my community forty minutes away.

the past two days have been pretty powerful and because i do not want to forget them, i wanted to make sure i blogged about my experiences, sooner than later...so here i go!

well, yesterday, october 1st was st. therese's feast day! woohoo! due to the typhoon (forcing me to stay indoors), i managed to finish her autobiography, just as i had planned, and was SO inspired. i think i'm going to read it again, it's so good. i finished her novena - over the course of all 9 days, and it was pretty amazing. two nights ago was a pretty less than awesome evening, and so, of course (typical - i'll get better at this eventually), i spent a lot of it in prayer. i think the beauty in that moment of prayer sitting on my bed, really entering into prayer mode was a mystical experience where i had the desire to call upon certain saints to join me in that moment, and sure enough, in that solemn moment, i felt like the saints had surrounded my bed. i don't normally share this stuff, but that moment was so vivid and clear to me, that i am most gracious for their presence with me that night. i think i've had the great opportunity to learn so much about the saints, through having gone through trainings/orientations with various congregations, and also reading more about the lives of various saints...when people say that we are alone, that prayerful evening a couple of nights ago, really proved to me that is not the case. it wasn't scary though at all - it was very much a moment of pure consolation.

she is near to those who call upon her. our loving God allows it! :)

 today i woke up at 5:30am because well, for the past two days, we have been hit here first by typhoon pedring and then typhoon quiel quickly made its way upon us. luckily no damage has been done to us (but others, sadly, yes.) we have been under house arrest for the most part, due to the weather's promptings. i woke up super early because sr. t and i were going to make our way out to the community which holds our hearts, because we were going to be having about 30 of our people get baptized! woohoo! we had been praying so hard that the baptisms would go through and it would not be cancelled, though the weather may force us otherwise.

well, 5:30am, the rain was still coming down hard, but i headed over to pick up sr. t anyway, i texted father to see if we were still on, and he said, "Yes Sister, Good Morning. Happy Fiesta!" and so, we were off to the baptisms, typhoon and all. this was also a special moment because the community had named itself the "st. therese of the child jesus" community, and so we were celebrating her feast today as well.

the weather was perfect - no rain, strong winds though, and i got to see all of my kids! i ended up being the god-mother to four of the children and i loved it. the mass was awesome and the holy spirit was alive. the preparation that sr. t and i did with the parents really paid off, and there ended up being 48 kids/adults getting baptized. pretty awesome stuff. it made me happy! i got to hang out with some of the youth from the parish, then we headed over to a parishioner's house where they were having another party. packed into father's truck, it was awesome to just be free, out and about, roaming the streets on the outskirts of baguio.

one of my favorite pics from the baptisms today!

now that baptism is done, we will now be moving on to preparing the kids for first communion, and then, confirmation! so exciting! i'm just so grateful that father really trusts sister and i to handle the preparation for these families in their communities. what i find especially wonderful is how much the community really takes care of me and looks to me with much respect. i'm still not used to it! we were preparing to eat, but they said, "wait! sister! can you bless our food?" and so there i was in the barangay hall, leading a prayer for the 45-60 adults that were waiting to partake in the meal. pretty amazing stuff, and it was in that time that i was leading prayer for the community, that i realize that i have been blessed to do such things and lead others to do the same. i'm so grateful.

youth leaders, my confirmation kids, seminarians...we are all on mission!

i think sometimes i just go, go, go, and then it isn't until afterwards that i am able to savor the grace that was in those moments. sometimes it takes other people to point it out to me too. i think the awesomeness in it all though, is that when i am in tune with the presence of the spirit, and when i am consciously aware, that is when those moments, that may otherwise seem so "normal," turn out to be really holy moments...and now, i am trying to treasure every moment as a blessed moment, because in the end, grace abounds in all places.

today was a beautiful day. happy feast!