Week 6: Holy Redeemer- Wednesday

VBS: When we arrived at the camp we started with songs. Then we played sharks and minnows. We also made presents for the parents of the kids(thank you cards, snack bags, and warm fuzzies. Afterwards we talked about how Jesus walked on water. Then we did crafts, for example, painting fish, making and coloring boats, and making bracelets. Then we played water balloon volleyball. Lastly, we finished the crafts and we went to the food bank when it only had a few hours left.

Food Bank: We arrived at the food bank site in the morning and started setting it up. To do this we started moving tables over to the site and arranging them to create the shape of it. Next, we started unloading food, diapers, clothing, toys, boxes and bags from a rental truck. We had it loaded before we left Sacred Heart. After finishing with this, we started to sort food and move it to different areas of the food bank. Then the directors held a meeting, and we all figured out where in the food bank would work. Up until that point, I had been filling previously emptied Aquafina water bottles with vegetable oil from a water jug to give to the migrant workers. I was assigned to the cereal section of the food bank to serve there, and I would revert back to filling water bottles with oil if needed. So, after about 2 hours or so of setting up and 6 hours of serving the migrants at the food bank, we closed the food bank down. In the end, we served a total of 84 migrant families at the food bank; a great success.

Week 6: Holy Redeemer-Tuesday

       Today was Migrant Immersion Day at the Agape service project. We all woke up at 5:15 this morning so that we could go to a local farm to do work. Some went to a farm to pick blueberries, and others went to a local u-pick farm to weed crops. We all worked for about four hours, and we learned some challenges of consistent farm labor, but also saw the positive results of teamwork from everyone. A lot of land could be covered in just a few hours. After the farm work in the morning, everyone went to the YMCA so that we could take our first showers of the week, which was very refreshing. Then came our next scenario: each of yesterday's families was given a small portion of money with which to buy their dinner from a local grocery store, and then we had to go back and prepare it. With about $1.25 per family member, the families were not able to get the highest quality foods. After dinner, we went out to a nearby migrant camp and played with the migrant workers' kids for awhile. The children were thrilled to see us and play games with them. Even after doing anything from nail-painting to dodge ball, we were even disappointed when we had to leave. Throughout the course of the day, we also grew in our understanding of reverence, today's featured gift of the Holy Spirit.

       Before some of the missionaries went to VBS, instead of Migrant Immersion Day, we prayed a diversity rosary for the migrants and our peers who were going to work on a farm today. We, too, woke up at 5:15am, so with the time before we needed to be at the camps we made lunch for the workers (for VBS) and all the children participating in VBS at the migrant camp, prayed the rosary, and went to several stores for some supplies needed for the crafts we planned for the kids. We also prepared several skits about the Kingdom of God to make it easier for the kids to understand, and after we performed it, we helped them into several small skit groups and helped them recreate the skit to perform for us. While teaching them about the Kingdom of God, we learned that we are all princes and princesses of the kingdom and a lot of the girls were very excited about being a princess. As a worker, it was so amazing to watch their faces light up at the sound of the question "Who wants to do a craft?". The crafts we made consisted of making popsicle stick kingdoms, coffee filter and popsicle stick angles, and even painting a small pot and planting a beautiful flower in it to represent how beautiful we make God's Kingdom when we love Him and everyone around us. All in all, it was another tiring day at the migrant camps, but while it is happening the kid's seem to exude enough laughter and excitement to give all the workers energy to serve them for about 5 hours with pure joy in being able to be there with kids and make their a little more exciting than they had anticipated.  

Week 6: Holy Redeemer - Monday

   During Agape today we went around the community collecting food for the food bank. we started in the morning with walk and knock  were we went door to door collecting donations. Every group had a different neighborhood that we went through. We learned patience when people would not answer the door or tell us to leave. In the end it was a character building activity. We came back to Sacred Heart and dropped of our donations and had lunch. After lunch we then went to different grocery stores in our groups. At the grocery stores we handed out flyers and if people had something to donate they would drop in the cart. We seemed to be more successful with the grocery stores than walk and knock. Over all we gained a ton of donations. Everyone who participated was enlightened. When we put the donations in the church basement we noticed how successful we had been and ended up making 300 dollars in just cash alone. Seeing the levels of generosity throughout the community was very encouraging.

