New friends, memories and adventures

Dear everyone,

Many many many greetings and a huge hug for each and every one from little me here in Chile. I'm sorry I have been so inconsistent with posting, I have honestly just been very busy!! 

I want to share a wonderful experience I had two weekends ago, and also share about the very unique way in which I celebrated my 18th birthday ;) :D 

The weekend of October 9-11 was very special. Firstly, because there was a "feriado", like a national holiday, so there was no school or anything on the 12th either :D Secondly, it was special because I was invited to a "campamento" in Colina, like a weekend for Schoenstatt girls youth at a shrine called "Valle Hermoso Del Niño Jesús", or "Beautiful Valley of the Child Jesus". This shrine is very special because it was just dedicated last November!! The girls were so wonderful, and welcomed and included me with all their hearts. It was fantastic. Although the weekend started on Friday, I arrived with a few university girls from Providencia (Colina is located just outside Santiago, like 45 minutes from Providencia) on Saturday morning. Over the weekend I had the opportunity to spend time in the shrine, time in the sun, time to get to know my new friends...and also the opportunity to share with the other girls about my Schoenstatt girls youth and Schoenstatt Movement back at home. For once I didn't bring my violin (at first they weren't very happy, but no one asked me, so I didn't bring it! Poor little thing needed a break from being played so often...), but I was asked to sing and one of my songs became one of the hits of the camp. It was cute, all the girls so excited to sing in English. :) 

The first night we slept on the floor of another Schonestatt high school that is in that area, and the second night we slept on the floor of a room in the house by the shrine and had all night adoration in the shrine. I ended up going with a few friends at 3.30am and stayed until 5.30am more or less...needless to say Tuesday when school started up again I was still very tired 😄 

Another fantastic thing about the weekend was the fact that we all got to help clean up the place on Sunday. My group was in charge of cleaning the shrine. We cleaned for about 4 hours...it was intense but so special! For once the abundance of Schoenstatt music I have on my phone finally came in handy, as we plugged in my cell to speakers so everyone could jam while working 😉 

All in all it was an unforgettable weekend, and I enjoyed myself SO MUCH ❤️❤️❤️

Panorama of the house and shrine. It's so beautiful! And new 😊 

Picnic lunch and singing time.

Supper Saturday night...basically most adorable thing ever. The crowns were for us to wear, by the way.

We walked for about an hour to travel between the shrine and the high school. We went with our banner and singing and all...😄 the theme of the weekend (and with which the girls have been working...) was "Sí Reina, por tu Corona hacia lo más alto!", "Yes Queen, towards the highest for your crown!"

Bonfire behind the shrine! I taught the girls a song/game that we learned in our youth back at home, which they loved and which we did a few more times because they really loved it that much. I think it originally came from Switzerland actually... :)

Adoration begins!!

Me and a few girls outside the shrine. 

Why do we love the shrine? Mine is the one that begins with "ahí"...FYI. 

More pictures...photo creds for the following to my friend Nacha! Perhaps some similar things...but I hope you enjoy!

More pictures of picnic lunch...nearly all our meals were picnic. So much fun :)

 Playing guitar in the chapel of the school where we slept Saturday night.

These two adorable little girls were hanging out with us on Sunday. Laura is wearing Hermana's apron, hence the interesting photo haha.

 Cleaning the shrine!

 Me cleaning the shrine!

I cleaned the interior walls for at least a good hour...it was exhausting but so rewarding.

 It just *sparkles* with cleanliness! :D

Running to the shrine! <3

Playing guitar in the newly cleaned shrine <3

And more pictures with the girls! <3 <3 <3

I think this is already a lot to digest. Lots of pictures and words. :) So I will leave you with this and promise to post again soon about my exciting adventure on my birthday last Saturday!
Until soon! Chao!

Con cariño,
Abby <3

A visit to Viña!

