Sunday, November 23, 2014

Looking back on my Mission

My last sporting event with the boys of the boarding school.

I'll have to start by saying it's good to be home.  While I absolutely loved what I was doing, and the place where I was doing it, the feeling that comes with getting off the plane and knowing that you're home again is hard to beat. This clip sums it up pretty well (even in spanish..):



The first couple weeks home I spent a lot of time in catching up with friends and family (to include the dog!), and getting readjusted to being back in the US.  Things around town hadn't changed too much so that felt good and familiar, but there were also a few little things that I'd been missing and wanting to indulge myself on; so I ate some good 'ol fast food (mostly just Taco Bueno!), watched a little reality TV, and of course visited Wal-Mart to get back some lost culture.

And now that it's been a couple months since I've returned, and have mostly finished the process of getting re-situated, I've had some time to reflect on everything that's happened and have put together a few final thoughts.

A view of the Valdocco,
and our Church, located to the left,
 Our Lady Help of Christians.
Living in a religious community:

From the very beginning, and coming into the experience I really wasn't sure what to expect, which is just how I felt before going into the Marine Corps, so in a weird way I was kind of excited for the uncertainty. It was about two months into my mission and after going through the VIDES USA & France training camps, that I learned that I'd be working at a Middle and High school and living in a contiguous religious community in Nice (probably could have been worse...).  When I arrive in August there was still about a month before school started and so I had plenty of time to get situated and meet everyone within the community.  All together there were 10 priests and 2 brothers who had an average age of about 65ish, none of which really spoke any English, but were all very friendly and did a good job of making me feel welcomed.

Our daily routine typically started out with a 7:00 Mass at the school's chapel, and was followed up with breakfast (typically just bread, jam and coffee); after which everyone would split up to go about their daily duties.  At 12:00 we would all meet up again for lunch, and then after the work day and around 5:35 we would have an evening prayer that would last for about 20 minutes before we all sat down for dinner.  One of the nice things about French culture is that they typically take their time in eating and socializing during lunch and dinner, it wasn't uncommon for one of those meals to last for more than an hour, and so it felt like a family in that everyone talked about what was going on throughout their week. We ate in an adjoining room to the school's cafeteria and our food was typically the same as what the kids would eat, however, eating with priests also had its benefits (especially French priests) and so there'd typically be a good supply of wine and cheese available to help compliment the lunch and dinner, vive la France! (At times it was really easy to get used to French religious life, ask me about how we'd celebrate the Sabbath each week.)  My accommodations were pretty nice.  For the majority of my stay I lived in a suite style room with my own shower and toilet and I had a small desk with an internet hookup so that I could work and stay in contact with everyone.

Living with and learning from all these good, godly men was an absolute blessing. It was unique privilege that I never would've been able to fully imagine had I not actually lived it. The atmosphere and daily priorities of it all were something that I found to be truly and simplistically refreshing.  The opportunity to have been considered to be a member of their community, if only for a year, will be something that I'll always be very proud of and grateful for in having experienced.

One of my final meals with all the parish priests and brothers.

The kids:

My time with the community was spent in a variety of different ways; the majority of which was in working with local kids at The Valdocco (here's a little video of what we did all year: http://youtu.be/mlPSMm_WrY4). Working with the kids was an overall great experience, and something I'm missing a lot more than I thought I would.

After my time in the Military and working in an atmosphere based on discipline and respect, I really wasn't sure how I'd react to the kids or to how they might respond to me. At first there were growing pains, especially since I wasn't too effective in communicating in French.  

Homework help with Naomi,
Syriane, Ismael and Ivan.


But fortunately, and to my relief, we were able to fairly quickly work through all the uncertainties and ended up getting along pretty well.  What made the biggest differences were that after the first few months I was able to pick up enough basic French to communicate fairly effectively, and then once the kids got to know me and my personality, we developed a sort of mutual respect that contributed to building some pretty good relationships.

One of the biggest lessons I learned in dealing with the kids was that they have an incredible ability to understand the general mood of a situation, usually based on how the people involved are acting. They sort of just seem to have an aptitude for being able to sense or read someone's personality, intentions, and genuineness; it's almost like a survival instinct!  And so I realized that in my situation it worked well to be honest with the kids, to tell them the truth, if it was an unfortunate truth then to soften it up a little beforehand, but to ultimately show them that I had enough respect for them to be honest with them, and to almost treat them like adults or as an equal.  In turn they generally seemed to want to return the respect, and even tended to listen and to be a little better behaved, which made everything a whole lot easier!

