Drum Roll Please

Back in the continental United States! Being in Yakutat for the last two weeks was truly humbling and life changing. I'm so excited to share with you all my stories and photos! Photos are gradually being put on Facebook but stories to go with them will follow soon! Sorry for the lag in blog posts, there was not service and I was on a media fast and now I'm in Loveland, Colorado to jump into training for my job with Group Mission Trips for the summer. Speaking of which I got my destinations tonight for my camps this summer. ...drum roll please

June 29-July 4: Greenwood, South Carolina
July 12-18: Seth, West Virginia
July 26- Aug 1: Charolette, New York

I'll be posting my address for people to send me mail soon as well as my travel plans for all those who want to see me!

I'll be posting more now that I have Internet again, but this was mainly to share where I will be this summer. Please continue praying for me as I encounter Christ this summer through mission

Peace and Blessings

To the Last Frontier and Beyond!

I'm addicted to charity.

Yup you read me right. I went on my very first mission trip, or workcamp as it was called back in 2008 when I was 14 years old.Since then I have been on 3 other workcamps and 2 international mission trips (Jamaica and the Dominican Republic) and each trip has blessed me with different opportunities and experiences.

6 mission trips in 6 years.

In two days I will begin my journey on my 7th mission trip as I journey up to the remote island of Yakutat, Alaska. I will be spending two weeks missioning to the community by repairing homes, picking up tsunami debris, organizing a bible camp for the kids after school, leading the community in prayer, and embracing their culture.

But wait....there's more!

After two weeks in Alaska I will then be flying straight to Denver, Colorado to begin my two week training for my job this summer. What will I be doing? I will be serving as a Red Shirt summer staff for GroupMission Trips, an organization which creates workcamps for high school students to serve over the summer with their church youth groups. Yes, it is the exact same organization which my youth group went on workcamps with when I was in high school! So what will I be doing for them? I am an office manager where I will be working at three different workcamps across the country. I receive my assignments the night we get to Colorado which will be three different destinations across the country. After my two weeks of training, my team and I will pack up and drive to our first destination, set up and run the camp, then break it down, pack up, and drive to our next destination. I then will be returning home back in August.

That may dear friends is just shy of 12 weeks, or 3 months on which I will be out across the United States, literally journeying from the West to the East coast to share God's love and mission to every person whom I meet this summer, which is why I have started this blog! I will be updating everyone where I am, what I have been doing, as well as some stories and pictures from where I have been. If you want to get updates on when I have posted a new entry, enter your email in the email box on the upper right corner of the blog.

Please keep me and all my team members and those whom I will encounter across the United States in your prayers this summer, and I will keep you all in mine.

Peace and Blessings Y'all

Where You Lead Me

For those of you who know me, I'm a sucker for a good quote; song, saint, bible verse, inspirational, you name it, I will most likely love it. When thinking of my next blog post to write, which has been a very long time due to being incredibly busy college student during finals week, I was actually praying in the chapel the other week when the song "Where You Lead Me" by MercyMe popped into my head. Now I know what you all are probably thinking, she was just listening to that song prior to going into the chapel to pray, so as a form of distraction she is now singing those random songs in her head. Well my fellow companions, that is not the case. The last time I really listened to that song was years ago, so long ago that in fact I actually can't remember when I last listened to it. So now you would probably be saying, well it' just random that the song just happened to pop into your head then. Wrong again my friends, wrong again. Let me take you back a couple of weeks to get you all updated, then it will all make sense of why this song happened to come into my head while I was praying.

April is a very busy/crazy time of year for college students; there are many last minute assignments that professors want to get in, research papers are due within the last few days of classes, finals are quickly approaching, which can't be studied for since all the other assignments need to get done first. Basically, it's a month full of crazy. In addition to that, we were preparing for next years council elections at the Catholic Campus Minisry, or the CCM as I will refer it to. People were getting nominated, accpeting/declining nominations, and preparing to see who would fill the positions for the upcoming year. While usually very excited during this time, thinking of where I will be elected to, I was quite sad this year. This year was my last year on my CCM council, because next fall I will be graduating early, and since the council positions require a full year of service, I was not able to fulfill those requirements. So elections happened, and the new council was elected for next year.

