I miss Jordan.

My friend, Jordan Henneberry, who played basketball with me in the fall semester at FUS entered religious life earlier this month.. this is an article her mother posted on facebook that I wanted to share.

Please pray for Jordan and her family. She is an incredible woman and Jesus is lucky to have her.


http://thecatholicsun.com/sun-september-23-2010/young-woman-from-mexico-enters-sisters-of-st-francis

"It's a Holy Disney World!"

Can I just start off in saying that in 75 hours, I (along w/ 3 friends-the Ireland group!) traveled from Gaming, Austria to Paris and Lourdes, France and back home. I’m so impressed with Our Lord and Lady allowing it to all work out, our travel skills, the metro system in Paris, and the fact that this is my vocation for the next 2 months.. study on trains while you explore Western Europe.. yup, this is real life.

On Friday (9/24), after classes, we boarded a bus and then train around 5pm and were on and off a series of about 6 trains until we arrived in Paris, France at 9am on Saturday. (9/25) Being Catholic is so wondrous because we have Mary on our side.. numerous times our trains were late and we should have missed our connections about four times? She’s so good to us. When we arrived in Paris, we printed off our reservations for the next day and found our super duper sketch hotel beside the train station.



Jen and Chelsea wanted to go to Liseux, which was another hour or so on the train, and neither Hannah nor I had a burning desire to go there.. so they ran off to hit up the popular Paris attractions before catching another train to Liseux.. Hannah and I sat down for some coffee&tea and cheese sandwiches before learning to master the metro! :) We bought a student all day metro pass (for only 3.40 Euro! So good.) and went to Sacre-couer, which is the massive Sacred Heart Basicalla. Let’s just say this—the places I had expectations for didn’t hold up to it.. the places unexpected.. were fabulous!! The Sacred Heart Basicalla was not one I was expecting to be so amazing! Besides getting ripped off by very clever Ghanan men on the street, the experience was incredible. The view from the church was gorgeous, the outside was beautiful, the inside was STUNNING! There were about 20 side chapels, full of Marian pictures and devotionals (however, pictures were not allowed :\ Bummer!) and above the main altar was a huge mosaic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! It was amazing. (My household-a prayer groupish thing at Franciscan, Carae Domini, is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.. so it was really awesome to see such a beautiful church devoted to that. After the Basicalla, we found some really cute little French shops and went in and out of a few.. we metroed around for a bit, changing out clothes and such and then took off for the catacombs, a more frightening side of Paris. It’s like an underground tomb from the 1800’s

but to our disappointment, we were too late for the last tour group!

After that disappointment, we had a run in w/ a few more! In a book I got for my birthday, Catholic Shrines of Western Europe, we saw some pilgrimage spots in Paris we could get to, so we decided to find them! The book said to take the one metro exit, but it was actually the one after it.. so we were lost in Paris for a good 45 mins until we finally asked.. during this time, it started raining and the callous on my foot was throbbing quite a bit! But, we continued to truck on.. and found the 1st site, St. Vincent De Paul’s church/school/&body… but it was the 350th anniversary of his death I believe.. so the church was jam packed of camera men/news broadcasters.. and we were not allowed in.. so we walked for another 5 mins or so and ran into the other shrine we wanted to see—Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and Green Scapular. This is again one of the sites I wasn’t expecting to be so great.. but it was! :) Hannah and I went in and started praying in front of St. Louise’s (she received the green scapular from Our Lady) wax body (overtop her real body) and realized they were about to have mass, so we stayed and had our first mass in French! After mass we got to pray in front of the main altar, a GORGEOUS Marian altar.. I hope this blog lets me post pictures, it was just breath-taking! We also saw/prayed in front of St. Vincent De Paul’s incorrupt heart and St. Catherine Laboure’s incorrupt body. She was so perfect.. it was so cool. I wish I could be that holy.. being a Saint would be the bomb.com. Anyways, so we prayed there a little longer and were waiting in line for the bathroom when a very friendly French lady decided to take us to the fancy mall toilets the block over.. she told us about some of the miracles that occurred at the convent’s church we were just at and it was nice to speak to a local :)







