Feasts and Work

Last weekend we celebrated Corpus Christi.  As with most of the masses here, the crowd was huge and the procession outstanding! 

Friday, June 8th, we celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and I spent the morning at Caritas Secondary School for the celebration of the 1-year anniversary in Kimbe Diocese.  Mass followed by presentations of poetry, drama and dance by the students.  It is always fun to be with these girls but today I have no pictures to share.

Priscilla is one of our next-door neighbors.  She is 14 months old and one of the ladies of the Diocese told me she is considered the Diocese Baby.  She is adorable and every time she sees us she comes running with her arms open wide to be picked up and receive hugs.  If our door is open she comes in to visit, which sometimes makes her mother a bit uncomfortable, but the good thing is that she is easy to find.  

On Tuesday of this week, Ron took me to two of the parishes he will be working with on building or maintenance projects.  The first was Mai, the Catechist School where they will be building a chapel.  The grounds are beautiful! 

My Chauffeur

Below is one of the pieces of artwork in the main building which is drawn by Fr. Yarek.    

Jesus, I Trust in You

We then travelled on to Silanga parish where Ron took some measurements for work to be done on a convent to convert it to a duplex for some of the Health Care workers whose homes were damaged in the earthquake.  The drive was lovely but long and the road, the New Britain Highway, is very bumpy.

The bottom pictures overlook one of the palm oil groves along the highway.

Ron and his crew are also busy working on getting the Cathedral grounds ready for construction to begin in July.  The Cathedral roof will be raised and repaired, and some pre-construction work done so that, when funds are available, changes can be made on the interior.  Bishop Bill is meeting with artists in the States for interior art as well.  Today, they worked on pulling down needless light poles, the one pictured below took out an electrical line when it came down.  This was right outside our front door.  

Once construction begins, the vehicle entry in front of our house (actually about 10’ from our front window) will be closed off and the area in front of the Cathedral will become more of a garden setting once construction is finished. 

My projects for the Diocese are more behind the scenes and very tedious.  I must keep reminding myself that Papua New Guinea time is not the same as the US!  If someone says they will get you the information immediately, it might mean 1 week or 6 weeks, who knows for sure?  But, everyone has the best of intentions and part of the problem here is me, in that I still think like an American!  People I have visited with who were Peace Corps Volunteers and past Lay Mission-Helpers assure me this is normal in any country.