Name Game

I wrote this blog entry for our house, but I really wanted to share it with you all my family and friends..ENJOY.

One day during spiritual direction, I mentioned that I felt that I wanted to do more with youth because that what I love to do. I was active back in my home parish, St. Joseph the Worker, with confirmation class/retreats, ACTS retreats, and active with campus ministry at UTPA. I was also a leader in Diocesan Youth Retreat Team(DRYT), where we provide retreats/rallies for youth around the Rio Grande Valley.

Needless to say my director, Bro. Pat (Bro), meets with the boys individually at the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) every week and thought this would be a great experience for me.  After much delegating which day would be good for us to go ( Neil does a group with the boys as well, it would be easier we go at the same time) and filling out ridiculous amount of paperwork to volunteer at JDC—we got our time, every Friday at 3-4pm. The JDC is actually pretty cool and very disciplined as well! The girls and boys have classes during the day but the great thing that I love is that they incorporate Lakota culture during instruction.  The kids get Lakota language and make a lot of traditional things like: bead work, drums, star quilts, and supper neat accessories. These girls and boys range from 13-17. The guards keep them in check but also are respected as their role models.  Most are in for charges like; breaking parole, stealing, drugs/alcohol, and beating up someone.  The class I will be doing is a faith-sharing group and not strickly talking about Catholicism but about God and the lessons and morals he shows us.

I was nervous about my first day there, I really didn’t know what to expect and was thinking of ways how I can show them who God is in a fun manner.   I quickly reverted to all the ice breakers through out the years I have done with retreats, with my confirmation student and through my communication classes. I got the perfect ice breaker—the name game!!! Who doesn’t love/hate the name game?!? Haha :)  I also wanted to keep the first day simple. I gave the girls a simple story about a bike ride with God (you can go to our spirituality night/reflection section of the blog to see the story).  I prepared ahead time for this class, I called ahead to see how girls there are to make enough copies everyone.  I ran my idea with Bro, he will be my right hand person to go to since he is a licensed counselor and has been with kids/adults in the prison systems for years, he reassured me that things will be fine and loved my idea.

The day came……we drove Friday afternoon to the JDC and I had butterflies in my stomach and just hoped the girls would like me. We signed in and were escorted to our room where we would be teaching our class. I said a quick prayer to myself to calm my nerves and let God work through me as His instrument.  The girls come in and sit down and I introduce myself, where I’m from, what I do, and why I’m there.  They were interested on why I chose South Dakota ( I laughed to myself because I didn’t, it chose me…God really knew what he was doing when he gave me this opportunity). They loved that I knew Spanish, so I gave them some basic lessons.  Next, I started the name game. The game was they chose their favorite food with the first letter of their first name, for example, mine was Monica muffins. Now that was the only thing, we go in a circle and try to remember everyone else’s name and favorite food before them. It was a  hit!! The girls like it and they started speaking out more. Then came the story, things were a bit silent and I asked some probing questions which got them talking. One thing about this story is that, I was able to ask who was God to them or if they even believe in a higher power.  Some knew God as their friend and many prayed to the “higher power” who they refer to Tunkashila, God as a grandfather, and active in Lakota traditions such as sun dances and sweats.  It was good to be able to base myself where to start the next week on their knowledge on who God is to them. I ended the class with a prayer….we held hands in a circle and I prayed for them and opened it up to prayer intentions, some were chuckling through the prayer but everyone prayed for at least one person.

It was a great start!! I have been going to the JDC since February and has been a great experience so far.  I usually start with an ice breaker, talk, activity, then discussion. I have met some great girls who really want to make a difference in their lives. So far 6 girls have left the JDC since I’ve been there and girls keep coming in and out.  I always look forward to Fridays at 3 o’clock; the girls just make my day and I keep thanking God for giving me this great opportunity to minister to these girls. As much as I am teaching them, they are teaching me.

 Monica

P.S Keep the girls and boys in and the ones leaving the JDC in your prayers. Gracias.

This is how we do....

 My dad has a christmas eve bbq at his shop every year, so his friends and customers stop buy bring some meat and we all eat, drink, and listen to good ole accordian music...LOVE IT!!!! The two men in my life that I love the most, my brother and my dadddy!!

Brother bbqing!!



twin love!

                                       This is a real texas bbq!!!! look down & be jealous!