We metroed to the area surrounding Notre Dame and had dinner-I had a chicken kebab and then we stopped at this place for dessert.. it was to die for! 2 hot and crispy waffles with 2 balls of ice cream and hot caramel all over! <3 yum yum yum. We toured Notre Dame and were both kind of bummed with it.. It wasn’t a place for Jesus to live in at all. I just wanted to take Him and put Him somewhere in the Sacre-Coure.. It was basically just a tourist attraction, which shut off the main part of the church to visitors, so I couldn’t even pray in front of a tabernacle.. the architecture on the outside was really neat.. but I’m a Catholic, not an architect! By this time, Hannah and I were quite cold/sleep deprived/sore and just wanted to go back to the hotel, but we promised to meet Jen and Chelsea at the Eifel Tower at 9:45.. so we went there and waited, and waited, and waited.. we wanted to go up, but we didn’t want to go up without them.. so we went in and out of the souvenir shops to stay warm and then finally huddled on a bench for the last half hour.. to our surprise/horror, 2 men came out of the exit from the Eifel Tower and saw us sitting together on the bench.. and decided to meet us and chat it up.. They were from Rwanda! Which was pretty legit and awesome.. because I really want to go to Rwanda and do mission work and so we talked about that a bit.. but then it got a little out of control and as it did, the Lord obviously took care of us again! Chelsea and Jen saw us and shouted for us.. as a very nice American/English man came up and said “There you guys are! We thought we’d never find you..” and took us with him for a couple steps to get away from the Rwandians. We were obviously exhausted, so we re-parted ways with the other 2 girls and went back to the hotel to crash for the 5 ½ hours of sleep we’d be getting!



At 5:30 AM (9/26) we were up and getting ready to train to Lourdes (a 7-8 hour train), our train took off at 6:30 and we were there by 2 PM. Lourdes, as a town, is super cute! We walked around, found the typical Catholic/Marian shops, bought some goodies, and were headed for one of the most popular Catholic shrines in the world!! As you enter there is a very large brown/black crucifixion scene before you see the beautiful church.. my big sister in household, Tricia, told me all about this before I went.. and the way she explained it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.. So I’ll try my best to quote her! (Sorry if I biff it, Tricia.) “When I went to Lourdes, I was a little confused by this huge unattractive cross to start off/be the first thing you see at this shrine and not the beautiful basicalla .. but later on I realized that it represented the way that we often suffer, experience trials, have to go through the unattractive times before we see the glory of God, His forgiveness, His love for us..” I loved the way she described this just by looking at a picture, but when I saw it in person, it was hard to hold the tears back. So, thank you Tricia. :) As you passed the cross, it looked like a holy Disney World.. The church was MASSIVE. And truly looked like Cinderella’s castle.. but better!! We went straight to the baths, but they weren’t taking any more women because they were closing at 4.. however the very nice French man said, “It’s okay, St. Bernadette was never fully submersed in the waters. She just washed her face.. and you can do that!” Which was very nice to hear! We then toured the different churches/side altars in the massive church and then we split up. Since H and I went to mass the day before we went into town and visited Bernadette’s home after the apparitions. It was awesome to see her bed, letters she wrote to her family from the convent, and other miscellaneous items of her family’s. We met up around 5 and went to the grotto where Mary appeared.. Beautiful just doesn’t describe it.. As I ran my hand and rosary on the rocks of the grotto, I could just feel Our Blessed Mother in every part of me, encasing my heart with her hands. Mary is no longer dragging to me pray about my vocation, I am willingly going with her.. trusting that she is leading me directly to her Son. It is the best feeling EVER! I saw the hole where St. Bernadette dug w/ her hand, where Mary created the stream/flowing water from. (that which now heals everyone today) We bought intention candles and placed them by the grotto and then as a group (we met up with some other students from FUS!) prayed a rosary in front of the apparition. We filled up our holy water containers, washed our faces( and those body parts that needed healing) and prayed in a couple more chapels before walking to the train station.. Across the street from the train station we got Crème Brule! It was pretty darn good, if I say so myself!





