Day 4

Sorry the video is sideways!

Today was a very important day. This was the day the Pope had arrived! This morning we ate breakfast, and then headed out to catechises. This time we had a Bishop from Nigeria speak to us! He discussed how we need to open our hearts to God and not let anything distract us. We need to be less concerned with what we want, and rather what we need from Christ. There was also another skit about vocations! We listened to two more very powerful testimonies from college students!  Afterwards, we celebrated Mass in the same church we were in for Catechises. Bells were rang across Madrid to proclaim that the Pope had arrived! We then rushed into Madrid, and found a place to eat because it was 3:30 by the time we got there. We ended up at this nice spaghetti place where we got bread with olive oil, gazpacho, spaghetti, and watermelon. The waiters were very sweet! After that we walked to the park where confession, adoration, and a vocation booth. First we found this very beautiful Cathedral that was OPEN this time! We went in there and were amazed by all the detail! After, we entered the park. One group went to adoration, the other to confession, and the other to the vocation fair. I personally went to confession, we laid in the grass and examined our conscious. Once we were done we went to find the line for confession only to find out they were closing! So we have to come back tomorrow. Then we met up with everyone and headed out to get a good spot to see the Welcoming ceremony for the Pope! We walked so close to the area where the Pope was speaking. We were on the back side of the stage. But too many people were pushing and shoving and it got really hot so we thought it would be best to just move back and find a screen with video footage. We got really close to the screen to get a good veiw which was great! Having the Pope there was absolutely amazing! Even though we couldn't see him in person, the feeling of electricity, like everyone told us, was present. It gave me chills to hear him and know he was just right there! On the actual day of the mass we'll have better spots near the front we think because their assigned and were letter D so were guessing that's pretty close! We went back to Alcombendas and ate at a pizza place around 11pm tonight. We just now got back to our hotels! Tomorrow is stations of the cross, can't wait!