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

All of the Sheep 7-12-08

Here is a picture of the stage with all of the sheep.

Ricky and the Sheep -7-12-08

Here is Ricky - after the show they had the giant hamster like ball where we both climbed in it and they rolled it down a hill - the ball had water in it so we had to change into our bathing suits after freezing all day as it had rained. But it was so much fun - the water in the ball was warm, and we laughed and screamed all of the way down! - sorry no pictures of that as we were a bit busy - i think someone else in our group got pictures.

Shelly and the Sheep 7-12-08

We are at the Agrodome (or something like that) and went to a show where they sheared a sheep - displayed all kinds of sheep, sheep dog tricks - it didn't sound like it would be that much fun - but actually the guy put on a fantastic show and we had a baaall!

Ricky 7-12-08

Here is a picture of Ricky - in Rotorua NZ - on our way to a geothermal tribal living village about 70 people live there- cooking, bathing, everything they can with the therapeutic healing pools and the steam from the land - doesn't the camera love her!

New Zealand - Treaty House - Bay of Islands

We spent 7 days in NZ - we were lucky to be able to travel all over the isthmus - we started out in Auckland at the airport and drove to the Bay of Islands for the night - we saw the Maori tribe, the place where the only treaty to be signed in peace between the british colonies and the Marois. This is the picture looking out behind the treaty house - which lies in the harbor which was the hub of the country - long before Auckland

His Holiness was literally 4 feet away from us driving up to an alter to read us the gospel.

He was driving in a car they call the "Pope-mobile", in the other one he was shown on the screen, there were at least half a million people there last night to welcome Pope Benedict 16 to Sydney. Viva la Papal! Long live the Pope!

stain glass at st. patricks catholic church

our church group in Auckland and me and mom jacking around, go figure, and sky tower-taller than the eiffel tower! we got to walk on the top at night, it was crazy!

pictures

me and mom in new zealand

Hi guys! We are still in New Zealand, and we've seen the biggest tree in the world and lots of senery. Its like Pismo and brazil combined lots of rain forrests and lots of beaches. Yesterday we went to an aqarium here it was cool because of the overhead view. Today we will go down to a cave and watch glo worms and other things found in there caves. sorry for the lack of pictures i have not found a place to download my pictures. See you later! love you

Peace Out-Erica

Hey guys! We are in New Zealand, today we went to see the indigeonus people's, Maori, old land its where they signed a treaty with the British. It was kind of like a constitution. Then we went to see the bishop who started the catholic religon here in New Zealand, his mission set up. It was so cool! they had a printing press where they printed prayer books and the local newspaper just for the mission. Tomorrow we go to an aquarium in Auckland. I love you guys keep us in your prayers!

Peace out-Erica and Shelly

the start of our pilgrimage

today we made our way down to albuquerque, and the weather is crazy! we saw lightning that was so bright and close, it was way cool! anyways...tomorrow we fly to l.a. at 8:00 am then finally we fly to the land down under at 11:30 at night. so we have a pretty long lay over! so we will spend the day at the aquarium and the beach! i'll let you know how it goes! keep us in your prayers! love and miss you guys!


peace out-erica and shelly