Mission Trip Day 3: Dont Ring the Bell

Hey y'all I hope you are all having a good start to the week. Today we started our work and I must say I am exhausted. We first had the duty again of waking people up, yet this time we used songs and pots and pans. We definitely got some nasty looks but most were awake!  We then had our sacred space meeting with our families. This is where we use our guide book that has a reading or gospel for each day of the week. We use these readings and talk about them and how to apply them to our trip an our lives. Today's was about how God does not want the riches and the oils and and all the grand things, He just wants the small things in life. The simple I love you or I am proud of you. It does wonders for the soul to just talk to someone and make their day. It also talked about treating people fairly and justly no matter what their status is. Once you are on the right path with God and surrender yourself to him, you will be so much more joyful.  Then we had breakfast and were on our way to our first work site. We went to the Nazareth Center where we helped them in many ways. First we repainted doors. Now while that seems easy, there was built up rust we had to scrape and sand off. We did the same thing for all the doors, some parking poles, and windows. However challenging, my family worked hard and worked together to help serve others through Jesus Christ.  We had free time, mass, and dinner family style. The food was excellent and I got to know my new family a little better. We talked about everything from grandparents to BBQ.  After dinner, father Justin took us to the crypt to see some of the tombs and relics of the founding and influential passionists. This was very cool to see and once I can connect my camera to the computer when I get home I will post pictures!  Then it was play time for the kids where there were two rocking games of ultimate frisbee and volleyball. I sat and reflected in the nice weather on a bench. It Was hard and beneficial at the same time. I was reflecting on the dinner where I couldn't give input on my grandpas because they died so long ago when I was so young. It's always been a hard topic for me and I can't always explain why I feel the way I do when I think of God taking away my grandfathers. Anyways I prayed that I would get answers and continued on to watch the kids show true joy.  Time for the nightly program. At the beginning of the night there was praise and worship and a message from Joe Farris telling us he missed us. Tonight we had singer and speaker Kelly Pease. She talked about her family and her faith and how she grew in her faith. She played a song titled "Making Space". It was about her father because he died when she was so young. It talked about how he father would view her and how she would get to know her father if he were alive today. Now, if you substitute father for grandfather these were the exact same thoughts I was thinking earlier about my grandfathers. In my life I have almost written that song in my head. It was a rough song to listen to and the years kept flowing. All I thought about was why God put so much death in my life at a young age. Why was that my cross to bear? Why couldn't someone else or better yet no one have to know what it's like to have a death in the family every two years. It just didn't seem fair to me.  Anyways the night continued we prayed and sang some more then she tells us to close our eyes and pray. It was totally silent. After a few minutes we hear this voice. Not the one we had just heard. We look up and it's none other than our fearless leader Joe. It was a surprise to EVERYONE including our stand in leader Lisa. Tears came pouring down my face and many others showing joy and shock. He came all the way from Georgia just for the night to send us a message. His message talked about not giving up, not ringing the bell so to speak. Be willing to stand up and protect others to die for others in the name of Jesus. Don't give in to peer pressure or the need to be like others. Don't stand idle in your faith. He challenged us to go out and do something this week to prove our faith. Be ourselves don't give into temptations and to not ring the bell no matter what. He said to let go of the pressure to fit in, let go of what's holding you back. We prayed with our leaders and teens and gave the teens strength to grow strong and to not ring the bell at any cost.   Today was a hard tear filled night for me. I've come to realize that I don't fall for "what's cool" or peer pressure to fit in. I don't doubt anything in my faith except for why God gave me the cross that I carry. I knew that would be the thing to make me ring the bell. And I have to find out why he did this to me. I have to figure out what I have in my life that made me strong enough to hold this cross since God does not give crosses to people who can't handle it. I agree with this but I have a hard time accepting this sometimes. I don't think it's fair that my sister and I are the only ones of my cousins that knew my Grandpa Schemmel. It's up to us to tell the cousins about him when it hurts to talk about it cause I think it's unfair. It is definitely something I will work on this week and in the future.  Tomorrow is another work day and we are going to the food bank. I will update again tomorrow.  Goodnight and God Bless