Football Season!!!

Take warning of this vessel 

steer clear ye of her hull 

tread carefully of the crossbones and the skull. 

If you choose to challenge the pirates sword dear mate 

its best he know the strongest fools have met the darkest fate. 

Thunder crashes in the night 

another story told 

of the spirit of the pirate and his PURPLE and his GOLD. 

Men have tried and men have failed 

to raid the pirates chest. 

Both day and night with swords and might the pirates do contest.

 See this ground is sacred, 

tis here you don't belong, 

for you've stepped into a nation 50,000 pirates strong. 

This is our HOUSE, 

this is our STATE, 

this is our NATION, 

THE PIRATE NATION. 

Clearly this is my favorite time of year. Football season is the best. I watch any and all football so please forgive me for the hundred thousand posts about football, ECU, and usually some UNC football too. So my dear readers get your team colors on and get some food and drinks and enjoy! and most importantly GO PIRATES! 

Last Day of the Mission Trip!

The mission trip ended with a great day at Holy Family. I got to spend

the day with an amazing young man who had two types of cancer, yet you

couldn't tell at all. He was funny and making all of us laugh all day

long.

After Holy Family we cleaned up the monestary and had a volleyball

tournament. Rob Moloney's family won! Congratulations to them!

We ended our night with an incredible talk by Marvin Williams. He

talked about being fearless and how with God, we should fear less in

life.

Finally, we ended the week with mass. It was a great way to end to the

week and very special also. If you don't know, Father Nick got

ordained 8 weeks ago. The priests first blessing is supposed to be at

a special event or occasion. He chose the last mass to give his first

blessing. I know I am honored, to be a part of his history as a

priest.

This has been an amazing mission trip and I thank all of you who have

been praying for us this week.

God Bless all of you,

Lyndsey Sweet

Mission trip Adoration, a love hate relationship

Adoration is an amazing thing. I mean sitting in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ is amazing. It doesn't get much better than that right? And its great. I feel his love. I know he is there and I know he is listening. I love being able to pray or sing or just sit still. But at the same time I hate it. When I am alone with my thoughts usually I am okay, but during adoration, especially tonight, I was thinking about so many things. I was praying for some intentions and for my mission trip family and for all the people we served this week. And then I got to thinking about our theme of being fearless. And we've been telling these teens to be fearless and let go of their fears. And when they asked what my fears were at the time I said small stuff like storms and driving next to eighteen wheelers. But I can finally give them, and you, the honest answer.
I am afraid of change, and being alone, and of the unknown. If you don't know I like to know what's going in my life and I like to have things planned. And right now so much change has happened in my life over the last few weeks. I lost my childhood home and I feel like I have no home. Sure I have my apartment and my parents' beautiful new home, but neither of those feels like my home. I don't like that feeling. Then Danny graduated and moved away.And even though we had our own things, he was always right there just a walk across the street for the last 3 years. I took that for granted and I'm afraid because  I can't call him at 3am to see who is knocking on our door or to take care of me when I'm sad or to make me laugh. I'm scared that he could end up halfway across the country. I know in less than a year he will be stuck with me (bless his heart) but so much happened so fast it freaked me out little today. And I know I'm not alone, I have my roommates, my friends, my Saint Peters family, and someone named God who is ever present, but it's still difficult and I'm still afraid.
So I prayed and continue to pray that I find peace and realize that change can be okay and that I'm not alone. That no matter what God is with me and that my true friends and my family will never let me be truly alone.

hump day of the mission trip!

The teens continued to work hard at their various work sites. They continued to show their fearlessness in all that we do and are so proud of them!
After a hard day at work, we all enjoyed chickfila for dinner at Kennywood. Teens and adults had a blast at the amusement park. Many teens conquered their fear of heights and roller coasters by going on the many rides and attractions!
Today is our last work day and we ask for your continued prayers as we finish our last jobs. The youth have been tremendous in their work ethic and their love of God. We are very proud!
Thank you and God Bless,
Lyndsey

day four fearless love

Today was the second day of work and no one was hurt!! Praise God! Teens went everywhere from soup kitchens to food banks and doing everything from packing boxes to serving meals to starting and finishing a retaining wall and much much more. These teens are rock stars. They work at their sites all day then come back to the monastery to do odds and ends jobs!! We are blessed and these teens are being fearless in so many ways!
Mass again was beautiful, where so many teens helped with the mass whether it be as a musician or reader to server and Eucharistic ministers. It is great to see these teens so involved!
Tonight's program was given by our fearless  leader, Lisa Sheppard!!! We started off with some fun music with Billy followed by some songs that read more like prayers to calm the mood!
Lisa talked about how much we work and get out of our comfort zones on so many levels and interact with people within the Life Teen program that we don't normally speak to. So she gave the teens helpful hints in order to keep this mission trip spirit alive after we leave Pittsburgh. First off find your needs. Do we need to be on the computer or phone checking Facebook five times a day? No we don't. The only thing we NEED to live fearlessly is JESUS!! His love  brings us to perfection. The second thing was to take risks. Not anything reckless, rather go out and tell people about Jesus and pray for people and ask to be prayed for. Those are risks. And finally, realizing Christ in you is hope and glory.
With these three things the teens were challenged to keep the mission trip alive, back in Greenville.

Lisa ended with a quote by Mother Teresa I want to share with you:
"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway."

Thank you for your prayers.
God Bless,
Lyndsey

Day three mission trip

Today was our first day working with our families to serve the city of Pittsburgh. My family members were rock stars! They kept on working no matter the weather or how tired they were. I couldn't be prouder of the teens Kim and I get to work with!

What was even more fascinating, was the conversations our teens had with the two ladies we helped. The first had lived in the house had family built over a hundred years ago. She invited us into her home and showed us pictures of her family dating back to the civil war. She herself had lived in that house for 65 years. The second lady was 82 and has also spent her whole life at this home as well. She shared stories about her life and her family, which the kids found fascinating. We really enjoyed our day.


That night we went to mass and had family dinners. Chris Padgett was our speaker. In his own way, filled with humor, sarcasm, and honesty shared his eight basics to a functioning family. Those 8 things are: freedom, respect, wise choices, commitment, self-control, communication, dreaming together, and believe in one another. It was definitely a great night.

I want to close out with this song Chris sang to us last night:
"Lord be patient with me,
Christ be patient with me,
I know I'm not patient with myself."

Thank you for continuing to pray for us...
Peace,
Lyndsey

Mission trip day two

Today we went to Sand Castle to have some fun before the work week started. No matter if it was the lazy river or the giant yellow and orange slides fun was had by all! 

Jimmy Mitchell was our guest speaker for the night. He is a missionary in the music industry and works as the president of a record label for Catholic artists to produce their music. He also goes to various places using music and fascinating life stories to spread the message that beauty will save the world. He told us that we have to be fearless and become the generation that uses beauty to light up this dark world we live in. 

I couldn't sleep last night, so I decided to open my Catholic Youth Bible. It has a section in it that helps people pray for certain topics they are struggling with or want to focus on. So I looked up suggestions for fear. One that I found most helpful was one in the book of Jeremiah. They pray it section focused on Jer 37.11-21. You can look up that story, but I want to share the prayer it gave for overcoming your fears.

It says "Lord, give me the courage I need to be faithful to you. Let my love for you and for other people be so great that my fears will never be able to keep me from doing what is right. Amen!" 

So when you have fear, yet want to be fearless, pray this prayer. 

Thank you for praying for us, and please continue. 

God Bless, 

Lyndsey