 Two weekends ago I had the special gift of going back to Viña del Mar/Reñaca to "Santuario Los Pinos" to help with a 36 hour overnight camp for pre-teens (ages 10-13)! This age group of girls is called "prealiadas" here in Schoenstatt Chile. There were 4 Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, 15 older girls as helpers (including me), and 105 little girls. They had a lot of energy!! But a lot of great spirit, and I had a great time.

 The theme of the weekend was "Prealiada atrévete: ¡haz brillar tu corona!" In other words, something like "Prealiada dare to make your crown shine!" It is based off of the idea, better called an ideal, that each person has an invisible crown because of our dignity as children of God, children of the King through baptism. Here they use the acronym "AVE" to help the girls remember what it means to bear such a treasure. "A" for "amor para lo que soy" or "loving who I am" - an important concept for this insecure age group! "V" for "veracidad", or truthfulness. "E" for "enoblecimiento a los demás", or ennobling others through my conduct. The "E" was the focus of our camp.

 I also had the great pleasure of being able to see an "old" friend - Carolina! She spent a few months in Waukesha this past year and I was blessed to be able to see her again at her shrine!

 Many hungry prealiadas ready for lunch!

 The shrine is on the property of another Schoenstatt school. We slept in the classrooms on the floor in sleeping bags. It was cold but fun! Luckily the girls in my room were good and went to bed early, like 12 am. Other rooms were up until like 3am...good thing it was only one night ;)

 In the evening, we had a time of prayer and singing outside the shrine (we all couldn't fit inside!). It was very nice. I played violin (as usual...) and others played guitar and sang. 

 Inside of Santuario Los Pinos!! If you recall, this was the shrine in which I accidentally set off the alarm a while ago...post here. This time I managed to avoid that haha...;)

 Because we are children of the King and Queen, they wanted to give us a visible crown too!! The leaders are princesses too, you know! :D

 

 My friend Eli with this adorable little girl in her footie pajamas <3

 Beneath the shrine I found Father in Milwaukee!! He always finds me to remind that even though I might be having the time of my life here, I belong in Milwaukee! :)

 Before returning to Santiago, we stopped by the beach! Luckily the 120 of us had it nearly all to ourselves. It was a beautiful day <3

 Typical beach photo featuring my feet enjoying the warmth that was robbed of me too early when I came in August and missed the end of summer haha :D

 Super sweet girls! Many of them are from Colegio Mariano (my school) and knew who I was before as the "exchange student who plays violin". I tell you, in a few years they're going to say "I don't remember her name, but remember that one gringa from Milwaukee who played violin?" :P

 It was really a great weekend.

 On the bus back to Santiago I ended up as the one person for whom there was so seat, so I sat on my violin case in the aisle for the 2 hour car ride. We had fun! These girls were very interested in learning about the USA and practicing their English. It was adorable.

 Always nice to get a #selfiewithasister to finish off the weekend :D This is Hna. M. Paula, she's from Ecuador, actually. 

Last Saturday, October 3rd, I met Mauricio, the nephew of one of the Schoenstatt Fathers, Fr. Francisco, who lives in WI (the priest, not the nephew). Mauricio is a young professional who belongs to the youth at a shrine called Campanario here in Santiago. He took me to a few tourist spots in Santiago that I had not visited before. We had very interesting conversations about politics, history, racism and such things. Very interesting.
The following few pictures are from a place called "Cerro San Cristóbal", where there is a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary as the Immaculata. There is a gorgeous view from the hill as well.

 Sort of twinning with Mary haha.

 We also visited the Cathedral of Santiago. Reminded me so much of Rome...<3

 The "Plaza de Armas", where the battle when Santiago was conquered took place, they say. The Cathedral is located there.

 "Plaza de la Moneda". This is the White House of Chile.

 We ended the excursion by stopping by a restaurant called "California's" which is apparently owned by some Americans. They have American food, as you can see :D

There are many other experiences that I could and would love to share, but if so this post would go on for ages. So I will try to make time soon to post again :) Many, many greetings from Chile, I think of you all often and even though I may be really bad at responding to emails and messages, I appreciate every single one and pray for you all. <3

Love,
Abby