Agape Day 3!

Today we woke up the crack of dawn in order to live like a migrant worker.... Luckily we didn't have to spend 15 hours in the field we only spent four hours. After four hard hours of labor we were dismissed. We were "paid" wages similar to a farm workers wage. In the simulation last night we were split up into families, today as families we had to buy our own dinner to show how hard it is to spend minimal amounts of money. So my family, "The Hernandez's" decided to have spaghetti for dinner... along with five other families. After dinner we went and played with the migrant workers children which was by far the best part of the day. As our cars rolled up they screamed and ran outside. They couldn't wait to see us and we could tell that we were the best part of their day like it was ours seeing them. They all loved dodgeball... Dan didn't enjoy it because he "hurt" his shoulder. A little bit of help goes a long way. This trip is very exuberable (An Agape word).
-Ryan

Goood evenin' this is blogger B (Bubba) and today our fellow companions woke up at 5:15 in the morning. As you know our agape identity's were MIA, we were all now known as our own separate families going out to work on the farm to make our living, yippee! To keep it short there were four different jobs, watering, soil making (from poopie), raspberry weeding, and seeding. Good news, they are all muscle making jobs! The other news, we were out there for a total of four hours which in comparison to a real migrant worker really brings out the respect and awww when you're out there living it. Why? I'll get to that later.
After our fun laboring day in the beautiful organic farmlands, our families finally got to SHOWER! MMM it felt so so so nice and squeaky clean. Once showered we all stopped at the one and only grocery outlet. To our surprise each family was paid for their hard work... three dollars each person..... minus a lil for bills and such..... to keep it clear my Hernandez family ended up with ten dollars! But with that we had to pay for a meal that we could make dinner for the whole family and there were six. It ended up a happy ending because most families put their thoughts together and made spaghetti, woohoo, and by working together we got the job done. Having one of the best dinners made by ourselves.

To end our fabulous day we went out to a actual migrant farm that had the housing, huge farmlands, and families. Our goal, go out and serve God by doing what we do best, making someone happy. Once again a smile never fails to bring joy to ones heart, and by the end of the night we all had made new friendships that will never be forgotten, not to mention a new light to our eyes, especially my own.

So bringing me back to "why?" Is because after experiencing and seeing how the migrant workers live, there's not much to feel but a huge emotion that is almost unexplainable. What I mean is that those families living out on the farms are inspiration because together they may not have much but they have each other. All the lil kids watch out for the younger siblings (not to mention the family because most of the children are the only ones that speak and understand english), and all the mothers take care of their homes (or what they call home), while all the fathers work, work, work (for so lil pay) to make a living . In my eyes I feel that as great as our food collections are going to help them, it's not going to help the more important issues as to working so hard to keep on going. A question to ponder tonight. What can I do to keep those smiles on everybody's face? To look closer into their lives and see if perhaps we can help them to move forward. Although nobody wants to admit they want help because we all want to be independent, everybody needs help, and anybody deserves it. Goodnight (:
-Blogger B. (Is getting ready for another adventure!)

Pictures from Day 2 & 3!

Here are some pictures from Monday and Tuesday morning.

Collecting food at grocery stores:

Maria and her new friend Johnathon with his donation.

Gabe and Chris getting donations :)

Immigration Simulation:

Working on their farm in southern Mexican. 

Not liking the bean picking too much.

They made it to the Mexican border town.
Working in the Mexi-dot company.

He rode the bus to the Mexican border town!

Getting jobs and working with their boss at the Mexi-dot company.

Doing some warm ups before work.

Migrant Immersion Day, working on the farm:

Sifting the compost for the good stuff.

Tilling the ground to get it ready for planting.

Watering the crops

Weeding the berries.

Making new frog friends!

Planning their planting.

Lots of weeds to be pulled around the berries.

Tim lifting 'weights'.

Dancing in the car...YMCA!

Group photo after the farm work.  They did a fantastic job, worked hard, and got a LOT done!!!

Agape Day 2!

Hello this is Chris Williams, today we went on a walking food drive. Also we went to grocery stores to collect food as well. I guess i was a creep today in the stores by saying "I'll see you on the way out" to two ladies. Also we played a simulation of being a migrant worker it was pretty fun and challenging. I will blog some more when I get the chance.

-chris williams

Today was very interesting. We saw shirtless people, little kids, and very generous people. At our Market we got to hold a little boy, by the name of Johnathan, and talk to some pretty fantastic people. Pretty successful day, today, because we collected a TON of food! Will blog later.

- Hannah Lockemy

Hey today we got the chance to collect food items on a walking food drive and at a grocery store. It was really fun. Bellingham has such beautiful neighborhoods and people were very generous. I saw the most adorable little baby boy ever. His name was Jonathan I got the chance to hold him and take a picture with him. He didn't want to go back to his mom.

 -Maria Zarate

Today we played a migration game. I saved up all my money to get to the U.S. On my way over I got caught by border patrol and was sent back to Mexico with no money, no land, and no family. Couldn't imagine that happening in real life.

Also, during tabling, when we collected cans outside of the grocery store, a teenage boy walked in with sagged pants and baggy clothes. I gave him a sheet of what we were looking to have donated and on his way out he donated a bag of flour. Just goes to show not to judge a book by its cover. 

