Don’t Forget

My first week in Santiago I saw a sign that struck me.

"In my opinion, you're the most beautiful person in the world. Okay, I'm biased." -God

One of my favorite theologians, St. Augustine, put it best when he said, “Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.“  So don’t forget to stop and think while you’re traveling!  It’s a blast to go places, but more important to learn about yourself and the world around you.

On my trip so far I’ve continued to learn about the power of prayer.  I’ve been praying a lot for safety, about housing, for my friends, and for guidance throughout my trip.

During the first Friday of classes at Universidad Alberto Hurtado, we learned about the Chilean saint whom our university is named after.  Father Alberto Hurtado  (1901-1952) was a lawyer, social worker, and Jesuit priest that founded Chile’s largest poverty NGO, Hogar de Cristo.  In the afternoon we visited his shrine, which people around the world come to visit, including the Pope.

Without your help, we'll fall behind

Saint Alberto Hurtado - Help me to help

One of the aspects of attending a Jesuit university that I appreciate is for students to learn about Christianity in an environment of mutual respect.  Attending church is never required, but students definitely know where to go to have their spiritual needs met or just talk with someone that has a bigger perspective on life.  Just on campus at Georgetown alone there are churches for Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions.

One thing that I never liked about attending such a secular university as an undergraduate (University of Colorado at Boulder) was how the university completely ignored any mention of ethics or spirituality.  In fact, any mention of God outside New Age religion was strongly frowned down upon.  Similarly, the Ivy Leagues, which were founded to train pastors, now disavow their religious heritage.  In contrast, Georgetown embraces the fact that the point of education is to make the world a better place and glorify God.  We’re not without our controversies, but the difference in atmosphere is like night and day.

So much cool stuff already!

I’ve been in Paraguay only since Friday (4 days) and have already done a ton!  This past Sunday we planned to go to some adventure eco-tourism at a national park nearby, but unfortunately were rained out from an enormous downpour on Saturday—nearly 15 cm of rain in 10 hours.  In fact, I am typing this offline on my laptop late Monday night while it may be raining among the hardest outside that I have ever heard in my life.  Instead of going to the adventure course on Sunday (we hope to go in August when my brother visits too!), my host family decided to take us near the course and explore the area.  Most of the route was fine, but on the way a big section of the highway was flooded out.  Since we were in our SUV we decided to drive across no problem (pictured).

Wow! South America!

Picture of the Paraguayan countryside. This is a really special place! I really enjoyed seeing more of the interior.

We ended up having a great day.  We had a delicious lunch at a German-run resort in the countryside.  A little bit about the food here, which I will continue to rave about throughout this blog: Paraguay is one of the best beef producers, and I would argue makes the best steak in the world.  In the US, beef is corn-fed, which is not natural to the stomach of a rumen, and makes it more fatty and the taste different (still good, but different).  Different from the United States, all the beef here is grass fed and all-natural.  This makes it much healthier, containing essential fatty acids like Omega 3.  It tastes amazing!!!  The best part it is cheap!!!!  For example, two kilos of meat, ~4 pounds, costs perhaps $4.  Here the Paraguayans put on a mean BBQ, called asado, where the whole family prepares charcoal, slow cooks the meat, then enjoys, combined with wine and later a nice siesta.

Asado!!!

May be my favorite activity ever!  Additionally, all the food is all natural, homemade, and delicious.  Anyways, at the German restaurant was the delicious steak, potatoes, salad, some exotic vegetable I don’t remember the name, and delicious dessert.  The food here is soooo good!

Silvia (oldest host hister, front left), then Celeste (younger host sister), me, Dario, Estela ,and Vicente (Silvia’s boyfriend). Santiago (host brother) had to study – bummer!

Anyways, en route we stopped at an amazing church, Yaguaron.  In their heyday, Paraguay was full of Catholic missionaries, primarily Franciscans and Jesuits.  Both groups worked to educate and help improve the population of the indigenous people here, to the consternation of the Spanish crown, which later expelled them, since the Catholic missionaries frowned down upon indigenous slavery.  As part of this, the Jesuits created missions for the Guaraní.  Later this week I will visit the Jesuit ruins for the first time, a UN World Heritage site.  So at our stop was a church built in the 1700’s by the Franciscans and Guaraní.

From the outside, it appeared impressive. One of my favorite pictures so far!

Inside was even better!  The altar here was made entirely from wood by hand in the 1700’s.  It’s hard to convey via the picture, but was very powerful.

Here’s a really cool picture of our maté gourd next to the door.

Being a life-long Protestant, I have to admit I’m really warming up to Catholicism, as a lover of Latin America and also attending a Jesuit university.  Plus, I’m realizing more and more that being a Lutheran really isn’t that different.  More on this later.

Photo below with host Silvia and Celeste and their swanky Georgetown shirts!  Celeste made the best welcome kit package ever for me – with yerba maté, my favorite snacks, and also the brand of the first beer I ever drank (Baviera)!

Go Hoyas!