A little monkey is in the center with his breakfast.
This morning I woke up really early to pray my meditation at the small chapel in the LC house. I was all by myself in the Chapel and heard some noises outside. I thought one of the priests was praying the breviary outside. After I finished the meditation I left and saw the real source of that noise: a family of monkeys (about five) having breakfast in a papaya tree in our courtyard. In some places of the city you can see them, especially parks. It is funny that there aren’t squirrels, skunks, or raccoons anywhere. My theory is that the monkeys ate them all. (By the way, this paragraph was written in honor of all Americans and Canadians that over the years have asked me if I ever saw monkeys in Brazil).
L-R: Lea, Br Antonio, Rene
Today was another intense day of training. It is really exhausting. With all the bus rides and walking through the city under the heat, I am dead tire when I get home every evening. The sessions were exclusively about translation. We introduced each other and met all the volunteers that will be translating in the seven languages of the WYD: Portuguese, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, French. Each language has a coordinator, who has dedicated the few last months for the organization of WYD. The great majority of the translators are foreign. It was really fun to see people from all over the world speaking Portuguese. Some of them did very well, others tried hard to imitate the “carioca” accent, which is very particular (they are known for stressing the “Rs” and “Ses”). One by one we said our names and where we were from. The best part was when a Polish girl said “E aí galera” (which would sound like a Japanese saying: “What’s up everyone”). As they were teaching us the translation procedures, I was pleased to see that everyone there were so young, ranging from 23 to 35 years old. It is so nice to see that the WYD is an event for the youth made by the youth.
Pilgrim Cross and picture of the Blessed Mother
Our job will be to do the translation of WYD documents and the website news. Each language will have two volunteers working together in shifts of about 6 hours. I belong to the English Translation team. The coordinator is Danielle, a girl from Michigan (who speaks excellent Portuguese and Spanish).The team has 12 members, half Brazilians and half Americans, with the exception of a lady from Great Britain. After the training we had lunch together to know each better, we went to a “kilo” restaurant (they have a buffet and you pay for the weight you put in your plate — WYD pilgrims have a discount). They are all great people who greatly love the Church and the Pope, and have a very generous heart. It seemed as if we have been friends for a long time. There I had a very nice surprise, besides Rene Blackwell who is a consecrated woman, Lea, who is RC member from Detroit and alumni of Everest Academy, is also part of English translation team. It is awesome to see the Regnum Christi family helping to build up the WYD!
Another very nice experience happened to me a few days ago, but I did not mentioned yet. I was visiting the Churches in downtown (they are all gorgeous and you can find one every couple blocks), when walking through a very busy plaza, I heard the official hymn of WYD. Then I saw the pilgrim Cross and the Picture of the Blessed Mother in the Center of the Plaza. One of the traditions of WYD is the pilgrimage of the cross and the image throughout the world and during WYD it is present at the main events. During this week before WYD, the cross and the Image are visiting several points in the city. It was a blessing to find it there, with people around, praying and touching it. I said a prayer asking God for all those who are home to join us in WYD with their hearts and prayers.