In hindsight, I'd say I'm pretty sure that we were all able to learn a few thing from each other, I actually learned a lot from them.  I'm also confident that some of the traits I developed in the Marine Corps were positively absorbed (gently imposed) on the kids, making them a little better behaved and more respectful, if only for Fr. Manu's sake!

At the Valdocco with Jean Clavin
(wearing a Carnival mask),
Maxim, Leia and Amandine


The impact on my faith:

The impact my trip had on my faith came in a way that I wasn't initially expecting.  When I began my mission I was anticipating that by living within a religious community I would be subject to an overall experience that would allow for me to learn a lot about Catholic theology, cannon law, and other more in depth teachings of the Church, and I did learn about those things to some extent.  But what ultimately made the biggest impact on me came through the daily physical contributions to the community and their mission.  I found that in taking an interest in how things were run and maintained, and in the participation with the parish and school, that I felt fulfilled in a sense of contribution by living through my faith in ways that I hadn't experienced before.  And so it was my attempts in making physical improvements to the community, or the "works", and not so much the deeper understandings my faith or religion, that I found to be the most rewarding.

My favorite contribution:

The single contribution that I'm most proud of, is in having the opportunity to reestablish the parish's altar servers program.  When I arrived to the community the parish didn't have any active altar servers and it really felt like we needed a more youthful presence at Mass, especially being that the Salesians (the Catholic Order that our community belongs to) are all about empowering kids.  So I talked with Father Pascal and he took time out of his schedule to help prepare and teach me to serve, a little challenging being that I'd never been an altar server before (to this day I really only know the French names to all the holy items used during the Mass).  Once I felt familiar with the routine and material, and after about a month of recruiting and practicing as a team, we made our debut!  Over a span of a couple months the kids continued to learn and became more comfortable and confident, and it wasn't long before I was able let them do it all on their own!

What made this endeavor so particularly rewarding were the ideas that it felt like I was contributing to the parish by involving it's youth and future (and since the elderly crowd, who made up the majority of our parish seemed to love seeing the kids help out, I think it made Mass a little more enjoyable for everyone), and the idea that I was hopefully leaving a small legacy that was well enough prepared to survive and grow for years to come!

The pictures below show (left) the 2 original servants and I after our first Mass, and then (right) 3 newer servants who helped out with the Saturday evening Masses.  All together we finished with 6 servants! 



Wrapping it up:

I feel happy, proud, and fulfilled in the opportunity that God provided me with.  I can honestly say that while I'm professional proud of my time in the Marine Corps, I'm more personally proud of, and have a greater sense of gratification in my time spent as a missionary.  Living in the community with the priests and brothers and working with kids was an incredibly unique privilege, and I'm truly grateful for the VIDES organisation who did a great job in preparing and providing me with everything I needed.

And so this is it, my final blog post.  I hope there's someone out there who's found what I've written to be at least a little interesting, and maybe even somewhat motivating.  If you ever have any questions or comments I'd love to hear from you.  Thank you for reading, and God bless!

Top: The last Friday night youth group 
meeting.

Left: Ameil, an altar server and his little
brother came to say goodbye and brought
mini-muffins that he'd cooked, they were
great! You can see he's wearing a Rosary 
that I got for each of the altar servers when 
visiting Rome.  They were great for  
motivating the kids, especially since 
they were blessed by Pope Francis.


















Our end of the school year/going away party.
The kids wrote a song for the 3 volunteers 
(including me) who'd be moving on.




















My last full day in France, spent with friends in Lourdes.


I owe a big thanks to everyone who's helped me along the way:   
Sr. Mary Gloria, Sr. Marie Be, Fr. Manu, Fr. Pascal, Sr. Anne, Fr. John Williams, Br. John, Br. Ignace, Fr. John Louise, Sr. Vuong, Sr. Elvira, Ismael, Maxime, Mr. Feltrino, Orlanda, Fr. Piotr, Br. Benjamin, Celine, The Parish of Notre Dame Auxiliatrice, Eugenie, Raf, The VIDES USA/France Volunteers, and all my friends and supporting Family.
Thank you all so much for everything!


A few related websites:

The VIDES+USA Wordpress website is the best place to see what VIDES is all about.  You can also read about all the other missionary's experiences by clicking on the links to their blogs:  http://videsusa.wordpress.com

The Catholic Volunteer Network's website is were I originally found VIDES.  They have a great program that'll pair you up with missionary organizations based on what type of work and experience you're looking for:  https://catholicvolunteernetwork.org


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