Week 6: St. Louise & Mary Queen of Peace- Thursday

 Today, after we woke up, we got to watch a video called La Cosecha (the harvest). Which was a documentary about migrant kids, how they had to help support their families. They talked about, how they wanted to graduate, go to college and get a better job, but because they moved so often, they often dropped out/gave up. Then we prayed the rosary and got ready for Mass. I think that most people enjoy getting the experience to go to another Mass and listen to other priest's homilies. After that we went swimming and had an amazing time, and got to do things with our friends.         After that we showered quickly, and then rushed to Sunrise, where we had a wonderful afternoon/evening with the kids, and very good BBQ. We had a fun time this week, thank you parents and AGAPE staff. Have a nice day :)

  

 

Week 6: Mary Queen of Peace & St. Louise- Wednesday

July 29, 2015
              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!

 

Week 6: Mary Queen of Peace & St. Louise- Tuesday

July 28, 2015

          Today was Migrant Immersion Day. Which basically means we had a short glimpse on what a migrant's everyday life would be like. We started the day by waking up at 5:15 in the morning. After that we went to work at the fields to see what sorts of work the migrants did. Half of us went to pick blueberries and the other half had to harvest garlic. With garlic it took nimble fingers to peel the outer skin to make the garlic look white, fresh, and delicious just like you see in the market. Then for the half that had to pick blueberries we had to personally look through each batch to check that there were no bad berries. Then we had to put them into small boxes like the ones you see in stores. And then they were ready to go. All the produce we collected gave us money for the food that we were going to have for dinner. Most of the groups had about 3-7 dollars. It might not seem that little, but we were barely able to afford enough food to feed each of our families. Next time you see all the food in the grocery store, try thinking about how much effort and how many people it took to get that food there.

Week 6: Mary Queen of Peace & St. Louise- Monday

MQP - Today we participated in a immigration simulation in the morning, a little while after we got up. It was really fun, but we also learned a lot about immigrants and all the trouble they have to go through in order to get enough money for their family and maintain a decent lifestyle. After that, we went to an immigration housing development, next to a crop field and in a sort of rural area. We played with the little kids and helped them with arts and crafts,, including dodgeball and making friendship bracelets. It was a lot of fun getting to know the kids and playing with them. Then, we had lunch and went to a bunch of different grocery stores to raise money and get donations for the Agape food bank, and then came back for reflection. Lastly, we had dinner (soup and bread and cheese sticks). It was really interesting and fun. 

STL - on sunday we played a really fun name game. today i had a lot of playing with the kids.

FOOD BANK update:

Today, through the generous donations of God's good people, we received $359.93!! Thank you for your support in prayer, food, clothing and money! God Bless!

Week 6: Mary Queen of Peace & St. Louise- Sunday

Both St. Louise and Mary Queen of Peace both left their parishes to go to the Park and Ride to meet up with each other. After checking that everyone was on the same page, they both left on their way to Bellingham. They stopped for a stretch at Multnomah Falls Park where they ate lunch and explored the waterfall, Afterwards, they drove to Boomer's Burgers to grab their dinner. They drove to the Sacred Heart church where everyone ate dinner. Once they we're all finished eating, they all helped to unload the donations into the Sacred Heart church. Soon after, both parishes came inside where they played icebreakers and discussed the plan for the week. Everyone is looking forward to this brand new experience! :)