This is a bbq!!!! YUMMMMY









Making Christmas cookies for the family!! :)

Can this be my plate?

We just love bbqs!! We had another evening bbq for friends and family christmas eve...look at that rooster! what more do you want, tamales, ribs, chicken, fajitas :)

Yummy stuff!

about that...

Holaa!!!

Sorry for not updating as much as I should, its not I dont love you guys but things have gone by FAST...geeze its already going to be March in a week n half!!!!

#5 plain and dry please!!! :) HEAVEN!!!!

 My trip home was freaking awesome!!!! I went from a snowy 20 degrees to a South Texas Winter of 80 degrees.  I left SD with winter boots, long sleeve shirt, thick jacket, and insulated socks....yeah once i got off the plane i was to change asap! I changed to a tshirt n sandals and felt ALOT better. I was greeting my my twin,mom, and cousins n their bfs. Then the place i wanted to go for 3 months  was waiting for me WHATABURGER!!

Two days later, my beautiful twin sister graduated YAY!!!!!!! Nice and small ceremony compared to my ceremony in May, we had a great speaker and I cheered loud when she walked across that stage...



The 3 college grads of the family..all from UTPA!




The familia!!!







We took lots of picturesss!! Just a few for your taste...NEXT ofcourse what a celebrationg without a PARTTTYYY...A friend of mine who graduated with me played for Marisa grad party, he has a band called Jack Rabbit Slim. The band was a hit, played  some 80s,90s, salsa, cumbias, country...AWESOME night!! Full of friends, famly, and lots of foooood!!



Dancing away!!





 For those who know me and Marisa, know that we love to dance!!!!! haha OH boy did i miss dancing away to salsa and cumbias..

For more pictures of this beautiful day go to.

Marisa's big day! (click the blue)



Comm studies peeps!

CONGRATS SIS! CHEERS



Shes freaking awesome, knows her since Pre-K!



ALMOST HOME!!

I shall be going home to McAllen,Tx Dec. 16th -26th!  My best friend in the world, my rock. my other half....thats right my twin sister! Marisa will be graduating the 18th of December!! :) I am so proud of her!!! These past 3 weeks I felt like I was at home already. I have booked a band for her grad party, reminded her about ceremony tickets and taking about food plans for her party. WOOO PARTY!!! :) :) Here are two of my favorite pic of us :)

Marisa and me :)

Marisa and ME :)

Betty Ford Family Recovery Workshop!

In my last post you read that I am part of the Betty Ford Family Recovery Workshop--well this past week was my first workshop. What I love about this program that it just doesn't concentrate on the addict but the family as well.  The family is very important in ones path in recovery.  I was excited and nervous, but totally did an awesome job for my first time. Me and Brother Pat were in charge of the Communication Workshop, which went really well. We were a good tag team on this. Aside from the Communication workshop I was the "tech" person, I and also the help of my housemate Mike re-did the powerpoint for the workshop and set-up and took down the set-up (thank you Student Union) It was a long week but being able to talk to these ladies in our small groups was amazing. Ofcourse there was a lot of talk about their lives at home and how alcohol and drugs have effected them, but I was truly amazed at their strength. I saw God in every one of those ladies, they truly give me hope.  They came to this workshop to really make a difference in their lives and find that support they need to be in sobriety.  The value of social justice that us Jesuit Volunteers live by is surrounding me constantly and this workshop let me see that up close and personal.

Loooong time!

I know I know, I havent posted anything in a while :( my bad!

For those of you who dont follow our house blog I am going to paste my recent post to the house blog here..so you kinda know whats going on over here.  It was my turn to blog about my experience here on Rosebud reservation so here is what I had to say..

A Change of Pace

Who knew 2 weeks ago there will be no kids at my one of work places. I work with religious ed classes with St.Francis Mission and Spring Creek. Starting this year St.Francis Mission came across a conflict between an agreement with St.Francis Indian School. The school has an agreement that with parent permission their children are be able to attend religious ed classes once a week for an hour.  We knew the students haven’t been meeting the states testing requirements, but didn’t know that their electives will be taking out and place some extra math and science classes and religious ed cut out.

