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UPDATE! Jump
to the YMP Blog!
Please pray for these Cathedral young people, who travel to Lynden,
Washington this week, to participate in the Youth Migrant Project along with
other young people from across the Archdiocese. They will work in day
cares, vacation bible schools, and reading camps, and will experience life in
the fields while spending time in prayer and reflection together.
Lord, look kindly on your servants,
who have responded to the call
to love and serve others in your name.
We send them forth as messengers of peace,
marked with the sign of the cross.
Guide their steps and strengthen them in spirit,
so that they will not falter through weariness.
Make their words the echo of Christ’s voice,
and bless the work of their hands,
that they may bring new hope to those in need.
Send your holy angels
to guard and protect them on their journey,
and bring them back to us in safety.
We ask this in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
And share in the mission by checking back here throughout the week for a
blog of their adventures on this important service project!
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DAILY MISSION BLOG! |
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Monday, July 7, 2008
Hello all! It's Monday afternoon and we've settled nicely into our mission
trip. We arrived yesterday afternoon and were greeted by the other
parishes...St. Mary's, St. Edward's, St. Paul's, and St. George's. We set up
our sleeping areas, unloaded the donations, and then headed out for some fun in
one of the local migrant camps. We had a chance to meet some of the people
staying in the camps and share a meal with them. One woman gave us some
homemade tamales to try that were muy delicioso! The youth especially
enjoyed playing basketball and soccer with the kids. In the evening, we prayed
together and shared a little about ourselves. Each person was asked to make a
wax symbol and share what they bring to the group. We had a very colorful
candle by the end of the activity!
This morning, we divided up into two different groups. One group spent today at
the daycare center helping in the classrooms for kids 5 years and under. The
other group began the hard job of sorting through our mountain of donations and
also prepared for the fiesta that we're hosting tonight. That group is
currently running an afternoon reading camp in two of the migrant camps. When
they get back, we're headed down to a camp in the Skagit valley to do crafts,
share foods, decorate faces, and enjoy a couple of piñatas full of candy! Thank
you for all of your donations and prayers! Tune in for more updates as the week
goes on!
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Tuesday, July 8 and Wednesday, July 9, 2008Hello to Everyone! Thanks for
checking in to see how we're doing. We had a great time on Monday night in
the Skagit Valley. We visited our biggest camp yet and had fun playing
with all of the kids. We brought cake, watermelon, games, crafts, and
piñatas! Check out the pictures to see the chaos (and fun)! In the
evening, we shared some reflection time and talked about someone or something
that had touched our hearts that day.
Yesterday, we broke up into two groups in the morning. One group went
to the fields to work with the Small Potatoes Gleaning Project (http://www.gleaningproject.org/index.html).
This project grows, distributes, and gleans fresh produce for local food banks.
Our group harvested sunflower sprouts and cauliflower, weeded, and spread
manure! In the afternoon, this same group hosted a reading camp and sorted
more donations. The other group spent the day at the daycare center.
When everyone got home, we kicked into action to finish sorting all of our
donations, which we'll hand out tonight! This was a tough job but, with
everyone helping, the work was fun and went fast. In the evening,
we all took some well-deserved rest time and enjoyed Dairy Queen and swimming at
the local YMCA. Our evening reflection asked us to consider how our
perspectives have changed since we arrived.
This morning, we split into two groups again. One went to the daycare
center and the other spent the morning preparing for our food and clothing
distribution tonight. We now have backpacks full of school supplies and
bags of sorted clothes to hand out to people. Thanks again for all of your
donations, which have made tonight possible. Please pray for the people
we're encountering, for the health of our group, and for the community that
we're building. - The YMP Group
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Thursday, July 10
Hello Everyone! We had a great time handing out food and clothing last
night. At the end we discovered we had enough clothing left over to make a
donation to the families at the daycare center. We also enjoyed a
fantastic, homecooked Filipino meal of chicken adobo thanks to Lindsay, Vanessa,
and Ray.
Today, we separated into our groups again. One group spent the day at
the daycare, while the other went back to the food bank farm. We were
excited to share our experiences with Helen, Lita, and TerryAnn who came up from
St. James for a visit. In the afternoon, our reading camp group spent
their final afternoon with the kids. In the evening, we all drove down to
the Skagit Valley again to enjoy Mass in one of the farmworkers camps. We
were joined by parents and friends from our different parishes, as well as a
group from St. Madeleine Sophie in Bellevue who is spending the week doing the
Youth Migrant Project in the Mt. Vernon area. Before Mass, we carried an
icon of the Virgen de Guadalupe around the camp and invited people to join us
for the celebration. Then we all shared in the Eucharist at a Mass
presided over by Fr. Felino from St. Edwards. It was a beautiful moment
for us all. Back at St. Joe's that night, we had some fun performing skits
for one another and then we closed with a reflection that asked us to share how
we thought we had represented the gifts we placed on the candle the first night.
