Agape 2016, Day 6: Friday

Today was the end of a very special week. There were so many friendships that developed and greater depth in friends that knew each other from the beginning of the week.
Last night, late, there was a spontaneous talent show that formed where the youth and chaperones were able to share their gifts with the group, and then early in the morning many got up at 6:40am (8am was the normal wake up) voluntarily wanting to go to the waterfront and walk along the board walk to a beach and play ground area for a while with the adult leaders.
At the end of the mission both groups went out to lunch at Boomer's before having to say good bye.
Thank you for all your prayers this week it really made it an incredible experience for both the youth coming for the first time and for the veteran's that said it only took them deeper.  Thank you also to Tom Rademacher and Bill Kenney who chaperoned!! Their generous huge hearts touch everyone there and were so inspiring to see pouring themselves out sharing their gifts along with opening their hearts to be touched by the gift each of the young people are. They are such a beautiful gift to our parish. Thank you also to Linda and Tom Hassenauer for letting us use their van, and all of you for your generosity with our fundraisers, supporting them.
If you want to see pictures from the whole week that the team took you can go to: https://goo.gl/photos/8xmrFPPfVoZA7rAi9
God bless you all in the ways you support our youth to become fully alive! Please continue to pray for them, they are so special! We are very blessed and grateful for them!!

Agape 2016, Day 5: Thursday

The day started as great as it could start. I woke up to a breakfast and Praise and Worship. Like the night before our spirits flowed and I received the comfort and warmth I can only explain as Agape. For me this week has been amazing and way more than amazing. Afterwards we came and we discussed Sheltering the Homeless. We talked about how we're all temples and tabernacles. I think of sheltering as building friendships with each other. Since we're all tabernacles holding God, by growing closer to our friends we grow closer to God. We watched a documentary on  Migrant Workers. It was about three kids' lives. One of them was 12 years old, she started working since she was 7 years old in the farms. Her family has to wake up everyday around 5:30 am to start working. They also have to go to different places to work for more money because they never get enough money for the whole family. Another one of the kids had to wake up around 5:30 or 6 in the morning to work. Even though his family didn't ever ask for his help he still sacrificed his childhood to earn money for his family. The last girl had two sisters still in Mexico and her family was trying hard to bring them to America. She had a dream to become a lawyer to help all the people who live lives like hers. She fell behind in school because she had to work. Being our celebratory day we got to go swiming at the pool for 2 hours. It was really fun hanging out with everyone. And after the pool we went to sunrise camp for the barbeque and time to play with the kids. And at the end of the day in sunrise we had to say goodbye to our buddies. It was really sad and happy too until we could see them again next year hopely. Afterwards we went back to the church and went back to the circle and talked about sheltering the homeless and we did reflection questions. the day was really fun and hopely we get to come back next year. 

-Amanda and Brandon

Agape 2016, Day 4: Wednesday

Hello this is Noah Pearson and John Rojas, and we are very proud to say that Agape has been next to perfect so far; we have made new friends and helped others. As much as we have helped the migrant farmers they have helped us in so many more ways. Today we did praise and worship after we read the readings for Mass today. After that we have created a human train to load a truck full of food and toys. Then we did the same at the food bank in the reverse unloading it.

 The Food bank was great, we lit up so many faces with the gifts that we gave them. Which ranged from canned beans, snacks, juice, fresh vegetables, toys, and even clothes. But we didn't just light up there faces, they lit up ours, not from just there smiles but also from there kind words. Some of our group helped the families that came by holding there bags or loading them in cars. At the end we have served a total of 108 families. Also we have made so many memories and new friends, + a lot of new games!

This is Reagan Pearson, and today we worked, in a group at Agape, at a food drive. In the beginning a group of us, Sarah's car passengers, went to a local store and bought some fresh produce for the food drive, we ended up serving 108 families in total. We all worked together to set up, and to work hard and make the food drive successful. In the beginning it was a thrill to see all the little kids getting a new toy from us, John Rojas and myself, we switched back and forth serving the people. All day we worked in the sun, serving people and were so thankful that every 10 minutes a leader would remind us to go and get water to not be dehydrated, I am glad to say we made new friends, and small families, my family is the Storres and all of us are having an amazing time bonding with each other, I am glad I got this opportunity. 

 

                                                                                                                                                                        

Agape 2016, Day 3: Tuesday

  Today is Tuesday the 26th. Our group spent the day trying to get a glimpse of what it feels like to be a migrant through migrant immersion day.

               We woke up at 5:15am and traveled to farms to begin our day as "migrant". After a short introduction with the farm owners, and a quick familiarization with the different kinds of plants we'd be picking, we shortly got to work. It was a very, VERY, grueling day. The first group spent the day collecting blueberries and cleaning buckets. However, even these simple tasks can become grueling under the hot sun. The second group had it much harder than the first. They had to collect manure and spread it into the ground for compost. This group also spent the day picking tomatoes and pulling weeds.

           The Agape group then moved on  to the YMCA to shower, as you can probably tell, we needed it. After we showered we moved on to our next activity at Grocery Outlet Bargain Market. We were split into small groups or "families" and were paid for our labors, but even with 4-5 people in a group we were only paid $4-5. This created some friction within the families as to what they should spend their small dividend on. Many families resorted to pasta such as Top Ramen, while as others shifted towards egg dishes.  Next, Agape came back to the church and enjoyed our hard earned meals. 

                Finally, we all met at Sunrise Camp- a migrant community. We handed out fliers there for the oncoming food bank, and then later spent a few hours playing with the migrant children.

       We are all now getting ready for bed. We are tired, but still fulfilled. See you tomorrow at the food bank!