Guatemala Trip!

At the end of the Spring 2009 semester a group of nine Catholic Community members took a trip to Guatemala. If you'd like to take a look at some of their pictures, feel free to browse:

Molly's Pics

Kristyne's Pics:

Break Out The Madness!

Break Out The Madness!: 35mm Version

Student Reflections:

I wanted to share with you a little bit about what I did while staying in San Lucas Tolimàn, Guatemala. The Mission at San Lucas was started over forty years ago by and is still run by Fr. Greg Shaffer. It works to uphold the Christian Teachings of Social Justice. Fr. Greg explained this philosophy to my group with a story from early in his time in Guatemala. In his attempts to minister to the people of San Lucas, he considered bringing in huge bags of corn from his home in Minnesota for the people so they could make themselves tortillas. But instead of taking that route to provide food for the people in the form of handouts, he thought that he could do for them one better. He decided that in his ministry he could work to pave the roads for the Guatemalan people so they could hold their heads high with the dignity of providing for themselves. With his philosophy in mind, eight others and I went to work each day in San Lucas in the hopes of continuing Fr. Greg's mission.

One day we went swimming because there was no work for us. We went to the market on the lake and walked around Guatemala for a last time. We left on Wednesday. One of the girls on my trip, Kristyne, did not want to leave. I can't say honestly that I wanted to stay as I was ready to go home after a semester away from home, but I did want the feeling of service to remain. I wanted to do more work and spend more time with the Guatemalan people because it was the people over that helped me to realize the most about life and what I need to do to serve others. Even though I am not in Guatemala right now, I do feel that the impact that the Mayan people and the Fr. Greg's mission (more than the actual work that I did to help the people) had on me will always be with me. In the two weeks that I have been home, I've been trying to live a better life, more active than passive. Why let my life pass me, or be bogged down with things that do not make me happy? I really think that God gives us the gift of life and we just need to make sure we treasure it for everything that it's worth and use it for the benefit of others. That is why I wanted to go to Guatemala. I wanted to start living my life for others. I really think that the trip helped me to jumpstart this passion in me. Even though this trip pushed me outside of my comfort zone, like getting my clothes covered in dirt, I found comfort in the fact that I put my life in God's hands knowing that He would be with me through my journey.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this mission trip to Guatemala to be among the indigenous Mayan people (who at the tallest came up to my shoulders). It was a very powerful trip and I hope others take the opportunity to take up missions like this one.

-Lizzy Honas is a rising junior English Education Major at Ithaca College. To read Lizzy's entire reflection, click here.

It was a great trip, one I'll always remember. It was my first time out of the country, my first time seeing palm trees (not on TV), and my first time in a primarily Spanish-speaking environment. I kept working on some things I had become aware of during my time at Nazareth Farm, namely that there are many invisible people whom I affect with my way of life without even knowing it. So, for those ten days, my goal was to see and listen and make those people visible so that I would know how I affect their lives, and so that I can live in a way that enables them to live with dignity. (An example would be making sure to buy fair trade coffee instead of just going to the Caribou or Starbucks and not checking whether the producers of the coffee paid the farmers and workers fair wages.) I also wanted to connect with the Guatemalan people, and I found this difficult to do because of the language barrier. I don't speak much Spanish. I knew enough to ask where the dirt we were shoveling should go, and how to barter. My most extensive conversations in Spanish consisted of asking and answering questions of age, hometown, and favorite sports. So, while I was not able to discuss heavy issues with the locals, I did come to a valuable understanding of what it must be like to come to America and not know much English. And, I was lucky, because at mealtimes I came back to the mission where English speakers were in the majority again - not all English Language Learners have that opportunity in the U.S.

