Weekend wedding

Well the last two weekends I was in Minnesota. The first one was up in Brainard at Gull lake for Noah's Bachelor Party. The top picture we rented a pontoon boat and cruised around for the day. It was a very pretty lake. Then the following weekend was Noah's wedding up in Grand Superior. Which is 11 miles north of two harbors. The picture of me golfing at Lakeview national in two harbors. It is hard to see but lake superior in the background at a distance. We then stopped by Split rock light house which is a historic state park in Minnesota. Lots of ship wrecks had occurred up there before it was built in 1905. Then the outdoor wedding ceremony began. It was a very nice wedding. The weather passed. It was raining about an hour before the wedding. The wedding picture is of Noah, mike helm, and Noah's brother Aaron waiting for the ceremony to begin. The next picture is Emily's grandmother and me. I had the pleasure of walking her down the aisle at the beginning of the ceremony. The next picture is of Lake superior just behind the lodge. I took a morning dip. It was 62 degrees so not to cold this time of year. Then the last picture is of Noah and Myself. I was a great time and a beautiful wedding. Then I drove over 7 hours back to Milwaukee through the heart of Wisconsin passing through a lot of the small towns and lakes.
Classes have begun. They are easing us into it. Some people it has been over 40 yrs since they have been back in school. So the homework load hasn't been bad at all so far. They have me taking
 Liturgical music and worship, which the first chapter was about the changes in the church from 1962.
Ancient Philosophy- the first chapter was Thales and he said, "Everything is water" and bunch of other people said he was really smart. I guess Thales is considered the first philosopher from that one statement.
Interpersonal Communication skills- I haven't read the first chapter but I will do that next. It sounds like it is a class that is going to teach me how to listen.
Intro to scripture- Which were some how going to go through the entire bible in a semester. Not sure how that is going to work.
I'm glad classes have finally begun. I have already gained weight eating breakfast and lunches in the school cafeteria. The food is very good and they have some variety. I guess my saving grace is a couple of us have started the insanity workout. It is very difficult. I can't keep up with the guy on the video. We are in are third week of that. Right now I am working on getting onto a soccer team and there trying to find a ministry for my to volunteer at on Wednesdays because I have no class that day. It sounds like I might do hospital chaplaincy, youth ministry, soup kitchen or prison ministry. I'm leaning towards prison ministry because that is something I haven't done before.  I hope everyone is well.

Irish fest and Brainard

So the first picture is Abbey. That is my friend Cathy's dog. I visited her and her mom in Schaumburg at there place after I dropped Fr Joe off at the airport.
The second picture is Irish fest with Carlos who is from Mexico. I guess milwaukee has the biggest Irish fest in North America. Lots of bands and I learned some celtic dances.
The last picture I was in Minnesota and just got off the Mega bus from Milwaukee next to the Metrodome. My friend picked me up and it was a weekend Bachelor party in Brainard.
I had orientation this week. It seemed a bit over whelming. I'm excited to finally begin though. Everyone is very welcoming and nice at the university. It is going to be an interesting year.

Polish Pilgrimage

So last Friday I headed down to Merryville Indiana to help set up for the polish pilgrimage. Saturday we were dropped off at St. Michael's Church in the Southside of Chicago. This is a huge deal for the Polish community. The Polish have been doing pilgrimages fro about 800 years. Supposedly in one of the Church's in Poland there is a picture of Mary drawn by the gospel writer Luke. No proff it is true or not. So the Polish have made pilgrimage fro weather whatever town or city they come from and walk to this church in Poland. SO everyone is walking from where ever they came from. The Polish started this tradition here in Chicago. This was the 25^th year they have done this walk from Chicago to Merryville Indiana. A Pilgrimage is a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance. It is typically a journey to a shrine or other importance of location to a person’s belief or faith.

At S.t Michael’s Church the Provincial from the US Salvatorians which is Father Joe , Provincial of Poland from the Salvatorians was there and Arch Bishop Mokrzycki from Poland who worked for John Paul the 2 was there. A provincial is a person who is like an elected president for and order and serves 3 years for there order which in my case is the Salvatorians. The mass was pact. We were crammed in the pews and all the aisles and in front of the altar was filled with people. There was no room to spare in the massive church. At mass they ran out of hosts because there was so many people.  After that the walk started. Today was a 20 mile walk to Hammond Indiana. My job was to follow Van 3 and make sure everything went smoothly. They had 5 vans that had hug speakers on top. In Van three someone was always singing in the microphone or giving a talk. Everything was in Polish. People were coming up to me and asking me questions in Polish but I couldn’t answer. I did learn goo day, how are you, I’m very good, and Thank you pretty quickly. Of course I don’t know how to spell it correctly so I’m not even going to try. I can’t believe how many people were walking. They first day there was some 6,000-7,000 people walking. It was Incredible. Old and young who made the walk. Many were singing at the top of there lungs in polish. It was quit impressive.

