It is Saturday morning in Arlington, Virginia, and we have come to a complete cycle in our 2022 Spiritan mission experience trip to Baltimore and Arlington. Everyone is up early, and the house in which Our Lady Queen of Peace parish hosts us is bustling with everyone trying to clean up, pack and accomplish the small tasks we had left from the previous day’s work. Specifically, we work in teams, with one group cleaning the house while another finishes the wall painting and the stage. 

When we finished all the planned tasks as Rebecca (a minister at the church in Arlington) assigned, we were excited and ready to take the excellent learning experiences back with us to Duquesne. Hopefully, the experiences can inspire the next group of students that will visit in future mission trips. We prayed and left at around 1:30 pm. Despite the wintry conditions, we had a smooth drive across winter paradise and had a couple of stops for coffee and lunch break. The drive was exciting as we had a lot to reflect upon based on our experiences during the trip. When we got back on campus at around 6:00 pm, the excitement was evident in everyone’s faces and voices as we were all ready to sleep in our beds and accomplish school tasks that we had put on the side for a whole week when we were gone.  

I would be remiss if I didn’t give special thanks to everyone that made our mission trip experience possible and meaningful. Thank you to all our donors whose generous contributions made it possible for us to serve in the communities we volunteered in. Thank you to the Spiritan campus ministers who made this and other trips (Houston and Detroit/Dayton) possible by planning the logistics and preparing us for what would be awaiting. Thank you to the parents who let their beloved sons and daughters travel for a mission trip experience during spring break rather than have them come home to visit. Thank you to the catholic parishes in Baltimore and Arlington that welcomed us and made us feel at home while we volunteered.  

My heartfelt appreciation to the team that I traveled with. These are my God-given brothers and sisters with whom we traveled this journey and gathered mountains of memories. Shout out to Sarah Bazzel for teaching me how to work the power tools and for her patience the entire trip. Sarah was instrumental in helping us finish building the stage, which the youth ministry will use at our lady queen of Peace parish in Arlington. Shout out to Keith Reis for being the “Tech guy” in our team. With Keith, technology had nothing on us, and his willingness to help always gave us the confidence to reach our goals on this trip. Keith’s mom (Mrs. Reis) was also instrumental in helping to remind us about the significance of our mission trip at a time when we could easily have chosen to get involved in other unrelated activities during spring break. Thank you, Mrs. Reis, for being a part of our team and helping us pack and clean up on our way out of the Arlington Parish. Shout out to Clara Bergman for always having an inquiring mind and the drive to accomplish all we had set to do, no matter how late. Clara was instrumental in painting the “peace pole” single-handedly in the youth ministry room. Clara’s commitment to the church and her faith was admirable the entire trip. Shout out to Luke for always being the guy who offered himself to any chores asked of the team at a short moment’s notice without complaining. Luke was instrumental in helping the team achieve its goals every step of the way. Luke never hesitated to help fix our lunches and dinners whenever we were immersed in the tasks at hand. Luke is very kind and was unequivocally committed to our cause. 

Finally, thank you, Brenda (our wonderful campus minister), for all you did for us on this trip. You made sure that we were all well taken care of and made sure that we took time off whenever we looked exhausted and yet insisted on continuing to work. Your sense of humor and kindness is something that kept us going. May you continue to touch several hearts on campus in your capacity as a campus minister. I am grateful to God for having given us the opportunity to share this experience with you as our campus minister, and may God bless you! 

Until next time, bye and thank you all for following us through this wonderful journey 🙏

CLIFF 

Today we woke up at around 7am to get ready to leave the house, we had some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then loaded up the vans. We were a little tired but at 7:45 we were ready to go! Our first stop before the airport was the gas station, and right after that, we stopped at Enterprise to return our car. We were able to make it to the airport with some time to spare and then found out that our flight from Houston to Dallas had gotten delayed. This delay allowed us to get some breakfast and some rest before we had to board our first flight.

We had a 2-hour layover in Dallas where we got some lunch and did some homework. We had our last Texas meals and got to explore some of the stores around the airport.

This week has been a huge blessing for me and for everyone in our group, I was able to talk to so many people who were also from Guatemala and I felt like I was closer to home. Now we are not just the students that went on a missions trip to Houston but we are a part of that community and one big family. Since day 1 we felt like we had known each other for a long time and that allowed us to serve the community in so many different ways. We served with different organizations and in each one, we were able to make meaningful connections and memories that will last forever. We cannot thank Houston enough for all that we have learned this week, and for welcoming us in the way it did.

Dear Houston,

¡Hasta la próxima!

– Lucía S.

