Monthly Archives: February 2013

Rodolfo Shares New Experiences in Seattle

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First Rodolfo reflects on a visit to a Presbyterian church recently:

I had the opportunity to know another church that I visit often. It’s name is the Presbyterian Church. While there I could observe that wherever I am, God is our father. I liked the songs, the gospel, and the Eucharist. I want to explain about the Eucharist at this time because it is very different from what we normally do. Why is it different? Because the Eucharist is a little wine and a little piece of real bread.  I could also feel that small symbol was the body of Jesus.

I also liked the quality of people who visit this special place, everyone is friendly, energetic, I felt like I was part of the community. The most important thing is that I enjoyed the whole time I was there.

Thank you Lord for showing your creation, that where I am you are also, thank you for giving me new opportunities to appreciate all that you do. As you can see in every person that you’re in them.

Next Rodolfo writes of his wonderful day with his friends the Paulsens:

Yesterday, Saturday, I had the opportunity to visit two beautiful places — the Seattle Great Wheel, and the Seattle Aquarium.  I went with together with two people I like a lot, Roger and Judy Paulsen.  We did many activities, and I enjoyed it.   From the great wheel we could see all over Seattle – the Space Needle, the ferry boats, the stadiums, the harbor and all the tall buildings.

The aquarium was a wonderful adventure and opportunity to discover and learn about life under the sea.  Before going there I didn’t know what it was.  I thought it was a restaurant.  I saw octopus, sea horse, sea anemones, sea stars, sea otters, many kinds of fish, and my favorite fish Nemo.  The aquarium is beautiful and very interesting.  I learned about the food that is recommended for each animal.

Today, Sunday, I went to church with Roger and Judy.  I enjoyed the visit and surprised many people with my presence.  Next, I am very happy because I made pizza for us.  In the beginning I didn’t have any idea how to make pizza, but I learned.  We enjoyed the time together.

I say “Thank You” for giving me all your time and love, and being very special with me, and thank you for teaching me many things about life.  You are very kind and I will always remember you as part of my life.

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Snow Shoeing in the Cascade Mountains!

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Celson shares a fun day in the snow:

I went to the mountains three weeks ago with my friends, the VanDerhoef family. My mentor Kathleen invited me to try to do Snow Shoeing. I didn’t know what that was, but I decided to go. Snow Shoeing is walking in the mountains with specials shoes on the snow. Now it is the winter season and in the mountains it is often snowing and the landscape is white, all the trees are covered with snow.

It is so beautiful. We walked in the forest, sometimes we played with snow balls and also we ate snow. There were many people including kids. When we went back we decided to take another way. We supposed that it was shorter, but we were wrong. We walked a lot, but we never found the place that we wanted. In this moment we knew that we were lost. It was necessary to use GPS, fortunately the cellphones have it. For a while I was worried because we didn’t find the the right way, also my legs started to hurt.

Finally we found the correct way and then I felt so happy. It was an amazing experience for me because I love the snow. Also I learned that I can’t eat yellow snow because is not healthy. Another lesson that I learned is that taking the shorter way doesn’t always make life easier.

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Volunteering at St. Francis House

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The following is a post by Doris reflecting on her experience:

St. Francis House is a place that tries to help immigrants and poor people from the United States that have few resources. This place helps them with clothes for children, young people and adults, furniture, tickets for the bus, food and toys; especially for Christmas. Volunteering in this house was a great experience. I had the opportunity to help people and to give them the things they needed. What I liked was that the people could pick whatever they needed, but there are always people checking that they don’t take more than they need.

During Christmas, this place collects toys for boys and girls of different ages with the goal that every family will have toys for their kids. Every family had a list in their hands of their kids and their ages. They had the opportunity to pick the toys for their kids and then bring them home. It was exciting to see the parents picking the best toys for their kids, hopping to get home and surprise them with the best Christmas gift.

It was an experience that taught me that in life, it is not necessary to speak the same language as somebody, but rather to have the desire and the love to be able to help.

Doris

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