I really enjoyed the couple of talks we heard from workers at the mission. Fr. Greg's told us about the encomienda system and how the finkas (plantations) in place did not provide for their workers. The mission at San Lucas Toliman has done so much in the last four decades to improve the living conditions in the town! Fr. Greg also told us that our presence on the work sites, which were led by locals, helped the self-image of the people. "They come to the conclusion that, since you come to help, they must be worth helping," he said. I think that means a lot in a place where about 90% of the advertisements feature happy Caucasian people with all kinds of possessions and access to medical care: the fact that we come to work for them makes us all equals, in a way. I also loved hearing from Choana (sp?), one of the kitchen ladies at the mission. She told us about the civil war years in the '80s, when her husband was abducted and never heard from again. She helped Fr. Greg rescue 11 children from a neighboring town, after the government had killed their parents and was looking to silence them before they could testify against the army in court. I kept thinking, "I couldn't have been so brave." They are such a strong people.

Of course, I also had lots of fun being a tourist, swimming in Lake Atitlan, riding the boat across the lake, shopping in many colorful markets, following an 8-year-old to see the sights around town, and hiking up a mountain. There were so many pieces of the experience that I couldn't sum all of them up in a brief reflection.

-Molly Mattingly is a 2009 graduate of Ithaca College. In the fall, Molly will be enrolled in the Master of Sacred Music program at Notre Dame, and she will also be an Assistant Rector in a girls' dorm.

End-of-the-Year Picnic

This past Saturday, May 2nd, was our annual End-of-the-Year picnic at Buttermilk Falls. It was a lovely day, and we enjoyed food thanks to our awesome grill-master, Lee. How can you go wrong with good food, great company, a frisbee, a swingset and gorges?

Wanna see pictures???

Fred's pics

Relay for Life 2009

Pictures from RELAY!

Nazareth Farm Trip

At the end of winter break, a group of seven Ithaca College students went to Nazareth Farm in West Virginia for a service project. Feel free to browse through their pictures below! Hopefully we'll be able to add some anecdotes from the trip!

The whole group!
Top row: Sarah, Molly, Father Carsten, Kelly, Shannon & Billy
Bottom row: Stephanie, Lee & Rory

Check out some of our student reflections:

Over winter break I had the opportunity to take a trip to West Virginia. Lee was kind enough to take a group of seven of us IC students down to a place called Nazareth Farm in Doddridge County. Naz Farm is a non-profit Catholic home repair organization that operates based upon four major cornerstones: prayer, community, service and simplicity. Under the direction of the staff at the farm, volunteers are presented with the opportunity to assist in bettering the living conditions of many residents of Doddridge County, a region in Appalachia that unfortunately suffers from some economic hardships.

To be completely honest, I wasn’t too excited about the trip in the weeks leading up to the actual week we were to go to the Farm… and that’s probably even an understatement. I’ve always taken part in a lot of community service and volunteer work since I was young, but for the most part I did so in my own community or right here on campus. Also, I won’t deny that I am the definition of a homebody, so the idea of leaving home a week before break was over was a little nerve wracking for me. I like to be in my comfort zone and going to a place eight hours away, a place where there is no internet or cell phone service, a place where you take bucket showers outside and sleep in bunks was pretty far outside my comfort zone.

But I went anyways. For some reason I can’t explain, I got in the van that morning and went to West Virginia. I decided to follow my original gut instinct that this experience could be a good one.

Well, it turned out to not just be a good experience… but a great one. If I were to tell you that it was anything less than life changing, I wouldn’t be doing it justice.

When I was told about Naz Farm prior to going, and even for the first day or two I was actually at the farm, I thought it was simple: I thought we were their to fix houses and help some neighbors of Nazareth Farm. I thought that was it. I thought I was there to help these people. And yes, I’m sure that the insulation we installed under houses and the porches we built or repaired were very much appreciated by the home owners we met. But in the end, I think that my overall experience at the farm helped me so much more. I went to West Virginia expecting to help and heal others, but it turns out that I was helped, I was healed.

I think that sometimes, life can be difficult. Things can happen that we can’t quite understand. It’s hard to remain optimistic in a world where violence seems prevalent and peace seems absent. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the bad and forget to recognize the good that is still all around.