Well, I wrote all of this on one of our long train rides back home.. this week will be pretty darn hectic for me (and the next), midterms are next week and I don’t really feel too prepared.. so I’ll really have to crack down this week.. I am also physically spent from constantly running the past couple days (and a football game the day before we left) and I just can’t wait to curl all up in my room at the Kartause! Thanks for reading about my amazing time in France! It was so amazing and I am just awestruck at all we did in such a short amount of time. Thank you for prayers, Mary most definitely heard them! Your intentions were with me all weekend.

PS (this is random just so you know)- When Hannah and I were freezing we decided to play with our imaginations, and we expressed (w/ great detail) exactly where and what we’d rather be doing.. most all of mine involved delicious American food.. so just appreciate your T-bell (and Taco the Town for Altoona folk!) tacos, Chuck E Cheese(Little Ceasars&Olive Garden) breadsticks, normal dill pickles, and chicken breast.. mom and dad, I promise to NEVER EVER EVER complain about having chicken for dinner. From the moment I get home to the moment I leave again.. I want chicken every single meal except Christmas when I can have Uncle Jerry’s turkey and heart-attack gravy. (I miss that, too)



“I am not worthy of Your Body and Your Blood, only say the word and I shall be healed.. Oh My Lord, if You are willing, I can be, if you are willing, I can see the face of God, it’s looking lovingly on me and I am healed. How I love you, Lord.”

to Jesus through Mary,

Erin.

 

GRUSS GOTT!

Gruss Gott is an Austrian greeting meaning, God's Greetings, a lovely (and religious!) way to say ello!

I just wanted to be a good lil' blogger (unlike my partner in crime, H.Mountaha) and let you all know I'm leaving for France in less than 2 hours. We'll be hanging out in Paris on Saturday, Lourdes on Sunday, all day on a train Monday.. but the long train rides are bomb.com-ish bc we have alottttt of work to do/catch up on considering mid-terms are really.. really soon

That is all! I'll shout out some prayers for ya'll to Our Lady bc she is AWESOME!
<3

tooootles.

I just wanted to share this..

I was in adoration last night and there was a book of people's testimonies on St. Maximillian Kolbe on the pew.. which was inspiring, since I just saw his death site and such.. so I flipped through a couple of pages and one chapter caught me.. The Last Judgement, which started w/ a quote from him..

" It is a privilege and joy to be so worn out for Christ, that you get to meet him early. "

and in my Theology of Christ class Professor Cassidy said,
"Suffering like that experienced by St. Maximillian Kolbe is just more of a chance to love, more chance to provide love in a world full of evil. There is an opportunity to take someone else's hurt and pain and bring it upon yourself for the sake of souls. Yeahh ( in his scottish accent) it'll hurt, but His mercy will pull you through when it hurts, His Divine Mercy."

The past couple of years, I feel like death encroaches on my life, not only just personally but just in community.. especially in Altoona, the little town it is.. The fact that I know of at least 8 people who have passed in the past year is just crazy.. and I'm only 19. Remember that all those that suffer here on earth get to meet Christ before all of us.. they are truly gifted to be able to be "worn out" and go early. Amazing.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in trial, persevere in prayer.
                                                             -Romans 12:12

Poland.. you changed my life.

welp,
i have an hour until my first class starts.. hopefully i can finish this by then! There will be no pictures until a later date bc of how slow the internet here is.. either check my facebook or wait.. very very patiently. :P

WHERE TO START?! okay, so we left Thursday from Gaming around 8pm, we watched the movie Karol, a story about JPII's life before and after his Pope-ship.. it was AMAZING and really got us all in the mind set for Poland.

