Hola:
We wanted to break the alarm clock when it went off this morning, but instead we reluctantly got up and showered before breakfast. More vulture eggs and bacon and we have managed to reduce the amount of caffeine with only 11/2 cups each. It’s nice not having the shakes!!
This morning was laundry day……we couldn’t put it off any longer. Before going to the laundromat, we stopped at a Carrfour super-market superstore. This made W-Mart look like a 7-11. We didn’t have the camera and a good thing, I didn’t know where to look first. They had an amazing array of everything.
We loaded up on water, wine, paper towels and laundry soap. We then went to the woman’s clothes and bought 10 Pasminas for the residents at the Foundation Home. We found the laundromat on the first try, again another placestuck on a small side street with no parking available. On our second try, Sue and I both were praying quietly and a spot came open just around the corner. Almost 2 hours later we had fresh clean clothes to hopefully get us home. I’ll never complain about doing the laundry at home again since it’s only 20 feet away.
On the way from Madrid to Prado Nuevo, we saw a gas station and it was time to fill up so we stopped and a young man jumped out of nowhere and pumped it for me. We had a few laughs and he said to me: car wash? I looked at the car and agreed it was time, so they included it on the bill and I drove in to meet the same young man who got the wash going. The car was so clean we decided to vacuum and clean the inside windows to add the finishing touches.
We were hungry so we went into El Escorial and had a burger, it wasn’t bad, and we then went to the shrine around 3:00 PM, an hour before Antonio and Marie del Carmen (Padre Guillermo’s Mom and Dad) were to meet us. When we entered, Eduardo, one of the caretakers, came over to say hello. We met him 3 years ago and when we said Americanos he remembered us and we each got a hug. He opened the gate protecting the tree Our Mother appeared on and let us venerate it: I held on tight as I did so. We then walked to the end of the shrine to the first station and prayed the Stations of the cross alone with Jesus and Our Mother. As always, the peace and tranquility wasoverwhelming.
At 4:00 p.m. sharp Tony and Carmen arrived and we hopped into their car and went to the cemetery to visit Florita’s grave. It was bittersweet that we hadn’t seen her before she died but we were happy that she was now at home withthe Lord.
The rosary in the field in front of the first apparition and Mass in the Chapel: what more can I say. It was off to the Foundation home again with the Pasminas and flowers for the Sisters. Sister Pilar was not there, so it was the universal language again. The women loved their gift as Susan draped and tied one around each one of them. It was a warming sight since most of them have no family at all.
I took a lot of pictures and will make a video for them with them in it and send it after we get home. They still watch the video from the last trip we made through here in 2012. Two of the women had a race so we could see
how fast the could walk it was funny. There is a lot of love and care given to these people and I know they are truly grateful no matter what state of health they are in.
After the home we went to Fr. Guillermo’s rectory and community family house the has around 40 people who live and work there for the good of the whole and 10 priest and religious. I thought the Sisters worked hard, and the Sisters agreed, but these people work harder taking care of the land and livestock, the repairs and building and everything else you can think about. We got to see the room where Amparro had first received the stigmata of Christ, which is now a chapel.
We finally bid farewell to Fr. Guillermo and his parents and God willing we will see them next year. It was 9 PM and we had to get up early to pack and planned to go to mass at the foundation chapel where the house the original statue of Our Lady that was desecrated many years ago.
Back at the hotel we packed and jumped into bed hoping for a good night’s
sleep. Sue was out in a flash and I contemplated how much I was going to
miss that garage. LOL ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Buneos Noches