-Tara

   VBS (vacation bible school): Today was the first day ever for Agape to do a VBS at the migrant camps.  It was a great experience to interact with the all the kids and see some of the same kids from last year.  When we arrived at the camp, we walked around the buildings and sang songs from church so the families would know we had arrived.  Once we had a fair amount of kids come to where we had set up, we played multiple group games such as the name game, dodge ball, and link tag.  We performed a two-part skit consisting of the birth of Jesus and the story of Adam and Eve.  Later in the day we had the kids perform the skits by themselves with their own twist.   With Noah's guitar playing, we taught the kids a few of our favorite songs from church.  Not only did we play games, perform skits, and sing songs, we also did some crafts.  We made the trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) into a triangle with popsicle sticks, a "stained glass window" with tissue paper, and made treasure boxes. We also handed out a bag to each child for them to take home and keep.  The children at this particular migrant camp care for each other as if they were their own brothers or sisters.

-Hannah

   Once everyone returned from VBS and grocery store tabling, we all helped unload the donations from the walk and knock and tabling at grocery stores, and we had a dinner activity.  The activity was separating everyone into families and having to go through a food bank.  The food bank simulation was quite difficult because the people working there only spoke German.  This gave us an idea of how migrants feel at food banks.  Also, it was pressuring to because we had a time limit to collect, cook, eat, and clean up our food.  After dinner, we played a game called walk the line.  During this game two of our leaders would read a statement.  If this statement was true for you, you would walk to the line and back.  Afterwards we watched a video about if we had a mini Earth with only 100 people living in it.  It gave facts such as how many people had which religions, which lived in poverty, etc.  If you had a bed, a closet with clothing, a refrigerator, and a roof over your head, you were wealthier than 75% of the world's population.  Overall, the focus of the day was Knowledge and Understanding. We concluded the day with reflection and a prayer.

Week 6: Holy Redeemer- Sunday

   The drive up was long, very interesting and fun. During the car ride, I had an exciting conversation with a couple of people in a different car during our hour of horrific traffic. Arriving at Sacred Heart today was great, although we were only here for a couple of hours and so far I am having a GREAT time. The experience that I had last year was amazing and I can't wait to work and sacrifice this week for the migrant workers. I have an awesome group and I am ready to get going on this fun and life changing week. I thought that the reflection questions really made me think about how I should live out this week, as well as, the things that I need to think of and work on. Also, this year we get the opportunity to put on Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the migrant workers' children of all ages.
                               Reporting from Bellingham,
                                                       Sammy From Vancouver, WA 

Week 5: Our Lady of Fatima- Wednesday

                   Today was food bank day. First we woke up at 8:00 and ate breakfast. Then we were headed off to the place where the food bank was being held. When we got there we realized that it was raining, but we set it up anyway. We set up by putting up tents and tables, and then the food. By 1:00 there were families coming in to get food. They walked through the line, and we tried our best to talk to them in Spanish and give them what they wanted. It was so great to see how happy and grateful they were. Overall it was a great day, except for the rain!

-Darcy and Hannah

Week 5: Our Lady of Fatima- Tuesday

As the morning rolled on, parents awoke and turned the lights on so all would also do so. 5:00 was hard for everyone but luckily, we woke up enough to go upstairs to a breakfast of cereal. Before we knew it we were in cars on our way to two different farms. Today it was Migrant Immersion day! Myself and some friends headed off to the blueberry farm. We learned so many things like all the different kinds of blueberries. Hours pass, and as the picking and weeding ends, the staff and kids got to know each other better.

After the berry picking, we ate our lunch on the road to the YMCA. We showered off, and next thing we know we are at the grocery store picking out our meal with a limited amount of money. Flash forward and we stop at one of the workers camps. All of the kids including myself, Grace, played dodge ball. Even a few parents played. Over all this was my favorite day, and I know that others feel the same. 

Week 5: Monday- Our Lady of Fatima

Today was interesting and I learned many new things. It was cool learning how a food bank worked and what it felt like to have a lack of food. I now realize how lucky I am to have such a surplus of food. It was sad to see how some people turned me down so easily without a second glance when all I was trying to do was raise food for people who are less fortunate then me.

Week 5: Sunday- Our Lady of Fatima

After more than an hour of fun car rides with friends, we arrived at a church in Bellingham. Right away we were greeted by helpful, encouraging leaders who showed us our sleeping rooms. After we set up our things, we were called up to the Parish Hall. In the Parish Hall we had a long discussion of why we were here, how we were going to help the less fortunate, and how grateful they were for us spending our own time to help out in their program. We were put in groups, made a name for our groups and even made a group cheer. So far, myself, Grace and my fellow volunteers are excited for a great week.

