A full days in Osaka, Japan. After celebrating Mass with the sisters, Dinh and I  set off on different paths - Dinh to Kyoto to visit a friend and Sister  Christina and I making the rounds of the RA ministries in Minoo, an upper middle class area, and in Osaka City, where a community of RA's serve the large  homeless population there.  The first stop was a brief talk to the Junior and Senior High girls at the Assumption school in Minoo at their student assembly. This is a K-12 school, all girls except for the kindergarten, with a decided minority of Catholics and Christians, reflecting the demographics of Japan (.03% Christian).

The site assomptionorient.altervista.org is addressed to brothers, sisters, and friends of the Assumption who would like to know more about Assumption's work in the East and the reality of the Oriental Church.

Besides, it is addressed in a special way to the brothers and sisters of the Assumption who are in the East, who have as their goal to be a locus of exchange and sharing for all.

Monday was the day Dennis and I spent time together in Dalat. I wanted time to chat with Dennis about what we had done so far. From what you have read, it seems that we had a good time eating, sightseeing, visiting from place to place, etc as tourists. Yes, we did all of that but we worked as well. We had specific work to do and we have accomplished some of it. Time and again, surprises and our concrete experiences on site pushed us to reflect more on the mission of our trip.

We began the day with wet weather. It rained softly with a heavy fog at first, then heavier and heavier but not heavy enough to allow farmers to rest. They still had to go to their gardens to water the vegetables. Besides, it is the season of the coffee harvest.

The Diocese of Juazeiro is situated on the edge of the San Francisco River in the heart of the “polígono de la sequía” ("drought sector"). It covers approximately 23,000 square miles, with a population of more than 500,000. Currently it is divided into 14 parishes. There 23 priests (several of whom are quite old and infirm), 15 full-time lay pastoral assistants, many part-time assistants, and 2,000 catechists.

From its establishment, some 50 years ago, the Diocese has fostered the full and harmonious development of the human person, giving priority to the neediest, seeking to educate, organize, and support all men and women, whether in the country or in town. Thus it is that various social ministries (Ministry of the Land, Ministry of Fishermen, Ministry for Marginalized Women, Ministry for the Aged, Prison Ministry, ....) arose to address the needs and urgent demands of our society.