Thursday afternoon

Here it is Thursday afternoon and it is 5 p.m. and the sun is still shining as it approaches the end of another day here in Cochabamba,Bolivia.

This photo that you see is the famous Torres de Paine in southern Chile, actually way down at the end of the continent of South America. I visited this area many years ago and I hve this icture of the majestic mountains above my desk here in my bedroom.

It was nice to talk with you Thomas briefly this afternoon and to know that all is going well for you.
You will be celebrating your Independence Day this coming Sunday, August 15th which is the feast day of Assmption of Mary.
Here in Bolivia they have a three day holiday for her which begins on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
The feast will have a parade of dances and also a procession and all this is outside the city about ten miles from here.
Unfortunately the feast day also means drinking and so a lot of people get intoxicated on these days. This feast is celebrated here in Cochabamba only, it isn't a holiday for the entire country but here only in this area.
August 6th was the anniversary of the Independence of Bolivia which was 185 years ago. So it was a national holiday for the entire country but still a lot of people were working and didn't take the day off.
I talked to your brother Benny today and he is gettng ready to leave where he lives to go on retreat. I have no idea where it is but I guess it is some distance away from where he lives now.
I thought that it was the entire Franciscan Brothers community but apparently it is only a section and not everyone attends. I thought that you were going also but you are not.
He said that it will be a week long. So it will be a spiritual rest period from milking or taking care of the cows and the elderly people.
I think but I am not sure if he is contented with his work or ministry in this area??
When will you be going on retreat?? Although it might be difficult at the moment with your classes. How old are your students and what grades are you teaching as well as subjects?
Tomorrow Friday, we as a community will be going out to a restaurant at 7:15 p.m. for pizza. There will be ten of us. We also have visitation of the Latin America Regional council that will be with us for a week. The regional Superior lives in Guatemala and the others are in Peru and at the Border of the United States and Mexico.
So they will be here for an evaluation of the Maryknoll Mission Center for Latin America here in Cochabamba which is our language school which has been in existence now 45 years.
This is what I want to share with you on this Thurday afternoon.
We will be having a house meeting with ten members on Saturday morning from 9 a.m. until Noon.
We have the house meetings once a month and also reflection meetings every Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. for around 45 minutes to an hour.
This is all the news that I have for you today. Please take care of yourself.
Frank