El Ultimo Domingo

Buenas Tardes!

I pray everyone is having a wonderful Sunday back home in Clarendon Hills!  I can't believe it, but today marks mi ultimo Domingo aqui en Quetzaltenago. The time has truly gone by fast, and I thank God for the wonderful opportunity he has given me. This past week was really quick for me. With my final exam practice Mass this past Monday and making pizzas for the teachers on Thursday, time just ran away.  I'm looking forward to this week, but it's going to blaze by as well!  We have three practice Masses this week, a trip to the city, my final written exam Thursday, and graduation!  Friday I will be spending the day in Antigua.  Antigua is an old tourist site here in Guatemala. I'm told its very beautiful and it will be a great way to spend my last full day in Guatemala.  Then Saturday around noon I fly to Houston and then from Houston to Chicago, arriving mas o menos ocho de la noche.

So as you can see time is moving and like all good things, my time here is coming to an end too. I have made many great friends, and have received a true gift. I'm anxious to use the Spanish I've learned when I get home.  Es mi espanol perfecto?  No, not at all.  However, to be able to communicate with Spanish speakers, or to be be able to pray the prayers of the church in Spanish is amazing!  It blows my mind that I can listen to my teacher talk for an hour or have a conversation with some of the Benedictinos aqui por 45min. and understand 90% or more of it.  It's truly amazing the grace Our Lord has given me aprender esta idioma.  

In this last week, I ask that you continue to pray for me.  That I continue to learn as much as I can in my last 4 classes, and make the most out of the time I have left. Also please pray for me as I prepare to receive Candidacy in 2 weeks.  Candidacy is another major step towards Holy Orders. The church will officially be recognizing me as a good candidate for Holy Orders, and I will publicly promise to live my life in a way that prepares me to be a worthy candidate of Holy Orders. This is really exciting for me as it has been described as getting engaged to the Church so to say, so please pray for me as I take this next step!

Know of my prayers and I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

-Cristobal

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66858764@N08/with/9112948990/

Really...Russia

Hola Amigos,

Sorry I haven't been able to post a lot recently.  Things have been busy here, and this message will have to be short to. However, I wanted to just say hello to everyone and send out a quick update. First the title of my post. When I logged in, it said I had viewers of my blog in Russia. Why?  I'm not sure, but I thought that's pretty neat!  Maybe that's where I will learn my next language :)

Things have been going well here.  I have been here 8 weeks today.  I have to admit, I'm starting to get ready to come home, but I'm making the most of my time during these last 10 days. Since my last post I have said my practice Mass (which I got an A on...photo proof to come), one of my close friends has returned home, have visited a university in Guatemala, saw mi villano favorito 2 (Despicable Me 2), and conversed with people I never met before at the Centro in Spanish!  So lots has been going on, and lots continues to go on.

Coming up tomorrow we have a full day here. My buddy graduates and we make pizza for the teachers.  Yes, the American pizza has become a sensation for everyone in Guatemala. My friends and I are waiting for an offer to open a restaurant at the mall :). Some how I think we could manage evangelization and pizza making.

Speaking of the pizza I have to go make sauce for 7 of them and also get in my prayer time.  I'll try and post again this weekend. Until then, I hope everyone is well, and please know of my prayers. I'm looking forward to July 28th when I'll be back at ND for Mass and hopefully get to see a bunch of you!

-Cris

San Andreas

Hola Amigos!


¡Yo espero todas personas estan bien!  Yo estoy bien, pero yo estoy consado hoy.  I'm tired because today we visited the church of San Andreas. This is a very beautiful church here Guatemala. It was the church I wanted to visit most during my time here, and I finally got to today.  It was a little bit of a journey to get there, but it was well worth it.  Believe me, you haven't ridden on a city bus until you've ridden on an over packed (and I mean OVER packed), old, multicolored, dirty, loud, school bus, with stickers, and a sound system.  Oh yes, and the first ride, livestock attached to the roof. Yes...the chicken bus.  I knew why it had the name it did, but living the experience is a whole different adventure.