-Tony Chynoweth

Hello fellow Enumclaw people this is blogger B (Bubba). Today in Bellingham our groups started the day going out to neighborhoods to collect food supplies. Lets just say my team got very competitive and in the end we're proud to say we went out there and came back with food to give to our cause. After that we moved onto grocery collecting! You would never imagine the feeling inside when you see people donating bags or some food, giving you a smile. While others may give us the cold shoulder and chose not to be apart of it, there are those who choose to be apart of it. So with our smiles and kind hearts we stood there and collected as much as we could! Then we all raced on home and had a "simple dinner" which in fact is vegi soup, i'm not gunna lie, I'm going to miss my usual snacking of hot cheetoes at home! The best part of our day today is the "migration game". To sum it all up we played a very inspiring story of those who have homes in Mexico, their farms that they work their buts off, to not only make money to pay bills and get food but to pay for family members to get to the other side, America. Where most seek work and I guess you could say refuge to help their families and keep them alive. 

In my eyes I see it as a tragic story, where people work extremely hard just to survive. And it hurts so much to see that they are alone because if people succeed in crossing the borders and make money, they get here alone, with nothing but the hope that God and their family will keep them going and get them through the challenge. We all want to help but where to start? What can I do? A question to ponder tonight as I go to bed. As for tomorrow I'm glad to say that we're going out early in the morning to help the migrant workers. That is definitely a start. Well i'm ready for bed, goodnight!(:

Blogger B is out.

Pictures and more to come tomorrow as we step into Migrant Immersion Day!

Good night,

Love,

Your Agape Team!

Agape Day !

Hello Enumclaw this is bloggers Johnna and Bubba! Today we drove to Bellingham. When we arrived we ate pizza together with a beautiful ocean view (we'll post pictures later). We moved into our gorgeous rooms below the Sacred Heart CFC, the girlies got the larger library room, while our lovely boys got a smaller nursery room that already smells like man (if you know what we mean). "But men smell good"- says man boy Chris Williams. Once we established our home sweet home we went outside to play Have You Seen My Goat to get to know all of our new fellow friends from the Christ the King parish. Afterwards we gathered in the great hall for the welcoming of our new journals which we are to reflect and write in every evening. oh darn lights out in five.... which means we'll blog tomorrow (:
sincerely J & B sacred heart bloggers.

straight from chris williams' mind to you-

what is up enumclaw. johnna and bubba pretty much said everything but maybe i can say a little more about the rooms situation.well it turns out the men got stuck in a tiny room and the WOMEN got a room twice the size of ours and it smells like flowers. the boys room does smell like feet if that is what they meant also i would like to say hi to motherbear - love christopher williams

p.s- I will say some more tommorow


Stay tuned for the next episode of Agape and for pictures.
Much love,
Sacred Heart Agape Team

Confirmation Update: Getting Ready for the HS!

Our Confirmation Retreat, January 14-16, was amazing!!!  Our group of 30 (24 youth and 6 adults) retreated to Holy Family Church in Auburn.  We spent the weekend learning more about each other and growing in community even more, reflecting on our lives and faith, and having tons of fun!  Most importantly we prayed that the Holy Spirit would fill our lives so that we may be more open to God working in our lives.

We invite you to join us for the Sacrament of Confirmation on May 4th at 7pm with Bishop Eusabio!  It will be a night full of the Holy Spirit!

Here are some photos from the retreat:

A Minute to Win It!

Our Awesome Group!!

What's Been Happening!

Our Youth Ministry year is off to a great start! I can't believe that we are almost done with the first month!  We have had some fun things happening in our classes over the past week:

Last week the 9th/10th graders learned about the process of Canonization by playing the different roles that are a part of the process.  Of course the process doesn't start until after death, so our 'Saint Jessica' had to play dead.

Thankfully we had some Bishops and Cardinals around to help with the petition for Jessica's sainthood in Rome.

 
The 8th graders experienced how difficult it is to hear God's voice with the distractions of life.  They tried to hear as many things as possible while there was one person reading a book, another quoting 'mom quotes', an iPod playing, and commericals from the radio playing.















Then they took some time to reflect quietly, trying to hear God's voice while meditating with a Prayer Labyrinth.

 The 7th graders took on the task of King Solomon from 1 Kings to build the temple of the Lord. "The temple which King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide, and twenty-five high." ~1 Kings 6: 2  Using all the instructions that are stated in 1 Kings, they constructed temples for the Lord...that were also pretty tasty!  It is amazing what marshmallows, pretzels, popsicle sticks, and tape can create. 

 

Things to look forward to:

• More awesome Wednesday nights!
• Convention! Its right around the corner! Its going to be an awesome weekend!
•  Youth Ministry T Shirts! Our new neon green youth ministry T Shirts should hopefully be here November 3rd, they will be $8-$10 so some money Nov. 3rd! Here is what they will look like!

Don't miss out on all the fun!

Awesome Kick Off!

What an incredible turn out for our Youth Group Kick Off!!! 85 KIDS!!!

Thanks to everyone who helped make it a fun evening and thanks to all the youth for your awesome energy!  We need each of you to keep coming in order to make our Wednesday nights as much fun as possible!

See you Wednesday, October 13th at 6:30 for Mass and 7:00 for the beginning of classes!