- The YMP Group
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Friday, July 11 Hello again. Today was the final day of
our Youth Migrant Project. In the morning, our groups went to the daycare
and farm for the last time. When we got back, we did a thorough clean up
at St. Joe's and then enjoyed some pizza in the yard. We closed our week
with an affirmation activity where everyone got a chance to affirm another
person and then share what they're taking home from this experience. We
had a beautiful ride back home with a stop for ice cream at a farmer's market in
Mt. Vernon.
Thank you again to everyone who has supported us on this journey. Your
donations, prayers, and help have made this week possible. We made many
new friends within our group and within the larger communities of Lynden and Mt.
Vernon. We had our eyes opened to the poverty that exists right here in
our own state and learned about the struggles of migrant families. Many of
us left with a desire to do more and a hope that it is possible to change things
for the better. We can't wait to share our experiences and thoughts in
person. Please continue to pray for all of those who work in the fields.
- The YMP Group
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Looking back... |
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For me, this was a very hopeful trip. Despite the poverty we witnessed I really
saw the Body of Christ in action. We came together as five different parishes
for the first time ever on this Youth Migrant Project. The teens in our groups
were from many different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. We shared about
our different cultural traditions and tried homemade cooking from several
different countries. It was inspiring to see a diverse group of teens building
community together and then taking that sense of community and extending it the
migrants we encountered in Lynden and the Skagit Valley. It gave me hope that we
can overcome the differences and stereotypes that often divide us and find a
deeper connection to one another as sons and daughters of the same God.
Jennifer Ibach
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Before the Youth Migrant Missionary Trip, I made an effort to prepare for the
program by simplifying my lifestyle, and making an effort to be more conscious
of how the migrants, people whom our society consider less privilege, might view
the world. .... I thought I prepared enough... and I thought that my
experience of caring for my baby cousin for 1 year, and my recent exposure to
poverty issues, and encountering homeless people in person, would be sufficient
enough for me not to be overwhelmed by what I would encounter on the trip......
As it turned out the trip was more difficult than I anticipated... compare to
the young volunteers on the trip I was not able to make it to Lynden until
Tuesday. On my first day, I had the opportunity to help out on the 2nd half of
the day at the daycare.... There was barely enough work to be done so the
experience had very little affect on me. On the 2nd day of the trip, I was one
of the volunteers to help out at the daycare and there were so much things to be
done... The room I was assigned to help out comprised of 5 toddlers, 1-1&1/2
years of age... 3 of them were sick and were crying constantly. The tasks to be
done at the daycare that morning turned out to a frustrating experience for me
because many of children constantly crying and kept staring outside the window,
making it harder for us to feed them. I sensed the children were just missing
their parents. before lunchtime the toddlers at the day care also have "play
time" outside at the playground.. This is supposed to be fun, However, I found
this part of the day more scary in a sense that children are scattered
everywhere and I was too concerned that they might hurt themselves.... In light
of this, I appreciated the work the teachers do at the daycare , after helping
out the teachers at the daycare I realized how important it is for the children
to have more than the presence of an adult.. for they need affection .....
On the 3rd day, I was excited to learn that I will be helping out at the
Small potatoes Gleaning Project.... But when I was actually weeding out the area
where the onions were planted , I felt disappointed because I caught myself
subconsciously more concern about my shoes and clothes-this made me sad and
guilty especially because I expected that this is not meant to be a glamorous
task..Howeber, having a mindset that the "farming part of the trip" will benefit
the food bank, really uplifted my spirits and motivated me to finish my farming
work.....
Finally, the most unforgettable part of my trip was our visit at Skagit
Valley... upon arrival it was a pleasant trip for I have been enjoying driving
the volunteers. Most of all I was really impressed to see the High school
volunteers playing with the migrant children with great enthusiasm . Seeing the
volunteers taking their faith seriously really touched my heart. Seeing a group
of young adults well grounded with their faith through their actions and
watching them getting connecting with the community in the camp made me feel so
uplifted and so proud. However, despite this great joy celebrating the mass with
the migrant community ... I cannot ignore how the sight of the bathroom and
cleaning facilities stirred negative emotions inside of me -negative emotions I
cannot even express in one word- a combination of deep sadness, anger,
disappointment, shock, overwhelmeness, and helplessness.... Before the camp.. I
had an idea that the bathroom/cleaning facilities may not be as pleasant compare
to what I am used too, but I also did not expect it to be that awful neither..
In my viewpoint, I describe the facilities as gruesome-flooded, flushers do not
work, no available toilet papers, and only clear, sheer covers-no doors.. One
facility with bathroom doors for each toilet, do not have enough space for a
person.......
Most importantly, the Mission Trip changed my life forever... I am not sure
where this experience would take me , but I do know that I will never forget
this experience.. I just know that this experience broaden my perspective about
poverty and about people.. I learned the importance of keeping in mind that life
struggles, and poverty in general can influence people differently and that many
times we have nothing else to offer but our faith and our prayers, and that God
will always provide and he will always be there for us....
Sincerely Yours, Vanessa Diego
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