Right, so we arrived in Czestochowa at 5:45 am and we wanted to make it to the unveiling of Our Lady's image at 6, so we legit SPRINTED up a hill and through some archways to get there.. and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen/heard. There were trumpets and drums playing while the image slowly appeared behind a screen thing.. we were all exhausted/having asthma attacks from sitting on a bus for about 9 hours and sprinting.. but it was totally worth it! We ate breakfast and then had time to explore the church that Our Lady is in.. They have modern stations where Jesus' passion is depitced with things that the Poles have gone through recently, including the holocaust, communist rule, etc.. (JPII, St. Maximillian Kolbe, and Mother Teresa were in images) They were very neat. I then offered my intentions/vocation to Our Lady by going on my knees around the church while they were having mass, being able to kiss the back of the image, and then drop off my intentions to her. <3 On the side of the image is JPII's stole he was wearing when he was shot during his papalcy. He gave it to Our Lady because he said itwas her that saved him.. that was really neat because it had his blood on it..and I got to see it, and he'll be a saint soon.. so I saw a sain't blood! so neat. We had mass in front of the miraclous image (who has scars on her face from Turkish attacks yet has even more beautiful radiance) and then we got back on a bus and went to Auschwitz.

Well.. let's start off here by saying that you need to put yourself in my state of mind when I say things about Auschwitz. Anything I say is 'neat' or 'cool', isn't really neat or cool, but being able to be there was.. okaaaay, so there are 2 parts to Auschwitz, I and II. I is the one with the sign "Work Will Set You Free" on it that people usually think of when they think of Auschwitz, however..that camp was much smaller and more modernized (they turned it into a museum) than camp II. In camp I however, I got to see barack 11.. the only barack that is exactly the same as it was in the 30's-40's. In there is cell #28, where St. Maximillian Kolbe died. It was really awesome to be able to see that and send up a prayer to such an inspiring, life-giving saint at his death site. A candle from JPII resides in his cell. In camp I, I also got to go through the only remaining gas chamber they have in Poland. I cannot descibe how I felt after leaving the premises. Seeing how small and cramped it was, the little squares at the top where Cyclone B (the gas) was thrown into, seeing 2 incenerators on the other side, and knowing that thousands upon thousands had lost their lives exactly where I was standing almost made me sick. We left there soon after that and headed to Auschwitz II, which looked like the concentration camp most imagine from movies/pictures. When you walked in you could see the railroad tracks that brought the Jews to the selection point, barracks upon barracks going both ways, and mounds of rock/dirt where they tried to explode the gas chambers so no one would know what occurred there.
Seeing Auschwitz was something I, a WWII junkie, always wanted to see before I died, and now that I did.. I promise you, I will never go back.
After Auschwitz and Our Lady of Czestochowa.. it was a very emotionally draining day, we went to our hotel in Krakow, got dinner, showered, and went to bed.

On Saturday we got up nice and early to tour the castle and Cathedral of Krakow, which was.. alright, boring.. and my mind is currently blanking on what we did after that.. but I'm pretty sure all we did was grab lunch (pierogies, duh! I was in Poland!) and then we got back on a bus for the Shrine of Divine Mercy, which was a little outside of Krakow. I hope you know a little something something about Divine Mercy.. if not, I'd advise you to look it up! :) I got to see the convent where Sr. Faustina saw our Lord, the very first image that was drawn of Divine Mercy (Jesus, I trust in You.), pray in front of her relic, do a chaplet of divine mercy in the convent church, hear a talk from one of her sisters, Sr. Gaudia who was just lovely!, go to mass at the Shrine chapel dedicated to her, have some alone time on this huge tower overlooking Poland, and receive confession from a Polish priest! (who spoke a little bit of English-'"talk slow, use easy words") This combine with Auschwitz really made me think about some not so awesome things that have occured in my past and really brough this desire for forgiveness and to let go of all the baggage and just live my life to the fullest. Sr. Gaudia talked about a playground analogy.. where kids when they play don't continually go up to their parents and ask, am i doing this right? is this how you swing? What if I fall off these monkey bars? They just do, they are themselves and they live and play..and that is how we are to be with the Father.. we shouldn't continually ask, is this how I do this? What if this goes wrong? What if I can't. We just need to trust. and Do not be afriad! (which is said 365 imes in the bible..why? bc we have to say it EVERY DAY!) So..just be w/ the Father. Let Him love you and BE! <3 The rest will take care of itself.

