One of the things that I have been getting used to once more in the past week is being on my own again. It was the realization that, with Disco Dave leaving the house last Monday, and with all sorts of people being in the house since last December (Colm Hogan before taking up his neighbouring missions, as well as Terry, Grant & Helen), I knew that I would be back to a quieter life. So, yes, it is quieter and I miss the company but there is always a load to keep me on the go…… This week we had a bit of a stir in the school. When the school started there were only nine teachers and it was very much a wee family working together. However, with almost twenty-five teachers, it is impossible to keep that small spirit going. Over the years, then, there have been various tense moments. This week saw things come to a head. I wasn’t there but on Wednesday the staff had – as they would say in political debates – an open and frank discussion. It seems that there are divisions – as there would be in any community that size. The thing is we were due to go on a three-day retreat next week and so, realizing that not everyone is ever able to go on the annual retreat, I decided to cancel the retreat so that we can dedicate two mornings next week to looking at the problems and seeing how we could move forward. Mostly what you see when you enter our school (and Disco was writing this in his recent Diary entries) is a very happy and untied school. But, like good Latins, things come to a head every so often. We pray for light at the end of our tunnel…….. After our visit to Manta last week with the Rotary club, things are moving ahead with the proposed Medical Centre. Rotary are going to be chasing funders for equipping the centre. Hogar de Cristo, the housing charity, is running it and I am waiting with fingers crossed for funders to appear from back home to allow the building to go ahead. All three interested parties met this week – and the big chief, Hermano Roberto, of Hogar de Cristo turned up. Hs intervention was fantastic: we looked at the various locations for the centre. I had discounted the plot of land right beside the Nursery and my house because the ‘lawyer’ had said ‘no’. However the lawyer is no longer around and Hermano Roberto asked why we don’t go straight to the City Council and ask if we can get the land. If it doesn’t come through, we still have the school land but this would be marvelous and would bring Church, House, Nursery and Medical Centre all together on one bit of land. I have never prayed so strongly for a favourable solution. You don’t have to wait a long time in these parts before another ‘fiesta’ comes along! And, in Church terms, we finished another Novena yesterday. Resucitado chapel had a novena to the new Guayaquil Saint Narcisa of Jesus. Each night they had a talk from an invited guest (I was the first – there wasn’t a big crowd) and then yesterday we had a big celebration Mass. This was followed by a procession through the streets – accompanied by a local band – with the big Narcisa statue and fireworks going off all over the place. Today there are games etc for the kids which I will be going to shortly. One thing for certain the latins, even if they are poor, certainly know how to put on a celebration.

We were down at Aynague on Monday and Tuesday with the St. James’ priests. It is always great to be down there and relax a bit, get everyone’s chat and take the Mickey out of one another. They also have satellite telly there so we were able to watch the Man U game the other day. The camp was divided, mainly Celtic fans but Paddy McIntyre stood out as a former season book holder at Old Trafford. No need to go into who was the happier at the end of the game ….