Today’s the last full day we had in Houston. After a long week, I cannot avoid but reflect on the service we had done for this community and the significance it had on each of one us. Before the trip even started, we all felt the generosity and kindness of the community when one of the parishioners of St. Benedict the Abbot graciously opened their Airbnb to us to use throughout our stay. We were blessed to have this community open their arms to welcome us like we were a part of their own – from feeding us hearty meals to having meaningful conversations and interactions with members of the community. Because of this, we were all invited back any time from everyone we have met this week!

For dinner, Sister Kim invited us to her place to meet the Sisters of the Archdiocese of Houston over a meal of pho, a Vietnamese staple! We shared our highlights of the week, our bloopers (funny moments), and established a stronger community within our mission trip group and the community.

After dinner, we all conquered to clean the Airbnb before we leave for Pittsburgh tomorrow. We didn’t expect the amount of love we have received from the community, so we had a lot of snacks and food leftover from the week. To avoid wasting food, we all made little bags to give out to the homeless. Serving the people up to the last hours! It was a great way to top off an amazing week serving the community of Houston.

Tomorrow, we leave for snowy Pittsburgh in the morning. Houston, you were so good to us. I can’t wait to be back (hopefully with a big girl nursing job!)

-Ysabelle K.

Day 6 started out in separate groups led by Gio and the other by Kayla and Father Simon. Gio’s group was warmly welcomed to the Vietnamese American Community Center by Mr. Joseph and Sister Kim. After feeding the pigs, I noticed a man with a suitcase waiting by the entrance. Fitzgerald informed us that everything he had was stolen the night before except for a radio clock that he was able to listen to the gospel on. His story was so touching and he felt blessed to be served by us along with over 300 other families. We ended our work by enjoying a home-cooked meal of shrimp ceviche and Vietnamese chicken soup. Connor made sure to thank everyone in Spanish now that he’s fluent.

The other group served 318 families at the Mamie George community center where they met Mormon sisters, Knights of Columbus members, and donkeys. After our day of work, we headed back to the Airbnb to prepare an early dinner of Alfredo pasta with broccoli.

With full bellies, we were on our way to Rodeo Houston after a small scare with the tickets. We headed straight to the livestock show and got real close and personal with the cows before eating our hearts out at the carnival. Several fried Oreos later we took our seats to see Journey. Somehow we completely missed the Main rodeo happening in the NRG stadium and got to our seats 3 minutes before Journey took stage. We sang and danced along to the greatest hits when a woman beside us decides to dance up and down the staircase beside our seats and prompts us to get up and sing louder. We did and now several of our voices are gone. We ended our day with some more pasta and prayers.

-Kate S.

Hi, it is Sarah yet again! We started the morning by sleeping in till 8am. It was nice to start the morning painting and having leftovers from last nights dinner. After everyone was showered and feed, we started driving into downtown DC. When we finally made it through morning traffic and traveled around the same block twice to find parking, only to find that the African American Civil War Museum was closed due to renovations (that Google failed to mention). We then moved on to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Since we had gotten there early, we decided to go to Mass. It was completely meaningful. After which we all had wandered through the Basilica and ended up spending over 2 hours looking at each memorial and each statue. It was moving for most of us in some aspect or another.

Now after hitting up the gift shop for some swag, we headed to lunch across the street at the Busboys and Poets, which was recommended by one of the volunteers there. After lunch, we left for the Pope John Paul 2^ndShrine, which was in fact closed again. Once we had our photo op, we headed back towards the Arlington National Cemetery. Which was still open (for only like 10 minutes), so we all quickly walked towards the headstones of the Kennedy family. 

After finally making it back to Our Lady Queen of Peace, Keith, Cliff, and I started painting again and getting the soup ready for dinner while Brenda, Luke, and Clara went to the store to get a few missing paint supplies. Once we all got started on our separate projects, it was time for our Lenten Stone Soup Dinner (which we did not receive soup and it was all on Zoom). It was originally about the intersection of poverty and education. It was definitely confusing as a non-education major who is not finished with my undergrad. But it started a very interesting and deep conversation, and it was nice hearing everyone’s own perspectives on it all. This is when the hunger eating started as we all crammed down our grilled cheeses and cheesy potato soup, we began working again painting our Peace pole and our mural. Keith even set up a really cool karaoke machine.

Our night ended with finishing our “I am a Child of God” mural while watching We Bought.

Instead of taking 75 South to Dayton, we headed North for Toledo and merged onto 70 East across the heartland of America toward Pittsburgh.

The midwestern flatlands of Ohio flank each side of the highway. The boys listen to audiobooks for a class assignment (Jane Austen’s Emma). Father Bill croons along with his favorite Bruce Springsteen songs. I catch up on backlogged emails in prep for Monday’s return to class.

Father Francis visited us this morning as we finished off our ninth pound of pancakes this week. He gave us a blessing for the road and we exchanged thank yous for the wonderful week in Dayton.

