Message from May 16, 2005

May 16, 2005

Hello family and friends,

In just one week we'll be on the road traveling toward Idaho!  Our sending ceremony (a sort of graduation) will be at the 11 am Mass at St. Louise de Marillac parish in Chicago.  By the grace of God, we will be in Jerome May 26-29; after which we will travel to the Treasure Valley to say good-bye to family and friends there.  Our flight to South America leaves from the Boise airport early the morning of Thursday, June 2.  
When we reviewed our Peru and Bolivia travel itineraries as provided by the Comboni's, everything looked fine and normal until we looked at the last page, subconsciously looking for our return flights.  That felt a little funny since there is no return flight booked.  We look forward, however, to this next step even though we are a bit nervous.

We've really enjoyed our time in Chicago.  There is so much to do here that sometimes it feels like the center of the universe.  We've been to museums, an aquarium, Lake Michigan, Navy Pier, in addition to experiencing good old Chicago traffic jams.  We've taken classes at CTU (Catholic Theological Union) and toured the Miller beer brewery in Wisconsin! We've really enjoyed getting to know the Comboni's and becoming part of their team of missionaries.

A few weeks ago, Hannah watched her cartoon video on the life of missionary St. Francis Xavier.  When it was over, she said, "we're missionaries just like Francis!"  She's right and we'll sign a contract next week which commits us to three years of overseas mission work.    

Please know that we keep all of you in prayer. We look forward to everyone soon! 

In peace,

Ralph and Theresa May