Day two: Get To Work

Today we all traveled to our sites.  I am in charge of a group of 11.  We are working at a Horse Therapeutic Riding Center.  They focus on providing enrichment experiences and physical therapy to children and adults with various disabilities.  

I've been going on these trips for 25 years at this point, and I have to say that the staff members at this particular agency (all volunteers btw) are making this one of my favorite service trips I've ever done.  The majority of them are retired men that simply hang out at the center and work full time.  They have a great bond with each other which is making for some fun times as they joke quite a bit.  There is about 10 of them and they have been so kind to our group taking us all under their wings, breaking us into groups, and leading us in the various projects.  Personally, I worked with Isabella and Shannon, and we were lead by CJ and Turner.  Our job was to demo a horse stable gate and build a new one.  I've attached some pictures below. 

I'll write the text here and just throw the pictures at the bottom btw.  

The rest of my group is leveling paddocks, or building gates in another section of the farm.  Some of the teams from our Newton group are also doing painting, yard work, and our 18-21 year olds are working with a Habitat for Humanity project BUILDING A HOUSE.

This morning, the idea of kindness was brought up in the morning program.  We were given a prompt to ruminate on during the day and to discuss at our lunch break with our teams.  The question was how does someone put themselves last instead of first in a Christian sense? What ways can we do this? And in what ways can we be a servant.  

In my group, Isabella was our representative to share with the camp and mentioned a few ways that we can do this (helping others accomplish tasks that might make them anxious by working with them on it, or also trying to educate yourself on injustices in the world and focusing affecting change in those areas). But what was truly neat, was that she commandeered this section of the program to mention how it is Yinghong's birthday.  This wasn't exactly the time to ask the ENTIRE CAMP to sing happy birthday to Yinghong, but the fact that she stuck her neck out in a way to show how we care as a group for Yinghong was such a wonderful thing to witness.  In a funny way, it really showed in real time how she was putting someone before her in order to give them a gift, the gift of celebration by an entire camp group (over 150 people here).  It was a great gift for me to simply witness it.  

We have this theme Upside Down.  I spoke to the kids earlier tonight and applauded them for being so open and accepting of the different parts of this camp.  I understand that we have a wide range of personalities and we all have different comfort levels with different things.  But even the kids I know that are a little hesitant have been very clearly pushing themselves to be a bit more outgoing and willing to try things they wouldn't normally try.  

Vulnerability is an important skill to develop.  I say skill because in fact, it's an action that we must practice for a very good reason: Our eternal life destiny is to be in everlasting union with God.  Forever we are to be on the receiving end of his love, and in order to do that we must let go of all of our inhibitions, fears, anxieties, and worries.

Tomorrow night is Eucharistic Adoration.  I wanted to give the kids a quick prep so they could be prepared for what to expect.  Adoration is not always an experience high-schoolers have had.  

I mentioned to them that when I was a kid, I had a bunch of friends who received those Magic Eye books.  These were the books with the computer generated images that looked like a mess, but if you focused your eyes on it the right way, you could see 3 dimensional images pop out of the pages.  It takes a little practice to get the focus.   My friends told me that I just have to stare at the for a long time and eventually I'll see it.  Well, they were right.  My eyes eventually became so exhausted that I finally relaxed and I saw the image.  I was in the 5th grade and it was a blue 3D fish.  It's amazing that I still remember it, but it is a testament to how wonderful that first discovery was.  

Listening to God has been a theme this week as well, and Adoration is an awesome time to listen.  But just like with those Magic Eye books, during Adoration the best thing to do is to sit back, relax, and let God speak to you.  We often listen poorly by 'talking too much'.  What I mean by that is that we try to anticipate what God wants from us.  Maybe we are going through the motions and saying our prayers without really giving them the attention they deserve.  Or maybe we are distracted by what we think God wants from us and we act on those presumptions.  It's not until we really sit back and relax, loosen up a bit, and focus correctly that we will be able to realize that Magic Eye image that God is trying to show us.  Remember, it's that image that is what provides us our true freedom.  Adoration is a perfect opportunity to listen to God. 

Here are some pictures of the day ( I apologize that they are not in order.  Also, I have many more pictures of my own group...I'll try to get some more pictures from the other chaperones of the other groups):