Taking religious ed out is nonsense! There is so much anger, hurt, and addiction here that by the time they are in middle school alcohol and drugs are their only outlet.  Religious Ed is a chance for us teach the children to know God and understand there is someone with them who loves them unconditionally.  Its sad because on the res some parents don’t even show their children what love really is; even then most parents are out drinking and not caring to shower or feed their child.We just offer a chance for these children could have a safe and loving environment. You might think that these children wont get who God is, but OH THEY DO! They know that He keeps them safe and is with them when they are sad or happy—they know. We are giving them faith, hope, and love…which is something their family and school environments are not. A chance to love and be love my God instead of surrendering to alcohol, drug, or even to suicide.

I am a flexible person, so when it came to starting work here we were not having all the 200 1st-5th grade children that we were expecting but only 75 1st and 2nd graders– which was okay with me. I made the most of teaching religious ed to these kids, which I LOVED (especially if arts & crafts were involved)! These kids were adorable, although some might have been brats at times but they would totally make my day. Two weeks ago we got word that they are seizing all kids coming to religious for the rest of year and that was including my 1st and 2nd graders  .  We are currently in the process of dealing with this conflict and hopefully by March we will have an after school program for 2nd graders in preparation of a Native School Fr.Hatcher (President of St.Francis Mission) is wanting to start. Until March, I am continuing working one day a week at Spring Creek teaching religious ed.

Neil and I made these turkeys  -- One of our projects for Spring Creek to decorate the place... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 

So NOW the question is, What else do I do with my time? Well, speaking with my awesome Jesuit spiritual director, Brother Pat, I mentioned how the Betty Ford/SFM Recovery Workshop was something I was interested in and maybe even helping out. ( You can check out our other blog “Call Me Sober for more details about this program).  During this workshop there is a whole section on communication.  For those of you who do not know, I graduated from UTPA with a degree in Communication Studies.  Within this major, I learned and adopted communication styles and methods on how to communicate effectively interpersonally, interculturaly, nonverbally, in group, and in conflict ( These were all semester courses! It was so a fun and interesting major …I’m missing a few but they were all great classes).  I feel that God is showing me and giving me opportunities to use my different talents here on the reservation. This is a chance for me to broaden my experiences and even use my major.   This is new for me, but I love a challenge!! I am going to be in charge of the communication aspect of this workshop, which I am EXTREMELY excited about!!   YAY!

So all-in-all, I’m still able to work with children in religious ed  and have started officially on the Betty Ford SFM staff  . OH one more thing, I will also be helping out at Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum, which is actually one of the two Lakota museums in the WORLD!  So hopefully I learn and hopefully remember some Lakota words, traditions, and way of life. 

Keep our JV community and the people of Rosebud Reservation in your prayers and you all will be in ours.

Blessings,

Monica

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http://sttheresehouse.wordpress.com/  

JV life in St.Francis thus far....

HELLLLO!!!!!

Well for those of you who dont have facebook and haven't been stalking my pictures of life in St.Francis...Here is some for ya...this is a photo of my 3 community members.

                                                  From Left: Mike, Maggie, Meee, and Neil!!



My community members are different but they are all pretty cool.  Mike is working at the local radio station, which is a big thing. KINI FM 96.9 is how the natives get their information about news, deaths, announcements around the reservation. Maggie works with Religious Ed too but in Rosebud and Neil works with music in masses and during Religious Education.Things have been going a bit slow especially with Religious Education. I have started teaching some classes in Spring Creek and St. Francis but hopefully attendance will rise pretty soon, apparently everything runs a bit slower and so does attendance.. There has been conflict with the kids being released during the school time, which has been taking place for the past years. This past year, St.Francis Indian school  receive low test scores and wants to eliminate the religion classes that is just for one hour per week for grades 3rd-6th to try to increase the numbers of the scores. Which is NUTS!! I mean one hour every week away from school work will not hurt a person academically but really feed the soul of a child in religious ed. ALSO its not like it is forced either way, is it ONLY with parent permission that they are able to go... Hopefully we can get this running soon, if not my job will be really really slow! We and all the people who work for St.Francis Mission are praying that there is a resolution to this conflict at the moment.

 This is St.Charles Borromero church in St.Francis, SD and yes its really PURPLE!! :) I shall post more pictures of the inside when all is done. The paintings and the windows have been restored, so the only thing we are waiting for is statues to come back in...

Ofcourse every city/town has to have a water tower..and here is St.Francis water tower ----------------------------------------->

Mike who took most of our pictures gets some really good shots! So I gotta give him some credits.

Will post more pictures about our adventures next!

-Moni