I was pretty exhausted from the walk. We did take a break in the middle and at Kielbasas kraut , cabbage and other various polish dishes.Once we reached  Hammond. Everyone spend the night there. Incredible there was not a single spot being unused. They probably have about 4 acres and tents crammed next to each other. No floor space inside either. Every hallway nook and cranny someone was sleeping in. I could not believe. It Then they woke up to walk 13 miles to Merryville which they have a Shrine of Mary. It is a Huge painting that they have in the back of the church. However I didn’t walk that day. My job was to set up in Merryville at the Salvatorian center with the Shrine. All morning I spent unloading a semi truck filled with pop, beer, kielbasa, blood sausage, hot dogs, pork chops, chicken, kraut, cabbage, and many desserts. I can’t believe how much food and drink was there. Every time I walked the the kitchen the old Polish ladies said, “try this try that”. They fed me the whole time. It was a complete day of eating and carrying food.There was never a moment where I wasn’t full. The Polish cooks were sweet old ladies. Very very nice.

Buy the time everyone arrived it was crazy. About 8,000 people they think were there. Everyone eating drinking celebrating. Then they had a huge mass outside. It was a sight to see. I felt I was in the Vatican when the Bishop was holding up the Eucharist and some 8,000 people were on there knees looking up intently. Communion took about an hour because there was so many people. I have never seen anything like it.

Oh I also had trash duty as soon as I would empty a trash container and put a new bag in it would be filled up with in 15 minutes. So I was running from trash can to trash can trying to keep up. After mass. I was invented to have dinner with all the religious. The Bishop of Chicago made a speech then the bishop of Poland made a speech and then we had this incredible meal. White borsch soup. Red and green cabbage, tripe soup, mash potatoes, green beans, peacan chicken. Chicken stuffed with rice, and pork stuffed with mushrooms. Very tasty.   There was 30 of us at the dinner. Sister Angela from Poland flew over here just to cook for this event. She is the head nun in charge of the Salvatorian sisters in Poland. Amazing cook. I asked her if she will marry me. She laughed. I’m guessing she is about 75 years old. She was written 4 cook books. In Poland. I asked her if I could get one but she said it is only written in Polish.  That night we finished clean up and crash. The next morning had breakfast with the polish group and got ready to leave. I helped Mario out by carrying his stuff out of his room and closing the door. He panicked because the door was locked and his car keys were in the room and father Lukas had the spare keys in Chicago. Mario was staying on the second floor of the building. I tried using a paper clip to open the door but no luck. I saw this old maintenance man on a tractor. I stopped him and asked him if he could help he said with a very thick polish accent. “No problem. I get knife and open doo”. I said. Well do you have a ladder because the window is open. He said ok. No problem 5 minutes. Well he drove his tractor up tot the building and raised the bucket. Their wasn’t a ladder tall enough. This 70 something year old man climbs up the tractor and into the bucket. Then he asked me to hand him the ladder. I handed it to him. I’m thinking this guy is flipping nuts at his age might I add it was raining. He stand the Ladder in the bucket of the dumpster and climbs up the ladder to the window and knocks out the screen and climbs into the room. He was 2 stories high when he did this. Nuts. He did do it in 5 minutes. He acted like it was no big deal, Do was locked and he knew he was going to open it. No problem.

Well Mario couldn’t even watch when he was climbing the ladder. He was scared fro his life. Well that is enough adventure for now. Until next time.

The Drive

 Had a great time at the Middle school rights of Passage in Flagstaff AZ, Did a hike on My. Humphreys with Fernando, Alberto and his son. It was a fun weekend of camping and doing some drumming. We also made rattles or shakers.

 This is Natural Bridges National Monument in Southern Utah

 This is Lake Powell in Southern utah. The lake seemed fairly muddy

 Capitol Reefs National Park where I camped out that night and did two hikes that day.

