Hail Mary, Full of Grace

We're getting ready for our trip, packing six large suitcases with donations. The generous parishioners from St. Paul's donated school supplies and medications for this trip. There's too much red tape to take the non-prescription medicines right now. St. Anthony on the Lake will be sending a shipment to Peru in July and has offered room for the medicines. Thank goodness! Everything else will be taken on our trip with us. Thank you Nancy Reinbold for packing all the suitcases.

We asked Sister Monica if there was a small gift we could give to each child during our visit. She has asked for a rosary for each child at the school. That's almost 500 rosaries! Janet Shanahan and Mary Kay Lammers has a connection with "The Rosary Man", Dick Schimmel. His goal in life was to donate one million rosaries. He's now 83 years old and he's donated over 2 million rosaries world wide. Thank you Mary Kay Lammers and Janet Shanahan for coordinating this effort. And most of all, thank you Dick for your huge donation. Read about Dick Schimmel in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at  http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29204419.html. 

One of the suitcases contains six clarinets with cases. Thank you Nick Contorno for inspecting the clarinets. Now six more kids at St. Clare School can partake in the band. Not only did he inspect the instruments, he purchased new reeds for them. We have more instruments to inspect! Who knows where the other 50 clarinets will end up in this world!

Meet the Sisters

Sisters Matilde, Paula, Monica and Maribel

 

We really look forward to meeting our hosts in Paita, Peru in a few weeks. We'd like you to meet them via this blog. They are all Peruvian sisters from the School Sisters of St. Francis. All four sisters work together in the school to give the best education and formation in values.   Here's some information about each of them. 

• Sister Monica teaches English classes in the high school and is the director of the school. She also works in the parish with the Confirmation program with teenagers. She has visited the United States for her religious meetings at the Mother house in Milwaukee.  

• Sister Maribel teaches Catholic education in the school.  

• Sister Paula teaches history and Catholic education in the school. Besides teaching in the school, she helps in the dispensary, giving out medicines to the people who need them. She's also studying chemistry, to provide better services in the dispensary.  

• Sister Matilde has returned to Peru after eight years. She teaches Catholic education in elementary and high school. She also helps the parish with young people. 

 

Trip to Peru from June 12 - 20

Lisa, Deb, and Sarah

Sarah Daszczuk, Lisa Bixby and Deb Passino, will be traveling to Peru on behalf of St. Paul Parish. They'll be leaving from Chicago on Wednesday, May 12, arriving in  Paita, Peru on Thursday, May 13. They'll be returning from Peru on May 20.

Each day, the travelers will be updating this blog with pictures and stories. Please take the time to  read the blog while they're in Peru. They look forward to hearing from you via the blog as well. Please keep them in your prayers.

They will be spending lots of time with the children from St. Clare Catholic School. The school was started by the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1980. The sisters started with a pre-school. The parents wanted more. So year by year, grades were added, all the way through high school.

The parents know how important education is to their children. The importance of knowledge, the chance to learn, is everything to them. This is there way out of poverty.

There are four Peruvian Sisters teaching at St. Clare School. The school principal is Sister Monica. More information about the students and sisters will be shared with you as we obtain the information.