Mission Trip

Sorry for the long delay in posting, but it´s been a crazy week. Here´s a brief recap of the recent happenings.

• As promised, here are some stories about our trip this past weekend. There´s a lot to report! Above you can see a picture of the first mission church that we visted in San Javier (St. Xavier.) Construction was begun on this mission in the early 1700´s buy the Jesuits in collaboration with the native Chiqitania people who were living there. The Jesuit missionary technique was very interesting because upon arrival, the two-man team first made alliances with the native tribes and then built a school for their education. Only after that did they build the actual church.
  



• Another interesting part of the Jesuit method was the use of Baroque Music in the missions. According to our tour guide, the Jesuits used this music to draw the people into the faith, and soon they too learned to play these instruments and write music in this style. Recently, over 8,000 original pieces of music were recovered in these missions, most likely written by the indigenous people. To this day, the people in these towns play music in this style, and we heard a concert from the children of the town in the above pictured church.
  



• To the left you can see a picture of the side altar in the second church we visited, the mission of Concepción. All of the left-side altars in the missions were built in this style, representing Christ on the cross. This church was built later and is significantly larger and more ornate than the previous church. We went to Mass here on Sunday morning and even got a shout-out from the local bishop! Below you can find a picure of the outside of the church.

• Later that afternoon we were taken to a local village where about 50 families still live in a very simple way. We played soccer with the kids for a little while and then they pulled us around on flattened antifreeze cans attached to rope. It was ridiuculous!
  
  
• Lastly, all the gringos here had a Fourth of July Party here at our school. We grilled burgers and dogs and blew up some Chinese fireworks. No better way to celebrate American independence!
  
  
• That´s all for now, but expect more posts and pictures soon.