The Church is Universal

Happy feast of Corpus Christi!

I realize how long it has been since I wrote last on my blog… so I will dedicate another entry to life over the past few months at my new site, Maridi! But first I wanted to write a bit about my retreat to Kampala, Uganda and my time in transit in Juba!

Last week the SLM’s from Juba and Maridi made a retreat to Uganda! It was an amazing experience! There were so so many highlights, including, but not limited to, MEXICAN FOOD!!!  A burrito the size of my face was amazing after the monotony of daily rice and beans!

Another high on the retreat actually hit me on the first full day, in mass.

We found the nearest church and saw that they had a service at 6:30AM. Uganda’s official language is English, so I kind of assumed that the mass would be said in English. I was wrong. Everything was in the second ‘official’ language spoken in Uganda, ‘Luganda.’ And I thought to myself, how beautiful is this: I have no idea what the priest is saying… But I know EXACTLY what he is saying, all at the exact same time!!

Then it all came together today, on the feast of Corpus Christi or ‘The Body of Christ.’ I was jumping into a car with 1 father from India, 1 sister from India, 1 sister from Japan, 1 deacon from Vietnam, 2 pre-novices from South Sudan, 1 lay collaborator from Italy and me from America… The feast of Corpus Christi is celebrating Christ’s Universal body! The same body that brought 8 people from 6 different countries together in South Sudan to celebrate His life, death and resurrection in 3 different languages at once. That body is the same Body that brings 5 missionaries together for a mass in Lugandan! Even though I doubt anyone at mass knew all 3 languages that were spoken at mass fluently, we all spoke one language… that of the Body of Christ, LOVE!

*Let me clarify, the 3 languages spoken were English, Arabic and Bari (the local tribal language). The majority of mass was spoken in English and Arabic, but some of the prayers and songs were done in Bari. AND on top of all of that, the Arabic that father was speaking was a bit different of a dialect than many of the local tribal people speak!*

Mass in Mogiri, South Sudan

The reason I felt so comfortable at mass in a language that I was literally hearing for the first time was because we were all there for the same reason- Corpus Christi, Love! When I walk down the street in South Sudan, all eyes are on me because I stick out like a sore thumb… But at mass, even though I still stick out like a sore thumb for the same reason, all eyes are on Christ in the Eucharist! Love comes down, and nothing else matters because the Body of Christ is Universal, He goes beyond the 6 different nations represented, or the 3 different languages spoken. That welcoming feeling that I felt a week ago in Kampala, Uganda… That welcoming feeling that I felt today in Mogiri, South Sudan is the feeling of being unified under one Body of Christ! It is the same unity that keeps me closer than ever to my family and friends back home, even though I am thousands of miles away.

Love is not a feeling, it is an action.

We were NEVER told, “Make disciples of the nations that speak the same language as you and only go where you feel most comfortable” we were told, “Go, make disciples of ALL nations!”

When we forget the Universal Corpus Christi, we forget Love. When we remember Corpus Christi, we feel nothing but love regardless of language, color, tribe, nationality or physical distance.

May the Body of Christ unite us all under the universal language of love!

~Dan

Johnny leading the children before mass!

Road Trip!

Well, there is a lot new in my life! It includes a site change and a last minute road trip across pretty much all of South Sudan.

A few weeks ago, after a lot of praying and some emails, it was mutually decided that a site change would be in the best interest of all. Between being a lone SLM and the work that was offered in the Vocational Training Center and parish (I do not speak Arabic and I do not know a trade, so both of those ministries were difficult for me to fit into) of Wau, it was felt that I could better serve the mission at a different site.

Enter Maridi: The town of Maridi is a few hundred km from the capital, Juba. They have a few Primary school teaching opportunities for me, I will be teaching Math to Primary 7 and 8 students, some engineering related work as well as working on the opening a secondary school (funding, logistics, etc.).

