Howdy

Hi there folks,

I was asked where my weekly blog post was and realized I had written in my journal but not here.

So let's see... We had two major liturgical days here, All Saints and All Souls.
As I'm sure many of you know All Saints is an important day in the church year- here no exception. A twist came for the worshipers when rather than singing some song about water, the Scola sang a South African freedom song in Ko sa, the native language. It was So much fun to learn, the teaching method used was a nice reminder of my childhood. I didn't learn to read music until high school so I learned everything by call and response. Since this is in another language it was much easier to learn the words by having them repeated over and over. It was me, Rob and Ruben and a girl who volunteers here along with the Brother who's sacristan as well as one of the choir leaders. This brother I didn't know very well and admittedly was a bit nervous around. He's nice just hard for me to relate to, and read by his tone. Now however after spending some quality time with him a bit, I think the wall between us is if not completely down, but maybe easy to climb over.

The song rocked! I had the soprano part which was cool because I had a bit of a solo. Basically I had a bit to sing by myself while everybody else held their note. Ruben & Rob were basses the brother was the tennor and the girl was alto.

It's awesome, not only can I read gregorian chant, we the interns sing a lot of the antiphons with the brothers, in addition to being able to read the hymnal on my iPad, the antiphons in my notebook are 'the exploded ones' :)

So All Souls was pretty awesome too, a brother read the names that had been written down. I know it was over a year ago but I put my grandma's name down and I wasn't sad or whatever when her name was read.

It's been getting dark early here but thankfully we 'fall back' either Saturday or Sunday night. Someone will announce it I'm sure. My box from my parents arrived yesterday. I got my winter gear some different dress clothes, I've got a shirt and a pair of pants, now I can mix them up.

As far as discernment stuff goes, I got a bit more info on the diocesan process- thanks Rob! I also hung out with a nun today! It was a fun two hour conversation. She's a guest who's from England but with a sister convent in New Jersey. She suggested I go home for a bit during my vacation time to see how I feel about going back into what my before-the-monastery routine then transition back here. I'm seriously thinking about when and how I do that. I want to take a bit of time to visit family in the NY/NJ area too as well as check out a convent or two to see how life in community is lived out for nuns. I know that SSJE is not representative of all religious orders and who knows. As I have said and continue to say "where God calls, I go".

Can't think of anything else to talk about... So is there anything you all wish to know? Feel free to leave a comment!

Much love to you all
Nancy & Doc


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