The following Monday we then will have a joint council meeting, where both the outgoing and incoming council will have our bi-weekly meeting together. As soon as all of the meetings of the day were finished, our term was done, or as Katie, our president put it, "It is finished". It realy started to hit me then; while I wasn't going to be graduating this year, I only had one semester left. Even then, the current semester is almost over and now the summer is quickly upon us. What is going to happen?

What will happen? I think that question is asked so often of our society every single day. We yearn so much to be in constant control of our lives; what we eat, how we dress, where we live, who we are friends with, that we hate the thought that we have no idea what the  future holds for us. I know for a fact that I struggle with this quite often, espeically now with everyone constantly asking me what I plan on doing once I graduate next semester. What am I going to do? Where am I going to go? After our day of meetings, I then sat in the chapel and just thought about it all, what was going to happen in my life. Then, the MercyMe song "Where You Lead Me" came into my head. Now this isn't the first time this has happened where a song that I haven't listened to in years suddenly comes into my head, so because of that, I just sat and listened to the lyrics play in my head. My favorite part is the chorus

Where you lead me, I will follow. Where you lead me, I give my life away. Where you lead me, I will follow forever and a day.

How beautiful are these words, I thought. I may not know what all this summer will bring, nor what next semester will bring, nor what the next year will bring after I graduate, and I was really starting to realize all this when my time on CCM council was done. But, while this part of my life is finished, more chapters will begin to be written, and while I don't know what the storyline will be, wherever God will lead me, I will follow.

Listen to Where You Lead Me by MercyMe here

Faith, Trust, and Intimacy

Good Friday is always full of reflection, liturgy, and prayer. My day began with Stations of the Cross at 12pm, where we did reflection at each of the fourteen stations. We then had what is known as Tre Ore, which is translated 'Three Hours'. It traditionally goes from 12-3pm, and is a reflection on the last seven phrases of Jesus while He was on the cross. The four Gospels (Mark, Matthew, John, and Luke) all have different accounts of what was said while Jesus was on the cross, which is why we reflect on seven total phrases. At my Catholic Campus Ministry, we have seven different students each pick a phrase, then each one will reach the Gospel passage, give a brief reflection, read a prayer on the passage, then snuff one of the candles (there are seven in all, one for each of the phrases that was said). There is then a song that is sung, and then time for silent reflection before the next phrase.

This year I was asked to do a reflection for Tre Ore, and I have to say, it was such a tough decision to decide which one I wanted to choose. After much prayer, I finally decided, or well God decided for me, and I wanted to share with everyone.

Luke 23: 44-46
  "It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last."