 This is on top of one of the hikes in Capitol reef. Visitor center is down below

 We hiked in Big Cottonwood canyon in Utah. I believe the Mill D trail

This is Red Pine lake where Noah and I camped out at 9,600ft elevation in Little Cottonwood

Hiked to the top of one of the lakes in Rocky Mountain National park

 The Johnsons at Bo's 60th Birthday Party

Kayaking on the St.Croix in Franconia.
It was a great drive up frm Tucson. I saw a LOT of friends and Family. I didn't get pictures of everything but I feel this is a good summary. I just got back from a 3 day retreat in Racine Wisconsin at the Dekoven center. It was a great time to get to meet the others and start my transition for this year. Im' very sorry to hear abou the shooting at the Sikh community. I was not that far away from it. I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try to keep everyone updated once a week.

Home

 Indian Ocean

 Myself and Father Baraka in Dar Es Salaam

 Baboa tree. It is the largest tree in Africa however the wood is really soft.

 This is where I went with Fr Justin to buy a solar well water pump filter system. He raised over $5,000 in England. This system will be installed in a small village out side of Masasi. The solar panel provides the energy to pump the water from the water in the ground through a filtration system and out the tap. Unfortunately the equipment here is expensive compared to America due to the fact this company holds the market. They are a company out of Kenya. Also it is expensive to ship to Tanzania from America.

 I'm taking turns mashing corn to make ugali. Ugali when cooked looks like mash potatoes but it is flavorless.

 This is Chips Mayai - This was my favorite dish here. Fries cooked in eggs. Then they add tomatoes and onions on top.

This is me working in the dispensary in Namiungo. I use a latex glove as a Tourniquet while drawing up blood to test for HIV

Well I'm in Chicago now. It was a long flight. I had 9.5 hrs from Dar es Salaam to Amsterdam. Took a train into Amsterdam for a few hours then went back to the airport to catch an 8.5hr plane to Chicago.  I went through a little bit of a culture shock when I got back. My body felt weird and my stomach wasn't use to the food. My use to be iron stomach is still adjusting. I think it was because I basically at the same thing everyday and everything is fresh. Nothing is processed over there. You grow it, pull it, cook it, eat it. With animals you kill it, cut it up, cook it, and eat it. But it was hard to see all these big shopping malls and buildings. I went walking by a store and seeing a $250.00 pair of shoes and it made me ill to my stomach. Then of course thinking $250.00 is a whole months supply of medicine for people in Namiungo At first I was really angry and resentful. I have now come around and came to grips with reality after being here a few days now. Its just night and day from being here to over there. I really appreciated eating a meal here, having  a hot shower and sleeping in a big comfortable bed.
I learned a lot about life and a lot about my life. Life is not about me but I am about life. I felt the presence of God in my life everyday when I was over there. I know over there I loved it and hated it all at the same time.   I wouldn't have gotten through it with out prayer everyday. Especially in Namiungo, it was emotionally tough because people die everyday there. The tough part is if they would have been in America they would have had the resources to save there lives. I feel so blessed to have been born in America. A broken leg with a bone puncturing through the skin can lead to infection and a lost limb or even death over there. In America that would never happen here. You would get to the hospital with in an hour and would be taken care of.

So what am I going to take away from all of this? What am I going to do about it?

I talked with the Salvatorians in Milwaukee. Some of them are going to Tanzania June 17th. They will be able to take over money and some supplies. So I am making arrangements with them where we can send them the money and they will directly give it to the Namiungo Dispensary. Who ever needs a tax receipt can send me an email and let me know. I will get you a letter and a Reciept from the Salvatorians for your donation. The best way will be to mail a check to the Salvatorian house in Milwaukee. I will find out shortly what needs to be written on the check and the exact address.