After the Shrine we went back to Krakow to the really cute maket square they have, hung out, got some delic desserts, ate good dinner, took some fun pictures, pretended we were the backstreet boys/girls international, went to a dance club, and went back home to sleep. If anyone knows me well enough,you willbe a little disheartened to hear that that mystery illness occurred Saturday night, so the meds here aren't doing the trick..but God's will be done! I'll save some babies with suffering!!

On Sunday we had a high mass (Latin) in the Krakow cathedral and then we had about 4 hours of free time..so Hannah, Jen, Leann, Danielle, and I rode on a fun little cart (like a golf cart w/ more seats) through the streets of Krakow to visit the main Jewish ghetto and Schindler's Factory.. both which were very sad. The ghetto had 3 walls remaining from the 30's-40's, that the Nazi's made look like Jewish tombstones so they would psych them out.. They had a memorial made to those who lost their lives there. We sadly did not get to tour Schindler's factory but we saw the outside and went on the inside part, just not into the muesum type thing (we're college student studying abroad.. wedon't have the $$ for muesums!) and then we took thefun little cart home! Jen and I sat in the back and numerous Poles laughed at our ridiculousness. We hung out in Krakow for a bit longer and then boarded the buses yet again for Wadowice.. which is where JPII is from. We prayed in front of Our Lady of Calvary where he often went, and I got to see his papal chair that was sent there (which had the marian symbol on it! <3<3) and then we went to another church in Wadowice where JPII went.. allthe time bc he lived there..and it is the location of where he prayed to an image of Our Lady of Pepetual Help, where he received his call to the priesthood--so I got to pray for my vocation in the same spot he received his call! and i lit a candle. ISN'T THAT AWESOME?! We had pope cake (the cake heliked to eat) and then boarded the bus for the 9 hr or so bus ride back to Gaming..

I hope I accurately described how incredible Poland was. They have been through so much hardship and suffering yet God continues to pour such graces upon them for it and shares it w/ us Americans as we made our pilgrammage there. I just cannot thank the Lord and Our Lady enough for the past weekend.

Continuing on my Mary high.. Some friends and I are traveling to France this weekend to see Paris for a day and Our Lady of Lourdes for a day! wooo-hooo. I'll be in a train almost as much asI'll be ther..but hey, it's worth it! :)

ANDDD when I got back to the Kartause, I got a very nice letter from mybest friend, Rachel Rea!! :) and a package from my family..with peanut butter!!! and other American food! yayayaya! Thank you!

I miss you guys. Thanks for taking care of my family, esp the peanut. She's kicking butt in karate today and I'm going to skype her so I'm excited about that. We have our second football game on Thursday.. We dominated the first game..did I say that? I don't remember..

well, anyways..thanks for reading this longblog. Pray to Our Lady-She's incredible, and beautiful and just.. amazing.

Love always,
His child.

Our Lady of Czeh

soooo i don't have a fraction of the time i need to devote to this blog about Poland.. but just please, for me.. when you read this..

PRAY TO OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA!!!!! She is amazing, incredible, beautiful, miraculous, OUR MOTHER OF LOVE!

so.. do it.

now.

i'll write tomorrow, hopefully--it'll be a novel.. because POLAND ROCKED MY WORLD.

I LOVE FOOTBALL.

