These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

Asia Journal, 2

Sunday, February 15

Today is the highlight of our trip. We visited a protective elephant sanctuary. When I was a kid, I had a spectacular experience of riding a young elephant at a zoo park in Florida. Here at the sanctuary there is no riding of elephants. The elephants here are Queen! (The elephants we interacted with were all females.) They are truly pampered ladies! https://youtu.be/XCQaqnEgonk?si=sr9BpD6YBT1xhFb- 

Today I was able to feed the elephants, walk with them to the river, bathe them and get showered by them! https://youtu.be/T2EhyXvw8ps?si=2FEpolz2xkmzyW5f  God worked overtime to create these magnificent, intelligent animals! Afterwards, to calm us down a bit, we hiked to a powerful waterfall, had a traditional lunch: Pad Thai, and then returned to Chiang Mai. Elephants rule!