Festival Halleluya

Bonjour à tous :)
Connaissez-vous le festival Halleluya, organisé par la communauté Shalom ? Si non, voici une vidéo de présentation :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USkXjRp-Yj4

Et bien figurez-vous que nous avons eu la grâce d'y participer durant 3 jours, avec les jeunes d'Alto et de Saubara, à Salvador ! 

Des milliers de personnes étaient présentes chaque jour sur la plage de Pituba.

Petit cours de danse pour Léo et Adrien :)

Et puis nous avons pu constater le talent des danseurs brésilien sur scène.

Un jeu a été lancé : la foule dansait sur la musique, et au stop, chacun devait garder sa position. La figure la plus originale était récompensée.. et nos amis de Saubara ont gagné ! Bravo à vous !

Tous tournés vers la lumière (du flash :) ).

Un peu plus loin, la Sainte Vierge nous ouvre les bras, et nous appelle à adorer son Fils :D

Le voici, l'Alpha et l'Omega, Jésus Christ !

"Que celui qui souhaite donner sa vie à Jésus lève la main..."
C'était vraiment impressionnant à voir !

Et nous voilà déjà sur le chemin du retour, à chanter, danser, louer le Seigneur de tous nos coeurs et corps :)

November post

Hello there,







I've been a little late to write about a blog, there have been a few changes in the mission that have taken place.

First my dear friend Ricardo has left Brazil to live in France in the hopes and dreams of becoming a Brother! Best of luck to you Ricardo.

Secondly we have recieved 2 new volunteers from france. Finally we have a team of missionary volunteers, that are here to help the community here in Salvador. Eduar and Adrien. With these new members of the team we are finally realizing how to function as missionary group. Together we are a really strong group that help eachother out.  They are way better then I am in soccer but its ok, I'd like to say a can beat them in real football, yea! Murica.

The house project is nearly complete Fabio and Joao are doing a great job, with the construction of the Magdalene house, its nearly complete. We have a grand opening ceremony in Dec.



The kids in the community in Alto are doing great, my soccer I think has maybe somewhat improved...

 Fabio is teaching the kids in the Alto to play at mass

This is Adrien and Ricardo being blessed by a cardinal!! pressure pressure Adrien!! Welcome to the Team!

My Brazilian foster mom, Dona Consa

 it was Eduards birthday!

 Ricardo left our "Monday spiritual group"and it looks like Eduar will be picking it up!!

This is Luis Carlos he helps us a lot in Alto de esperanca, he is 14 wants to be either a nurse or a priest!! He's helping with the work in the Magdalene house..








                                                                                 We are trying to have a game night with the kids on thursday at the Magdalene house :) it can get a little crazy with the kids and us

Life goes on in Brazil, one thing I am sure of in life in Brazil, Futebol is their passion..

  One last request, there is a button on the top left corner that asks if you could sponsor a missionary, I know some of you don't have the time or maybe even short on cash. I am asking if you are short on money that you pray for this mission in Brazil. After you read this blog set aside 5 minutes to ask God to protect and guide is mission in the favela, Alto de Esperança, Missions need money but they also need prayers. God bless you and thank you!

Class is in session!

Hello Friends and country men, I’m here to tell the tale of my new exciting adventure in the Favela…

It seems like the dream of finishing this house is almost complete, it’s a dream that is finally coming to fruition, it has been a slow process, but slow and steady always wins the race.

 “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 

Its funny how this “Faith in God” thing works, I came to Brazil because I wanted to help people, as a nurse. The Brazilian government said "no!" Brother Francis Therese said "just come to Brazil.” I became a carpenter, and now I have become a English Teacher in the Favela. I pray that I teach them well. God be with me!

This month has been somewhat a trying month for me, World Youth Day gave me such hope, such energy to do so much, but it also gave me, what the Brazilians say, “saudades.” Saudades for my family, saudades for my friends, saudades for everything that was not in Brazil; and this is bad. I have since then closed my facebook, I will open it again, but I need to focus on the mission. WYD was awesome, but it made me miss Laredo, TX.

We finally have another missionary Eduar, I think that's how you pronounces his name. Finally we have someone on the team till March.  Its good to see a new missionary that has elected to stay in Salvador for a good while and to call Salvador a home.

 We still continue to fight the good fight, one soul at a time..

Go be missionaries!

Howdy Pilgrims!

Hello again you people that read this. Where has the time gone? I've done so much this past month, God has given me so much this past month, I am blessed. I suppose you all might want to hear a bit of what went down World Youth day? Yes, No? I'll tell you anyways..

I was a volunteer along with some other people from different parts of the world, and we helped Father Micheal organize the missionary week that happened the week before the World Youth Day events and continued to help during WYD.. I along with another Nurse Melissa were the designated nurses for 500 pilgrims of the community of saint John. I enjoyed myself as a nurse, I cared for the sick (sort of), I translated for Doctors, and I gained many friends. I was not able to go to many conferences and the ones I went to were in French... (I should learn French one day and I think I know of a good french teacher).

