| Marianne's Experience... |
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The Parish Mission was an amazing opportunity to see the works of the Holy Spirit in another parish, to share my faith with others, and listen to others' faith stories. I think that my favorite part of the mission was the opportunity to talk about faith so openly with others and share stories. Throgh Christ, I bonded with parishioners, wonderful families, and most of all the parish mission team and the Apostles. One girl a few years younger than me told me that she was always afraid to talk to her Catholic friends about faith. After we had talked one on one about our faith lives, she said she now felt the courage to ask her friend how her prayer life was going. Yay Jesus! |
| Mary's Experience... |
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The Parish Mission trip was absolutely amazing! Our group met the parishioners, introduced ourselves in Sunday Masses, held youth activities, parish talks, discussion groups, met the grade school students in their classrooms, and visited sick and home-bound parishioners. Within these activities, God worked in so many ways! I'll never forget the amazing generosity of the family we stayed with or the crying woman that came up to me as I left the mission. She was crying and saying how much the missionaries and students touched her and her daughter. I can't forget the woman who was crippled and had to stay in her house every day, yet she had so much peace and felt that God was right there with her. I felt like this mission helped me to grow closer to God. The biggest growth that I had was a love of prayer. Everyday we prayed the Liturgy of the Hours, had daily Mass, and an hour of adoration. The time that we spent praying went so fast! As soon as I got back to school, I got a Christian prayer book to continue praying the Liturgy of the Hours because I am now addicted to it! I loved this mission sooo much! The Apostles and the students that you go with will bring you closer to God because when you hang out with holy people you desire to become holier! |
| Sarah's Experience... |
| The Parish Mission was amazing, inspiring, beautiful, incredible, fantastic, and more. The people at Blessed Sacrament were so open and full of God's Love. I'll never forget the people I met and their wonderful stories; from a girl who tries to bring her friends back to the Church to the incredible priests and how they knew they were called to serve God. I was so blessed to have the opportunity to come on the mission... and it inspired and helped me in ways I never could have imagined. |
| Patti's Experience... |
| Our time at Blessed Sacrament Parish was quite a whirlwind of blessings! They came in two amazing forms: the parishioners were incredibly eager to share about how God is working in their lives, and were so open and receptive to our presence at their church and in their homes! To each act of generosity that we showed them through Christ, they responded tenfold! Additionally, it was an awesome (in the true sense of the word) experience to devote so much of my daily activity with the Apostles and other student missionaries to either fellowship, prayer or the preaching of the gospel message! The mission also reconfirmed for me personally that the more you actually serve God, the more you desire to serve God! |
| Terry's Experience... |
Sr. Lella: "Do you want to go to a parish mission with us on January?"
Terry: "eh... I don't know if I have time, I will see..."
"God, if you really want me to go, make it happen"
...
T's Manager: "You have a lot of vacation time till the end of January, use it or lose it."
Terry: "eh... God... Okay..."
Not knowing what a parish mission is;
Not knowing what God wants me to do;
Just knowing God wants me to be there.
These were my thoughts the day before our mission.
Yet, going to a parish mission is as striking as going to a Koinonia retreat! ;)
If you ask me what I enjoyed the most about the mission, as cheesy as it may sound, it's the sharing
of our faith. I learned so much through people from Springfield. In the past, I had never fully understood
what did it mean by being thankful to God and feel satisfied with what God has provided us. Through the people from Springfield, I am starting to get it. |