Chinese convent

The 3 sisters

The Chinese Convent is now canonically established with the arrival of the 3rd sister from China. Canon Law requires a minimum of 3 religious to form a community. Sr. Mary Theresa arrived 2 days ago and has joined the community with Sr. Lucie and Sr. Marie Ann. I went to meet them last night and they prepared a simple dinner to celebrate. We discussed the next steps necessary to take in getting the community going: renting a Post Office Box (there are no mailmen in our part of the world ... fear of letter bombs and kidnappings), setting up a bank account to safe keep money, etc.

Sr. M. Theresa was crying not only because she could be here to work in the Holyland, but also because she did not expect to live in such a beautiful apartment. She said that in China they have old small apartments cramped with 5 sisters ... here it's a luxury apartment with all the modern amenities.

Anyway they want to thank you all very much for your generosity and prayers that helped establish this community. They will offer a Mass once a month for your intentions.

Yesterday morning began the noisy celebration of Tawjihi or matriculation for East Jerusalem students. Those who passed and got their results early (9am) were out in the streets celebrating by driving around the East Jerusalem tooting their horns. Fireworks exploded as early as 9am and lasted all through the day and night. It will last for another few days and hopefully everything will quiet down again.

My sprained hamstring is a lot better as I managed to spend several hours in bed resting yesterday. I can't take Optalgin and other pain killers as they react against my asthma/allergy medication.