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice; He endured various forms of torture, ridicule, and pain, He carried a cross on His back to the top of a hill, had to greet His mother through all this pain, was nailed to a cross, and then He died. Despite all the pain and suffering, He still managed to have complete trust in God.
When you look at the agony in the garden (Luke 22: 42) Jesus said, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still not my will but yours be done"
He was terrified, for He knew exactly what was going to happen, and even with this knowledge, He still put all His trust in God He could have backed out, said no, and just walked away from it all, but He didn't. Instead, He had trust in His Father, a trust that was there even at that final moment when He finally said, "Into your hands I commit my spirit." At that moment, Jesus truly gave God everything; mind, body, soul, and spirit. A trust beautiful beyond compare, one that we all must strive to have with our Father.
Not only was there trust, but intimacy. With both the prayers Jesus said; in the garden and on the cross, they began with 'Father' for Jesus was addressing Him personally, something that we all must do every single day with in both our prayer and when we speak of God. When we talk about Jesus we need to use the present tense, that Jesus IS not Jesus was.
Trust and intimacy; two things that we NEED to have with our Father.
During liturgy of the hours, night prayer ends each night with the prayer, "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit." In the Divine Image of Jesus Christ, the words "Jesus, I trust in you" are written below the image. We have all these ways to express our trust with God, but do we really trust in Him?
It's hard to trust God when the path on which we walk is rocky and we have many crosses to bear. It's hard to have an intimate relationship with God when there is so much pain and suffering in the world. Why is it so hard to trust?
To trust someone, they have to merit it by actions, by love. We as humans have to gain trust. We can trust family, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, and all those who are close to us because they have gained our trust with their love for us, with their self service and dedication to us. We see this through small actions that they do for us. In order for us to trust God, we first need to fully understand what He did for us, that He gave us His only Son who died on the cross for us.
How much does He truly love us? Look up at the cross at the front of any Catholic Church and you will see Jesus with His head bowed. Why is it bowed? More importantly, who is He bowing His head to? He is bowing His head to us, to you, because He died on the cross for you. Kings are bowed to by their servants, but this King of heaven and earth is bowing to us, to show us just how much He truly loves us. Mother Teresea even said, "When we look at the cross, we know how much he loved us then. When we look at the tabernacle, we see how much he loves us now."
Next time you look at that cross, stop and think of what He did for you, thank him, and then, bow your head in return. He loves us so much that He would die for us, the greatest act of love known to man, so why shouldn't we trust in Him? Bow your head back to Him, show Him how you want that intimate relationship, how you trust in Him and what He has in store for you. Then say with all your heart and with meaning,
Jesus, I trust in you.

Three Trees

You know it is holy week when Catholics are extremely busy, running around, making sure everything is set up for Easter Triduum. (hint hint why I haven't been able to post nearly as much as I would like to in the past week or so...).

So as Easter is quickly approaching, many Catholics like to go to confession, making the lines very long. Unfortunately I had no time to go in the beginning of the week with my crazy schedule, so I finally made time to head over to St. Mary's down the road for 7pm confession on a Wednesday night. I was proud of myself, I had gotten there 15 minutes early (6:45pm) but was surprised to see so many cars, the entire parking lot was packed! I then saw many students from the Catholic primary school, Holy Cross, and then thought, 'oh, it's just the parents picking up their kids from class, no worries.' So I headed inside, and as I started to make my way to the usual pews which hold the confession line, I was confused to see many people sitting inside, and holding programs. Usually, 7pm on a Wednesday night there is both confession and adoration, which I was totally prepared for, but now this was throwing off my schedule! Now that I was sitting in the pew waiting, I was deciding should I stay and see whatever is happening/if confession is actually happening, or should I risk leaving and then try to come back later? Then 5 more people came and sat in my pew, trapping me. Looks like I was going to stay.

Moments later one of the sisters from Holy Cross Academy came up to the front of the church to introduce the event. The school's sixth graders were performing a play entitled 'Three Trees', apparently a holy week tradition at St. Mary's Church. As soon as she finished her introduction, the sixth graders, all dressed in purple tee-shirts and khaki pants, filed into the church as they began to sing. Ahh so it would be a singing play! I was already here, so I decided to sit back, relax, and enjoy, waiting to see what was to unfold.

