Friar Calin’s Summer Experience

There were three items on my summer checklist when I began my summer experience in El

Paso, TX at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish.

1. Get out of Central Texas humidity.......Check!

2. Practice my Spanish.....Check!

3. Have a great time.....Check!

As it turns out, I could’ve made more items on this checklist like, help make 2,000 pounds of masa into ready-to-fry gorditas, attend the Broadway play The Lion King, watch a baseball game in downtown El Paso, make bread with the Native Americans, drink a margarita in Juárez, give reflections in Spanish, and eat a whole lot of cheesecake, but that’s another story for another time. I will leave with great memories of meeting warm and good-hearted people of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, who are genuine and hardworking. I couldn’t help but notice the hard work and dedication the friars that I lived with for the summer had for their respective ministries. This is something that I experienced and it has propelled me to look up to them as role models within our community.

PAZ Y BIEN,

Br. Calin Vidaurri