Week 7: St. Joseph's and St. Anthony's-Wednesday

We woke up around 7:40ish to the sound of Diana's IPhone. For breakfast we had an array of delectable delights including off brand fruity bally, crispy ricey, frosty flakey and cheerios. There was also delicious bagels. After that we scrambled into our circles because Luke had warned the previous day about how late we had been. Shame on us. Yet we learned our lesson. We said our prayers of wisdom, which was the theme for today. Wisdom! Then we were given instructions for today. One group was to go to "cash and carry"  and get groceries like rice and flour, eggs, onions, all that good stuff. While everyone else moved the food and school supplies stored under the church, into the moving truck. We went to what looked like a mini park to us. There were many families there already waiting for us. We set up tables and unloaded the truck to set up for the food bank Some youth were assigned school supply sorting. Everyone was assigned a certain box (of crayons, pencils, paper etc.) and they were passing around the many backpacks filling them up for the school aged kids. After we finished setting up, we took a much anticipated lunch break. We had gourmet, handmade, somewhat fresh, cold, sandwiches. Then we chose what stations we wanted to be at. Canned fruit, vegetables, soup, diapers, rice etc. or help pass out school supplies. You could also help families carry their boxes of food.  I took one year of Spanish at school. So i had basic knowledge. I would "Quarto sopas" which meant, "Four soups" or "no limites" meaning "no limit"(get as much as you like) I also shouted to the excited kids "Gusta nuevo mochilla?" meaning "You like your new backpack?" but it could not remember how to conjugate it.... ha ha.... we also said "de nada" when they thanked us. Later, when the rush of families were gone, we took a small snack break. Some dude named Manuel i think had made us some homemade delicious Popsicle. And im not even exaggerating it was good! They had strawberry, mango, chocolate, coconut, raspberry. They had real bits of the fruits in it!  The kids who got their backpacks were super excited! They immediately dug through them like it was Christmas. He was SOOOO happy! It was enlightening to see their happy faces! When it was time to close up, we sorted the cans by expiration date. The ones that were expired we threw away, the ones that would expire this year we gave to another food bank to donate, and the ones that would be saved to next year we kept. Then we put every thing away, and packed up to leave. When we got back we had "Tacos" but in reality they were burritos. Still the best dinner of all week. ACTUAL MEAT YES!!!! The groups did their chores after that. Then we reflected the day in our journals. then me and Amy got together and wrote this post for you.

So that was our day!

-Rubi and Amy

Week 7: St. Joseph and St. Anthony- Tuesday

Enrico:
It's night three of our Agape mission trip, and today was our migrant worker immersion day.
Seth:
That's right, and along with our immersion, we focused on one particular gift of the Holy Spirit - Reverence.
Enrico:
So our day started with an early wake-up, which was too early for most people.
Seth:
It's a good thing that we're both morning people.
Enrico:
True, but, like I said, most people aren't used to having breakfast and being completely ready to go by 6:00 A.M.
Seth:
And on our car ride to our different farms, we got to appreciate a beautiful sunrise over the mountains, which is always a plus.
Enrico:
Definitely! We only spent a couple of hours really working on our respective farms, and Seth and I didn't really get too dirty picking blueberries, but I know that lots of the other kids really got gritty.
Seth:
What was really shocking was that we had 12-14 people working hard for a couple of hours picking blueberries, and were able to pick 186 lbs of berries all together. What really shocked us was that the farm's owner mentioned that most migrant workers could pick up to 200 - 300 lbs in several hours' work all on their own!
Enrico:
What made it even more striking was that we had the luxury to try the berries that we were picking and were able to have conversations with each other while we were working.
Seth:
Also, we learned that most migrant berry pickers are only paid 25 cents for every pound that they pick.
Enrico:
We learned how difficult this could be when we had to take our day's "wages" and subtract many other costs before having money for food. We were given 4 dollars to buy dinner for 3 to 4 family members!
Seth:
Having to do that really made real how difficult it is to have to manage every kind of expense in life with a minimum amount of wages for hard work with a family life.
Enrico:
Of course, we were also pleasantly surprised by how flexible our meal plan was, because of the many cheap, albeit unhealthy, food choices that we made.
Seth:
And our reward for all this hard work was getting to play for a couple of hours with the migrant worker's children at their camp. The work was difficult, but passed quickly, especially because at the end of the day, we had beautiful, happy children who were so happy to see us, and whose smiles brightened everyone's days.
Enrico:
This was definitely the highlight of our day, and also really emphasized the gift of reverence, as the camp really became a way to make Christ present in our lives as a reward for our solidarity and hard work.
Seth:
Now that we're here, it's awesome to look back and see how Christ was truly there for every aspect of our days and, through our prayerful solidarity, realizing how He must bless the migrant workers' lives.
Enrico:
From the comfort that He must give to the diligent workers in the fields, the wisdom that He graces upon them as they pay for family expenses, and the joy that He gifts them with when they spend precious time with their families.
Seth:
Immersion day with a focus on the gift of reverence was one of the most rewarding experiences of our lives. And we're writing this blog to try to get this out there that all of these lives are actually real and precious, and if more people pay attention, then we can do a lot of good right here in our own backyard.
Enrico:
So, in conclusion, the Lord has blessed us freely and abundantly, allowing us to share in the solidarity of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ's body. Peace be with you!