We had a great day yesterday at the inauguration of La Paz chapel. As with Maestro chapel, we had the blessing ceremony first, then the Mass and then a fiesta out on the street afterwards with dances from loads of the kids and even a mad Scotsman. There were loads of folk there – with plenty coming from other chapels and, indeed, from the centre of town. Gloria Nieto, our 75-year old granny catechist, is a fantastic woman and a terrific example to us all. She, along with her sister, Isabel, comes two and three times a week from the city centre to help in whatever way she can. She has been doing so for around three years and has really transformed the community from being divided to being united and motivated. In any case, the chapel is looking fantastic – statues, benches, altar etc all looking great. And, of course, Tito was there to lend a motivating hand for the music. On Friday I also spent the day with Tito as we traveled up the coast for three hours to the city of Manta with his wife, Lourdes, their two year old daughter, Yerly, and Disco Dave. We were making the trip to be part of a Rotary Club festival there. Basically our next project for the Medical Centre will be equipped by one of the Guayaquil Rotary Clubs (the funds for building it will come from our charity back home and the running of it will continue in the hands of the housing charity). So the festival had around forty Rotary clubs from all over Ecuador displaying their projects for the year ahead with wealthy people, mainly from the US, coming to listen with a view to funding these projects. Rotary had asked me to go as the priest involved in the project and I had asked Tito’s family along as a clear example of a group that had been helped by the Medical Centre already. The journey up and back was long and the roads bad, but the craic was really good and the laughs endless. We also had to work hard while we were there (although Dave did look rather bored) explaining what our project was all about. So far we have not yet heard whether we were successful or not. We shall see. Earlier in the week, I had taken Dave around on some visits. As well as some visits to the housebound, I took him to see one of our catechists, Richard from Carmen chapel. You should see their house: Richard, Gisela and their thirteen year old son, Omar, living in the tiniest house with absolutely no room to move. They have lived there for ten years but they are looking to see if they can build. I resolved to see what I can do for help in building a better home. And so we came to this morning and Disco Dave’s final farewell from Nueva Prosperina. The last week was in fact filled with farewells: from all the chapels and from the school. On Thursday we had the school do which had dances from several of the year groups; afterwards we had eats in the staff room. Then, from Friday onwards, everywhere we went there was a fiesta for Dave’s farewell mixed in with his birthday which was on Sunday. We had fruit cake, sponge cake and chocolate cake. Dave had presents, cards and gifts in all shapes and sizes. I also gave him my by-now traditional shaving foam birthday gift! And everywhere he went, he gave a speech in his best Spanish “Amigos y amigas, feos todos”! was usually the first line. By now he will be winging his way over the Atlantic heading for Amsterdam and Glasgow. It was great to have Dave here – the funniest guy I have met in a long time, so sharp witted I sometimes had to pause for breath. It was also great to see once again someone come and give their heart to our community here. Thanks, Dave for what you gave and shared here with all of us

Things are a bit quiet around the sector this weekend as it is a long weekend. The 9th October is the annual celebration of the day our city of Guayaquil gained independence from the Spaniards. There are loads of processions throughout the city; indeed our own Primary School took part in a big three-hour procession through the area. The result of it all is that a lot of people head away for the weekend to see family in distant places. I suspect that Masses will be a bit quieter than usual. The other reason that Masses might be a bit quiet this weekend is that a lot of people are heading out to Nobol, a village about forty minutes from here. Nobol is the birthplace of Narcisa de Jesus who tomorrow will be proclaimed a saint by Pope Benedict. It has been a long time in coming but she will be the first ever Guayaquil saint so everyone is very excited. There are about 3,000 Ecuadorians in Rome for the event. And I saw from the newspaper this morning that they are expecting about 15,000 in the small village of Nobol. Since our Parish made a 500-strong pilgrimage earlier in the year, we don’t have an official delegation this time but one of our chapels (actually has the name of the new saint) will be sending around 50 folk so at least we’ll be there in spirit. I have just come in from my first session of Confessions which will last for the next few weeks. Sixty kids today making their first Confession; and that is just from one of the six chapels where we have catechetics. In total, there will be around 500 kids over the next few weeks coming for Confessions!!!!!!!! On top of that we have a lot of classes fro Parents – I had one session this week with the parents of the main chapel here. There were about two hundred parents but I enjoy these nights as I love meeting and