See you back in Pittsburgh around 1!

After arriving in Arlington last night, we got started first thing this morning! Rebecca gave us three main projects that she wanted us to tackle: making a stage, designing a peace pole, and painting a mural. All of these projects are to enhance the space in the Youth Center for the high schoolers as they grow in their faith and gather to form community.

Sarah, Keith, and Cliff got started on following instructions for the construction of the stage. They worked hard to take measurements and saw wood for the base of the stage. Cliff was brand new to using hand tools, and Sarah was happy to show him the ropes. He was so excited to learn new things and use the electric saw since he had never used one before! Fr. Martin even came over to help out and give some instructions.

Clara went to work on designing the peace pole. She came up with the idea to draw Noah’s Ark and the dove with the olive branch. She also found a beautiful quote from St. Theresa, which says “Peace begins with a smile.” The Scripture “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” is on the pole as well. Lastly, we asked Rebecca what languages are spoken by the parishioners at Our Lady Queen of Peace so that we can put the word “peace” in all different languages on the pole.

Sarah transitioned from working on the stage outside to starting the mural. To get us started, Rebecca brought over a projector and projected the design of two semi-circles in all the colors of the rainbow. Sarah and Luke paired up to start painting on the mural. We got a lot of the mural done, but there is still so much more to do. We still have to finish painting the mural and add the words “I AM…” to the mural. Then, on some of the larger stones, we will write words from Scripture that God calls us.

We were also able to take some time to rest, pray, and learn about the work the parish is doing. At noon, we went to mass in the church and were joined by Fr. Tim Hickey.

After mass, we had lunch and learned about the parish’s work in Haiti. Our Lady Queen of Peace parishioners are very generous with their time and money. They provide aid to a city in Haiti called Medor. Medor is 6 hours outside of Port Au Prince and is 74 miles long. The parishioners have been working to pay for and provide water filtration systems for each home because many people in Haiti are drinking unsanitary water, which causes many diseases. A water filtration system costs only $10. This includes the bucket, the spicket, and the bleach powder (which kills the bacteria). This $10 will pay for clean water for a family of 5 for 6 months. After 6 months, the only thing they need is bleach powder, which only cost a few dollars.

They also provide deworming for all the kids 3 times a year because many of them have words from the unclean water. The parishioners also pay for goats, which the Haitians equate to money in the bank. Goats provide income because the Haitians can sell the milk and breed more goats. Once a farmer’s goat has kids, they give two away to a new farmer. After that, the goat and any future kids belong to the first farmer. It is a sort of ingenious “pay it forward” process!

In the evening before dinner, we heard a presentation on the church’s history, given by Jackie and Veronica. They are two biological sisters who taught us about the founding of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish. In Catholic Churches, black families were feeling unwelcomed and ostracized because they had to sit away from white people and receive communion last. So, they petitioned the bishop to found a new parish, and the bishop granted them permission to start Our Lady Queen of Peace. A Spiritan priest was sent to be with this new community as they began a new journey. Jackie and Veronica reminisced about how it was a great place because everyone was invited. They had entertainment including many dances and basketball games. Jackie and Veronica shared that they were fortunate to be in the Catholic schools because they were desegregated way earlier than the public schools. We learned so much from our time with Jackie and Veronica.

For dinner, the group decided on homemade pizzas! We worked hard to get the dough stretched out because we didn’t have any flour. The pizzas were good and probably tasted even better because we watched Encanto while we ate! Clara had never seen the movie, and the rest of us were more than happy to watch it again since it is such a good one.

This trip has been so eye opening in many ways. From experiencing such extreme poverty and need in Baltimore to coming to a vibrant, generous parish that works for social justice internationally and locally, we have been so blessed to be part of so much. We cannot wait to share our experiences with others when we get home. We hope we can bring 2 or 3 times more people next year. We know the work we are doing is so important!

Well, that’s all I’ve got for you right now. Until tomorrow!

~Brenda

Last night for dinner, we went over to Fr. Francis and Fr. Benoit’s house for dinner, where they served us traditional African cuisine. There was baked Tilapia, in which the fish was spiced and cooked whole–scales, eyes, and all. We ate everything on the fish except the bones, and Fr. Bill says under the neck is the best part. There was Jollof, a slightly spicy rice-based African dish with this tomato sauce-eque gravy. We spoke with a former state representative and parishioner from St. Benedict the Moor Church named Thomas who explained the effects of racism in Dayton and what the church does to address it. Specifically, he told us about red lining through which black people were prevented by banks from receiving loans to live in better areas of town.

Today was our last full day in Dayton as we will embark for Pittsburgh at 9:00am tomorrow. Alex H was prepared to lead the group in yoga, but everyone wanted to sleep in (but Alex also chose not to wake anyone up). You’ll never guess what we had for breakfast…pancakes again!