After knowing my new site I was set to leave on February 2^nd. To make a long story short, the flight on the 2^nd was fully booked and the other flight I was supposed to be on was not operating yet and would be canceled, so I departed by car from Wau to Juba with a stopover in Tonj for a night. Tonj is about 100km (2 hours) drive from Wau. Tonj to Juba is about 500km (11 hours). If you do the math, you can see that this is about 50km/hour… and if you look in your car next time, you can see that this speed is quite slow (as I am sure, like me, 50 km/hr does not mean much to you unless you convert it to mi/hr)… The road was dirt the whole way with pot holes the size of the car itself! Yes, my back paid a HUGE price on this road trip.

Just after Tonj

 The long road!

 We only stopped 3 or 4 times the whole way

There was a hut at one of our stops where 3 little children came running out to the car to see what was happening... Their smiles were one of the blessings I talk about at the end! : )

In a 13 hour car ride you have a lot of time to think. I realized that I was not happy about leaving, but I was very excited about going! Seems contradictory, right? Wrong. Let me explain!

I loved Wau! The children, the town, everything… Wau was a great place to be! It was difficult to say good bye and leave the town. In fact, on my last day, at oratory, I was saying good bye to the kids and I told them, “I have to thank all of you! It was a true blessing and joy for me to come here every Sunday knowing that I would be sharing time with some of the most well behaved, loving children there are!” When I would look at their smiles I felt nothing but joy and love for life! I would look at their smiling faces as they ran around in all their innocence and I saw nothing but Christ in them… then I realized this was my last day in Wau with them… I questioned: “Am I making a mistake with this change?” “Did I get it all wrong and am I leaving the place God wants me to be?” “Am I leaving because I failed at responding and rising to the occasion, or am I leaving because it is where God wants me to go?” It hurt. Good byes are ALWAYS hard. So, that is what I mean when I say, ‘I was not happy to be leaving Wau.’

Trouble! This one is from the summer camp.

Brother Roger made hats for everyone in honor of the feast of Don Bosco!

 Oratory is ALWAYS a good time! : )

At the same time though, I am so excited to be going to Maridi. I know I have work to do, I know I have 2 AMAZING fellow SLMs, I know I have a family and community there to support me in love and faith! I could not be more excited to spend this time of service with Grace and Caitlin! The growth and self realization I found in Wau was amazing, but the work and service I can provide in Maridi will be amazing, and of course, Christ will always provide growth in Him, especially in Maridi! : ) So, I can firmly say that I am excited to be going to a site where there is more fitting work and a stronger community!

As for the questions I asked myself last Sunday at oratory: Since God is amazing, He thoroughly answered them in the car ride and when I arrived in Juba. Little things like a beautiful sun rise/set, no mechanical issues in the car, a warm welcome from the Tonj and Juba communities where I spent the night, and a gift from Luke from Jerusalem when I arrived in Juba all made me feel so happy, at peace and loved! These little blessings are God’s way of saying, “You are my son, and I love you!” Indeed I am, and indeed He does!! : ) Never let blessings pass you by, they are God’s way of telling you that He loves you abundantly and unconditionally! He is in every breathe and every breathe is sent from Him. If we want the most out of life, we can never forget that!

For now, I am safe in Juba waiting for a ride to Maridi. I think I will be leaving early next week! Please pray for the rest of my journey and my new mission!

Peace and Love, Forever!

Cool Story

So, I have a pretty cool story for you. Actually, it is not as much cool as it is funny. But I will warn you in advance, I am typing this online and not in Word first. Please ignore the bad grammar (I am doing that because there will be a lot of pictures I do not feel like worrying about the formatting afterwards, this way I can just do it all at once).

Anyways, something wierd happened about a week ago. All of a sudden EVERY person in the whole city of Wau knew my name. I could not walk more than 10m without hearing someone yell "Daniel!" I was confused. But what confused me more was that they were saying "Daniel Bryan" or "Daniel Brown" So I was thinking to myself:

"Okay Dan... you started summer camp a few weeks ago, I guess word spread that the only white guy in Wau's name is Daniel, and I guess there is some famous guy named Daniel Bryan, so they just yell that since it his name is Daniel too."