For me it was my uncle. My Uncle Mike passed away from cancer and a lot of the time it feels like it happened just yesterday but it’s really been six years. Why anyone would have to suffer or have to leave his family and kids… I just didn’t understand it. And that inability to accept what had happened changed me. Things like that just stick with you.

I really think that’s a lot of the reason God brought me to Nazareth Farm. I thought I was going to help others, I’m convinced God put me there because he knew I needed it. I have never felt so strongly that I was in the right place at the exact right time as I did when I was at the Farm.

The week we were at the Farm, we were there with 3 other groups of college students… kids from Iona, Colgate and the University of Illinois were there also. One night during the week we were having a discussion about where we had witnessed or experienced God in our week. It didn’t take me long to know where I had seen God, I had seen him in every person I had had the opportunity to meet during my time in West Virginia, mostly through the community members I had met and the fellow volunteers I was blessed to work with.

Nazareth Farm has this awesome atmosphere about the place that allows individuals to open up and to share. Some of the volunteers, who I had just met, told me about things they had gone through in their own lives; people they had lost, things they had struggled with. And even through the difficult times, these young adults were able to take their experiences, as difficult as they had been, but still turn around and have the courage and the faith to go out into the world, remain positive, and help others in the name of God.

Then there were the community members I met. After work on Tuesday we went around and picked up some of Naz Farm’s neighbors and brought them back to the Farm for this big community dinner. It gave us a chance to really meet the people we were helping. This one elderly man who had come to the dinner spent the whole night having pretty much the same conversation with every one of us: he was telling us about how blessed he was and how grateful he was to God for his life and for everything he has.

Here was a man, Grover, who probably by many people’s standards has nothing: he lives in a small home, by himself, without many possessions, and yet he praises God every day for everything that he does have. He possessed this deep and undying faith in God, even in the face of difficulty.

And it wasn’t just Grover, it was every community member I met. I was struck by them… to me they had very little and were faced with economic struggles but they still had such a strong faith in God and relied on that faith to continue on. I learned something from that. To me, I really feel that God brought me to that Farm that week so that I could meet every single one of those community members and every single one of the other college students who were volunteering there because He was in each and every one of them.

All theses people showed me that even after hardships and difficulties… life can go on. But the key to continuing on is a belief in God and dedication to faith. Everyone I met taught me that things happen, things you might not be able to accept for some time or ever completely understand but we need to recognize the good in the bad: be thankful for the things we did have or do have like the time we were able to have with a loved one who might now be gone or our good health or the great family and friends we have that see us through every day.

I learned all this at the farm, which is why I am so grateful that I went. It took me 20 years to really “get it” but I guess better late than never.

I think that in a lot of ways, what I experienced at the Farm was similar to what Paul experienced in our first reading. Paul was struck down by God and God showed himself to Paul, forcing him to question his life and his actions. God allowed Paul to regain his sight when he saw God and God encouraged him to then go forth as his witness spreading news of what he had seen and heard.

Like Paul, I also experienced God. I experienced Him through all the people I met at Nazareth Farm. He allowed me to regain my sight in that he blessed me with a new outlook on life. After my trip to the farm, I feel enlightened. I was shown by God that he has filled my life with blessings and that I need to take the time to appreciate every one of them. Because of the people I met, and because I know I was brought to Nazareth Farm for a specific reason, I have come back ready to share my experiences with you and others; sharing, like Paul, what I have seen and heard in an attempt to change someone else’s outlook as the people in West Virginia have changed mine.

Like I said, I was one of seven students from our community that took the trip to Nazareth Farm and I’m sure we all had different experiences so the best I could do is share with you my story. But even though we all may have experienced God in different ways at the Farm, I know that we were all changed by it for the better. So I encourage all of you to ask any of us about our time at the Farm, because we’d love to share, but also to consider spending a week at the Farm next time we organize a trip down because I can promise it would be worth it.

-Shannon Archer is a Junior Integrated Marketing Communications Major at Ithaca College

There are a ton of photos from this awesome trip!

Lee's pics

Stef's pics

Billy's pics