Fun Pics from the Afternoon

I have been tutoring Sister Maria Hanh (left) and Sister Anna Lien in pronunciation at the convent. Today was my last lesson for the year and they presented me with a glass cube engraved with a likeness of Our Lady of La Vang, the patroness of Viet Nam. It is beautiful.

In typical sister fashion, we all had to get into one of the pictures, so here we are. My arm needs to get longer if we keep doing these kinds of shots.

Click on the picture and you'll see the note the good sisters wrote to me. I sure know how to pick great students.

Mr. Hieu insisted I take a picture of him with the water. It's his imitation of the Statue of Liberty.

I'm trying for the aww factor here. A  young puppy adopted by the sisters. You remember the bunch from a few weeks ago. This one is a bit bigger now, but just as cute.

In the foreground, that's ostrich, a specialty from the south of Vietnam. It's was yummy and didn't taste at all like chicken. It was cooked with little onions that were sweet. On the left? A whole lotta nope...snails.

Confirmation - Part 1

On Sunday morning I went with Bishop Joseph to Quang Phuc parish for confirmation. It is a small parish that was decimated during the takeover by the Communists in 1954. There are now only about 700 members of the parish. It is very poor but proud, with a great heritage and  history. Here is everyone going into the church.

As is usual in Vietnam, the women sit on the left and the men on the right. Next to the aisle in each pew sat the young person to be confirmed and the sponsor. It was a beautiful liturgy, and the choir was perhaps the best I have heard in the country, and that is saying a lot.

This is a view from the top of the church steps towards the rice fields across the street.

There was a procession into the church. Here is the band leading it followed by the elders of the parish.

The children to be confirmed processed in along with their sponsors. The boys had men sponsors and the girls had women sponsors. Some of the sponsors were parents, others were uncles, aunts, and grandparents.

Finally, the priests and the bishop. The colors for confirmation are red for the love of the Holy Spirit that is called upon those confirmed.

Here is the band taking a much needed rest. The brass band is a staple of religious festivals and dates back to the French occupation.

After confirmation, the bishop and pastor posed with the newly confirmed. We were all pretty proud at that moment. Then they all went to parties at their homes.

Confirmation - Part 2

During the first part of the mass, I wandered the grounds of the parish. Here is the small quadrangle of the rectory, the kitchen, and the meeting rooms.

Another view of the quadrangle. The smaller bonsai were mostly ficus which grow easily in this climate.

This s the oldest section of the rectory and is over 100 years old. It was built before the church was built and is still in great condition.

Here is a relief on the side of the church. It is the Holy Family and the painting is weathering to light shades.

Next to the church is a grotto that you can walk in to, surrounded by a small moat and accessible by three small bridges. At the top is Mary as she appeared at Lourdes. Inside you can see a creche where, at Christmas, Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus are placed. It is illuminated by small colored lights.

A single lotus blossomed in the moat.

This is s front view of the 100-year old rectory. All it needs is some minor repairs and some paint and it would be its former self again.

Across the road from the church are rice fields that seem to go on forever. This is a very poor village and most people are farmers. The rice from these fields have already been harvests.

Here you can see four sections of rice. The dark green on the left is a row of newly sprouted rice plants. The lighter green row is rice that is almost ready to be transplanted to plowed fields. The next row is a field that has been harvested but not fully hoed yet. Finally, on the right is a row that has been hoed and almost ready to be flooded and transplanted.

This is our driver, Mr.Hoa. He wanted a pose at the grotto, so here you are, Mr. Hoa. The grotto is made of limestone taken from the hills in the area. Water makes the smooth markings and also hollows out the rock into beautiful shapes.

Not to be outdone, Mr. Toan got his picture taken, also. This time it was taken inside of the grotto where the Christmas statues are placed.