Chris Lefke

place to go, because it was where all my friends I made in Peru went to school. When wewere at Maria Reina we would socialize, well, for the first week and a half I was the onlyone who actually talked to and hung out with the girls and guys who were our age, whichis part of the reason why so many of them have invited me to come back to Peruwhenever I want.Then during the first week in a meeting Mr. Benedetti and Mr. Delgado askedwho would like to stay with a host family over the weekend, and I was the only one whosaid I would like to do so. So when they took us to Maria Reina so I could go stay withmy host family, they got 3 other families to commit to hosting 4 other Moeller students,so Aaron Delgado, Zach Kaylor, and Andrew Boerger all got to stay with host families.And I luckily was selected to stay with Daniella Palma, she is now one of my really goodfriends, which was great. Over this weekend I did everything imaginable with Daniellaand all of her friends, even Daniella’s boyfriend Mannolo took me around Lima one daywhile we were both waiting for Daniella to finish up a school project. That weekend issomething I will never forget for the rest of my life, it was the most fun I have ever had in3 days, and I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.At the end of that weekend, I went to church with Daniella and her family. Thiswas a really cool experience to see and hear a mass completely in Spanish. Daniellawould tell me what to do throughout the mass which was awesome, because she becamelike a sister over that weekend and we became really close. In that mass I got to bring upthe gifts with Daniella for the Eucharist, which was a great experience.The last week of the trip was fun for me as well, but nothing topped the weekend Ispent with the Palma’s. During the last week of the trip we continued to go to Hno.Thomas Helm down in Callao, as well as going to Maria Reina, the highlight of my days,to work with the kids and play with them. In this week we also were getting prepared forthe Marianist Convention that was to take place over the weekend at the school where wewere staying, Santa Maria. The Marianist Convention that we were getting ready forsounded like a really amazing experience to me when we heard about it, and I was reallyexcited. When the Marianist Convention started and all the students and teachers fromthe different Marianist schools in Peru started to show up, I was astonished by how manyMarianists there are in Peru. The whole experience of the Convention was outstanding to