Attention all European Peeps... A Crazy Idea...

Ok,

I have never done anything like this before, but I thought I could give this a try. Most of you all know that this is my first year living in Europe, and I would love to see more of this beautiful land. However, there are so many cities and so little time. So here is the situation...

I have a holiday coming up in October. It is a break from work from the dates of October 10-17th. I would loooooooove to use this break, October 10-17th, to spend some time in one of the awesome rocking cities of Europe. If you would like me to come visit you in your city, perhaps show me around a little during that time, maybe even let me stay in your house (I know... it's crazy... who would want to spend that much time with me), I will do the following:

1) Sing countless hours of Sing-a-long music with my guitar at your request.

2) Tell you tales of a young, rugged, Filipino man that will serve as good bedtime stories

3) Hang out and take pictures with all your friends

4) Teach you some cool American slang 

5) Show you how to eat a hamburger in 3 bites

6) Explain some good Catholic Theology to you

7) Make you laugh like you've never laughed before...

8) Have an entire sweet blog dedicated to you after the trip is done posted on here for people to see all across the globe (and my parents read it as well :-)

Wow how could you not want that? Hehehe... I'm actually throwing this out there for reals. Fo shizzle! 

If you are interested in housing Vince Granado from Oct 10-17th please send me a personal message if you are using multiply. If you are reading this on blogger, email me at vinsondgranado@mac.com.

Alrighty all... God bless your night and let your Sunday be blessed!

The students...

All,

I figure that you should catch a glimpse of some of the beautiful people I

 encounter on a daily basis...

Malta... I love Malta....

Everyone,

I would like to apologize again. I know that I have not been posting as often as I should. I guess being busy does that to a person, not that that is a good excuse. But let me tell you about my past weekend. Just a little backstory. 

I was invited by my dear friend Cay to go to Malta to do some ministry. I responded with a quick yes. The first time I heard of Malta was from the Maltese Falcon, not very good exposure. Anyways, the second time I encountered Malta was at the Youth Conference in Greece this past summer. The Maltese youth were amazing at the conference. They had this liveliness about them that was contagious. Every time I saw them at the conference, I just wanted to hug each and every one of them. Kinda crazy huh? Well I did... I also made some good friends with several of them and I knew that I would see them again soon...

So when the opportunity came for me to venture out to Malta I had to say yes... 

 

This is how the weekend went down:

I left Gaming on Thursday at 3:30pm... I took the train, which was piled with FUS students traveling to various parts of Europe. I arrived in Vienna at around 8:00pm. I had dinner with Pat Salibi and Sam Camerota at the KFC on Mariahelfestrasse. It was pretty bad, the chicken was minimal. There really is nothing like American fast food. After that dinner I went to the Santayana's and had a fantastic meal (Do you like that Tita Nel?). After my second dinner Cay and I tried to do more prep work for the Malta weekend. We ended up sleeping at around 2am. 

I woke up at 5:30am and brushed my teeth. We drove to the airport and caught the 7:30am flight to Malta.  

11:00am we arrived in Malta. Wow the weather was perfect! 75 degrees and sunny! We were greeted by Ana and David. They are a marvelous couple involved in the community down there. We drove to Ana's house were we got to spend some quality time with the Xuereb family. A beautiful family I must say. 

After lunch and dinner and a relaxed afternoon we headed to the retreat site, which was actually a parish hall. We met the teens and begun the leadership weekend. We spoke to the teens of their calling to serve Christ and the community. Good stuff!

The next day we wrapped up the overnight retreat at around 1:30pm. We went back to the Xuereb house and had lunch. I took a nap, because the night before I slept in the small chapel which was hot and filled with mosquitoes. I hate those bugs. I woke from my nap in time for preparation for the night session with the singles group. 

At 8:30pm we headed towards the singles group session which was held at a school. We met with the group and did some praise. I love praise. I think that everyone should praise. All the time. Amen. Ok, so the praise and worship lasted for about 20 minutes and then Cay and I did a teaching on what it means to live out a Christian life constantly, 24/7. It was a great teaching, because even though I was giving it, I was convicted to live out my calling even more.