I'm approaching 7 full weeks here.  It has been a true blessing to be here. I've really enjoyed learning Spanish, and I'm blessed to have learned the Spanish I have. I'm excited to start using it back home once I return. Speaking of returns, I come home in about 2 and a half weeks!  I'm excited to see everyone and spend time with everyone too!  Plus, that comida de America, esta llmando mi nombre tambien!  I've been getting my fix each week in the food court, so my internal systems haven't reached the critical levels of withdrawal yet :)

This Thursday is the feast of St. Benedict. We are having a huge day of celebration at the monastery!  Since the are Benedictines, I believe this is a Solemnity for them. Entonces, after Mass on Thursday, we are having a big basketball game with the other seminarians, and I believe a large festive lunch too.

Everything keeps moving along here smoothly as I'm sure it has back home. I think of Notre Dame a lot out here, and how blessed I am to have the parish that I do. Many seminarians don't have the love and support from their parishes that you all show me, and for that I'm truly thankful!  Please know of my continued prayers for each of you who read this blog, and I look forward to chatting again soon!

-Cristóbal

Ps, many new photos!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66858764@N08/with/9112948990/

Happy 4th! ¡Feliz Cuarto de Julio!

Hola Friends,

¡Feliz Cuarto de Julio! ¡Yo espero todas personas en Los Estados Unidos estan teniendo un buen dia hoy!  Aqui en Quetzaltenango yo estoy teniendo un buen dia. Yo extraño Los Estados Unidos hoy, pero mis amigos vamos a celebar esta noche.  My teacher for class today brought firecrackers to shoot off before we started our lessons. During the break she let me drive her motorcycle around campus too!  I kinda want one now....sorry mom :)   My diocesan brother Juan and I also celebrated the best way we could as Americans in Guatemala....by eating McDonald's!  If I can't be in America today, at least I can have a taste of it!  Later tonight we are grilling hamburgers and hotdogs here at the monastery.  My teacher also bought me additional fireworks as a gift, so tonight we will at least get to see some. Fireworks are very popular here. If my alarm doesn't wake me up in the morning usually fireworks do. In the very early hours of the morning people set off firecrackers to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries.

This week has gone by pretty fast. I found out I celebrate my practice Mass next Wednesday and have a test on Monday. We are also planning on going to the zoo tomorrow!  The grammar I have been learning this past week has been pretty easy too.  It's basically past, present, and future progressive. Yesterday I also went to the movies. My friends and I saw Monsters University. It was all in Spanish, but I understood a lot of the words and got the overall concept of the film. I highly recommend it!

Nothing else major going on here. I can't believe I only have 15 days of class left before I come home. Time is flying by!  Even though I'm excited to return home, I know I'm going to miss Guatemala in the future. I have learned so much here, it truly has been a blessing. These next 3 weeks I'm sure are going to seal everything together too.  I hope everyone is doing well and that everyone enjoys the holiday today!  Know of my prayers for all of you, and we'll talk again soon!

-Cristobal

Ss Peter and Paul, Pray for Us!

Hola Mis Amigos!

Como estan?  Estoy bien!  Esta semana estuvo muy emotionaldo. The highlight of the week was visiting the oldest church in Central America. This church is pretty small, but it's very beautiful inside. It was a privilege to pray in same church that Jesus was present in the Eucharist for the very first time in this part of the world. It also was the church of the first wedding and baptism too. We also got to take a chicken bus there and back. For those of you who don't know, a chicken bus is an old USA school bus totally, as the kids say "tricked out."  It's painted and has loud music and some even have TVs. It's quite the experience, and not like taking the PACE bus. From what I read, it gets the name chicken bus because sometimes people will bring on animals for transportation. There are also no safety regulations like the US. If there is space, more people can come on. It is very cheap which is nice. 2 quetzals. That's about 25cents of our money.

Fr. Elmer from Mundelein also made a short visit this past week. It was great having him here, especially because he is my spiritual director. He had meetings with all the Mundelein guys, took us out for a fancy dinner, and then said Mass for us this morning. I guess it's a good sign that I'm learning Spanish when he said "peace be with you" and I forgot the English response for a moment.