So I convinced myself that word spread around town what my name was... Well, then I noticed older guys saying the samething... So then I thought:

"Okay, that is wierd... that guy is like 30, camp is for students through Primary 8... how did word spread to him being in a completely different age group?"

I had to get to the bottom of this, so I looked this Daniel Bryan cat up...

Okay, so that is Daniel Bryan. It became abundantly clear why all of a sudden EVERYONE "knew my name"

....This is me...

This is me at a football tournament that our parish is hosting.

Yes, my beard has gotten rather unruly.

But as soon as I googled him I realized they did NOT know my name.... they knew this WWE star and saw that I was a white guy with a beard too.... it was just 100% coincidence that we are both named Daniel!!

I was a bit bitter. One sister asked me, "Daniel, are you not shaving for style or because you are lazy?" I said, "Sister... Jesus had a beard, and we are called to be Christ like." Okay, so it actually is just out of laziness that I have this beard...

But, this is what I was going for with the beard...

Or this...

Why does no one say, "Francis of Assisi!!!!" or "Jesua!!!" (Jesus in Arabic, not a typo**) when they see me and my beard?!

In their defense, not every picture of St. Francis has a beard. So they are off the hook for that one. But in almost every picture, Jesus has a beard! So, why do I hear "Daniel Bryan!" not "Jesua!?"

I joke around about my beard and all, but it should make you think... where do religion and Christ place in my mind... Behind Daniel Bryan or at the forefront?

No, I do not think my beard should make everyone think of Jesus, but putting my beard aside, when we see other people do we think of them in terms of pop-culture and how beautiful or not they are... or do we think of them as being children of God with Christ dwelling in them?!

Jesus dwells in every single one of us (yes, even those that you struggle to love and frustrate you to no end), how often do we bring that to mind?

Peace and Love,
~Dan

Shenanigans!

New Years and Christmas have both passed, and 2013 is starting off well! I just thought I would share how each of those 'big days' went with a few pictures! : )

I talked about my Christmas day before, so I will just post a few pictures! They are all taken from a part of town that we call Loyola (it is where the Jesuit fathers stay and work). It is set up on a hill a few kilometers away from the downtown, market and where we live, so it was the perfect opportunity to take a panoramic picture of all Wau.

This first picture shows most of the downtown of Wau off in the distance, with the closer houses being the Loyola area. The white dot on the horizon, on the right side of the picture is a hotel, we live pretty close to that hotel!

 Same as the first picture, you can see Wau off in the distance, with the Loyola area up front!

You can see the big UN tents over on the left side and a bit in the center. The UN camp is huge!

Now that the pictures finished loading, I notice it is hard to see everything... I was just using my phone... sorry about the quality! : (

As for December 31st, we had a fun game day for the children! To celebrate the new year, Christmas and the feast of the Holy Innocent, we organized a day with some games and prizes to be won for all. Then the day finished with lunch!

Each game was worth a ticket, and tickets could be redeemed for prizes (suckers, biscuits, pens, notebooks etc.) We had a...

 three legged race!

 a fishing sort of game with bottles and sticks

 sack races... and many other games!

And, as mentioned, we finished with lunch for everyone!

All in all, I think the day went pretty great. Although, I think I miss-priced the prizes... sweets were 2 tickets, pens were 5 and notebooks were 7, i gave out about 200 sweets and just about 20 notebooks. haha As soon as they would get 2 tickets they would come straight for the sweets! (But eventually we ran out and they had to save up for the pens and notebooks and other prizes)

The beautiful thing was- One boy bought about 6 lollipops and I asked him if he was going to be sharing them to everyone else... and he said his sisters were at home that he was going to share with! So that was really nice to hear!

Anyways, overall, the holidays went pretty well and all had fun! : ) New Years day was pretty anti climactic. Just life as normal! I did stay up until midnight though, we had a nice prayer service in our community right at midnight... great way to ring in the new year! :)

Peace to all!

