This morning everyone here at AGAPE woke up at 7:15 for a tasty breakfast meal of cold cereal! (Like every day before too!). Today was food bank day, so everybody was prepared to serve migrant workers food and supply donations that we had collected. At 8:30 we walked across the street to the Sacred Heart church to go to mass. The mass was really similar to the mass that we have at MQP, only a bit shorter. The priest was 97 years old, and had been a priest for 72 years! He explained to us what each part of mass was like, the Eucharist, first reading, etc. It was pretty neat to learn about all the different parts of mass.
After mass we had a bit of free time, then started loading our rental truck for the food bank. The hardest part about the food bank was unloading the truck in the hot sun. It was at least 85 degrees Fahrenheit and the packages, boxes, and bags were HEAVY. After that we had to fill bags of sugar, flour, rice and beans, so the migrants could have reasonable portions of the respective ingredients. When we were done with packaging the raw goods, we dolled out all the supplies onto tables and started serving migrants. I managed the canned beans section of the food bank, which was good because it was one of the sections that was in the shade. Most of the migrants liked the refried beans. We had to learn a phrase of Spanish too, so the migrants knew how many of each item to take. My phrase was, "Frijoles, Dos" Which means, "You may take two beans."
Cleanup was not as hard, but it felt hard because we were all tired out from serving the migrants. Some migrants came at the end when we were in the middle of putting things away, so we had to get those items back out so we could give them away.
I'm looking forward to coming home to Sammamish, and taking an hour long hot shower.
See you all soon!
--Harrison K. MQP Parish
The day was a success in my mind. We went to church, helped out families, and made new friends. The highlight of the day was the food bank. I met so many wonderful people and attempted to talk to them with my limited Spanish. A band of brothers about three or four years old were looking through the toys. We told them where the soccer balls were and believe me, their eyes would've lit up the night sky. They joyously screamed, "Oooooh PELOTAS!" It made my day. Overall, the food bank made me realize the little things in life that I should appreciate. I will now think of those boys whenever I am down and in need of a little happiness.
Harrison O. STL Parish
Overall, our food bank today was a success! We were able to serve 91 families!
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