{"id":19226,"date":"2023-01-25T00:30:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T00:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19226"},"modified":"2023-01-24T20:37:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T20:37:34","slug":"st-thomasharing-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/25\/st-thomasharing-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"St. ThomaSharing Joy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY CALYSTA PHILLIPS<\/em><\/p>\n

OUR VOICE COUNTS<\/b><\/p>\n

A group of children wearing paper crowns gathers around a table where three giant \u201cRosca de Reyes,\u201d or Three Kings\u2019 Day breads, are laid out, festively adorned with colors, sprinkles, and fruits by Don David, who made them. The childrens\u2019 eyes grow wide as Herbert Romero hands them the knife to cut their own slice, hoping their piece will contain the plastic figurine of Baby Jesus hidden inside. Parents linger at nearby tables, enjoying tamales and champurrado, a Mexican hot chocolate, made by a couple in Shoshone who brought them up in a snowstorm for this cozy evening in the St. Thomas Church Parish Hall.<\/p>\n

Their daughter helps serve up platters of steaming tamales to people waiting in the buffet line. A student from Wood River High School has brought Salvadorian pupusas that her mother made. The volunteers gathered earlier in the kitchen, gleefully wolfing them down before the guests arrived, while also leaving some for the guests. A volunteer escorts a group of children to a back room where three tables are laden with wrapped presents. Some kids take the first gift they see. Others shake and lift and squeeze to see what might be inside. Christmas carols serenade them in Spanish.<\/p>\n

This evening is so much more than just a bilingual church service. It is a convergence of many different people in our community, coming together to honor and celebrate both an important religious and cultural event: Epiphany, in English, and El D\u00eda de los Reyes Magos, or Epifan\u00eda, in Spanish. There are parishioners and staff from St. Thomas Church, volunteers from Sun Valley Community School, Wood River High School, The Community Table\/La Mesa Comunitaria, Neighbors Helping Neighbors\/Vecinos Apoyando Vecinos and the larger community.<\/p>\n

As the evening winds down, a family of guests starts stacking chairs and breaking down tables. They had prepared the tamales at last year\u2019s event, and they are glad to contribute in some way this year. The two lieutenants from the Blaine County Sheriff\u2019s Office pick up brooms and start sweeping the floors. There is laughter, teasing, photographs of volunteers with volunteers, volunteers with guests, new friends and old.<\/p>\n

Out in the snowy parking lot, Father Jonah asks a group as they exit, \u201cYou\u2019re already done cleaning up in there?\u201d \u201cMany hands make light work,\u201d responds one of the volunteers. The snow drifts quietly to the ground, and people return to their cars with full bellies and warm hearts.<\/p>\n

NUESTRA VOZ CUENTA<\/b><\/p>\n

Un grupo de ni\u00f1os con coronas de papel se re\u00fane alrededor de una mesa donde se colocan tres gigantes \u201cRosca de Reyes\u201d, adornados festivamente con colores, chispas y frutas por Don David, quien los prepar\u00f3. Los ojos de los ni\u00f1os se agrandan cuando Romero les entrega el cuchillo para cortar su propia rebanada, con la esperanza de que su pieza contenga la figura de pl\u00e1stico del Ni\u00f1o Jes\u00fas escondida en su interior. Los padres se demoran en las mesas cercanas, disfrutando de tamales y champurrado, un chocolate caliente mexicano, preparado por una pareja de Shoshone que los trajo durante una tormenta de nieve para esta agradable velada en el Sal\u00f3n Parroquial de St. Thomas Church.<\/p>\n

Su hija ayuda a servir bandejas de humeantes tamales a las personas que esperan en la fila del buffet. Una estudiante de Wood River High School ha tra\u00eddo pupusas salvadore\u00f1as que hizo su madre. Los voluntarios se reunieron antes en la cocina, devor\u00e1ndolos alegremente antes de que llegaran los invitados, y dejando tambi\u00e9n algunos para los invitados. Un voluntario acompa\u00f1a a un grupo de ni\u00f1os a una habitaci\u00f3n trasera donde hay tres mesas repletas de regalos envueltos. Algunos ni\u00f1os toman el primer regalo que ven. Otros los sacuden, levantan y aprietan para ver qu\u00e9 podr\u00eda haber dentro. Los villancicos les dan una serenata en espa\u00f1ol.<\/p>\n

Esta noche es mucho m\u00e1s que un servicio religioso biling\u00fce. Es una convergencia de muchas personas diferentes en nuestra comunidad, que se unen para honrar y celebrar un importante evento religioso y cultural: Epiphany, en ingl\u00e9s, y El D\u00eda de los Reyes Magos, o Epifan\u00eda, en espa\u00f1ol. Hay feligreses y personal de St. Thomas Church, voluntarios de Sun Valley Community School, Wood River High School, The Community Table\/La Mesa Comunitaria, Neighbors Helping Neighbors\/Vecinos Apoyando Vecinos y la comunidad en general.<\/p>\n

A medida que cae la noche, una familia de invitados comienza a apilar sillas y desarmar mesas. Ellos hab\u00edan preparado los tamales en el evento del a\u00f1o pasado y est\u00e1n contentos de contribuir de alguna manera este a\u00f1o. Los dos tenientes del Departamento del Sheriff del condado de Blaine recogen escobas y comienzan a barrer los pisos. Hay risas, bromas, fotograf\u00edas de voluntarios con voluntarios, voluntarios con invitados, nuevos amigos y viejos.<\/p>\n

Afuera, en el estacionamiento nevado, el padre Jonah le pregunta a un grupo cuando salen: \u201c\u00bfYa terminaron de limpiar?\u201d \u201cMuchas manos aligeran el trabajo\u201d, responde uno de los voluntarios. La nieve cae silenciosamente al suelo y la gente regresa a sus autos con el est\u00f3mago lleno y el coraz\u00f3n feliz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY CALYSTA PHILLIPS OUR VOICE COUNTS A group of children wearing paper crowns gathers around a table where three giant \u201cRosca de Reyes,\u201d or Three Kings\u2019 Day breads, are laid out, festively adorned with colors, sprinkles, and fruits by Don David, who made them. The childrens\u2019 eyes grow wide as Herbert Romero hands them the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,38],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nuestra-voz-cuenta","8":"category-sponsored"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19228,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19226\/revisions\/19228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}