannot thank you enough.  May God continue to bless you and your whole family!

Another big thank you to the technical and moral support team: Bill Krautter and David Hall.  We had some concerns that the DVD might be a struggle to get working (and definitely ran circles trying to create a working copy), so a big thank you to Bill for seeing the slide-show to the end, even showing up at the parish a few days early to test the equipment!

Here are Bill and Linda smiling (because the technology is working like it should!), it was certainly a day of great joy and happiness as the photographer (and behind the scenes organizer) Mary Ellen Krautter explained to me with high spirits and gladness.  It was a very memorable Mother's Day - despite the children being far away.

Of course - the other big heroes were the inspirational parishioners from Ascension Parish in Bastrop Texas whose joy and faith touched the hearts not only of Linda, Bill, Mary Ellen, and David - but the echo of whose generosity is already astounding the brothers here in Salvador.  I will begin meeting with Laure tomorrow to take a closer look at our renovation plans - Laure is a French architectural student here in Salvador who has been searching for some way to serve the poor.  She has even expressed interest in staying on for a year of mission work in the Favela.  With the money raised by these Mission Appeals, we will soon be able to begin work on Mary Magdalene House so that we will be able to provide generous young people like Laure with the opportunity to live and work directly with the community of Alto.

Once again, a huge thank you to Ascension Parish in Bastrop - this is just the beginning - get excited!

God Bless!

Br. Francis Therese Krautter

Mother's Day in Alto da Esperança

Well today is the Saturday before Mother's Day and there are a couple different events going on.  We had our first Mission Appeal in Bastrop, Texas at Ascension Parish.  So a big thank you to all the parishioners and Father Raphael.  Also a huge thank you to those who put a lot of time effort and energy into preparing and presenting the Appeal - so thanks first and foremost to Linda Hall, and then of course her dedicated assistants: David Hall, Bill and Mary Ellen Krautter.  (I'll post a few photos of them at work doing the presentation when I get them).  As for Brazil and Alto, we celebrated the anticipated Sunday Mass today with special recognition for mothers.  There are a couple of videos of the kids doing a little song and dance for their moms and for the Virgin Mary.