We made Texas bracelets to trade in the hallway while we charged our camera batteries. Did I mention we have one outlet for 30 people in our room? It's a mess.
We decided to go to Catechesis in another part of town so we could be closer to our buddy's performance. Joe Melendrez and some others had a stage set up right across from where the Pope was staying and had a Catholic rap show scheduled. We went to Catechesis for a bit and then ventured to get some breakfast and coffee. We found a cute shop nearby and I got cafe con leche, Ashley got hot chocolate and we both got amazing ham, cheese and egg sandwiches. It was much better then our morning pastry! We met some girls from Ireland and enjoyed talking about our homes. I got a little lephrechan key chain!
When we got over to the performance area, there were many policemen and cars. We've been yelling like Bon Qui Qui, "suh-curity!" There were also a group of young boys dressed and acting as a mini Swiss guard outside the Pope's hotel. We were shuffled around a lot by the guards on where we could stand to see the show. We met some French people and a whole lot of people from Los Angeles. We hung out here for a few hours for the show and danced around in the heat of the day with anticipation that the Pope would drive in. After a good deal of pushing and crowding (and waiting) the Pope came home from lunch and we got to see him! He was in an unmarked car but he did drive right by us. We shortly after saw the Pope Mobile too! How fun.
We spent the rest of the day shopping and decided to go by the Sports Complex where the English speaking events were. We found out that they were filming the Way of he Cross, an artistic representation of all the stations of the cross. We knew we didn't want to face the huge crowds to see the ceremony in person, but we caught the latter portion of the Way and enjoyed seeing the Pope up close and on the big screen, not to mention the artwork for each stations. The official WYD cross was carried by different groups from station to station and they represented their countries and their struggles. For example one group had suffered from drug addictions and another was made up of pilgrims from Japan and Haiti, since they represent the suffering from natural disasters. The program ended with a speech from the Pope.
It was a nice way to end the busy day. I'm beginning to reflect a lot on how fortunate we are to have the lives we have.
You are blessed and loved.
fbt&<3
Sabrina
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