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!