Week 7: St. Anthony's and St. Joseph's-Monday

For our first full day of AGAPE, we went out to grocery stores and tabled for food donations for the local migrant families. Our group had a great time being positive and received good feedback and many donations. In the early afternoon, we were able to go to the migrant community and play with the young kids who aren't able to act like kids all of the time because of their parent's are constantly gone working in the fields. We did relay races, we played soccer with them, sang and acted camp songs, and made friendship bracelets. Once we got back to Sacred Heart we immediately were put into a migrant family food bank simulation where we had to choose a certain amount of food and create a dinner from the food we choose at the food bank. That was not as fun as the other activities. Because we had to figure out to cook the food and then eat it, which did not end well for any of us.

Week 7: St. Anthony's and St. Joseph's- Sunday

This is Lena and Joe, two students from St. Joseph's:

(Lena) We are at the Agape Service project, and we find it enjoyable. The Icebreakers that the camp directors used included what our favorite pizza flavor was, "Slap Clap" game, and reflection with an assigned group. There are two parishes in the program, one is the aforementioned St. Joseph, and the other is Saint Anthony's. Both schools have their own groups, ways, and friends, but we are slowly starting to warm up to each other. Many others were sharing why they signed up, their strengths and weaknesses, and what had they given up for the week. In Agape, young adults will learn about migrant workers and their perils, as well as learning to serve and make meals for themselves. It is a truly educating experience


(Joe) Bonding with the other kids has been a blast so far. As I was in the car riding to the parish I was thinking about howwhe would learn the struggles of migrant workers. I thought, "Would we have to starve?", "How many hours will we be working?", "Am I even going to be able to behave like a normal child?" All of these thoughts raced through my mind as the car pulled into the parish. My parents had tried to make me as prepared as possible. They had packed literally everything you could possibly pack for this trip. But one thing I was never prepared for was having to be social to new people that I was going to meet. You can't pack for something like that. I learned that I was going to have to make meals for a "family" of 5 one day with only $5. When I learned that, at first I was a little nervous, but then I thought "I'll just buy DiGiorno's."

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

Week Two: Monday

Today we experience the life migrant workers live. The task of waking up at 5 a.m doing farm work for 3 hours was very hard, it was nothing we were all used to, but in the end it was worth it and we all noticed how lucky we were to have the things that our parents gave and provide for us. After working we were only given an average of 5.50 dollars and expected to get a full meal with my family. It worked because we paid attention to what we were buying, we took a quick shower, and made our way back to church.

- Joseph, Rebekah, and Gabby



Today, we lived the life as a migrant. I often say, "I'm living the dream." But today... I was not feeling like it. I'm tired, sore, and I'm a little sick. But, the thing is... for these migrants... this is the dream. They work on these farms, working long days and nights, so that they can make a little bit of pay in hopes of a better life. This is their dream. Often times, I take life for granted. Often times, I feel entitled to have a job of a certain esteem or some things I deserve to have, but working in the farms, making a meal with practically no money, and seeing the life of these migrants families... It really helps me to remember what my dream is... To love the Lord with all my existence.

Peace be with you,
Kevin

Week Two - Sunday

     Today during our food drive in order to receive donations for the Food Bank on Wednesday; we went to Albertson's and experienced different personalities and acceptance towards the migrant workers. We had gotten discouraged at first but then picked right back up on being positive and as soon as we started being more positive and optimistic we had gotten more donations. Our first donation came from an interesting man who wanted to challenge our intelligence. He started asking us a math question for 5 dollars and was willing to give us 5 more if we could tell him more about what's on the dollar bill. He told us that the eye on the top of the pyramid is God who has seen and approved all that we have made. We figured out that the pyramid is left unfinished because we still have work to do on this earth; we are able to grow and build everyday.
      Once we had gotten home and unloaded the food in to the church to save for Wednesday's Food Bank, we had gone through a Food Bank simulation and established who our families were and how many people were in our family. We discovered how challenging it was to make a group decision on food; not only on food but how we couldn't make a decision because each person was trying to be selfless and it made it frustrating to decide whether or not we should get something to eat. We had troubles deciding if it was right for everyone. Another problem was that we didn't really understand what they were telling us as we went through the food bank line. This made us realize that it is pretty hard to get what you want and need from the food bank when you don't understand the language; which is pretty common with the workers.
    We are looking forward to tomorrow and what it has in store for us!

