Our Lady of the Mountains Church Picnic- A+



TWO PAIRS OF SISTERS



Our Lady of the Mountains Parish held its first church picnic this past Saturday at the Veterans' Memorial Park in Sierra Vista. All of the school families who aren't members of the parish were also invited.  A great time with great food was had by all.

A large water slide was rented that all children of all ages enjoyed all day!! The adults enjoyed watching the children. For some of the little ones they were a little cool when they took the Splash! at the end.

A picnic style meal was held at noon. The parish provided the meat and parishioners brought the rest of the food and there was plenty of it.  A large grill was rented from the Army Fort and the pastor and some experienced grillers barbecued the meat.

After the picnic lunch was enjoyed, the dunk tank, again rented from the Army Fort, was put into action.

 The deacons of the parish were the first to take the seat and get dunk. The children were allowed first to throw the balls to dunk the deacons and they were able to do it.

Then the adults were given a turn and I, Sister Carol, happened to have the ball in my hand when it was the pastor's turn to take the seat in the dunk tank.
 I had the perfect opportunity I had been waiting for. So with only one ball I took a very good aim and threw as hard as this farmer's daughter could and BAM!! It hit the target and to the pastor's surprise he went down. I think many people were shocked that I had such good aim and enjoyed the fact that the principal dunked the pastor, Fr.Ariel.  Fr. Ariel, being the good sport he is, got back up for another dunking as he hardly sat long in the seat the first time.

Pinatas were the next item on the agenda for our first parish picnic. We have a large number of Hispanics in our parish so they were in charge of this part of the picnic. The children got to knock down the first pinata and had great fun doing it. Many of them were still in their swimsuits as the big water slide was still in action.

The 2nd pinata was for the adults to hit and the parish staff was given the first chance to swing at it. The parish secretary was the first up to bat and then the pastor. After that the pastor gave the blindfold to me and this activity I knew I could do.
 I had several good swings and got the pinata down and then hit it again and again to open up the candy.

 I have been to many Hispanic parties when missioned in Mississippi so I knew how it was done. I had several offers afterwards to be on a baseball team with my mighty swing. I said I learned how to swing in baseball from being on a 4H baseball team. When I was in 4H (10 years) we had baseball teams and played other 4H teams in the county. One rule was, you had to have at least one girl on the team as back then there were no such thing as girl baseball teams. So of course, we were considered the handicap back then. Boys put up with you but some of us did learn the game and surprised the boys.

After the pinata it was 2:00pm and time for clean up and there were plenty of helpers.

That evening, Sisters Anna and Mary Ann and myself journeyed over to St. Andrew's Parish for the 5:00pm Mass. They had the Filipino celebration for the first Filipino saint - St. Lorenzo Ruiz. Fr. Greg Adolph, the pastor, invited our pastor, Fr. Ariel Lustan, who is from the Philippines, to be the celebrant and Fr. Greg assisted him. The Filipino choir sang and did several of the songs in their native tongue. It reminded me of Hawaii where there is also a large contingent of Filipinos and every 3rd Sunday of the month the songs at Mass were sung in their native language.

After Mass the statue of St. Lorenzo Ruiz was carried in procession on the sidewalk around the block and then into Kino Hall where a Filipino dinner was served and the Filipino dancers danced several numbers in costume.

The Filipino dance group are practicing some new numbers that they will perform on Nov. 4th at St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson when the celebration will be held for the 2nd Filipino saint, Blessed Pedro Calungsod, who will be canonized on October 21st . Fr.Ariel and several Filipino parishioners will be in Rome for the canonization. This will be the culmination of the European pilgrimage that Fr. Ariel will serve as the chaplain.

Monday, it is to school and we hear a presentation from a real cowboy to get the students started for the Cochise County Cowboy Poetry Contest- a very big event. In the afternoon, we will hear from Fr. Silas, a priest from Nepal who will talk about his life. He was Hindu and then became a Catholic and a priest.