Just found this and it made me laugh...

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2010

South Africa -Dutch Girl -that 'Mass thing'...

I arrived yesterday morning, without a scratch after a 12+hour flight on a very old plane. South African Airlines was just about the same quality as Ethiopian Airlines.

I won't have much to write from here. As I investigate the situation I see that spiritual help is needed more than physical. I will be working at the sister's hospital with their severely handicapped babies/little ones (some have AIDS) daily, but they are generally well cared for. This is such a spiritual vacuum that I think prayer/fasting will be the real focus of my stay here. Poor Jesus, so alone in this big chapel. These next 25 days are for Him.

The sister I spoke with about coming actually left on vacation for this month, so two other ladies picked me up from the airport (neither were Catholic). I asked about Mass and this was our conversation (sort of funny). I had wrongly assumed that if they worked for the sisters that they were Catholic (or at least familiar with the Catholic faith):

Me: "Did you have Mass today already? Most important for me daily is the Mass."

Dutch Girl: "Mass? What's a Mass?"

Me: "ummm.... a Catholic prayer... its something the Sisters have in the morning."

Dutch Girl: "um.. prayer? what exactly is prayer?"

Me: "ummm... talking with God. The Mass basically has two parts -reading the Bible and, well, have you ever heard of the Last Supper? (She had.) Well, taking part in that again." (I later realized that this was a totally lame answer to what the Mass is, but I was exhausted and had no clue how to describe it to someone who did not even know God.)

Dutch girl: "So, do you 'go' to a Mass, or 'have' a Mass -what do you do with a Mass?"

Me: "You pray it."

Dutch girl:"When?"

Me: "well, for me, every day."

Dutch Girl: "EVERY DAY!? You do that Mass thing every day?!"

Me: "Yes."

Other lady in the car: 'But that is not the only prayer this girl prays."

Dutch Girl: "Do you mean that you pray more than just the Mass every day? How much do you pray?"

Me: "umm... 6-7 hours" (I have no clue actually how long, I was just guessing.)

Dutch Girl: "WHAT? I've never even said a prayer and you pray 6-7 hours a day?! When do you sleep?"

Me: "At night."

I was completely unprepared for that conversation. May Jesus preach better to her by my life than by my lame, tired, panicked words.