-Hannah & Gabby

Food Bank Day!

Yesterday was the AGAPE Food Bank. We woke up at a reasonable but early time, gobbled down breakfast, and started an assembly line. It spanned from the basement of the church, down a long driveway, and into a large rental truck that seemed infinitely big. As the food was being loaded the truck, it looked more like a Mini Car stuffed with cereal. Once we finished, it was off to the field that would then be turned into a glorious super store for the migrant farm workers. We set it all up in a hour or two but only seemed like 10 minutes. We again shoved lunch down our throats so we could start serving. It started out boring and super not fun but as the minutes past, joyful smiles were erupting. One family I served was a woman with the trail of adorable kids following with their very own food boxes. When the family finished I saw their faces light up. The kids dropped their food in the car and then sprinted to the toy section so they could each get one better than their siblings. As for the mother and older kids slowly walked over to the large clothing area. By the end of their time at the food bank, they had all found something that was their new favorite article of clothing or toy. I felt so honored to be able to help the family with simple needs that were so important. Finishing off the day was a huge accomplishment for me, I could feel the love coming from all around me!

-Lizzy N.

Reflecting on Tuesday

The sun had not been seen yet, it was 5 AM. But it's not hard waking up when you know it will be a fun day filled with hard work, and adventures. Today all ten of us sleepily got on the school bus heading to a farm to put ourselves in the shoes of migrant farm workers. When we arrived at Bellingham Country Garden we got right to work on weeding onions, it was hard work but definitely paid off to see a weed free row of onions by 7:30 the light rain started to fall. But none of us Seattle lights should be afraid of rain! Later after weeding onions we walked over to the assortment of kale and lettuce to weed the long patches of brightly colored kale. Finally after doing the kale we clipped strawberry runners. strawberry runners are stems that grow off of the plant and usually cannot flower again so they sit there and suck nutrients from the plant that is trying to fruit. After four hours of working on the farm we ate lunch, YUM! After this tiring and sweaty part of the day we all got back in the bus heading for a warm cleansing shower at the YMCA. And then after our shower we went to the grocery store once again to try to embody the hard line of a worker, so based on how much money each "family" got while working on the fields we bought dinner with. I had a family of three, none of us too picky of eaters but we just had three dollars for all of us to eat we ended up with two boxes of fruit loops, not the healthiest. But we would have been healthier but we only had ten minutes to pick out what to get! Then we returned back for the other groups to cook, thankfully we did not have to cook since you know we only had Fruit Loops. Then after an early dinner all of us Forest Ridge Girls got back on are bus and drove for a while we past cows, horses, old barn yards, and many long stretching field that look like go on forever and ever. The fields were beautiful till the realization accrued to me that they might be beautiful on the outside but the almost non existing wages and over working of the workers were not beautiful.  The small wages and the hurt backs the workers go home with should not happen, and so we were driving to help that situation. We pulled up to what did not looked not like an apartment and not like a house. They looked like a small bland one room spaces that held entire families. After passing around fliers for the food bank on Wednesdays and trying to talk in Spanish we gathered up a small group of all ages that ended up being quite a few people. Some AGAPE participants did arts and crafts with some of the younger children while the more "sporty" AGAPE participants and migrant workers and children played an intense game of dodge ball. This game was way too intense for me, so me and a little girl named Daniela played hide and seek, drew and made friendship bracelets for each other. Today I experienced something I will never experience, today was hard work that did not just helped me but helped the workers.
~Lili H-M

Week One - Wednesday - Food Bank Day!

  "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
  -Martin Luther King Jr.

  Today we got to participate in the climax of the week, the food bank. It was very rewarding because we got to see all the food we had collected during the week. We also got to interact with the migrant workers, who were very patient with our lack of knowledge of their language. We experienced something like this when we did the food bank simulation on Monday. On Monday we experienced a language barrier when one of our Agape leaders was speaking fluently in German. Overall it was a good day to see everyone participate and never complain because we were having a good time.

