HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL.. Ok, so I'm STILL wired from all the candy I've eaten since a little after midnight last night (since that's basically when they got done w/ the weddings that were done after Mass) pero it's ok lol. (And they just gave me more candy at work.. why is this a scary thing lol)
Well, I guess, even though I shouldn't.. I'm going to go ahead & waste some space on here about last night before I get to mission news. (Ok, some I'm a little excited.. I told you I'm wired)
NEways, as you've prob guessed by now, last night was awesome. The Church was beautiful... (flowers everywhere, & they were gorgeous) I love how St. John Nuemann's does the Easter Vigil. They leave it undecorated until the Gloria.. & we start outside w/ the Easter fire, then go inside, sit down, the priest & decons process in & light our candles. Then we blow them out & sit in complete darkness during hte first 7 readings from the Old Testament. Then we sing the Gloria as the RCIA people process down the aisle (they left during hte 6th reading) w/ the flowers to decorate the alter (well, around it) Then they sit down, we have the New Test. reading & then Gospel.. then Fr. Vic spoke, then Sister MaryAnne got up & called forth those being Baptized. Note: I'm Jennifer's sponcer (Godmother lol) so I had to go up too.. We all stood in a row behind (facing the people) the Baptismal pool. They Jose did the Litany of the Saints (including all RCIA' people's patron's.. LONG LIST lol) & then Father Vic blessed the water. Then he started towards the step & nearly tripped in lol.. then when he lifted up his vestments to step in we noticed he had on little wading shoes so we were trying really hard not to laugh. Jennifer was the fourth one Baptized, her sister Megan was right after her. It was really awesome. Luckily I got Albert to take pictures for me... I hope they turn out. NEways, we walked on down, she went to change, & we Godparents had to stand in front of the Tabernacle until they got done... THey Baptized the girls first beucase, they'd take longer changing... yeah right.. As 10 min later we're still waiting on the 3 guys. (there were 5 girls) lol. The guys so got teased when they got in. My fav was the last guy, Michael.. he's a big guy & Fr. Vic made the comment when he was getting in "I've been waiting for this one!" It was great. Anyways, then when they finally got in, we put their white robes that they decorated in class one day on htem. Then we went & lit their Baptismal candles & gave it to them. Then they went & relit everyone else's candles from theirs. Then we all redid our Baptismal vow's... & everyone got sprinkled lol... Then the people coming into the Church (Full COmmunion people) got called up, said their vows, then walked over & continued the line beside us. THen... First Communion & Confirmation people got called up, then Confirmation people got called up.. so the line was all the way across the front. Then Father Vic started on our side (thankfully) & confirmed everyone. After Jennifer was confirmed we went back to our seats and waited while the others were. After that Jennifers' family (who were all in RCIA) presented the gifts... which was really cool... & then Mass went on pretty much as normal... We all got to take Communion first... The whole thing was cool just becuase they were reciving it for the first time.. I guess speciall is more the right word. NEWays, Mass ended about 11:30 (it started at 8:30!!!!!!) & we hung around a few min afterwards, & then the weddings started. 5 couples!!! The Rodriguez' were the 3rd couple up.... all of them were nice though. After the weddings were over we went to the RCIA reception..... cont. on nex pg lol (& yes there is mission news in here somewhere)