~TK and Matteo

Week 5: Holy Redeemer- Thursday

HAPPY LAST FULL DAY AND THURSDAY!! After waking up and doing morning chores, we sat in group circle and watched a film on Migrant's and what a typical day looks like for a working kid. It was very eye opening to see what kids 16 and under go through to provide for themselves and their family. The kids handle this situation in a very mature way, sacrificing many things for themselves to help their family out. After the film as a small group we prayed the Diversity Rosary. It was peaceful and something I never usually do so it was amazing praying for those in need. Then we went to daily mass at a beautiful church. It was very fast but so great to be there with God and be in peace. Another shower! YAY! After mass we went to a swimming center and got to swim and shower for 2 hours. It was fun to be able to relax and be with everyone. The best part of the day was after the showers... going to Sunrise to be with the kids. Every time I am with them it is beautiful. They are all such amazing people. They have the biggest hearts and can brighten the mood of anyone there. Being with them for multiple days you can see Christ through them and how amazing life is for them even if it is a daily struggle. This brought to mind how thankful I am for the life I have and to count your blessings everyday. We take life and the things we have in it for granted everyday without even recognizing it. It was such a blessing to suffer this week to understand the struggles many people around the world go through. Those kids will forever hold a special place in my heart and I will never forget the mark they left on me.
"If you judge people you have no time to love them" -Mother Teresa
God Bless,
Love Jessica

Week 5: Holy Redeemer - Wednesday

Hola everyone,

we started out today with mass, which is a good way to start your day. After that some of us loaded up the cars with all the food we collected the previous day tabling and the other small group, witch I was in, went to Cash and Carry to collect all the other needed items that weren't donated mainly consisting of 50 lb. bags of beans, rice, flour, and sugar. then we went straight to the food bank. my car arrived there more then three hours early and their were already people waiting for us! it took us the full three hours to get set up because we had to portion all the bulk 50 lb bags and organize all the food. Right off the bat we were busy as we all manned our stations, letting people know how much of each food they could take. We all attempted to speak Spanish, but some people, mainly me, struggled with it. We all kept a smile on our faces, and everyone was really nice. There was this one woman who had a crying child, and I felt really bad for the child. The mom had to give up two power bars for fruit snacks to cheer her kid up. All and all, it was an amazing day and we served tons of people. At one point Rays watch ran out of bags. Remember get hyped for the Lord!
Anthony and Peter

Today at the food bank we served 117 families! Yay! We ran out of food because there were so many families!... More food to come next week as we pray God will provide!

Week 5: Holy Redeemer - Tuesday

Today we worked in the farms as migrant workers. Woke up at 5:15 and arrived at the farms around 7 and worked till 10:45. My group was at the blueberries and it was such an awesome time. Seeing what the workers do and how hard the job is, plus waking up early, not having a lot of food gave me so much respect for all the hard work they do. We had to go to the grocery store with our family and we got a scenario  and only got a certain amount of money. My family, a family of 4 got $5.25 to buy dinner for all of us. It was very difficult trying to buy cheap food that would make us full, yet that were somewhat healthy for us. It gave me such a different outlook on life and how hard they work and yet they can't buy dinner for their family. It really made me realize how blessed I am for the life I have, but even for the small things, such as a shower, food, clean clothes and especially for my two hardworking parents that I have.
-Madison

Today we at VBS for the kids at the migrant camp. We woke up at 5:15 to be in solidarity with the people who went to work in the farms. When we got to the migrant camp some of the kids came out when they saw us drive up and it was just the most amazing thing to see them so excited to see us. We did some games and crafts and the kids really enjoyed that. One of the crafts was decorating frames and crosses with paint and sparkles. One of the kids loved this so much that he painted rocks and gave one to almost every person there, he ended up giving me three and it was just the sweetest thing. Some of the girls decided they wanted to decorate the holy redeemer boys' hands and they covered them in glue and sequins. And they gave them tattoos on their arms in crayola markers.
The thing that really struck me the most today though was a little girl 5 years old at most said that the only food she had had the last two days was the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we were giving them for lunch. She said that her parents were gone so much that she hardly ever saw her parents over the summer and being as young as she was she didn't know how to make food for herself. This just made my heart break not only for the children but for their parents as well. I can't even imagine having the strength to work in the fields day after day let alone being able to leave their children to fend for themselves. Today really made me become aware of how much I take for granted and how truly blessed I am.
~Madelyne