Angeles de la frontera!

The week after Easter was Verbum Dei's spring break. For the past several years they have had alternative break service trips that take place during spring break for a select group of students that wish to participate. This year the trip was to San Diego and I volunteered to be the male faculty chaperon on the trip. It was one of the best decisions that I have made during my year in JVC!

The trip left on the evening of Easter from our school. There were ten students, Julie, Krista(FJV who now works at the school), myself, and one of the student's grandmas who spoke no English. It was quite the eclectic group from the start, but in hindsight we couldn't have picked a better group of guys.

Before leaving the school on Sunday, we had a brief prayer service with all of the students and their parents. It was short, but a nice opportunity to share some of our hopes and fears for the week with all of the parents present. After the prayer service we packed up the vans and took off south for the quick two hour drive to San Diego. One of the students moms made papusas (a Salvadorian dish) for all of to eat as a snack on our way down. They were AWESOME. It was fun to hang out and eat dinner at some random truck stop with all the guys. I knew at that moment that it was going to be an awesome week.

The group that we were working with all week is an organization called Border Angels. Their primary focus is to encourage comprehensive, humane immigration reform. Along with this central mission, they engage in other direct service activities such as leaving water in the desert for those trying to cross the border through the desert and giving out sandwiches/water to day laborers who are waiting all day to find work. Out of the ten students that we brought on the trip, 9 were of Latino heritage. So there was a direct connection that most of our guys could make.

We stayed at the headquarters of the organization, which is in the offices of a church in a town called Lemon Grove just East of San Diego. It was essentially one large room that had a kitchen, one couch, a few tables, a television, and plenty of floor space. Even thought there was plenty of floor space, it soon dawned on me that I would be sharing a room/bathroom with ten high school boys for an entire week. Sleep was not something that I was going to get a
lot of during the week!

Isabella was the worker for the organization that was going to be working most directly with us for the week. When we showed up Sunday night she was waiting for us with a smile. Literally everything we needed for the week was taken care of by her.

On Monday morning we started off the week with the Border Patrol. Being from the Midwest, I have never had much interaction with the border patrol. Walking into their headquarters, I really did not know what to expect. They were awesome. The job of a border patrol agent is not an easy one, but the three agents that gave us a tour were so enthusiastic and informed. After a quick presentation at the headquarters, we loaded up into two vans and headed for the border. The driver of our van was named Rudy and looked like GI Joe. He was from Texas and spent four years in the navy before joining border patrol. He was very candid and answered any questions that any of us had. If you ever go the the border, you will notice that there are two fences. The first is called the primary fence, and this fence runs along the actual border and is intended to keep vehicles from crossing the boarder. Then there is the secondary fence, which is much higher and covered for the most part in sharp razor wire. In between the two fences is a road that the border patrol uses. This is that same road that we drove on during our tour. It was incredible noting the difference between the two sides of the border. To the south was a shanty town section of Tijuana and to the north was a cluster of beautiful homes in America. We drove all the way to the ocean where the border ends. No matter what a persons feelings are on immigration, a trip to the border is a very powerful experience.

After the border tour, we met up with Enrique Morones, who is the man who founded Border Angels. He came to Verb once last semester to give a talk, and it was nice to hear from him again. He gave a general overview of the organization and how he came to found it.

That night a man from San Clemente came and talked about some work he was doing in Sausiby, Mexico trying to fight the drug cartels on the other side of the border through education. It was a great perspective on why so many people are trying to cross the border and how reform on the Mexican side of the border is one of the greatest things that can be done to help the immigration issue in our country. Also his wife is from Nebraska and went to undergrad where I am going to law school at next year, so we naturally bonded.