Welcome, 2013!!!

I was thinking about New Year’s resolutions today; I was also reading the Bible (great combo)! I read when Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:48) At first, I said, “Uhhhhh…… okay….. care to elaborate?” Lucky for me the answer was, “I did! Read the rest of this Bible.” …Well played God, well played!

As I was thinking about those words, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” I was thinking, it does not say, ‘be better than others’. It does not say, ‘strive to be the best.’ Nor does it not tell us to leave others behind. In fact, being perfect would require us to help others along as well! To be perfect would be to become as Christ-like as possible. To be Christ-like requires drawing others to be Christ-like as well.

I am a pretty competitive guy. Growing up and all through college, it was always about being better than the others. Tests, grades, sports, work. I had to be better. But we are not asked to be better than others. Being better than others requires the ‘relative failure’ of the other (yes, we might both pass a test, but relative to me, the other guy failed, or, I failed relative to him). BUT! If I am working to be perfect, I will desire it in my heart for the guy next to me to pass as well! And that is something beautiful: getting to the point where I no longer want to outdo the other guy.

Does this mean I have to lose every game of basketball I play from now on? NO! If we play, I will win!  But looking for the victory alone cannot be our attitude. I want to look for perfection, and let what happens, happen. I won’t be upset if I lose, I won’t be prideful if I win. (this attitude has yet to show up in my life… that’s why it is part of the resolution! Haha)

Sports are not exactly what I am getting at. I am getting at life. Let this new year bring a renewed enthusiasm for striving for perfection, not to be better than others. Let our perfection reflect what the Gospels talk about. Let our idea of perfection only be complete when our brothers and sisters are growing with us, not failing relative to us! We are not called to be better than anyone; we are called to perfection.

We are human, so we may never be fully perfect… but we HAVE TO strive for it. We have to make it our resolution to strive for perfection at every moment. Even though we may fail in this resolution… First, we have Jesus to fill our weakness. Second… who has ever, in the history of humankind, ever succeeded in fulfilling their New Year’s resolution?! Do not let our human weakness, or potential failure, stop you from striving for that perfection! We are very clearly called to strive for perfection, it must be our resolution!

Happy New Year to everyone!! Just 92 minutes to go for me! J

Merry Christmas (Boxing Day)

Merry Christmas to all! :)

Christmas here in Wau was pretty great! We had mass in the morning and later went around to each of the religious communities and to say merry Christmas! We also had the chance to visit the hospital here to say merry Christmas to some of the patients who could not make it out for Christmas! It was a very blessed day!

Here is a fun little movie quote:

Ricky: Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers to the south call you, Jesús, we thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Domino’s, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family, my two beautiful, beautiful, handsome, striking sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, or T.R. as we call him…

Ricky: Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife’s father, Chip. We hope that you can use your Baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. And it smells terrible and the dogs are always bothering with it. Dear tiny, infant Jesus, we….

Carley: Hey, you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don’t always have to call him “baby.” It’s a bit odd and off-putting to pray to a baby.

Ricky: Well, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I’m saying grace. When you say grace you can say it to grownup Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus or whoever you want.

Carley: You know what I want? I want you to do this grace good so that God will let us win tomorrow.

Ricky: Dear tiny Jesus, in your golden-fleece diapers, with your tiny, little, fat, balled-up fists….
Chip: He was a man! He had a beard!

Ricky: Look, I like the baby version the best, do you hear me? I win the races and I get the money.

Cal: I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T shirt, cause it says, like, “I wanna be formal, but I’m here to party, too.” Cause I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party…
Ricky: Okay. Dear 8 pound, 6 ounce newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant and so cuddly, but still omnipotent, we just thank you for all the races I’ve won and the 21.2 million dollars – woo! (the rest of the family says “woo” too) – love that money, that I have accrued over this past season. Also, due to a binding endorsement contract that stipulates I mention Powerade at each grace, I just want to say that Powerade is delicious and it cools you off on a hot summer day. And we look forward to Powerade’s release of Mystic Mountain Blueberry. Thank you for all your power and your grace, dear baby God. Amen.