I leave four weeks from today. I can't believe how fast it's going. This week will be pretty low key. Fr. Mike Warden, recently ordained from Mundelein, joins us this week for a month. It will be great to have a new priest here with us, seeing as some guys classes have already finished and have gone home.

I wish everyone a blessed solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul. We are going to be having a good fiesta tonight with all the monks, so I hope everyone is able to celebrate back home. Know of my prayers, and thank you for yours!

-Cris

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66858764@N08/with/9112948990/

(Photos of the trip to the oldest church now uploaded)

Un Mes Aqui

Hola Amigos!

Today marks one month in Guatemala!  I can't believe it's already been that long. In this month I have learned a lot and have also grown a lot.  Sure parts have been difficult and I have had some days that I really miss home, but overall it has been a very positive experience.

This weekend is pretty relaxing here. No formal events are going on.  I do have a test to study for, however.  It will be my first exam here covering all that I have learned so far. I'm a little nervous, so if you want to pray for me as I take my test Monday that would be greatly appreciated!

This past week we had some visitors from Marmion Academy.  Abbot John and Father Marcos came with them. It was great to have some new people around here. They were here for the week doing mission work for habitat for humanity.  We also got to play basketball and spend time together.

We also made American pizza again!  We made it for everyone here and the Marmion visitors. It seemed to be a big hit again. I was told we are having hamburgers Monday too.  I hope those turn out just as well as the pizza.

This week we also have a priest from Mundelein visiting. His name is Fr. Elmer. He is my spiritual director at the seminary, so it will be great to have him come visit and to meet with him.  He plans on spending a few days with us, sitting in on some classes, and having meetings with all the Mundelein guys. I'm sure it will be a great visit.

I have to celebrate a practice Mass in about two weeks here as part of my final exam. I con celebrated a practice Mass with my friend Keith last Wednesday. It was a lot of fun!  Granted I didn't have to write the homily like he did, but I felt pretty comfortable with the Spanish. I'm sure with more practice I'll be all set in two weeks!

Please know of my prayers and I'll talk to everyone soon.

-Cris

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66858764@N08/

Chillin'

Hola Friends!


So right now I'm just relaxing outside. The weather has been perfect here for most of my trip. I don't think it has been over 80 degrees aqui. Most days you actually need a jacket.  This past weekend wasn't that exciting in terms of adventures. Some friends and I walked to the Walmart. We had to pick up the essentials. You know....Oreos, pretzels, sour gummy worms, etc.

Yesterday after Mass the language started to click a little easier. I lost a lot of my fear and also started understanding a lot more. Feels really good that its clicking for me. For dinner last night tambien we had beef ribs. One of the Spanish students made them. Very tasty!  "Our Crew" was also asked to make pizza again this Thursday, which I'm 100% OK with.

My teacher and I for class tomorrow are planning on walking to the bakery. Now I think you'll agree...class...bakery...this has to be good!  My friend Keith also celebrates his practice Mass this week as part of his final exam. He is having me be a con celebrant for him.  My final Mass exam won't be until the end of my time here probably.

Other than that, nothing else is really going on. Well one more thing. Visitors from Marmion Abbey are here. I think us seminarians are going to challenge them to a basketball game later in the week!

OK everybody, talk to you soon!  And keep checking this other link for photos of my trip as well.

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/66858764@N08/

-Cristobal

Photos

Hola

So here is a link to my photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66858764@N08/

I only have a few uploaded right now, but when I get a chance many more to come!

-Cristobal

1/3 complete

Hola Friends!

Well, we have reached the 1/3 mark. I've been here for three weeks today, and it has been quite the experience. I want to first thank everyone who has been reading my blog and praying for me over these past three weeks. The prayers have truly been a blessing, and please know of my prayers for you!  In these three weeks I have had over 500 page views on my blog, American pizza 3 times, 4 spiders in my room (3 in my bed), seen movies in the theater twice, visited the Cathedral twice, had two days without rain, been in class for aproximaldamente 42 hours, and learned countless new words in Spanish!  I guess that was a small 3 week stat review :)

The past few days have been pretty good aqui. My teacher started cookin' with gas en mis clases. Some of the concepts have been very challenging, but once I master them it will make my spanish much better.  We also started going over the past tense today. Let me tell you, things make a lot more sense knowing some words in the past tense. My homework the past couple dias has been to write stories in español using only the present tense. I was amazed at now much I was able to write!  I look forward over the next six weeks learning more and more so I can become much better with the language.

