“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith; so that you will be rooted and grounded in God’s love,” Ephesians 3:17 reminds.
For those of you who may not know, I was fortunate enough to partake on a mission trip organized by Catholic Heart Workcamp during the days of July 17-22. Throughout those six days, I grew deeper not only in my faith but in my love for service & helping people. I am writing about this experience to not only give my family & friends some insight on what I encountered during those days but to also encourage others to go on a mission trip through this organization.
Monday: We left around 9:45 a.m. and it was about a four-hour drive up to Detroit Lakes, MN. When we got there, we unpacked and got our sleeping quarters all set up. The sleeping areas were divided up in multiple ways. The boys slept in the classrooms in the basement, and the girls slept in the classrooms in the upper level. Then, each classroom was divided by churches. We got paired with a church who only had four girls (plus a female chaperone). All of the girls were very friendly and we definitely grew close to them as the week went on.
After we got everything situated in our room, we went down to our first program of the week. During this program, we got familiar with the rules for the week, met the staff members & our small groups, and learned a dance that we would be doing every single night for the rest of the week. When the program was done, we had some free time, which was then followed by dinner. After dinner, we had some team building activities with our small groups. Once we were done with those activities, we celebrated Mass together. During the Mass, we sang a song that included the words, “Dona Nobis Pacem.” Those words may not mean anything to you, but when I heard those three words, I started crying (warning: there was a lot of crying throughout this week). I started crying because when I was in Youth Choir with Donna Mae, we always sang that song. Nearly every single weekend, we sang that song. So, in that moment, I felt her presence. Donna Mae is the main reason why my love for God is so great, so when I heard those words, I felt like she was letting me know that she would be right by my side that whole week. After Mass, we had some free time and then went to bed.
Tuesday-Friday: We were woken up at 6:15 a.m. by the staff playing a song on the PA system (Lindsay did not like being woken up like this, but I soon learned to get over it). Breakfast was served from 6:30-7:15 a.m. Once we were all done eating, we had Mass at 7:30 a.m. After we worshipped God, we got our equipment ready for the day. We got all of the tools we needed and all of our lunches packed.
Tuesday & Thursday’s Service: On our first & third days, we went to a resident’s home. Their names were Al & Gene and were the cutest old couple. Throughout these two days, we learned a lot about these two people. We learned that Al was a retired elementary school teacher who loved to make smartie comments that usually followed with a wink. We learned that Gene used to work at a jail and enjoyed having company over. Besides getting to know these residents, we also did service. We pulled weeds, painted benches, pulled weeds, washed their front deck, pulled weeds, stained their back deck, pulled weeds, washed their deck furniture, and pulled weeds (in case if you couldn’t tell, we pulled some weeds!!). On Thursday, Al decided that it was necessary (enough though it definitely was not) to treat us to some Dairy Queen dilly bars, which was ever so sweet.
Wednesday’s Service: On our second day, we went to a place that hosts retreats for women who have lost their husbands in the military. Although we were not able to meet any of the women due to the timing, it was still so amazing to talk with the owners and learn about what inspired them to create this wonderful idea. While we were here, my friend, Emma & I scrubbed the floors and washed windows. The other members of our group pulled weeds and helped with the landscaping outside.
Friday’s Service: On our fourth day of service, we went to another resident’s home. Her name was Jan and she was a widow of 10 years. Since she does not have a husband around to help her keep the place looking nice, we helped her by painting her big shed. She also made some reaaaaally yummy brownies. 🙂
After Service: We got back from our service every day between 3:00-3:30 p.m. From the time that we got back until dinner time, we had free time. During the free time, we could do various things such as shower, pray a rosary as a group, play games (such as Heads Up on our phones) in the cafeteria, or relax/sleep in rooms. After dinner, we had a little bit of free time, with program to follow.
Tuesday’s Program: If I am being totally honest, I have a hard time remembering specific things that we did during Tuesday’s program. I know we did some team building exercises, sang & danced to some awesome Jesus jams, and they showed us a slideshow of pictures of some groups from that day.
Wednesday’s Program: We started the program with that dance that we learned on the first day, followed by some more team building, and again, singing & dancing to some awesome Jesus jams. However, after we did those activities, we folded up all of our chairs and put them on one side of the gym. I had no idea that I was about to encounter a very sweaty and near-voice-losing experience. Once we cleared the gym floor, we had a dance party. They played little excerpts from multiple genres: pop, Christian, country, even a little bit of hip-hop/rap (yes, they played that at Jesus Camp). Since I am someone who is a part of a big family who encounters weddings very often, this was an absolute blast and right up my alley.