I took a road trip up to New Holstein , WI to the Salvatorian Mission Warehouse. There a I met Br Regis. He is a Salvatorian brother who has been sending everything and anything to Bolivia,Chile,Ghana,Guatemala,Guinea, Haiti, Honduras,Kenya,Nicaragua,Paraguay,Peru, Panama, and Tanzania. He has been doing this for over 25 years now. He goes to companies like Landsend, Johnson &Johnson, Hersheys, cardinal health and many more and asks if they are getting rid of anything. Landsend donates left over cut offs from pant legs to shirts with some sort of deformity. The warehouse is huge. I said how can you afford to send everything. Shipping is very expense. He said it is all based on donations and he has over a 100 volunteers. In the last seven years they have shipped 1,074 loads  with a total weight of 32,182,375 lbs costing $5,225,972.63
That blew my mind. I told him there is a hospital in Tunduru Tanzania that doesn't have gauze, latex gloves, and more. I told him I would like to raise money to send a shipment over there. He told me the problem right now is the Tanzania government. He said, "You could ship it over there but it could get stuck in Dar Es Salaam and get stuck in customs for 6 months. So you will have to figure out a way around that". So I jumped on the internet and sent an email to Dr. Fredrick in Tunduru hospital. Telling him the situation. I'm hoping he is working for a government hospital and is paid by the government so I am hoping he will be able to go to Dar Es Salaam and get the shipment. I am sure I will hear from him soon. Once I know it is possible and the medical items won't sit there then I can move forward. I will have to talk to Brother Regis again and asked what medical companies he is in contact with. I was also thinking about trying to talk to hospitals in the USA and see if anyone is getting rid of any supplies. If you would like to learn more about the Salvatorian Mission warehouse or would like to donate to there cause, the website is www.salvatoriancenter.org

So I am going to try and work on that now. As far as my future.

In Tanzania I had a lot of time to think and pray what I am going to do with my life. I have decided to enter as a Salvatorian Candidate. What that means is I will live in a house in Milwaukee with priests and brothers. I will learn about the religious life and what kinds of service works they are doing through out the city, states , and countries. Candidate life is like having one foot in the door and one foot out. I feel being moved towards religious life whether it is priesthood or brother hood. There is only one way to find out and that is to try it. So the beginning of August I will be moving to Milwaukee for a year to test the water. If that goes well for me and if I like it and feel this is my vocation I will spend a 2nd year with both feet in which is called novitiate. That year is very focused on the religious life and following all the vows of religious life. After that it is decision time.
I know many will think I am crazy and nuts but this is something I feel deeply about. I feel I have been following this path for a few years now and this is the next road i'm going to try and take. It could lead to a dead end or it could lead to other roads. I won't know until I take this road.
I thank everyone for there time and effort in to help shaping me into who I am today. I'm not going to vanish, I'm not going to be in a cave. My weekends will be totally free during that year along with breaks. You can always call or email me. I'm here. I just don't want anyone one to think I have totally gone off the deep end.

Who knows where God will take me.

Mungu Akupenda - What ever God wishes

Bagamoyo

I met with Fr Patriek who is the Treasurer here in Tanzania. I have all the information for setting u who ever would like to donate to the Namiungo Dispensary. Fr Patriek will receive the money from the Salvatorians in the US. I'm going to set it up through them. Fr Patriek will give it to Br Bogan who will deliver it to Br Fulmance in Namiungo. I asked that a detailed record to be kept on where the money is going and I let everyone know so they can hold each other accountable. That is a problem here in Tanzania. Money tends to some how disappear. For example two weeks ago Hilary Clinton just gave Tanzania 2 Billion dollars. Unfortunately about a 150 million of that is going towards Mercedes benzs, personal helicopters and who knows what else. But that is expect here from most organizations. However I feel I can guarantee 100% of the money you will donate will go to the Dispensary in Namiungo. You money will be used for saving a life.
Bagamoyo- Crush there hearts. Bagamoyo is where the Arabs transported the people from Zanzibar to Bagamoyo to be sold as slaves. The first church in East Africa is built there by the Benedictanes. It was the German missionaries who came there and abolished slavery in the very late 1800's. THe museum there was very interesting talking about the history of the place. I was interested in the witch doctor aspect and they had the different medicines there ie roots, herbs, and more. There was some herb you drink and it cures a hernia. How is that possible but maybe it is true. The Indian ocean is very warm. It feels like bathwater. Bagamoyo also was bombed in the first world war.
Yesterday I met with 6 people who work for the United Nations. We met at the Serena Hotel. I felt I was back in America. I was so glad to be invited. The Buffet was incredible. I kid you not that I ate 6 plates of food. First plate was nothing but fruit. Second plate all kinds of salads and vegetables, 3rd plate, Beef minced meat like a shepards pie, sausage, bacon, potatoes, Fish Teriyaki. 4th plate. Chapati, Bow tie past with meat sauce, crab claws, stuffed beef pastry. 5th plate a belgian waffle, creme brulee, cheese cake, cream pie, chocolate cake. Last plate was small. just crackers with Brie cheese and Champagne. It was such a treat to eat amazing food. I have been eating, rice ,beans, little meat, chinese spinach and ugali for the every meal for the last 3 weeks.except breakfast we eat just bread.
Anyways there was a person from South Africa, Ireland, Spain, England, Tanzania and USA. It was interesting to hear about there work and what they do and some of the conflicts that are going on. Most of them work for the WPF which is the World Food Program. They figure out where the food is needed, what kind of food is needed , where to get the food. They told me I should come work for them here in Tanzania. It sounds great but I can tell it is a very challenging job. To be honest it sounds like at least 60-80% of there job is behind a desk. That isn't my cup of tea. They were very glad to hear my views and perspectives of Tanzania especially the south region. The south is the poorest area but they have really good rain and soil. So for the most part food isn't a problem there. It is Malaria, which makes sense. Most of there work is in the north where there is a lack of food. There is money in the north due to tourism but only a select few are receiving the benefits from it.