As I mentioned in my stats review, I have seen movies in the theaters twice. They have been in English which is nice, but have Spanish subtitles which helps.  My seminarian brother John and I went to the centro commercial aqui en Quetzaltenago today to have lunch and watch a movie. We were able to have a good Spanish conversation, and we also talked to some kids in Spanish waiting outside the theater.  Plus I can't beat the price for a movie here. 15 quetzals. That's just over $2!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we play the seminarians in basketball again. Thursday is probably one of my favorite dias aqui. We have Mass at 9am (instead of 5:45am) and then play basketball after lunch. Last time we beat the seminarians, and I hope we win again tomorrow.

Also in my stats I mentioned American pizza. Pizza is my favorite food, with steak and Portillo's right behind it.  Well last Friday we made American pizza for all the monks and seminarians. It turned out perfect!  It was really well received and tasted great. Fr. Juan Francisco asked if we wanted to make it again this Sunday. We are going to let another Spanish student cook something he knows this Sunday, but I will be cooking again soon!

Speaking of food makes me think of dinner. Speaking of dinner makes me think of when I said in an earlier post I will share some traditions. So here is one of them. For dinner every night in the monastery, it starts off in silence. When the bell rings one of the priests leads a prayer. After the prayer one of the Benedictines reads from the rule of St. Benedict. After the reading we are allowed to sit down, get our food, and begin eating. Breakfast also is in silence everyday here. As some of you know, (and I know those who do know are about to laugh ) I'm not a morning person. 5:45am for Mass and breakfast at 7:30am is an early beginning for me, so I welcome the silence in the morning. It's a great way to just start off the day peacefully with our Lord and to prepare for classes.

I hope everyone is well back home. I'm thinking about all of you. Please know of my prayers and we will talk soon.

-Cristobal

Ps. I want to share some photos, so eventually I will be making an online photo album and I'll post a link so everyone can see them.

An Amazing Day

Hola!

So today has been a pretty awesome day!  Our Lord has clearly been working overtime for me!  Let me explain a little bit. Yesterday during basketball I hurt my foot. I was limping pretty bad yesterday and earlier today, and it hurt pretty bad to put my full weight on it. Well today, June 7th, is a very special day for me.  This year especially. Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  One of my favorite feasts and along with Divine Mercy, my favorite devotion!  AND it was on this day in 2008 at the Ordination Mass for Joliet where I heard that inaudible voice of the Holy Spirit call me to seminary!  So yes my foot hurt, but none the less it is a pretty special day for me. Well that pain before I knew it was about to disappear too!  During Mass for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, my foot hurt almost all the way through. However, after I received communion I noticed when I was back at my pew the majority of the pain had disappeared!  I could put full weight back on my foot again and walk like normal, and still so far today can walk normal. I can't explain it, but God truly gave me a grace today. So as you can tell between being one of my favorite feasts and devotions, the anniversary of my call into seminary, and having the pain in my foot go away, this has been an amazing day!

Along with all that awesomeness, I had a great class today too. I feel I was able to understand a lot, and we finished up with grammar for the present tense. I have a lot to review this weekend, but it's slowly starting to click. Also today I got to try horchata for the first time!  It was quite delicious. If I understand correctly its rice milk and sugar. Whatever it's made of, I like it!

Tonight some of us Americans are making American pizza for the monks and other seminarians. We made a small rookie mistake when we realized their system of measurement is different than the one we use in the US, but we think we have a recipe ready to go!  I'll have to let all of you know how it goes.

I'll talk to everyone soon!

-Cristóbal

A Little Update

Hola amigos!