The play was really cute; it was about three young trees who had big plans for when they grew up. The first tree wanted to become a treasure chest to hold the finest gold, silver, and jewels, fit for a king. The second tree wanted to become a ship who would carry mighty sailors and kings. Then, the third tree didn't want to become something, but instead wanted to grow straight and tall, so that when people looked up at him, they would look up at heaven, for that is how tall he wanted to be. One day, some men came to chop all three trees down, and then they were thrown off to the side. The first tree was then taken by carpenters and made into a box, which was then put in a manger to be used as a oxen feed box. The tree was upset, for it had wanted to hold treasures beyond compare. Then, along came a man and a woman who had nowhere to go. So they came into the manger, and the woman gave birth to a son, and laid him in the box, for she had no crib for him. The tree had dreamed of wanting to hold treasures of gold and silver, but now he was holding the greatest treasure of them all. Now the second tree was all taken by carpenters and was made into a small boat, which was then placed on a small lake. The tree was upset because it had wanted to be a mighty ship with sails so big that it would carry great warriors and kings. One day a group of fishermen and a teacher came into the boat, where the teacher ended up falling asleep. Suddenly the weather turned bad, and the boat looked like it would capsize and the fishermen were greatly afraid, but then the teacher stood up and commanded the sea to be calm. The tree had dreamed of being a huge ship, who would carry get warriors and kings, but now was holding the greatest of kings, the mightiest of warriors who could calm the seas. Then, there was the third tree, who was left until one day some soldiers came, picked him up, and put him on a man's back, a man who walked up a hill, with many people laughing and jeering at him. The man was then put up on the tree where he died. The tree was upset because he wanted to live a long life and grow so tall that when people looked up at him, they would be looking up at heaven. Then the tree understood; by that man who carried him and then was killed on him opened up the gates of heaven. Now every time people see this tree, they are looking at the opening of heaven. The play then ended with three students holding up three white flags (they held green flags in the beginning to represent the three trees) but now the white flags are what the trees became and how they will lead up home to Jesus.

The play was 30 minutes long and something that I wasn't expecting to see at all, but as simple and music filled as it was, there was such a big message that was put so simply. All three of the trees had plans of what they wanted to do when they grew up; they wanted to be great each in their own way, but then one day their plans were drastically changed as they were cut down. They each then had to just wait and see what was going to happen to them. Then they each served a very important role in the life of Jesus; the feed box in which was the baby's crib, the fishermen boat on which Jesus calmed the storm, showing himself to the disciples, and then the cross on which Jesus gave His life for us and opened the gates of heaven. We all want to do great things in this life, we all have plans drawn out, organized neatly in which we want to follow, but those elaborate plans may not be what God has in store for us, in fact He has something way more important and better for us to do in our lifetime. What we need to do is just trust in Him, and not just trust, but put all of our trust in Him. We need to give our lives to Him and to know fully that He will take care of us, that He has great plans for us.

I went into church Wednesday at 6:45pm expecting to go to confession and spend some time in front of Jesus in adoration, but what I saw and experienced was a simple story of a great message given by some sixth graders.

What will those three trees say to you?

A Girl and Her Glitter

So for the past month I have been seeing glitter, everywhere! No parties, no make-up or shiny clothes, and no Kesha, but lots of glitter. Where is it all coming from and why does it matter? Our Lady of Guadalupe loves glitter.

Let me explain. On February 10th, a Tuesday, I walked into CCM at UMW to prepare for daily mass and then prepare for my weekly bible study later that night. I had just put my backpack down when my FOCUS discipler, Vicki, comes walking in with the biggest smile on her face. She said that she had just gotten back from St. Marys, the local Catholic Church down the road, and had just seen Mary, our dear Mother. At first I was very confused, but then she explained that there was a replica of the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe that was being shown at the church until 9pm that night. Not only was it being shown, but you can go right up to the tilma and touch it too! Now I have a very special devotion to Mary, so I was really excited that I would be able to go and visit her, especially so close that I could actually touch her, so I decided to go with my friend Katie.

Now for those of you who don't know the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe; in 1531 a man named Juan Diego was a poor Aztec indian who had converted to Catholocism. He was walking to a place known as Tepayac when he then encountered a beautiful woman, who was speaking in his native tongue. She identified herself as the Virgin Mary and asked him to build a church where she was speaking to him. Juan then went to the bishop and told him what had happened, but the bishop wanted the lady to appear to him again before he would say whether he would build thiss church or not. He went back and Mary appeared to him again, saying the same thing. Juan then went back to the bishop who said he would only meet Juan's request if this lady gave him a sign. When Juan finally returned to see Mary, she told him to go to the top of the hill, cut the flowers, and bring them to her, which was amazing since it was freezing outside. He gathered the roses in his tilma, took them back to the Virigin Mary, who then told him to take them to the bishop. Juan then went to the bishop, opened his tilma to drop the roses in front of him, when he found that on his tilma, there was an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The bishop then requested for the church to be built where Juan had meet with Mary.