Around 8:30am we arrived at Saint Benedict the Moor Church to help sweep, mop, wipe windows, and clean the church and hall for tonight’s fish fry.

Around 11:00am we drove over to the school to spend our last hours with our kids. The principal had an envelope of thank you cards addressed to Mr. Dan (one of our trip-mates, in the picture below) from his second-graders. We received lots of hugs from our students and felt so sad to leave them.

At 2:30pm we returned to the church ready to fry up and serve the community’s famous tilapia and whiting fish. This makes a lot of money for the parish, and the food is DELICIOUS! Alex H. defrosted fish and washed dishes. Natalia, Alex M., and Father Bill breaded the fish. Dan and Grant packaged orders for customers. We worked alongside parishioners from the church, many who have been doing the fish fry for over 15 years.

This has been an awesome week. These are a few of our favorite things about Dayton: fried tilapia, kids not crying, going to the gym, dance parties to Mamma Mia, celebrating International’s Women Day, Mass in Swahili, Egyptian Rat Race, pancakes, teaching kids times tables, pushing kids on swings, tying shoe laces, picking up trash from the parking lot, cooking coleslaw and baked beans for the fish fry, consoling kids when they cry, being able to fix a fence with Father Bill’s tools, seeing The Batman, learning how to use a pocket knife, making new friends with our trip-mates, and so many other little memories along the way.

Thank you for journeying with us on this blog!

Now a gallery of our favorite memes:

From arriving in Dayton with 70 degree weather to it now being 30 degrees, we are now waiting in the car for the windshield to defrost, and I’m trying to make myself useful by taking the layer of ice off with a just about a useless ice scraper.

From 8 am to around 3:30 pm, my fellow missionaries and I get to work with each of our own respective grades at St. Benedict The Moor (we are working with preschool through third grade this week). I’m with the third graders in Ms. Campbell’s room. When I walk into class all the kids say “Hi, Mr. Grant!!” which always puts a smile to my face. I sit down in the back of the classroom next to my newly found friend Christopher, one of the coolest kids met so far. Normally he’s sleeping when I get to class so I have to wake him up. We start the day with english. I am able to help each student individually with reading and grammar (which I hardly know myself).

After english we break off into halves of the room, Miss Campbell taking one half and myself taking the other. I’m given a packet for the kids to work on, which is about budgeting a trip to Ireland in lieu of Saint Patrick’s Day. I find this assignment especially exciting because I’m currently taking financial accounting and this assignment is similar to that because we are recording our different expenses.

After we have completed the assignment, it’s lunch time. My friend Dan and I head over to Fr. Francis’s house to get lunch, only to realize that we forgot our sandwiches at home! So then Father Bill has to race back home to get the food. We then have to wait around for our lunches while playing Clash Royale. After that I come back and my class leaves for recess. I am able to stay back with my friend Ryan (3rd grader) to read books and do times tables with him. I can tell he is getting mentally fatigued so we then play checkers.

After school, we go back home and have a reflection on the trip individually so far. When the reflection is over we discuss plans for the evening. We decide that we will go see the new Batman movie after dinner. There is about a half hour til dinner so I hurry to grab my computer to work on accounting for a little bit!

Finally, for what seems like the first few moments of “relaxation” on this trip, we get to sit and enjoy a 3-hour blockbuster film while also learning my newfound appreciation for Robert Patterson as the new Batman. When the movie ends we come home in a hurry because Natalia, Dan, and I made the decision to work out the next morning before school so we had to get to bed fast!

Today we woke up at 8:30 am to make breakfast and coffee, and then went to the Spiritan Organization of Mission Advancement (SOMA) office to talk to Fr. Micheal, Fr. Honest, and Mr. John. They educated us on Duquesne’s Spiritan history and vocations, presented information regarding the Spiritan’s mission advancement in the Houston area connecting to outreach opportunities in the United States, and provided us What-a-Burger for lunch. Furthermore, the Fathers told us all about how they dedicated their lives within the seminary. Afterward, they all gave us a tour of the SOMA property and generously offered more meals for food! We took off on our way to the Rothko Chapel to observe traditional prayer rituals in different Christian denominations.

After visiting the Rothko Chapel, we went to the Magnificat House to help with painting the outside front of their building and assisted in putting a chest together. We were then generously granted a voucher to shop for antiques within the building. At the end of our time at the Magnificat House, they gave us Chick-Fil-A nuggets and cookies for an after-work snack!

After our snack, we reestablished friendships and connections within our group. We then went to St. Benedict the Abbot Church to attend their youth service night with middle school and high school students. Duquesne students had the opportunity to be involved in Catholic-based discussions and activities that created fellowship among their groups to get to know each other more.

-Bella B. (Birthday girl)