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As far as I am concerned, there is still a lot of work to do. Last Sunday I administered baptism to school age children. There was also the First Communion. Not many children received it - only 72 of them. Everything started very well. We spent the whole Saturday on preparations: the children's confession and last fittings. On Sunday at 8 o'clock everything was ready and we started the ceremony on time. But when I started baptising I noticed that I am not the only one who pours water over the children's heads. It was raining heavily. Apparently God wanted me to use more water to wash the people well. It was raining during the whole Mass and hardly anything could be heard. Many people came to the ceremony and the church seemed not to be big enough but when it started raining everybody fitted inside. Small children were sitting by the altar. It was very muggy. It did not stop raining till the late afternoon.
According to custom, after the Mass I went to several houses to celebrate the baptisms that had just taken place. It was very nice. I finished the pilgrimage at about 8 p.m. (here 8 p.m. means dark night). 40 mm of rain fell that day. The next day, on Monday (26th May 2008) I went to a village 14 kilometres away to marry 7 couples. On my way I had to pass a dam in our village because it is the only drivable way in this direction during the rainy season. When I was approaching the dam I could see what was happening there. There were many cars and really lots of people. The dam filled with water which already started to overflow. I was going across the 150-metre-long bridge and at some parts of it the water reached the half of my calves. At the end of the bridge the flow is lower and this part was impossible to pass. It was a market day and many people wanted to go to the market in our village but they had difficulties with passing by. There was a group of strong, young people who were helping those who wanted to get across the rushing river. I gave them my motorbike and they carried it over the water. I went into the water. It was reaching my waist. People had to support me because it was impossible to get through it alone. The rest of the way was passable. I was wading across the river in my trousers so I had to celebrate the Mass in wet trousers under my alb. It was not a very pleasant feeling but what could I do. After the Mass which took almost 3 hours there were few parties in the nearby villages. I came back home quite late. The water was still reaching my knees but it was not so rushing anymore. I could go across it without anybody's help.
On Wednesday and Thursday we had the close-down of the pastoral year in our diocese. Each parish had to prepare a report on everything what had been done in the parish. In this report we had to include information of how we accomplished the aims we had intended at the beginning of the year. Luckily, our parish was almost the best. The laypeople who were there with me at the meeting were very happy because they did not have to be ashamed of what we had presented. They even came to say thank you. Now my duties are just about to finish. On the 15th June there is the Confirmation ceremony and on 16th I am going to Togo. I wanted to go there by car but I do not have enough time and there is nobody who could replace me. When I come back (on 21st June) I am going to prepare myself for my leave. Fr Robert is coming back on 28th June in the evening and I am leaving on 30th June at night. I am really looking forward to it.
With kindest regards.
Raphael
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