So considering my extensive list of injuries since birth..I should just be a hermit.. and when I play sports, I usually wind up in some type of theraphy/hospitalization/rehab.. however, I am dedicated this semester to play flag football in Austria and try my best not to be injured! Football is my favorite thing ever.. being a lineman is like having your cake and eating it too. Way off subject.. Hannah and I figured out what I wanna be if I could do anything in the world: I'd be a hotel manager in a poor country whose hotel was pirate ship themed (and all the workers had to look like pirates) and I'd evanglize to the people there about Jesus Christ, our Savior.. and participate in a football league year round. (And yes, I am going to school for all of that ;))

Anyways.. I am so excited!!! Our first game is tonight, and I'm el capitain of the Savage Swans (Prof. Cassidy told us that is the oldest insult against Christians, written in Pompei.. so we decided it'd be a SICK football name.) And our team is pretty good.. we had a completly stacked team until we had to break off in two bc it was getting quite large.. but we should still be pretty legittttt.

We're going to Poland this weekend. I'm sooooo excited about that, too! :D POLAND=AWESOMENESS. Everyone talks about Poland when they come home from Austria.. Auschwitz,can you believe it? I'm going to see it.. I'm awestruck. My big sister in HH, Tricia sent me a card today.. it was really great to hear from her-she's leading the Hondaurs mission, so please keep her and her team in your prayers.

My family sends me mail alot, too. It is wonderful to have such an amazingly supportive family behind you every step of the way-thank you.

Well, that's about it.. I should be doing homework..
I'll post after Poland!! :)

here's a post of pictures for the last blog or so..

it's hard to post pictures on here because the internet isn't too swell.. but a lot of people aren't here because they went on trips this weekend and stuff.. so now that it's basically just me on the internet right now.. i can post them! :) Enjoy.

and.. it's being dumb again.. I'm sorry I can't post more-check out my facebook-they get on there easier than this.

I'm just hanging around the Kartause and Gaming this weekend.. and I babysat a local boy, Joey, who has downsyndrome this morning.. it was such a blessing! :) So great. He can't speak but he understands 3 languages:English, German, and Slovak.. teach your kids that Mom!! ;)

THE LORD IS SO GOOD TO ME.

Alrighty-time to catch up everyone on my life! : )

Last Friday, as my short post mentioned, I (along w/ about 80 other FUSers) went on a 6.5 hour hike through what school called ‘mostly flat ground’.. but which Erin calls the woods.. to Mariazell, which is a little village in Austria that a miraculous statue of Our Lady resides.. now don’t get me wrong-the purpose of the hike was amazing (pro-life pilgrimage), the beauty of the woods/nature were marvelous and breathtaking.. but at the same time, I’m still feeling it in my knees and my toenail must of got smashed and is now milky white, which I’m assuming means it’s about to fall off,  and my friend, Hannah, has nasty infected blisters on the back of her ankles. I’d really have to receive some graces to decide to do that again! However, I’m proud to say I did it and you can see the beauty in the pictures..