Although I do love the movie Talledega nights, that scene did not have anything to do with Christmas. I just got a good laugh when I thought of it the other day.

Unfortunately, I did not have KFC, Taco Bell and Dominos. One thing that made this Christmas unique was the food prepared by the community members! We had a few great dishes prepared by some of the Indian volunteers here! We were talking about what Christmas usually includes in the different countries people are from and the one common thread was food! So, to share the Christmas meal with the community was a blessed time!

One thing that has had more of an impact on my Christmas here in South Sudan is the quote from the Gospel of John:

"In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God

He was in the beginning with God

All things came to be through Him,
and without Him nothing came to be.

What came to be through Him was life
and this life was The Light of the human race.

The Light shines in the darkness and
the darkness has not overcome it."

                                                             John 1:1-5


I used this for a Christmas card I made for sister during our Secret Santa here in the community, and I was thinking about it a good amount during Advent.

Jesus is the light of our life. Let Him be born in your hearts and no darkness can ever overcome you. Let Him be born in your heart and no amount of suffering can overcome the graces he pours upon you.

Think and pray about it for a few days and think about what it means in your life! :)

Sorry this was delayed, it is actually boxing day now… but that’s okay!

Peace and Love during this Christmas season!! :)
~Dan

ps. Boxing Day is a holiday in England, the day after Christmas. 

End of Ze World

Sorry, I kind of rushed this post. I wanted to make sure it was posted before the world ends!

So, after a slight scare that the world was going to end a few days ago (on 12/12/12)… Turns out it will actually end in a week (12/21/12)!! I was misinformed. Thank goodness because I still have so much left to do!

It is a pretty cliché question to ask, ‘what would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow?’ but I think it is an important question! It is important because it tells us what we should truly be doing everyday of our life; accomplishing all of those things that we truly want to accomplish. Like the Tim McGraw song says, “Live like you were dying.”

It is important, but tricky.

The typical answer includes everything that we have always wanted to do and then some! It gets tricky because the way we would live, if the world were going to end, would include: go skydiving, rocky mountain climbing or to go 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Choo. I think the vast majority of us (myself included) would have a list that includes so many things that would bring worldly happiness to ourselves. But what does that say about us? What does that say about what is most important to us?

The media and the better portion of the corporate world encourage instant gratification and indulging in what you want right now (think about it, do you think McDonalds would have a marketing scheme based on self denial and sacrifice?). Yes, I would probably want to travel to Tahiti and eat a nice steak dinner. If that is what is at the top of my list when the world is ending, where will that land me after the world ends!? We always ask this question but seem to forget about AFTER the world ends bit. It is like reading the preface to a book, then ignoring the remainder.

What about loving deeper, speaking sweeter, and giving forgiveness that you are denying?! Where will that land us after?! I like the answer to this question a lot more than the answer to the above questions! J If you feel like you would have to go to confession one more time before the world ends, GO TODAY. If you feel like you would have to go to mass one more time before the world ends, GO TODAY!

Let us live everyday selflessly, let us live everyday with hope in eternal life, let us live everyday to be Christ’s light to others. Then we do not have to worry if the Mayans were right or not! Then the answer to the cliché question would be, “Well, I am going to do tomorrow, exactly what I did today.” Our number one goal in life should be to obtain eternal life for ourselves AND lead others to the same. If that is our goal in life, then the way we live if the world was going to end needs to reflect that. And if that is what we would do when the world is ending… that must be extremely important to us. Therefore we have to do that every day of our life. And then the answer to the question, again, can be nothing other than, “Well, I am going to do tomorrow, exactly what I did today!”

So yes! Live like you were dying, live like the Mayan’s were correct! But first pray about it. Let us break away from the idea of instant gratification and self indulgence and focus on what will lead us and others closer to life everlasting! And do that ever day, even on 12/20/12 (the day before the world ends)!