The evening finished at around 11:00pm. After, we went to Sleima, which was quite beautiful. They say that Sleima is Malta’s Venice. It was very nice.

We finally got home at around 2:30am. We hit the sack, and I slept like a rock. I woke at around 11am. It felt so good to get a goodnight’s rest. Sleeping is my favorite hobby. Anyways, since I woke at around 11am, that means I had no time to prepare for the worship session I was to give after lunch. I was a little panicked, but regardless the session went well. It is funny how in times like that the Lord will come to your aid. It is in these times that I know it is not my work, but the Lord’s. I believe that lives were changed this past weekend, and it was not through my unprepared and sick self (I had a terrible ear infection, and Cay had a bad cold) that the work was accomplished, but through God’s Spirit moving the community and doing His thing. Praise you Lord, You are good like that.

After the ministry was all finished on Sunday at around 4:00pm, we went to Dingli cliffs with some of the community members. Great times! And the cliffs were beautiful. I would like to thank Francesca for covering my eyes and letting my breath be taken away J

After our little excursion, we went back to Xuereb to pack. We left for the airport a little more than an hour before our flight. Thank you David for your crazy driving skills. We barely made the check in with traffic. We took the 8:50pm flight to Vienna and after a relaxing flight we were greeted by the Santayanas at the gate. I felt like I was coming home.

So this trip was amazing… I think about it now and how blessed I am to be apart of such beautiful work. Lord, who am I that you would call me to do this? I am not worthy, but You have chosen me. You have chosen all of us to a certain capacity, and for that we thank You for allowing us a small part in bringing Your kingdom. Lord, give us the grace to always brings it. Your will be done! And may God be praised!

Is this the beginning of fall...

I woke up this morning and was shivering. I was actually shivering, clutching my comforter and shaking... I looked outside and did not see the usual sun and blue skies. It was replaced by drizzle and grey. It must be fall. Lord, please, if you can let this weather pass and let it be warm, at least for another month. I am not ready to surrender the warmth of the summer, I haven't bought enough 100 watt light bulbs to help me deal with the seasonal gloom of the lack of sunlight. 

But you know what? Nothing looks quite like the fog coming off the mountains when it rains. It is quite a sight to behold. So with that I will say thank You Lord for this weather. It is perfect. 

A hike to Mariazell...

I love hiking. I especially love hiking here in Austria...

I mean where else can one find such beauty? We started the pilgrimage to Mariazell at 6:15am yesterday in our lobby. The busses were ready to go and we made our way to the Naturpark, which was about 20 minutes from the Kartause. From there we hiked around 6-8 hours to mountain town of Mariazell. The way was painted with mountains, rivers, and blue skies. It was a masterpiece that only the Lord could design. At every waterfall I marveled at the Lord's creation. I may have mentioned this before, but I feel that I experience the Lord in a very special way in nature. I think it is the power and beauty that I see when I am out in the Lord's creation. It gives one a sense of humility at the vastness and strength of the mountains. 

At one point of the hike, I found myself alone, because I managed to pass everyone in the group. It was there that I happened to go off the course to Mariazell. For the next hour and half I was separated from the rest of the students. I knew that I was wrong when I found myself at the end of the trail and not in Mariazell. I called Katie and she informed me that I had made an error. I quickly turned around and made my way back to the trail. What an analogy for the faith! We are set before path that leads us to Christ and eternal life, and we follow that path, for a while at least. Then, we divert off the path and find that we are in sin. But God never gives up on us. He, in His mercy allows to know that we are wrong. Furthermore, He gives us the chance to turn around and come back to Him. What an amazing God we have. His love and his mercy is unfathomable. 

Anyways... When I finally got to Mariazell, I felt like I was getting a taste of heaven. It was this beautiful mountain town nestled right in the middle of the beauty of this place. I had three big scoops of Tiramisu gelato at the local gelataria, and then played for Mass. The day was perfect... 