We had a FOP Friday night and then early Saturday morning we left for Salzburg, Austria (home of Mozart and the Sound of Music!!) It was really beautiful, too.. (duh, I’m in Europe) and it was neat to see some of the sights from the movie.. Mozart doesn’t really interest me though, I saw the outside of his house though-the Sound of Music is cooler. :P Let’s see.. what else.. we stayed in a really nice hostel, similar to Snoozles in Gallway.. I stayed with H, Jen, Alex, and Andrea..we stayed there for 2 nights and it was nice to spend time w/ different people. On Sunday about 50 of us went to Oberammergau, Germany.. which I already talked about in a different post, so read it if you don’t know what I’m talking about.. and we just hung around the adorable little village and went to Sunday mass in German, which was kinda cool-amazing how the Lord is still Lord in any language, such universality! Oh, funny side note-you have to pay to use a lot of the toilets in Europe.. and usually it’s like a turn wheel like at an amusement park so it’s almost impossible to rip them off.. but Jen, Hannah, and I found one in a cemetery  that you just put the change in a door handle and it opened into a single little toilet.. so we all chipped in and bought just one and peed together.. it was amusing and one of those little humrousos things you won’t forget : ) Then we found a little meat shack thingy wher I freaking ate bratwurst. My tastebuds are so mad at me for being here.. where are tacos, Europeans?! How about my dad’s frosted flake chicken?! Chicken in general?! Nope. Nothing. Plain Jane Erin has to eat obscure meats like Snitzel (Veal), Lamb, and Bratwurst. But it had fries w/ it.. so I guess it was okay. And then we found and bought stuff at this cute little wooden carving shop-amazing!! (I need to find a thesaurus for better words than beautiful and amazing) So I probs spent too much, but hey.. the passion play only happens every 10 years, so I say it’s alright!! Right, mom? :D The play was in German and about 6 hours long, with a 3 hr break in between.. the first half was a little rough to get through, mostly historical parts leading up to the passion.. but the 2^nd half was just breathtaking. Truly astounding. And they made these references to the Old Testament that I never thought of in comparrasion to the passion.. like Cain compared to Judas-Job and Jesus.. it was cool, made ya think! The crucifixion looked eerily real.. and it made me really really want to participate in Franciscan’s passion play during the Tridium. We rode a bus back to Salzburg afterward.. the rest of school went to Munich that day.. I’m okay w/ not going there. Hahaha

On Monday we left the hostel and I had hardboiled eggs for breakfast-it was so delicious. Sorry.. that was random. We drove to Mondsee in Austria which is where the wedding church from the Sound of Music is.. and we celebrated mass there! It was super great. After mass we had lunch, which is where I ate the lamb.. but I just pretend it’s another meat.. and then we had free time-most everyone, including myself, went to the beautiful lake they had (see pics!) I didn’t go swimming because it was quite chilly.. and the fact that Sal took my shorts and tshirt!  But a lot of people did. We hung out there a bit, taking in the breathtaking view, thanking the Lord for everything He has already provided for us and what He is still to do. Hannah and I grabbed some Milka and the Spar version of Doritos, which are healthier and delicious-er and we boarded the bus to come on home back to Gaming. Homework, homework, homework has encompassed the past day besides mass and adoration.. I haven’t been feeling so well, but there is so many things to offer it up for lately, that it’s okay : ) I don’t know what I’m doing this weekend yet, it’s only a 2 day weekend.. I’m probably just staying here, but Teresa wants me to do a day trip w/ her to somewhere in Slovakia.. so I may! Not sure yet.. I’ll keep you posted :P If anyone wants a postcard from somewhere I’m going or a letter or anything.. just let me know your address.. comment it or email it to me toJesusthruMary33@gmail.com

Miss you guys.. especially Riley.. I know you can’t read this because you failed your first AR test.. but I still love you booger ;) Privacy, privacy, privacy. I tell everyone how funny you are and everyone howls at your adorableness. Can’t wait to see you. The children here are adorable, but none compare to my cutie patootie of a sister.

<3

oh.. and I just booked the confirmation with Sr. Joes Elanie.. Hannah and I will be helping out the missionaries of Charity for a week in October in Naples, Italy!!! :D I love the Lord, I am so blessed to serve Him this way! Thank you for your prayers! (Now if we could only find a cheap flight.. hahah)

so sore, so blessed.

well.. if i ever thought sacrafices were needed, i'd sure as heck say they were today. the hike was about 6.5 hrs long.. my body aches.. hannah got nasty blisters on the back of her ankles that were so bad, her shoes are soaked w/ blood.. my knees are shot and the food isn't staying down..

