Day 1: Greetings

Day 1

I arrived in Piura at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday after a traveling for too long. When I got to baggage, the first friendly face I saw was my goddaughter, Mileny. Her Mom and Dad were right behind with her brother, Cristopher, my godson. The parish staff showed up so early to greet me.

They set me up in an apartment two blocks from the parish, which is too nice for a temporary bachelor. I could not sleep so thought I’d sneak over to the parish. As I entered the door, a crowd of St. Monica sponsored families greeted me – I had to kiss them all before they’d leave. The crowd also consisted of people from the village of Los Povorines where we build the chapel last summer. All of a sudden the long trip was in the distant past. See my Gallery for photos of families holding signs so I could identify them. I remember the Lee and Tracy families being there. I got to inspect the scars from a heart operation on a little girl whose long stay in a hospital in Lima was provided by St. Monica parishioners.

The staff greeted me with a nice lunch today. I soon had a fiesta in the 90-degree heat.

This evening the Mass liturgy was beautiful, bringing tears to my eyes as I sat with my family. The Mass was standing room only in a church that holds about the same number as St. Monica. After Mass, the animals and statues were given away to parishioners during a standing room only crowd. The statues were returned after many people touched them. What a beautiful faith the Peruvians have! My family and I had dinner together after Mass.