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My First Mission Party

 

Joyeux Anniversaire …   

I can still remember the day Canon Fragelli arrived back to the mission. After wondering when it would be, having been told "Tuesday", and Tuesday and Wednesday having past, I got up from my siesta on Thursday afternoon and headed to the chapel for my 3 p.m. holy hour. One of the candidates who was outside started grinning-- I think it was when he saw me notice Canon's car! I asked him if it meant what I thought it did. He said yes, and I told him I was going to spend the next hour telling Jesus how happy I was. 

It was such a relief to have him back! I wrote in my journal, "Everyone seemed happier." Things simply hadn't been the same without our superior. Aperitif was such fun that evening, "everything was joyful and relieved". Canon had Institute calendars for everyone; he gave me one in French, then asked if I wanted an English one. I insisted on keeping the French one-- I was going to learn! Clearly, I needed it: Canon asked, in French, how things were going in the dispensary. I thought he asked if I had been working at the dispensary; "Oui". To which Canon replied, "La dispensaire ç'est 'oui'?" That got a lot of laughs. 

Canon had been gone on his birthday, January 31st. The Saturday after he got back, we gave him a surprise party-- my first party at the Mission and the party of the century! 

We had been planning the party for a little while, working on a song in Igbo, Ebubay, Mikpawe (a song in Fon, a Beninoise tribal language) and a polyglottic Happy Birthday (French, English, Italian, Congolese tribal language, Fon and Latin). I had brought an embroidery project with me of the Institute's coat of arms, intending to give to Canon Fragelli before I left the Mission. The opportunity of giving it to him for his birthday was too much to pass up, though, so I worked fiendishly hard on it to have it done on time and finished it Saturday morning. 

On the night of the party, I went up to the kitchen to help get ready; the door was locked to keep out people (a person..?) who weren't supposed to know what was going on. I knocked, told them who I was, and heard Canon Sigros say that I was allowed. ;) He then wrapped my embroidery as well as his gift (a bottle of wine) in wrapping paper... printed with llamas and Christmas trees …

Where did he get this stuff???

I don't know if Canon Fragelli suspected anything ahead of time; it certainly didn't look like it when he came to the terrace, but in any case, Canon Sigros told him right at the beginning what we were doing (we were dressed up and had four guests that evening, so he probably would have started guessing before long). We got up to sing for him and, with our Nigerian postulant in Libreville at the moment, I was the only girl in the group with nine guys! Canon Fragelli commented on that, but being the youngest in my family with no sisters, it wasn't new.  

We had our feast of grilled chicken, sausages, brochettes, hot dogs, fried plantains, rice, green salad, bread and wine, and a beautiful chocolate cake at the end.

My first Mission barbeque (this picture was taken before the meat was ready--hence its absence! ;)


You can't have a French party without wine.

You can see we had a good time: the keyboard, the violin, the bright African outfits.

 After dinner, there was more music, when a couple of the guys started playing the keyboard and violin, people started singing and "serenading" others … At one point, Canon Fragelli even got involved, singing with us (I will write in later post about his incredible vocal talent). 

It was the first of several parties I would experience, and they were always something to look forward to! Now, however, life would begin to settle into a rhythm.

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