Tomorrow I plan to have a relaxing day at the beach. It is a 5 mile walk but that is no big deal to be honest.

Kwa Heri

 

Paradox

Paradox,

I love it yet I hate it. The dad whose child we saved walked 10 km to the dispensary just to say “Asante Sana” – Thank you very much. It was  very moving for me. Just those two words really touched my heart. I felt so honored that the dad took the time and effort to way one way 10 km just to thank me. That is not typical here. General people don’t do that. Brother Fulmance praised him and so did the midwife Elizabeth.

The frustrating part is they don’t understand. We have the same people that come in from the same villages spreading around syphilis. We tell them not to have any sexual relations for the next 3 weeks and take this medicine. They don’t listen. In reality they can’t. The woman here I don’t think say NO to there husband. The highest people with AIDS here is married woman. The woman is at home taking care of the children and the Man is out doing what ever he likes. More than likely having an affair with other woman. But that is not all men of course. Another frustrating story. We gave oranges to a man her. We have about 30 orange trees here. We said instead of coming here everyday and asking for oranges, take these seeds and plant your own tree. The man started laughing. He said, “These seeds won’t give me oranges tomorrow.” We said, “No they won’t but they will give you oranges in 7 years”. He started laughing and said I probably won’t live that long. That is there reality. No one thinks about the future or there future generations. They only live for today. They don’t worry about tomorrow. That is why it is frustrating.

I heard a story of a woman came in with AIDS, she is a prostitute. They said, “why do you choose to be a prostitute, you got AIDS because of it. Her response was, “I can die of AIDS some day or my children and I can die of hunger tomorrow.” They just don’t see any other way. I feel we need to educate them and say, “hey there are other ways’ Yes life will be tougher and you won’t make as much money but there are other ways. There thinking here is totally different from anything I see. Maybe I need to learn from them. Dying is a part of life and we all need to accept. No one here fears death. Everyone sees it as everyday life. You are going to die of something anyways.

There was people in the village of Kornasini getting sick drinking the water. Father Patreik said, “don’t drink the river out of that pond. People bath and piss in it”. But the people said, “We don’t see anything. The water is clear. There is nothing wrong with drinking this water”. They don’t understand that there is microscopic bacteria in the water that is making them sick. If they can’t see it or touch it, feel it they don’t believe it. They can’t understand the concept that there is something making sick that they can’t see.

Fr Justin told me that year after year he tries to teach the people to save there crops. But they don’t. They eat really well in the months of June to August and then when it comes to December they have no food. He said, Every December the people come asking for food because they have eaten it all. He said during the summer months the people have lots of food and big feasts and celebrations and everyone is feeding everyone. He said with there culture future does not exist. I will live as a king today if there is a lot of food and live as a peasant tomorrow if I eat all the food.

As you can see it is very frustrating at times.

You need to have grace and a lot of patients to live here. I do love however if anyone there family and I mean extended family asks for food they give it. They never turn down family. Maybe that is why they run out of crops because the people who have a lot of crops wont say no to any of there family members.

The people here at the clinic cooked food and had a big celebration for me in Namiungo. It was really nice of them. I felt very humbled. These people don’t have much but they killed a chicken and cooked chips Mayai which is my favorite just to show me there appreciation. Wow. Chips Mayai is French fries cooked in eggs. So it is basically a French fry omlete. They put tomatoes and onions on it as well. It was a really good feast. I can’t thank them enough for all they have done for me. It was a very powerful experience for me in Namiungo. But it really wore on my batteries so I am very glad to be in Dar Es Salaam to rest.

Well time for Kasani – Church

Mikyieli