-Jackson and Jude

Week One- Tuesday

Well, today we worked on a mini farm. It was different from what I am used to doing. I have done weeding and things like that but not like this. For the record, the group did very well in waking up early and working well. It also got me to understand what these people go though everyday. Its not the same as what we call an 'average' day. but when we went to the camps, we got the chance to give joy to the families of the camps. the joy and the happiness they had was amazing. All in all, today was a great and wonderful day.

-'James'

         

          Today was/is going to be an overall amazing day. We got to experience what it was like to be a migrant farmworker (i.e. Waking up at 5:15 AM and then working in the fields 'till 10:30 and eating pre-packed lunches at 11:00. We also ate A LOT of strawberries while we cut the little vine things that were too long for the plant), and later tonight, we're going to migrant camps to go play with the little children. So cute! But my favorite part of today had to be making our own dinner. After we were done taking our 15-minute showers at the YMCA, we were driven to the local Grocery Outlet for a mysterious reason. We were then told that we did an awesome job working in the fields today, so they were going to give us money to buy food that we could cook for our own dinners. They said that they were going to give us the amount of money we would have earned if we were really migrant farmworkers. They gave us money according to family, along with a small slip of paper explaining our family situation (we were put into fake families yesterday - I am a Cortez along with Lili H-M and Ella J. H.). I was really psyched about making my own dinner until Ella said these five words: "They gave us four dollars." Shocked, we read our scenario slip, where we found out that we had supposedly earned $24.67, but had put away most of it for buying clothes, leaving us $3.50. We hunted around The Grocery Outlet, searching for something to eat. At first, we were going to settle for Mac 'N Cheese, but it turned out that you needed milk to make it. Then we considered buying a giant sack of potatoes so that Lili could make some awesome cooked potatoes that she had made yesterday, but it was too expensive even after a sales lady slapped a 50 cent off sticker on one sack for us. Eventually, we settled on something that we all thought would make a nice dinner. When we got back, we were slightly jealous about what we had compared to other people: One group of people had combined their few dollars with another group and had gotten a giant box of pancakes with syrup and cookies; Ms. Gardner and Ms. Cantu had gotten lentil soup with corn tortillas and cheese; Sofia, Mariko, and Christia had gotten red bell peppers with Mac 'N Cheese (turns out that you could also use hot water - oops!), M&M's, and green beans; and Ella M. H., Lizzie, Allyson, Michaela, and Emma had made shell pasta with tomato sauce along with cookies and Sprite! And what did we have? Two boxes of Froot Loops with an unusable box of what we thought to be rice but turned out to be riceseasoning. Lucky for us, Ms. Gardner and Ms. Cantu let us use their extra corn tortillas and cheese to make quesadillas, and Ella Hikes, Lizzie, Allyson, Michaela, and Emma let us all have a cookie. Lili didn't want one and Ella Hill gave me hers, so I split the two cookies into halves and shared with Sofia, Mariko, and Christia. Ella, Lili, and I all laughed about our whole food predicament as we ate the cereal and the food donated to us. Overall, I had a great day, and you've got to admit that it's pretty funny that we thought that the rice seasoning was a pack of Insta-Rice or something! Thank you for reading my blogpost, and to all of our families: We miss you, we love you, and we're having a fantabulous time. Thank you! Have a good night!

Palie Cantu

Middle School Mathematics Teacher

Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart

Week One - Monday

Today we went and collected food for the food bank we will be holding on Wednesday. We walked around neighborhoods to get the food. Many people were kind, but some were a little difficult. Many people gave lots and lots of food. Then we went to a few stores to ask shoppers for food donations, and many people were generous. Audrey even got a 20 dollar bill! When we got back, we stored all the food, which was piled high! Some people even gave donuts for the food drive! In the end, every one had a good time.

- Renee

Week One - Sunday

Today was the first day of the Agape Service Project. Agape means "love," a godly love, and that is what I saw today. The people are all ready to learn, serve, and most of all, love one another.

We started out by playing some outside games, like Flyers Up and Sproutball. After that, we went inside and played some games to get to know one another. It was interesting to know what people were like, and how they approached one another. I saw friendship and acceptance throughout.

Good rules have been set up by the leaders and I think we will all have a very good week together. I am glad that we have good people to lead us and to teach us, and show us what to do. I thank those who have offered to help us!

- Jude

First Week of Summer 2014!

Agape starts this upcoming week! We are so excited to see all of the groups coming up this summer to serve with us! Don't forget to bring your non-perishable food items, clothing, and toys to give out at the Food Bank, as well as your smiles and eagerness to work and serve! We went out to the camps this past Tuesday. All the kids can't wait for the groups to come up and play with them! We are praying for you as you prepare to come spend a week in service and solidarity with the Migrant Community up here in Bellingham. We can't wait to see you soon!

- The Agape Staff