Year: 2013

Guatemala y su belleza

Quetzaltenango, usa su nombre indígena de Xela, es la ciudad donde estoy estudiando español. Xela tiene una altitud de 2.300 metros, y en los primeros días me sentí muy debil, como mi presión arterial sube. La región de Xela tiene una población de alrededor de 225.000 personas. 61 % de ellos son indígenas, 34 % ladinos y el 5% de europeos. La ciudad fue fundada el 7 de mayo de 1524. En Xela hay nueve iglesias católicas, así como el templo más grande de los mormones en Centroamérica. Tú no puedes contar las iglesias protestantes y evangélicas, ya que hay muchas. Iglesias bautistas y libres también se pueden encontrar en todas partes. La cultura maya se mezcla en todo con la fe cristiana católica. Las mujeres se visten con ropa de colores y llevan a sus hijos puestos en su espalda. Los guatemaltecos del área rural son bajos : los hombres no son más alto que yo y las mujeres son mucho más pequeñas. La gente de la ciudad parece ser una población más heterogénea, …

Guatemala and its beauty

Quetzaltenango, or to use its indigenous name Xela, is the city where I am studying Spanish. Xela is at an altitude of 2.300 meters, and in the first days I felt this quite stronge as my blood pressure incrised. The region of Xela has a population of about 225.000 people. 61% of them are indigenous people, 34% Latinos and 5% Europeans. The city was founded on May 7th, 1524. There are about nine Catholic churches, as well as the biggest temple of the Mormons in Central America. You don’t count the Protestant and Evangelical churches as there are so many. Baptist and free churches can also be found everywhere. The Mayan culture is mixed in especially with the Catholic Christian faith. The women dress in colourful clothes and carry their children wrapped up on their back. The rural Guatemalans are short: men are no taller than I and women are much smaller. The people in the city seem to be a more mixed population; they are called Latinos and are taller and with a lighter …

News from Brazil

Vocation leaflet in Brazil begins with “Jesus is saying: Let’s go and meet the Congregation “Our Lady of Sion”, Sr. Jacky and Sr. Mary Carmen arrived in Berba on Wednesday, October 3, 2013. The Gospel for October 4, which is also the feast of St. Francis, was Luke 10:1-12. “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” The disciples are sent only to places where Jesus himself wants to go. Jilvaneide and I are visiting sisters, we meet faith communities and individuals in the city of Rio de Janeiro and up in the North-East, Santo Amaro, Divina Pastora, Aracaju and Salvador. We go two by two and come to places where Jesus himself wants to go. After arriving Monday the 7 of October in the evening around 10 pm,  the morning the next day I visited the school of Sion in Rio de Janeiro where my first impression showed me the past glory once shared in …

Looking back

On October 13, 1992, I, Sr. Juliana, got off the plane Cairo just two days after the great earthquake. Cairo was in a state of emergency and everybody was cleaning up since it had been one of the worst that ever happened in Egypt.

Abuna Isaak

Berba where love resides.

Since the revolution of January 25, 2011 (which led to the deposition of President Mubarak), safety is very fragile in Egypt, and the legal system has unsolvable problems. Crime rate has increased dramatically: indeed a bottomless pit! Where should people hide when they could be killed without any obvious reason? When kidnappings of well-off persons, especially of Christians, happen every day without ever being resolved? A year ago, a young man from a neighbouring village was kidnapped; he has not reappeared till this day. Why? Since ransom was not paid in time? No, it was because the family and neighbours, witnesses of the kidnapping, had gone to the police instead! And so the booty that did not bring any money has probably been disposed of somewhere in the desert. Now, a man from our village, El Berba, has been kidnapped. He was on his way on his moped between the villages, when he was brutally dragged into a Toyota by a group of men. Osamer, the victim, is father of three children aged between 14 …

Jesus Baptismal place on the Jordan River.

Visit to Madaba

Our pilgrimage On Saturday morning August 31 we took a taxi at 9:00 o’clock to Madaba. In Madaba we went to the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George. Frst we went into the Center where we could read all the information about Madaba. Madaba is sometimes called the “City of Mosaics”. In the church we saw the “Mosaic Map” Showing Jerusalem and many holy places. The mosaic had two million pieces. Then we drove to Mount Nebo. At Mount.Nebo God showed Moses the promised Land. Deut 34. 1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan. We saw the Cross showing a brass serpent. Pope John Paul came to visit Mount.Nebo. We then drove down, down, down to the Jordan where tradition says Jesus was Baptized. At the Jordan we could see the people on the other side in Israel. It was very narrow. I put my hand in …