Brrr....rrr it's Cold in These Mountains!

Am I back in a Wisconsin winter?? Mon., Tues. and Wed. of this week it was very cold.We were as cold or colder than Green Bay!!! Tuesday morning as I drove to school at 6:30am the thermometer in the car kept drawing as I left the city and headed into the valley within the mountains. It was a down right cold 21 degrees. One degree colder than Green Bay! And to think I left my mittens and long winter coat in Wis. thinking I wouldn't need them. The wind really whipps around by our school. 

At 11:30am that Tues., I was supervising our kids' lunch in the cafeteria when my neighbor calls to tell me I have a broken water pipe. The water is running into the street. I called our landlady but no answer. I asked my maintenance person to come with me to our house. The neighbor's side yard was flooded and water was in the street. We were lucky enough that the pipe that froze and broke was the drip system that waters the tree and couple bushes in our yard. I never knew we had that. We got the water shut off and back to school we went. The landlady got me at the end of the day and asked that I take towels and wrap them around the three outdoor faucets and the three water pipes that are outside. Towels!  We have no extra towels seeing we had to buy them when we arrived. My janitor helped me out by giving me large rags. I did the wrapping as dusk set in.

Wed., we had the Kino Teens from Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Nogales speak to Grades 6-9th about their work with the Jesuit priests in Nogales, Sonora with the families who have been deported. It was an eye opener for my students who only know Mexicans from seeing the border patrol round them up. I asked why Mexico is in such dire straits with their economy. Two of the three students live in Mexico and cross the border each day to go to the high school in Nogales, AZ. They said the factories that use to be there are now gone. They were started by companies from the United States to make staplers, binders and now the U.S. companies have closed the factories and moved their production to China as labor is cheaper there. The Mexicans were being paid about $7.00 a day so just imagine how much the Chinese are being paid by the U.S. companies.

Friday, I led an Advent retreat with the students in Grs. 7-9th. We went to St. Andrew's Catholic Church and were able to use their Divine Mercy Chapel.

Sunday, the 11th was a day of activities. It started early in the morning at 6:00 AM cooking Breakfast with Santa. We had a great work crew and Santa showed up on time.

Santa's Elves who worked the breakfast.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Procession at night.

Our students in their native costume who led the rosay in their native language: English, Korean, Spanish.

This evening I went back to church for the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It began with a candlelight procession outside under the full moon. We processed with the statue of Our Lady from the church, through the parking lot, onto the road in front of church and back into the parking lot. It was pitch black outside as there are no street lights or yard lights. We sang the whole way. Once back in church the rosary was prayed in church in four languages to represent the four nationalities in our parish: Filipino, Korean, Spanish and English. I was proud that three of my students led the rosaries in their native language. Two of them are coming to Camp Franciscan in June. Our pastor led it in Filipino.

After the rosary we went to the church hall to see the play of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Bishop was played by our online 9th grader. After the play there were Mexican dancers, a fiesta and a Mass starting at 11pm so the mananitas could start at midnight on the 12th. I left after the play because tomorrow I am going to Nogales, AZ and Sonoroa as a field trip with my Jr. High students to see the work of the Kino Teens.

And yes, our pastor wore pink today for Gaudete Sunday.