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