WYD 7-16-08- Celebrations of Eucharist

The buildings and churches are so beautiful - we have been very blessed to be able to attend mass in each city where we have stopped in NZ (most of the time, the parish priests held a special mass just for us!) Here in Syndey, we have a 3 hour cathechesis each day where we have had a Bishop, an ArchBishop and a Cardinal speak to us about the Holy Spirit - and then afterwards, he says mass for us. Each of the speakers brought together different aspects of the Holy Spirit.

Pope Arrival 7-17-08

The pope arrived in a ship after taking a ride around the harbor- great energy here as we were waiting for him.

WYD 7-17-08

The kids at WYD - swap pins, trinkets, etc as a way to break the ice and encourage conversation. Here they are dancing with kids from other countries. A lot of countries brought guitars, drums, tamborines, etc and it is hard to walk anywhere without hearing beautiful music. What a great place to gather together and share their love of Jesus in a positive, exciting enviroment.

WYD 7-16-08

Here we are at World Youth Day - 500K people here - kids from all over the world - This is Ricky and Teresa. There are activites all over Syndey- concerts, workshops, forums. - we heard that this undertaking was along the same lines of having the Olympics - with more people!

Lord of the Rings - New Zealand

This is Mt. Doom where Lord of the Rings were filmed - we only drove by - would have loved to have gone boarding on it:) Several LOTR freaks got out took pictures - paid homage - we just drooled over the snow.

Funny Sign- 7-13-08

Ricky thought this picture was funny

Waiketo River - 7-13-08

Here we are on our way to Auckland - getting of off the bus - or coach as the kiwis (New Zealanders) call it- for a stretch