In short World Youth Day was beautiful, it was like God was watching us. On everything we did we could see God was with us. From the station of the cross that rained on us. To praying together at the beach in Adoration, To mass together at the Copacabana beach. God let us come together again as Catholics, it was a big sign. Should we forget it and just go back and live our normal lives? No. We are called to be something more, then to just be normal. We are children of God, and when God gives us dreams we should reach for those dreams with all that we can. "Go be missionaries!"

My dream? My dream is Salvador at the moment being realized. I cant do this alone. In fact I've come to realize I cant do anything alone. I need God, but I also need a community. In Fact this mission, needs missionaries. Not one missionary but a community of missionaries, all working together, sacrificing together, leaning on each other, and most importantly praying to God together.

We recently had some Pilgrims from Laredo Texas, come to experience that "missionary life" for 2 weeks. It was a Blast, we painted a church, we sang with the people in the Favela, we prayed with them, and we praised God with them. Laredo Pilgrims you will all be missed, I will miss your Jokes, to your nagging, to your praying, to your company, and most importantly to the love each one of you showed this Favela and the Brothers, thank you! I will carry you in my heart. That's us after an epic Futebol session.

The mission continues, and like the beating of drum, the beat goes on. We are just finishing up on the touch ups on the inside of the church. It has been raining almost everyday, so painting the outside is out of the question. Maybe another missionary group can come help out on that!

Work on the Magdalene house came to a halt once we left to Rio de Janiero, but once we finish the church its back to work on that house. I am thinking of giving English classes to those who want to learn English. Its a good way to be in the community. So if anyone has any English learning books they would like to send our way please do! (Btw that's Lulu from Laredo she stayed for bit longer woot woot!)

I'm very happy to be back in Salvador my new home. This is where my heart is at the moment. Please pray for the mission, the brothers in Salvador, and for me. Thank you for reading and we are at the Half way marker of this great Journey in Brazil, that I've been blessed with. Now is the time to be missionaries!

Adios Amigos,

Leonardo De la Garza

WYD Missionaries tell their story

Roberto:

What a wild ride it's been for us! World youth is now over, but the message still remains in our hearts. We're now living up to words of our theme,"Go be missionaries". After world youth day, we got to experience probably the most beautiful natural wonder of the world, iguazu falls; which was totally worth the 20 hour bus ride! On our way to Salvador, the missionaries were curious for what to expect from the favelas so we all asked for the "Dos and Donts". The people here in Salvador, which are called "Bahianos" are very different from the ones in Rio. They're very humble and welcoming. The beach we went to is very beautiful and relaxing; we even got to pray a rosary there. We had to move all our stuff back though because the tide kept on coming up. It's been a really nice experience so far and I can't for what's to come in these next 2 weeks! God bless!

Laura:

As we come to our final day, we realize everything we are taking back with us. Sure, a couple souvenirs and some Havainas, but most importantly, everything we have learned. We went through some crazy new experiences, however, it was how we over came it that helped us grow stronger. It started with WYD, and we did as the theme song said, "go be missionaries...." And that's exactly what we did.

When we first arrived all of us were freighted by the Dos and Donts of Salvador. However, this place quickly became our home as we met some beautiful and helpful people, like the Brothers of St. John, the workers, and the people that lived in the favela.

We are blessed to say we got a lot done in the chapel, it will be exciting to hopefully come back one day, and see the community enjoying it.
It is a bittersweet feeling between leaving Salvador, and going home. We are not sure if we will ever come back, but one thing is for sure Salvador and its people will forever remain in our hearts. 

Cesar:

Fala Portuguese!? This is probably the best way to start a conversation with any Brazilian, or at least I thought so. Once I got to Salvador and went to Alto (the favela) things were a bit different.

Salvador oh sweet Salvador, such a wonderful place where I learned the true meaning of seeing the good in others. I was a bit nervous at first when i went to the favela; however, it amazed my how much respect they have for the Brothers.

I remember Leo telling me that the purpose of painting the chapel was not so much about us doing the work. It was about showing out presence to the community.

It was amazing to see how close the youth community started to grow once they saw us working as a community. We had to adjust some thing to their likings so that they can see that the church and being a catholic is fun!

Back to Work!

Dear Friends,

It has been a while since our last post!  The brothers, along with Leo, have been in Rio de Janeiro for the 28th WYD with Pope Francis and the rest of the Community of Saint John.  It was an eventful month!  Now we've been back for just over a week, and we've had the help of seven missionaries from Laredo and one from Princeville!  We've been working on preparing the space downstairs in the Convent for the missionaries who will be coming to join us in September and early next year.

We've also been working on repainting the chapel in Alto!  Here are some pictures:

And here is a shot of a bunch of us when we were visiting the falls in Foz de Iguaçu (one of the seven wonders of the world!):