Our Guam youth in the NCW are getting ready for the World Youth Day to Portugal. Our youth will be flying out of Guam in the last week of July. There are approximately 160 Guam youth who will be participating in this pilgrimage. The NCW in Saipan, Palau, Hawaii, and Kiribati will also be meeting us in Portugal, and together we stand representing the Pacific region. We are all excited especially our kids. 😃 We all had a wonderful experience from our last pilgrimage in Israel that we are looking forward to Portugal. In our meeting with Gennarini, he will also meet us there in World Youth Day. Most of us in the NCW travel together as families in the pilgrimage. They say that a family that prays together stays together. A family who travels together on a pilgrimage receives many blessings.
Also, the evangelization into the Pacific islands is already starting. We hope to build more communities in the Pacific. In time, these communities will bear much fruit. The NCW in Guam continues to bear fruit. We have itinerants doing missionary work, and some of our young men are in the seminaries preparing for the priesthood.
Hi Diana. We were also on the pilgrimage to last year. That left a lasting impression on all of us. However, only my wife will be accompanying our son to Portugal as we are able to afford only two people for this trip. Hopefully, we will be able to all go on the next WYD, wherever that may be.
ReplyDeleteWe were hoping there would be an adult pilgrimage to Portugal just like we had in Israel, but this time around, there wasn't any.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 9:26 am,
DeleteI think the focus should be on bringing our kids to the World Youth Day in Portugal. I am sure that the adults can have a pilgrimage sometime after 2023.
I don’t know what the organizers were thinking in making the cost of this trip 4,000 dollars. I’m extremely frustrated over this. I failed my classes last year over fundraising for Israel and didn’t even go because it was too expensive. Here I am failing my classes again fundraising for something that could have only costed 2,500.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 4:18 pm,
DeleteDoes your cost include round trip airfare, ground transportation, and other accommodations? The flight alone is $2,500. The organizers only make an estimated cost and continue to look for cheaper flights and accommodations.
Anon. at 4:18 pm. The pilgrimages are held during the summertime when classes are not in session. You could have focus on your studies and fundraise on the weekend. The youth also get the help of their families in their fundraising effort, so they're not doing it alone. So sorry to hear that you didn't make the pilgrimage to Israel. This was the NCW's second trip to Israel, so we don't know when the next one will be. The Holy Land is a once in a lifetime pilgrimage worth going.
DeleteI am not referring to the organizers on Guam since I know they are not the main organizers. I live in the mainland. I am referring to the main organizers for the us since the itineraries are very identical for most of the regions. I was only interested in Portugal. Then the head of my group said we’d be going to Spain too and perhaps some other places. Then I found out from someone in Texas that her group would additionally be going to Paris. Which made me wonder if I wasn’t being given the full itinerary and that if my group’s would be the same then no wonder the cost is so expensive. I can understand going to Israel for 4,000 dollars but I’m not begging to visit Portugal, Spain and possibly Paris for that much money when it could have simply been Portugal alone. Where I live it is not easy to fundraise and you need a seller’s permit to sell to people outside of the parish or the police will fine you for more than what you earned.
Delete@Anon. 2:08 am. I think the itinerary is different, depending on who you are traveling with. Guam will be traveling with Hawaii, Saipan, Kiribati, and Palau. The flights in Hawaii, and the other islands may be different but the cost of the ground transportation will be the same since we are meeting up and traveling together. The Guam group together with Hawaii and the other islands will be spending a few days in Spain. Although Hawaii is a state, Hawaii will be traveling with Guam. Personally, I prefer to visit Spain because of Guam’s historical ties with the country. From what I understand, we’ll be meeting Kiko in Spain.
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