While the actual tilma is still shown on display today at the orginial site in Guadalupe, Mexico in the church, it is also displayed high above the ground, since many years ago someone had tried to bomb the image. However, there are replicas that will travel around with a group of missionaries to many different churches so that many more people may experience the graces bestowed by the Virgin Mary. The amazing thing of the replica tilma is that it has been approved by the pope and has been shown to perform miracles. Many of the signs that are shown from this replica are; touching the hands of Mary they feel warm, touching her heart you can feel her heart beat, touching the heart of baby Jesus in her womb you can feel his heart beat, shine a light in her eyes and the pupils will dialate, and she will also cry oil. She has performed several miracles, such as recoveries being shortened from major surgeries, and being able to have a child after having been barren for many years. One other thing that the missionaries who travel with her noticed is that she will leave glitter in places. There are different colors, and they have different meanings:

Silver-I show magniminity of my heart. Ask what you want
Gold-I incline toward the weak. I will heal you spiritually, physically, psycologically, and morally.
Blue-i announce that I am nearby. I am with you
Green-These open you to hope in God, acting in His favor.
Red-In time of trial you offer me a sacrifice, remember that I love you.

So after hearing all this from the missionaries when I was in the church, I stood in line waiting my chance to see her, feeling like a child on Christmas morning, where I just can't wait. Finally, I went up, I felt her hands first, but I didn't feel anything. I began to get discouraged, wondering if my mother wasn't there with me. Next, I felt her heart, and there was the strongest heartbeat I have ever felt. I was feeling my Mother's heartbeat, and I almost burst into tears of joy. My Mother was with me, and oh so close she was! I then felt her stomach and sure enough, there was a faint little baby Jesus heartbeat as well. It was so beautiful to be that close to both my Mother and my Savoir.

So after we prayed, Katie and I then went back to CCM to tell everyone of what we saw and experienced. I then sat down with my friends, getting ready to do some work on my bible study, when I found some gold glitter on my hand. I felt so loved, so gratified that she chose to show me glitter already, to show me that she is always with me. I was blessed with the opportunity to go back that same night to see her once again, and this time I brought more people to experience the same love and affection from her as I had earlier that day. This time, I was able to feel the warmth in her hands, like she was taking my hand and holding it, leading me closer to her son.

Since that beautiful that when I got to see my Mother not once, but twice, I have seen glitter in many different places, with all sorts of colors. I even have some of my friends who went with me or know how close I hold Mary to my heart come up to me and share with me how they show or found glitter and what color it was so I can tell them what it means. My favorite time was when my friend Melanie was getting ready to take a very hard test in one of her classes. She asked me to pray for her, so during the time when she was getting ready to take her test, I was walking along campus and said a Hail Mary for her to do well on her test. Later that day she came up to me adn exclaimed that she had gotten to her classroom, sat down at her usual desk to get ready to take her test, and behold there was glitter all over her desk. I asked what time she found this and the time she said was just about the time that I had prayed to Mary for her intercession on Melanie's test. It was a beautiful prayer experience for sure!

Whether you see glitter or not, know that our Blessed Mother is always with us; she loves us very much, and is our most direct way to be closer to her son, Jesus. Ask her to intercede for you, for a son can never refuse his mother, Jesus can never refuse a prayer request from Mary.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Read more about Our Lady of Guadalupe here.

