M2016 Sonja H264

♫Idzie mój Pan, idzie mój Pan... >Here comes my Lord, here comes my Lord... ...On teraz biegnie by spotkać mnie♫ ...Watch as He runs to meet me< From the start I was in dance from a very young age I started playing piano and then violin and then flute And then I started singing and singing was really where I felt that my heart was ♫Bóg kocha mnie takiego, jakim jestem... >God loves me, the way I am... ...Raduje się każdym moim gestem♫ ...He's happy with every of my deeds< I had come to Kraków backpacking a year before coming on research and I had fallen in love with the city so I also wanted to come back and I wanted to stay and through prayer I felt that God was bringing me to Poland, leading me to Poland and I couldn't read the language, I couldn't speak the language I couldn't express myself, or really know where I was going but where I really felt at home was in the church any church that I walked in I felt "Ok, this is home". There is adoration, there are hundreds of masses a day and the churches are full, the masses are full the lines for confession are long and just a strong reverent culture that surrounds me in this city. But I also work with disabled children with Hosanna House & Children's Pilgrimage Trust of Poland which takes children to Lourdes every Easter for a week-long pilgrimage and I love these kids so much. I think we forget about as we get older or just as we get busy in our lives we forget this simple joy that God has given us and they... they love so freely and I think that's something we forget to do ♫Błogosławieni miłosierni... >Blessed are the merciful ...Albowiem oni miłosierdzia dostąpią♫ ...For they shall receive mercy!< So we're leaving on Saturday and we'll be there for one week with probably a thousand disabled children and children with support needs and we are performing "Błogosławieni miłosierni" the official hymn, for all the rest of the children and inviting them to Kraków, inviting them to World Youth Day this July. Some of the kids were dreaming about going to Lourdes for years And this is their dream, they wanted to go and they finally get to go and we're all very very excited to go, yeah, Been looking forward to it all year! Cześć! >Hello there!< Oh, ale fajny pokój! >What a great little room!< Ale ładne! Bardzo ładne! >This is so gorgeous!< To z Lourdes! Tak! >This is from Lourdes! Yes!< Moje marzenie się spełniło w tym roku >My dream became true this year, pojechania do Lourdes samolotem. to travel to Lourdes by plane.< I mi się spełniło! >And it came true! I tam będziemy chodzić na pielgrzymkę. And we will go there as pilgrims< A, no tak! >Of course!< And on this pilgrimage I've done some photography but I also lead music and I don't speak Polish so well, I'm getting better So we're just able to connect through music through dancing, through laughter and they... really, thinking about them makes me want to stay here forever, and be with them. When I was in university I was so busy and I was involved in so many things to the point where I was just exhausted and tired and weary and I didn't know what I was doing And I went on a retreat my last semester of my senior year and it was early on in the semester, maybe January and that changed everything, I had a huge conversion and I just realized: Ok, I really need to take time for the important things in life for the people around me, the relationships instead of these accomplishments I was striving after I think what we so often forget is that our witness is way more powerful than anything we could ever say and I think that's part of the problem that people have with the Church community is that they hear the Church community saying Love the Lord thy God first and act with this mercy and this compassion and we don't. You know, and we're human so that will continue but I think it's programmed within us God has written it in our hearts we strive for this greater goodness. God can work through us in ways we could never even imagine and I think if we just open up to that we can change the world, He can change the world through us. Gotta be ready! I was looking one day and saw the advertisement through a little information box about the World Youth Day Choir and Orchestra and I thought: WHAT? This is so great, I want to be part of this so bad! Then I made arrangements for the audition and if I couldn't then I would be there to enjoy the choir and be there with music and whatever way I could be and I don't know what it will look like I've never been to a World Youth Day before I know it will be crazy but it will be amazing Yes! I will definitely wait with you at World Youth Day!