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."