Climbing Oak Trees

So for those of you who don't know me that well, I am Roman Catholic. A year ago, I would have just said that  I was Catholic, but then I learned this past year that there are multiple rites in the Catholic Church; 22 to be exact! So what is a rite then? A rite represents a church tradition about how the sacraments are to be celebrated. So the sacraments are all maintained in all these different rites, but how did there come to be so many rites in the Catholic Church? When Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Holy Spirit then came down upon the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire, where they were then able to speak in many different languages. (Acts 2: 1-6) This allowed them to go out into the world so that they may proclaim God's love and word to everyone that they would meet. Peter did this when he traveled to Rome to established the western church, or the Roman Catholic Church, in which he became the first pope. Before he established the church in Rome, he evanglized the people of Antioch, and founded the Melkite rite of the Catholic Church, also known as the Greek Orthodox. Therefore, Roman and Melkite Catholics are from the same patriarch!

So how did I come to learn about all this? My one good friend from school, Melanie, is Melkite Catholic, and she began to teach me some of the prayers and chants that they do for the liturgy of the hours, which is one of my favorite prayers to do every single day. Finally, a few weeks ago, she invited me up to her home parish which is a Melkite church to join her for a service. I was both nervous and excited; I barely knew anything about the Melkite rite, but at the same time I was excited to learn everything about them; traditions, similiarities, differences, and everything inbetween.

When we got to the church I was blown away by how beautiful it was; it was decorated all around with icons of everything; saints, apostles, Mary, Jesus, prophets, angels, and Bibical events (the Annuniciation, Transfiguration, Last Supper). As soon as we entered the church, I began learning some differences between the two rites. For example, while the Romans genuflect whenever they are in the presence of Jesus, the Melkites do a metany, which is bowing and touching the floor. They touch the floor out of a sign of humility, for we are not worthy to be in the presence of the Lord, for we are lowly sinners. They bow instead of genuflect because the people of Antioch believed that genuflecting was for servants and slaves, while we are sons and daughters of God should not at as servants and slaves do. To make the sign of the cross, you take your tumb and first  two fingers and put them together, for this represents the Holy Trinity. You then make the sign of the cross going from right to left instead of left to right. This has several meanings; one is that Jesus is to come from the east (the right) when He comes again, so the sign of the cross is made as if Jesus were coming to Earth again from the east (the right) across the Earth (over to the left). The other meaning is just that at one point the direction of the sign of the cross was all the same, but when the priest would turn to the crowd and bless them with the sign of the cross, the people were confused of how to copy him, which is why there is a division in the direction of the sign of the cross.

What I loved about the actual service was how everything is chanted; readings, the Gospel, the sacraments,everything except for the homily. There are also no books to follow along, which allowed for me to really listen and enjoy the mass. While the way of receiving the Eurcharist was different, the sacrament itself was the same. Finally, one of my favorite parts of the service was actually at the very end where they will serve the people blessed bread. This is because they believe that after receiving communion,the first thing that should be eaten should be blessed.

I could go on and on about how beautiful everything was, what the similarities and the differences were, but you all would be reading for hours on end.

So what do I say when people ask me about the different rites of the Catholic Church? I say that Catholocism is like an oak tree; it has roots and a sturdy trunk of which is the basis of the tree and holds everything together. You then have your branches which all differ; heights, lengths, leaves, no leaves, and so on. The trunks/roots is God; it's Jesus, Mary, the Holy Spirit, the sacraments, everything that we believe all together as Catholics, what holds us together. The branches are the different rites; while we are all connected to the same trunk, the sacraments, we have different traditions that we follow. These branches, these rites, give us a new perspective on our faith, on how beautiful the work of God really is, bringing together many cultures and traditions by having and keeping the sacrements pure.

So what do I say to those people who ask me about the different rites? I tell them to go and climb the oak tree and have a new view. Go and experience and learn about the different rites. I have been blessed to experience both the Roman and Melkite rites and there are aspects from both of them that I love very much; from the Roman I love all of our saints, the rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the liturgy of the hours, while from the Melkite I love the chants, the chocki prayer rope, the Jesus prayer, and the prayers in the Horologian (their version of liturgy of the hours).

Go climb the tree, get a new perspective on our beautiful faith, and discover something that you never knew was there.

Learn more about the different rites here.