Como estan?  Yo estoy muy bien. It has been a pretty good past couple days. The weekend for me was very relaxing!  On Sunday we celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Christi aqui at the monasterio. I was very excited because one of the Benedictine brothers asked me to help altar serve. It was great to get back in the saddle and altar serve again!  Mass is very similar to how it is at home, however, they give very long Sunday homilies here. They average around 30 minutes each.  Mentioning Mass also made me think about this past Saturday. I got to be at my first quinceanera. A quinceanera is a celebration for a 15 year old girl on her birthday. It is sort of her moving from being a girl to a woman. They had a Mass for her and a big party after. There wasn't much different at the Mass. She answered some questions and then publicly thanked God for all the blessings she has received in life.

Classes keep going well. I have to admit, it is very difficult to be in class from 8am-12:45pm Lunes a Viernes, pero it's paying off!  As you can see here and there I'm using Spanish words in my blog, and I understand A LOT more than when I first arrived. I still can't speak it very well, but that is just going to take time and practice. However, I can understand a lot better what people are saying. Por ejemplo, hoy during the homily at Mass, Padre talked about, "where is your heart?" and "It's always the time to start up...to start reading Scripture..."  I'm only able to catch little parts, but it's nice to start understanding individual words and getting basic concepts.

We had 4 new students arrive today. Some are here for just over 3 weeks and another one leaves the day after I do. What's great is we are all seminarians ( but one) and all are trying to learn Spanish together to help our local church in the future as priests.  I'm still super excited that part of my final exam is to celebrate a practice Mass in Spanish!  What a blessing that will be in the future.

I hope everyone is doing well in the states. I really missed American food all day yesterday, but that's bound to happen. I explained to my teacher today in Spanish all about Portillo's, so I definitely earned some when I return home. Please know of my prayers from Guatemala and if you could please pray for a priest at my Seminary in Mundelein. I got emailed the other day and found out he has stage 4 cancer. His name is Fr. Oakes. I know he would greatly appreciate the prayers through the intercession of Fr. Augustus Tolton!  Thanks everyone!

-Cris

The Best Donut Ever!

Hola Amigos,


Como estan? Estoy bien.

I just finished my first full week of classes today, and what a week it was. I feel I have learned a ton while being here, and I still have 8 more weeks. After a week I feel a lot more comfortable at least attempting to speak Spanish with others. I have also found it much easier to understand what people are talking about in conversations.

For class today, the teachers and some of the students went down to the mercado. Essentially it was a fruit and vegetable market. My teacher used it as a chance to visually teach me about different fruits and vegetables. What they were, the names in Spanish, what was unique to Guatemala, etc.  It was a neat experience. They also in the same area sell a huge assortment of other things. For example Ray Bans and Oakley sunglasses.  However, as you could imagine, they are fakes. Also a large DVD market where you can get movies on DVD that are still in theaters. My teacher said it's "illegal" but the police don't enforce it at all. The price for a DVD breaks down to about $1.50 in American money.  We also visited the church of St. Nicholas. It was a beautiful church. I love how large the churches are here, and how you can go in at almost anytime and people are present praying. It's a great thing to see!

We also went to the panaderia. It was a bakery with American donuts, bagels, and your typical bakery goods. I bought a glazed donut, and unlike my last post...this was the best donut I have ever had!  It was fantastic!  Speaking of food, we are having pizza at the monastery for dinner. I have no clue what Guatemala pizza is like, but I guess I will soon find out!

About an hour ago, the Nuncio to Guatemala arrived!  It was exciting getting a chance to meet him. He spoke to us in Spanish, but when he found out we were American he switched to English.

Nothing has been planned this weekend. I personally plan on using the time to review all the new vocab I was taught. Over 200 words!  Next week in class I move on from learning nouns to learning verbs.  I have had a good experience so far in Guatemala, and I look forward to sharing more with you as it happens. In a future post I plan to share with you some of the traditions and cultural things I've witnessed during my time here. Until then, I hope everyone is well back in the States. Paz!

