I've always been the type of person to jump right in for a volunteer job, especially if there was an opportunity for adventure, or to provide my own children with lasting memories, or to serve others, and/or spread the faith. I started the whole mission trip idea here in our hometown, with a trip to visit a close friend of a priest at our parish. When I told our priest about wanting to take kids on mission trips, where they could meet new people, help those less fortunate than ourselves, and nourish young hearts with a desire to broaden their horizons, make new friends, and help people in need, he immediately told me to go visit his priest friend rural Kentucky. My husband and I went, with our three daughters, and so began a life of service, and dreaming-up mission trips. I organized and led several groups to Appalachia, serving the poor in that part of the country during the eight trips I took down, enjoying my time with the teens and young adults who went with me (along with my co-leading adults). Other adults from our homeschooling community started gathering their own groups and driving down there regularly. We refurbished house trailers, helped communities clean up after wide-spread flooding, and did cleaning and other jobs in the network of thrift stores and warehouses that Fr. Ralph Beiting had procured.
He was a good man, Fr. Beiting, but he could talk your ear off with all of his stories, and could put a group of teenagers/young adults sound asleep with his endless (and oft-repeated!) stories, but he truly loved and cared for the people he served, always encouraging them to be their very best. He passed away in August of 2012, leaving behind a legacy of love. The Father Beiting Foundation is still active in Louisa, KY.
(Photo of Fr. Beiting below)
I would never be able to do anything like that now. I would be stressed, and overwhelmed, and my brain fog would have me doing really dumb things, and my fatigue would have me on the sidelines, when where I really wanted to be was with our mission team, working right alongside the younger members of our group. I never wanted the "kids" to see their group leader lounging around while they did all the hard work. I wanted to grab a hammer, or a broom, a paint brush or a wheelbarrow, and get to work!
When I organized a Mexico Mission trip, (along with a talented and savvy team of friends) to Tijuana, from Cincinnati, OH, we had a lot to do. We had to raise funds, reserve flights to San Diego, CA, secure two rental vehicles big enough to transport our big group, and then find our way to the Salesion Center in Tijuana (that last part giving us the most trouble, because the directions were confusing. We passed up the Center shortly after crossing the border and drove south for several miles. When we came to booth, we knew we were lost. One of our Spanish speaking team members told the toll booth employee where we were headed, and she said we had passed it miles ago. Then she gave us directions, and made all the cars in line behind us back up, so that we could get turned round and head north again. After that, we called the Salesian Center for step-by-step directions until we finally made it to our destination.
We did some serious hard labor on that trip, and the weather was hot! I can remember feeling sweat trickling down my back, as we mixed cement, and pushed wheelbarrows full of cement, and dug sand and filled bags to shore of the ever-eroding foundations of the buildings and soccer fields. I insisted on trying it all, including pushing a wheelbarrow full of cement up a steep driveway, as we worked to widen the driveway apron. (Two of the older guys ran up the hill alongside of me, just to make sure I didn't kill myself!)
Before we left, the directors of Los Embajadores (the organization I found to help us with our trip) sat down to talk to our group, and especially to the adult leaders, to thank us for our good work ethic, and our positive attitudes. We were their final group for the season, and they said that the last group was always the most challenging for them, because the organization leaders were tired, and often the groups would start to slack off on their work ethic, and goals would not be completed. Our group was different, they said, because of our adult leaders working so hard, side-by-side with the younger members of our team. We had continued to give it our all, our very best, until the jobs were done, and our adult team members were applauded for our attitudes and our hard work.
Memories from that experience are still so clear in my mind (even if I was often in a daze of stress much of the time, because well…..it was hard, and I was accountable for it all.) But God had his hand upon us, blessing us. We encountered so many new experiences, and made new friends, shopped in the Mexican markets, and were "introduced to a different side to the migrant issue. I feel so blessed that God called me to plan that mission trip, and even more blessed that we all made it back home, unscathed!
And today I'm thankful for the memories of a great adventure, that God called me to, and gave me the courage and the supportive friends to actually make it happen. (Grateful also for the lovely photo album I put together from that trip. My wish for today is that I could be healed of my current suffering,
and could go on one more mission trip before I die. I REALLY hope that happens! 🙏🏻 ❤️
Me and our "Los Embajadores" team leaders, on the beach in Mexico
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