Mission Carnival

On the weekend of October 25-26, we had a Mission “Exposition” here at the Mother House. In my mind, I called it a Mission Carnival. But, there wasn’t any popcorn or drinks or anything like that to be had. Sisters from all over the world work here at the Mother House, and they bring things with them that are sold during this exposition. These items vary from religious goods to books to woodwork to just about anything you might imagine. Other things that were sold were items that sisters who live here made throughout the year like baby clothes and shirts. The proceeds go to help support the work the sisters do in the missionary places that are extremely poor like Africa and Haiti. There were several “booths” and sisters had different shifts to work at them. Below are photos of Fr. Javier Alvarez (a Vincentian priest) blessing the expo before it began and of a couple of sisters working in their booths. In the photo of the blessing, you can see the “wood” booth, which is where I worked a couple of shifts. On the first day, we made almost 2000€! That’s a LOT!

The second picture is of the “Fish on a Line” booth. Little packages were wrapped up in pretty paper and tied with a string. You had to snag one with a “fish hook” that was an open paper clip on the end of a string. It was not as easy as it sounds! The African sister in the photo is from Nigeria. She is in my group. Her name is “Toyin” which means, “God is worthy to be praised” in her native language. I don’t know all the names of the other sisters in the pictures yet.

After that is a photo of a sister from Brazil working in the booth that sold lacy things like tablecloths and curtains, followed by a photo of the Polish sisters who ran the religious goods booth. The Polish sisters are all very pious and they always get that booth!

Enjoy the photos – the next blog will be about what we did on All Saints Day!