-Cris

More fun in Guatemala

After a very relaxing weekend, it was time to hit the ground running with classes. I have class here everyday from 8am to 12:45pm, Monday - Friday. We then break for lunch. In class the past couple days my teacher and I have been going over lots and lots of vocab. She said it's important to first learn all the words I can and to speak as much as possible. We will learn conjugations and tenses later as the summer continues. After class today, I and some of the other seminarians played basketball with the seminarians that go to school here. It's a lot of fun to play with them. We Americans have a large height advantage, but they have an endurance advantage since we are at an altitude over 7,000 feet. We play basketball every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. If I keep playing with them at this altitude, when I return to the States I should be in the best shape of my life!  At night it is mainly time to study and pray. However, it is the NBA playoffs and the monastery TV gets all the games. So the seminarians and I will watch the games at night when they are on. So far nothing is planned for the weekend, but I'm sure we will set something up. Possibly for class tomorrow my teacher and I will go down to the city. We will go to experience the market. She said it will be an opportunity to visualize the names of the words I'm learning. We are also, this week, are  supposed to visit a pandaria (bakery). Apparently one of the bakeries specializes in American donuts!  Speaking of donuts, we had them for dessert last night. One of the young monks said they only have donuts once a month. It looked just like an American donut, but didn't quite taste like one. Don't get me wrong, it was a solid attempt and had good flavor, but it wasn't quite a strawberry frosted from Dunkin Donuts :)

I hope all is well with everyone at home. You are all in my prayers. Please also pray for my teacher Gilma. She had a small motorcycle accident today. She had a little scrape on her arm and a couple holes in her clothes, but she is doing fine.

Paz,
Cris

A great past couple days

Hola mis amigos!

Everything in Guatemala is great. The food has been really good, and the people have been super friendly. Our friend Armando took us three American seminarians here on a tour of Xela. I saw the Cathedral, a theater, and the market place. I also had my first Spanish class yesterday with my teacher, Gilma. Gillma is hilarious!  She told me she is going to make class fun and she likes to teach with jokes!  Also this is so my mom won't be worried. She said she would act as my mom for the next 9 weeks, so I have nothing to worry about!  I was able to give my vocation story to her in Spanish which, for me, was very difficult. However, she understood it and I was able to say more than I thought I could in Spanish!  For class it is one on one, and it is 80% just talking in Spanish. I also have the opportunity to take trips to the city with my teacher and have lessons in Central Park or in other places besides the classroom.

Weekends are free here in Guatemala. Right now I'm just relaxing outside with my seminarian brother Keith and Spike. It is a beautiful day here. Only around 60 degrees and sunny. I hope to go to the American Embassy (McDonald's) for dinner just to experience it in Guatemala.  Everyone please know of my prayers!  Talk to you soon.

-Cristobal

The first 24 hours in Guatemala

Hey everyone!

So I have been in Guatemala for about 24 hours, and have experienced a lot!!!  The day started yesterday with 3:35am Mass with Fr. Steve and Notre Dame then off to the airport. The flights down were great, and we found our seminary representative right away. He gave us a quick driving tour of Guatemala City. I was surprised at how many things we have in America made it to Guatemala. Fast food places are everywhere, Shell gas, etc.  The driving in Guatemala is definitely not like in America. Motorcycles zoom in and out of lanes and go down the middle of lanes, and people just start walking right in front of you. We ate lunch at a local place that I believe Armando our seminary representative said was famous. I had chicken, tortillas, frijoles, and guacamole. It was delicious...I think I'll get used to eating like that!  After three hours more in the car we made it to the monastery. It's a beautiful place, and overlooks the city of Quetzaltenango ( also know as I found out as Xela).

We had Mass at 5:45am this morning and then took naps until breakfast. After breakfast was a tour of the campus and meeting the seminarians. Classes begin tomorrow, so I'm excited to meet my teacher and begin.

I don't know what we will do the rest of the day, but it's been beautiful here so far. It's been great to just sit outside and relax in the cool breeze. Plus I can play with Spike that way (Spike is the dog at the monastery).  I hope to put some photos up in time. Please pray for me as I pray for you.

-Chr....Cristobal

My first blog post ever!

Hey everyone!

So this whole blog thing is new to me, but I figured I'd give it a shot.  As many of you know I will be in Guatemala for 9 weeks to study Spanish. I'm hoping to use this blog as a way to communicate with everyone back home on how my immersion experience is going. Please know of my prayers, and if you have anything you want me to prayer for, please don't hesitate to ask!

-Chris