HOWEVER! saving babies is worth it. seeing a beautiful shrine of Our Lady is worth it. and i'm forcing myself to get up the energy to walk to the FOP to be able to tell the Lord how thankful i am.

thank you for the prayers. you were all in mine throughout the hike.

love always,
His beloved

i just had another side note..

it always rains here. i will never ever ever again complain about the rain in altoona or steubenville. it is awful. i wake up and it's raining, i go to mass, it's raining.. i can't open my windows bc there are raindrops on them.

but i'm still blessed.. bc my bank doesn't pull that much money from me for converting euros from an ATM. thank you ARC. you are fab.

"I am my beloveds and He is mine."

Let's just say.. if you need some reassurance of the Lord  right now-you should read this-I've been so blessed the past couple days.. BLESSED! :D

well lots has occurred these couple days! First and foremost, I finally got the package from my family (containing mostly school books-ew-but, it was necessary for the classes I'm in! So, it was so great to receive that! (Thank you Carmelite sisters of Loretto for your prayers.. i know you won't read this.. bc you're well, carmelite but, i'll thank you in prayer as well.)

my classes have started to get a bit intense.. also ew.. but i'm managing my stress decently.

i'm starting spiritual direction with one of the T.O.R. sisters that has been here for 8 years next week.. so i'm super excited about that one! i hung out with Jorden a bit, who is the boy from my high school that attends St. Francis but is here in Gaming with FUS this semester.. so that was nice to have a little piece of home.

Adoration in the Sacred Heart Chapel started this week (Which Hannah and I got to kick off at 7am on Tuesday.. so greaaaat!) And we had mass with the Bishop of St. Polten (Altoona, PA's sister city-what what!?) then, too. so fabulous.

Onto other things. I was super blessed this week for numerous things, like i already said.. but 2 in particular were really nice to know that 2 of my favorite people (household sisters, Caty and Kristi) both contacted me this week and asked how i was doing, how i was adjusting, gave some little tips and words of wisdom (bc they're both old.. :) ) and it was just such a beautiful reminder of Carae Domini (my household) and my sisters and how those two really live the covenant in antipicating each other's needs. it was such a refreshment and i just wanted to publically thank you both. it meant more than you both could ever know. i was in tears walking to mass after receiving your letter, Kristi.

My little sister started kindergarten this week.. it was hard for me not to be there for that..but i was okay and i didn't cry as much as i thought i would.. she looked adorable though (we skyped right before she left.. even thoguh i had to skip lunch-it was worth it!)

We are going on a pilgrimage to Mariazell, which is a 6 hour hike to a church and miraculous Marian shrine..and I'm a bit nervous for the walk, but I'm very excited, too. It'll defintely be so good to add to my year sacrifice for children! This weekend is the school trip to Saltzberg/Munich in Germany..and our semester is blessed enoguh to be hitting Europe at the right time.. have you heard of the Oberammergau passion play? In 1633 plague and famine broke out and they promised that if it stopped they'd put on a passion play every 10 years.. and I am blessed, so freaking amazingly blessed, to be here on that 10 yr anniversary.. check out the website for more info: http://www.oberammergau-passion.com/en-us/home/home.html
So that is this weekend as well.. it cost a bunch of extra euro's.. so i'm further down on the finacnical realm right now then i wanted to be.. but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.. so it's worth it! :) so i'm sure i'll have lots of picture and such on tuesday or so when I can re-update this!

hmm.. what else.. They have a ministry here called Ministry to Moms which is basically like we are the local's babysitters for the semester which will start soon.. so i'm really excited about that-hopefully i'll be able to become like a part of some of their families since I miss mine so much.. I'm sure no Austrian kid can compare to Riley Bernadette, but they could at least be a distraction!

well, that's about it, i'm going to read some philisophy homework while working out if that's possible.. and then i'll force down some nasty caf (mensa) food and probably go to Ur's tonight.. it's been a long week so far hahah

Peace and Blessings!
Oh and don't forget to check out my facebook for more photos and such.. it's rather difficult to post them on here for the poor internet we get.. and i'm hoping to do a little mini tour of the Kartause w/ my camcorder soon and i'll be sure to post that! :)

Love-always,
Erin Lynn