Sunny days :-)

I love the sunny days here. I walked outside again today, and almost started crying. It is so glorious here in this time of the year. I wish I took a picture to show everyone. Sun was out and not a cloud in the sky. 

I hiked Book Mountain today with Jake, Dustin, Chad, and Kyle. We left at around 6 PM and got back at 7:45PM. It was a hike. When I got back to my apartment we had a bbq and had some good old fashioned American hamburgers. God bless the USA...

I miss all my brothers and sisters from the YFC conference. Much love to all of you, and know that you are in my constant prayers. Peace!

Tuesdays... (and the Salzburg and Munich Pictures)

What I love about Tuesdays are that they are not Mondays...

I woke up and went to work. The good thing about today was that Katie and I started work today with prayer. I love this job. Starting from that moment, however, my office was filled with students at almost every moment of the day. The only break I had was when I went to Mass at noon. 

The students are getting excited, because this weekend a lot of them are traveling Europe for the first time on their own. Some are renting cars, some are taking trains, some are even flying. Some will go to Eastern Europe, some to Italy, some will even make their way up to Sweden. I can't wait to hear about their experiences! 

I am doing well. I am finally getting into a schedule. I love how at noon here, everyone goes to Mass. Staff, faculty, students. I would say about 85-90 percent of the campus is at noon Mass everyday. Again, I love this job. 

Here are some pics from this weekend... enjoy... I know that I did!

Back from a beautiful trip...

So we took the students to Salzburg and Munich this weekend...

My favorite times on this trip were:

1) Making a bus full of college students sing, "Do Re Mi" from Sound of Music....

2) Salzburg at night... absolutely breathtaking

3) The Augustiner in Salzburg

4) Skipping out at intermission during the Mozart concert to go for a night on the town with my staff... I love Australians (and Austrians too, but the Australians are a bit more fun)

5) Seeing Mitch Vogrinc scale the Glockenspiel in Munich

6) The Hofbrau House in Munich

7) The Tomaselli Coffee House in Salzburg (one of the oldest in the world)

I love my job... However, today was a little rough. Mondays in general can be kind of rough don't you agree? I had meetings today all the way up until 8 PM. It was an 11 hour work day for me. I'm definitely sleeping in tommorow.

Most important of all however is that today we celebrated the birth of Our Lady, Mary. Mary, Our Mother, Happy Birthday!!!

The madness continues...

I was in work today trying to get a million things done, and I broke down and texted Cay the following message, "I gotta get out of here!" Seriously, days at work have been hectic. So many things to do with the opening of the school year. Students have a ton of questions, because they are not used to living in a foreign country. But at the end of the day, things are awesome, because you know that you have done a lot. I love my job, and I thank the Lord for it everyday. May it be to glorify You Lord. All for you...

So tonight we had a big dinner in my apartment after we finished another hard workout by P90X. It was funny, because people just started walking into my apartment when dinner was ready. By the time we started eating, there were 7 people there! But it was such a blast. Life is good here in Europe... Praise you Lord.

A beautiful day with P90X...

So the sun was shining today. It was unbelievably beautiful outside. I wish I could have spent the day just hiking and exploring the beauty of this land. I think on Thursday, I will have to do that. Last night was the first night in a long time that I actually got more than 8 hours of sleep. Praise you Lord. But the funny thing was that I was even more tired than the day before, maybe my body is catching up with me. I'm going to sleep again for about 8 hours tonight. Glorious. Life is good. 

I've been doing this exercise program called P90x. 

Wow. Talk about difficult. I have done some hard workout programs in my life, but this one takes the cake. 

Sleep is good...

I love sleeping... I just don't get enough. I think I may have some sort of sleeping problem. I just can't seem to fall asleep at night, and when I finally do, I can't stay asleep. Ahhh! I need some good rest. Just a whole day to sleep would be fantastic...