chatting to the parents. Obviously with so many kids in preparation for the sacraments, I have to rely heavily on the great work of the catechists but I always try to meet the parents and/or the kids as they come in and out of their classes. Sometimes I get to sing a crazy hymn with them – hands waving, Lourdes-style! Dave is on a roll now as he makes more and more contact with people around the Parish. We have even started a wee game as we go around the place – who gets more people shouting for them … “Padre Martin” or “Daveed”. IN all humility I can tell you that at the moment I am well ahead. We headed out to Ed Veasey’s Parish on Friday as it was a quiet day. Dave wanted to see what his Parish was actually like as he always assaying how poor it is …. And that nobody visits. His sector, Guasmo, has been established for about twenty-five years more that Nueva Prosperina but still it is without proper sewerage and had streets that are strewn with boulders. Dave said afterwards that, in some ways, he felt the poverty was more acute. But how do you judge between extreme poverty and extreme poverty? Next week will be Dave’s last. I suspect we will be “filled with emulsion” at the thought. There are farewells planned not least because his birthday falls on his final day here. One of the things we have planned is a trip to Manta on the coast about an hour and a half beyond Ayangue. I am going there as part of the Medical Centre project. The money to build it will come from home but the equipment will be funded by one of the local Rotary clubs. So we are going to this Rotary Convention to put in a bid – I think the idea is that we (some local families) are to look as poor and miserable as possible. At least miserable should be no problem for us, eh? This week I went down to Ayangue with Paul Koch from Bolivia and Simon Cadwallader from Peru. It was the first time ever I have been down there that I have experienced the cold. I never had my shorts on at all, was not down the beach and even had to put a blanket on the bed!!!! Is there climate change? Paul went back to Bolivia on the Wednesday but Simon stayed another night and it was great to have him with us for Maestro Mass – a very happy chapel where they were still enthused about their new surroundings!

The big news of the week was the inauguration of Maestro chapel which was a fantastic event! Yesterday we had the chapel full to overflowing (okay it is actually a small chapel that can seat 120) for the Inauguration Mass which had Tito and Damian animating the Liturgy. They were great as ever. During the Mass I went round and blessed every corner of the upstairs chapel and downstairs meeting rooms. Then after the Mass we had dances out on the street – some Ecuadorian dances and a Scottish one by yours truly. Note to self – for the La Paz Inauguration in two weeks, practice the Highland Fling at least a bit. It was all finished off with sandwiches and a celebration cake. Of course, there had been a lot of preparations this week and back and forward taking the new altar, seat, statues and a painting representing the title of the Chapel ‘Jesus, teacher of Truth and Love’. Everything was looking great. Let’s hope that the Chapel brings joy and unity to that part of the Parish. Heiko Junge is a new St. James’ priest and he in Ecuador for a month before heading off to Cochabamba, Bolivia for his Language Course. Although he has a German name, he is from the States (Portland, Oregon). During this month the idea is that he should visit as many of the St. James’ parishes as possible so he was here last week for a few days. It was great to have him around and we spent our time visiting a few old folk in their houses and taking part in Masses at the school. After his time in Bolivia, he will be appointed to a parish here. Although no building work is taking place, I have been making headway with plans for a Medical Centre: with the housing charity ‘Hogar de Cristo’ who will run it; and with some friends from a local Rotary club who will equip it. Of course the funding is coming from back home so we are waiting to see if funds come through …. Fingers, toes and everything is crossed! One of the things that has really taken arms and legs over the years here ahs been the work with the Catechism classes that prepare kids for Communion and Confirmation. When I came there were about sixty kids for Communion and twenty for Confirmation based in two of our chapels. We now have six chapels where there are classes and this year we have over two hundred kids for First Communion in December and one hundred for Confirmation also in December. This all involves quite a bit of preparation – one of the things that I have planned in the last weeks is organizing when I am going to hear all these Confessions! And also there is the preparation of the Catechists which I do and talks to parents: I do some talks myself but I also have a six-strong team to help me. Otherwise??? Oh and finally can I just say Disco Dave is still playing a stormer. Loving his time here and he is a pleasure to have around although he does constantly take the mickey! It is a challenge. Having said that, imagine getting to the age of twenty-two (his birthday’s next week) and the only thing you’re able to cook with any confidence is sausages – no beans, no potatoes, no boiled eggs! He is the wittiest person I have ever met but his cooking skills are a joke!