Thursday evening we had a "Glamour Hour," and you'll never guess who showed up. :) Besides one lady who came to have her nails done, we also had Monsignor Bizan! I filed his nails while we talked. We did our best to convince him that he needed pink nail polish but he wouldn't budge lol. ;-) It was so neat to hear some of his story. He has done so much...he used to work as a chaplain for 4 years at the prison where Silence of the Lamb's was filmed, he's founded an organization to help alcoholics, and done many other amazing things. He also used to speak over 7 languages, but had a stroke a year or so ago, and was only able to re-learn English and Spanish (but that in itself is amazing!).
Also, apparently Monsignor Bizon knew Cardinal Hickey (who was from MI). There's a neat story he told us concerning him. One afternoon, Cardinal Hickey calls up Monsignor Bizan and says, "Come on over, we're going to have some tea." The Cardinal brings Monsignor in, sits down, and begins by saying, "Well, I want to thank you for volunteering to go to New Mexico..." Meanwhile Monsignor has absolutely no idea what the Cardinal is talking about. Come to find out, this is where the Cardinal was sending him! What a way to phrase it lol. :-) After we finished talking with him he took us to his room and showed us a photo of his mother, and gave us a picture of him to keep. It's such a blessing just to see the witness of these wonderful priests here.
Friday we were blessed to have one of the Sisters return after being ill for weeks. It was so good to see her. We also had a great Mass outside with Fr. Green, who had a bunch of friends and former parishioners of his come, and then had a bbq afterward. It was great to see him smile at having so many people come to visit with him. Here's a short video I took of a part in the Mass :).
Then yesterday I was in for quite a surprise. I was told to come help in the cafe at 2:30 since the normal staff weren't there and they needed help. I walk in to a huge gathering of the residents, staff, and Sisters all waiting for me and yelling, "Surprise!!" They had thrown a goodbye party for me. :') I had no idea, and certainly didn't expect it. They started singing, "For she's a jolly good fellow..." lol. We had lots of treats, and I was able to talk with a lot of the residents. I was also very touched to see how much it really seemed that the residents (and sisters too) would miss me. Some of the residents looked like they had tears in their eyes...I think goodbyes are especially tough on them. The Sisters were so generous. I also got cards signed by all the residents. :-)
Sunday was filled with blessings as well. We had a Brother come and play the organ for us for Mass, and I got to say goodbye to Monsignor Rineri who says Sunday Mass for us. Apparently he comes to MI a lot and is going back in a couple weeks to a high school reunion in the U.P. Then for lunch Sam and I got to eat with the Sisters :-). After we got to play Pinochle. Sr. Mathilde (who is 98) won and apparently she wins most of the time. ;-) It was so much fun and we had a lot of laughs. I was also able to get a picture with them (the one in this post) which I'd been meaning to do before I left. Some of the sisters were missing but in the photo about half are there.
Today was pretty hectic in the morning...running around trying to get ready to leave while still helping out and saying goodbye to everyone. I'm now at the airport lol, finishing this post since my flight is delayed. Hopefully no more will happen on the way back to MI. Thanks again to everyone who's been praying for me. I'll likely put up one more post on here after a few days (giving me some time to rest and reflect).
God's Peace to you!
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