Monday, June 30, 2014

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

Sunday, June 29, 2014

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

Friday, June 27, 2014

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

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

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

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

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

Monday, June 23, 2014

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

Sunday, June 22, 2014

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

Thursday, June 19, 2014

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