Week 4: Wednesday- Christ the King

Today we had the food bank. We spent all morning preparing and setting up for it. We arrived there at ten and started to organize everything, the food bank started at one. All of us had our own stations and the customers could only take a couple items from each station. It was a great experience being able to serve others and make them feel respected. It really meant a lot to us seeing the smiles on their faces. This event meant a lot to us because we knew we were serving God. It made the migrant's day being able to interact with them by communicating with them in their own language. Thank you all for the support.

Week 4: Tuesday- Christ the King and St. Matthew

Today, three groups went to three different farms; a blue berry farm, a berry farm (I think), and a farm. I went to the farm and it was hot, it was tiring, and it was hard. After that we went to go take a shower , and we got our food. After that we went to go visit the kids from the migrant camp and they were really sweet and adorable.

                                               AMEN                                    

Week 4: Monday- Christ the King

Today 7/14/14 the Agape group went door to door asking for donations such as clothes, toys, and food to give to the migrant farm workers. Also one group went to albertson's and Victoria  was screaming her lungs out singing and losing he voice trying to get peoples attention and they gained a lot of food 


                                                                       AMEN

Week 4: Sunday- Christ The King

Today we reflected on why we came to Agape this week, what we wanted to get out of this experience, how we can help the people around us, what were our weaknesses / strengths, and what we were leaving behind at home. A lot of people came to Agape because they already had experience but the new people said that they wanted to get a new perspective at wanted to get challenged. More than half of the people in the groups said that what they wanted to get out of this experience was to get to see how grateful you should be to have all the stuff you have and to realize that all of the complaining you do over little stuff you do like how old your phone is and that you want the newest iPhone, but a lot of people can't even afford a phone at all! People that we see at the migrant camps are so happy with what they have! They may have a broken Barbie doll or a flat soccer ball but they still have the happiest smiles on their faces when they play because they truly appreciate what they have. Things that people said for how we can help the people around us and at Sacred Heart was to be respectful to people and to put people around us before us like with food and bathrooms. People's weaknesses and strengths were some like being patient and helpful to other people and and weakness was really working in the sun or grumpiness when waking up early. And last but not least is what we were leaving behind at home was a lot about technology. During this week we will leave our "little electronic world" to see how much stuff is really going on like people may be starving or tragedies like the Oso Mud Slide where people were left with nothing.

Week 3: St. Catherine's- Thursday

Today was celebration day. The first thing we did was go to Mass. It was much shorter than our normal masses at school. After breakfast, we went into our car groups and put flyers door jams. The flyers were for donations for the next food bank. Once we were done with that, we went back to the church and watched a short movie about the migrant workers and their journey across the boarder. After having a discussion on that, we had leftover tacos for lunch. Then, we stopped by the beach and hung out there for free time. Soon after, we went to the pool and swam for about 2 hours. The pool even had a water slide that went outside and came back inside. After we changed, we immediately went to Sunrise camp and had a barbecue to play and socialize (and eat) with the kids. When we finished eating, we played more games, crafts, and hung out with them. When we got back, we had our normal reflection and discussion. After the prayer, we had a little surprise...Ice Cream and a Dance Party!!! Then we went to bed (except for us).

                                      ~Shelby & Fiona~

Week 3: St. Catherine's- Wednesday

  Today was food bank day! It was really fun. We woke up and had breakfast, and then our after-breakfast activity was loading up food in the van for the food bank. One group got to go to the store and bought produce with the donation money we got on Monday. After loading the van and buying the produce we went to the place where we set up the food bank, and set up the tables and unloaded the food and clothes. In the middle of unloading another group from St. Louise came and helped us set up. There were some pretty weird clothes donations. The strangest were probably half a cut-off pant leg and a box to hold kidney stones. After we set everything up, we had lunch. Then the people started coming. We had to remind ourselves what to say to the people who could only speak Spanish. We learned many new words,mostly relating to food. We still made a few pronunciation mistakes. Once when I was trying to say "you can have two", I think I said something else, because the person I was talking to started laughing. After most of the people had gone through the food line, we started packing up. This was easier because so many people were helping us. After packing everything up, we went back to Sacred Heart for dinner. It was tacos! It was also the first meal we didn't have to prepare ourselves for the food bank simulations. That might have added to the tastiness. Then we did evening prayer. After that we went to bed and ended food bank day.

Week Three: Tuesday- St. Catherine

Tuesday

Migrant Immersion Day


Today we worked at Breckenridge Blueberry farm, showered at the YMCA, bought our dinners, and played with the children at Sunrise camp.