After the dance party, we transitioned into the more spiritual and emotional part of the evening. As a large group, we took part in adoration. The camp chaplain for our week prepared Jesus’ body and walked us into a different gym in the school. While walking, we all sang the words, “O come let us adore Him.” They placed the monstrance on a table in the middle of the gym, where we all sat down and formed a circle around Jesus’ body. The musician, Alex Street, started singing some music to give us a different form of prayer that we could engage in.
Then, something quite beautiful happened. Many of you probably do not know this, but one of my favorite Christian songs is Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher. Since I love it so much, I was hoping to hear it during my trip. Then, as I was just sitting there praying, I heard Alex start singing it. In that moment, I start crying. If you really listen to the lyrics, you will hear the song talk about how without Jesus, you will fall apart. You will hear the song talk about that every hour, you need Jesus. Even when you do not realize it, you need Jesus. All the time. When I heard this song, I felt God speaking to me. I felt God reminding me that He will always be here, even if I stray from Him. Needless to say, I was crying basicaaaaally the whole song. Call me emotional, idk.
Thursday’s Program: We started the program with the same dance, which again included more team building and singing & dancing. We did some little activities after this, but then we did something that I had never heard of. It was an activity called “Four Corners.” They shut off all the lights and had at least 100 candles lit (they were fake, so don’t worry about starting a fire). The Four Corners experience was intended to be a time of prayer and healing.
There were various things that we could do during this time. One of the options was the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They brought in five priests, and you could go to them if you had some burdens weighing you down and you were in need of forgiveness. Another option was talking to an adult about any problems that you were facing. Family problems, friend problems, relationship problems, faith problems – you could talk to them about anything. You could also write letters. You could write them to God, yourself, another person on the trip, or even a person back home.
Earlier that night, one of the staff members gave a testimony. She talked about the struggles she endured during her sophomore year of college. She talked about she had all of these rocks in her life that were weighing her down, and the main one was anxiety. During Four Corners they had a basket full of small rocks. We could grab one for ourselves and write down the rocks in our life; the things that were weighing us down. Then, on the last day, they put the basket of rocks on the front table, where you could grab one and pray for that person of that rock and all of the things that they are struggling with.
I spent the majority of that night writing a letter, praying to God, and talking with my lovely friend, Anne. There were a lot of tears shed together, but the good kind. Once again, I am just a little bit emotional. It’s fine. I’m fine.
Friday’s Program: We started this program out a little differently. At each place that we did service, we invited the residents to a program on Friday night at the high school. Two out of three of my group’s residents came, which truly meant a lot. They were all invited to share a few words if they wanted, and both of ours did. Al talked about how while Emma was power washing the umbrella for their patio table, she managed to get Al completely soaked. He also felt the need to enlighten our peers about how I told Al that he could have just brought some soap out and Emma could have given him a shower!!! Then, Jan talked about how much worked we saved her by painting her shed, and she also talked about how much we loved her tasty brownies. Just by listening to these two wonderful people talk about the impact that we left in their life was inspiring. Service may seem like hard work most of the time, but you just have to take a step back and realize how much you are really affecting these people.
After the residents left, we did the usual activities and singing. My church – St. Wenceslaus – was also selected to perform a little skit on Friday night. I am unable to attach a video on here, but there were some miracles performed and head bobbing. Lots of head bobbing.
Later in the program, they sang the song I Surrender by All Sons & Daughters. I had never heard the song until CHWC, but the lyrics and meaning behind the song is quite lovely. Before Alex played the song, he encouraged us to open our hands and just hold them up. I did, and then when they started singing that song, I felt like I was just speaking those words directly towards God. A little bit later, they played the song Oceans by Hillsong United, which is another one of my favorite Christian songs. I was also hoping to hear this song at one point during the week. So, on Friday night, they played it. It caught me so off guard, but when I heard it, guess what I did… Yep, you guessed it. I started crying. For the whole song. Oops. Anyways, the song is all about trusting God and having Him deepen your faith with these new experiences that may be out of our comfort zone. At first, I thought that CHWC was out of my comfort zone. But, by hearing this song there, I realized that it was exactly what God had planned for me to strengthen my faith.
Recap: I realize how lengthy this post is, and if you have read until this far, THANK YOU. I would also like to thank everyone who has supported me in this experience. One thing many people may not know is that my entire trip was paid for through donations. I received donations from family, teachers, and friends. So, I wanted to write this blog because I felt like I almost owed it to all of these people to give them some insight on what their donations allowed me to experience. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I have some amazing people in my life and I am forever grateful.
If you have the opportunity to go on a mission trip – especially through this program – do it. It truly deepened my faith and changed my life for the better.
xoxo, Linds
This is my new friend, Emma! We get along wonderfully.
expressing my faith 