At the farm, we pulled weeds, picked berries, washed flats and buckets, and cleared a rock wall.We got so dirty so we took showers at the YMCA.

For our dinner activity we were split into families and were given a situation. We had a certain amount of money, about $5.We had to buy food for our family, and make dinner with it.Some families joined and shared food and money.

When we went to the camp, we played soccer, dodgeball, and some people did arts and crafts with the children. We were suprised at how good at soccer/football some of the children were. 

Then we came back, and had an hour-or-so long reflection. Had the rest of our dinner, and are going to bed soon.

~Jamie and Marcus

Week 3: Monday

This morning at Agape, we went to the sunrise service where we played with kids of immigrant farmers. At the play area we played a name game and capture the flag. Then, we split into different groups where we made bracelets and jumped rope in one group, and in the other we played soccer. Then we went back to the Agape center and ate lunch. After lunch, we went in our car groups and went to different grocery stores to collect donations. Some were very kind and wanted to learn more and gave big donations. Others were not so kind. Some completely ignored us while others made lame excuses such as "Sorry, I don't speak English" with not a hint of another accent. This took about 3 hours, but it was worth it. In this time we learned how much some people wanted to help the immigrants. When we came back for dinner, we got a huge surprise. We were split in to groups(families) and had to make our own dinner using food we got from an imitation food bank where one of the counselors was speaking in Portuguese. This was very chaotic with everyone in the kitchen trying to get one of the few pots, pans, and burners. But we learned from this experience that this is how some people have to live every day. After dinner we played a game where we answer questions by walking to a line or not. After this activity we watch a video and learned how fortunate we are.    

                                                                                                  -Justine, Abby, and Amelia

Week 3: Sunday - St. Catherine

It all started at St. Catherine church at 4:00 p.m. Then all of us put our stuff, and the food in the cars and headed out. We arrived here at Agape camp around six. We unloaded everything and ate pizza at about 6:30 p.m. After dinner we played a few games that required mingling. We than received journals and answered journal questions. We broke in to our small groups and shared our answers. Later on, we went around the circle and told everyone a strength and a weakness. Then we finished with a prayer, had a snack, and broke into free time. That is all the has happened today, we will share more about our experiences for the rest of the week. Hope that you liked it.

Sincerely,

Halle and Rayden

Week Two: Tuesday

Today we started out with planning games and activities to do with the kids at the camp barbecue. When that was completed we watched a migrant's journey movie. It was very eye opening when talking about how many migrants come over to the US and how many die on the journey. It's humbling to see how hard they are willing to work for their family. Once the movie was finished we went to a pool to swim. It was a good day!

-Sacred Heart Enumclaw



In order to truly serve, it is especially important to strive to see God in everything around us. This is why Wonder and Awe, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is essential to reflect upon during this service experience. The Agape Service Project is about loving God, loving those whom we are serving and striving to see Him in each and every interaction.

Today was our second opportunity to visit the migrant camp, play with all of the adorable kids and help provide them with a BBQ and many fun games. I always love the times when we do this because I am reminded that our prayers, love and service are directly affecting actual people. I saw God in each and every person, be they the kids or their families, or all of the leaders and participants of this trip. Every genuine smile and interaction was so beautiful because it was so full of love and joy. Watching some of the Sacred Heart youth so readily and joyfully interact with the kids and the camp was so wonderful because I could just see the genuine compassion they have in their hearts for this population. Even watching one of the young adults allow a small group of kids to chase him around the yard for nearly twenty minutes--until he collapsed nearly breathless on the ground shows that beautiful connection rooted in Christ.

Also, it was so awesome to have TEN Agape Directors, both past and present, there with us today--a testament to the continued love and devotion to the program. These people so willingly give up their time year after year to support this experience, both for the youth that participate and the families we are serving. They form long-lasting relationships with the families and continue to return year after year to reconnect and provide support. They have helped build up this program and help it to touch the lives of so many people in the migrant community. They are proof that a humble service project that was created and ran by one person nearly ten years ago can truly make great changes in a community.

I am so grateful to experience this project for the second time. I love what Agape does and what it stands for. It is so incredibly important to remember the God has created each and every one of us in His image and likeness, and that dignity is the basis for our human experience. These past three days have reminded me of the important things in life and that we all have the ability to help make a change. And above all, always remember to show God's pure Agape love to everyone you encounter.

Many Blessings,
Jenny