After a semi-restful night of sleep, a Phd student at SDSU who has done research on day laborers came over and led us on a tour to the various sites around San Diego where day laborers are found. We brought sandwiches and water with us and it was very interesting hearing the various stories of the workers (some documented and others not). The issue definitely takes on a more human element once faces and stories are involved. After the tour we decided to take all the guys to Coronado island. If you are ever in San Diego, Coronado is a must see. It is absolutely beautiful. We rented bikes and rode around the island with the guys where Julie and I immediately realized that you can take the kid out of south central, but you cannot take the south central out of the kid. Within two minutes of riding, one of the guys tried to stand on his bike while riding and crashed..... It was a blast though, one of the most fun things we did all week. That evening we decorated crossed that we would be using later on in the week.

Wednesday we had the day off and decided to go hiking East of San Diego. Despite the long drive and the fact that we got lost several times, it was wonderful. It was not an easy hike though, and some of the students did struggle a bit.... however everyone (including grandma!) finished the 6.5 mile hike in the mountains. After the hike we watched a documentary called the "Lemon Grove Incident" that told the story of a segregation case that took place in the 1930s where the school board tried to separate the Mexican children from the Caucasian students in school. It failed, which is without a doubt a good thing.

Thursday we spent the day with Enrique. We started by driving to a valley an hour or so East of the city to drop off water in the desert. People die often of dehydration walking through the desert, so hopefully our actions helped save a few lives. Plus it gave the kids another opportunity to climb around in the desert. After dropping off water, we drove another hour or so to a potters grave. It was located in an unmarked location behind the towns normal cemetery. Over 700 unknown people were buried in this location, the largest in the country that is not a military grave site. We placed all of our crosses we decorated in the cemetery as a sign of respect for those who died. It was one of the saddest experiences I have participated in in a long time. On the way home we took one more quick stop at the border. It was a very powerful day, and I think that the guys really got a lot out of it.

Thursday night we had a bonfire on the beach. It was the first time that many of our guys had ever had a s'more. We definitely opened their eyes to a new world, ha. We sang songs, talked, and it was one of the greatest experiences that I have had with the verb guys all year. They are simply great guys, and I am proud of all of them.

Friday consisted of clean up, a failed attempt to serve lunch at a homeless shelter, and a final reflection about the experience. Of course no one wanted to leave, so we spent roughly 4 hours on Coronado again playing volleyball and just hanging out on the beach. Our last reflection took place on the beach and it was incredible. We had dinner at a Verb student staple: Dennys. By the time we got back home it was after midnight, and I still didn't want to go home.

I am so blessed to be at a school like Verb for my year in JVC. The guys are incredible and the faculty/staff are even more incredible. My spring break could not have been better and I am so grateful for the experience.

This past week was Teachers appreciation week at Verb, so much food and fun. It was also my birthday and cinco de mayo, so the celebrations just went all week.

I am already 75% done with my time here in LA and I don't think I am ready to leave. I can already tell how much I am going to miss it, but I still have 3 months left and I intend to make the absolute best of it!

As always I miss and love all of you. I hope to see everyone soon and talk even sooner!

Traveling!

It has been over six weeks since I last wrote a blog post, and it may have been the most eventful six weeks of my JVC year!

Four weeks ago I was able to go on a service trip to Tijuana, Mexico with Loyola Marymount University. The trip is called De Colores and it happens about once a month. In the past couple of years they have been encouraging a few JVs to go on each trip in order to grant LMU students the opportunity to interact with people who are currently doing a year of post graduation volunteer work. All of my other roommates had already been on a trip besides Julie, so the two of us plus a Jesuit Novice named David who works at Verb. It was such a wonderful opportunity.

The trip left on a Friday evening and we spent the first night in San Diego at the house of the couple that founded the trip when they were students at LMU 20 plus years ago. It was so cool to have the chance to hear the story of how an idea as simple as helping people in Mexico can turn into a life long passion. They have managed to do something that is often hard to do, which is live a life of financial success while concurrently being extremely devoted to those in need. They spend a few weekends every month down in Tijuana building homes for people in need. Meeting them provided a great inspiration for living a passionate life.

The following day (amidst apprehensions from my parents) we crossed the border into Mexico. When I was in high school I went on a service trip to El Paso where we crossed the border into Juarez, so this was only the second time I had the chance to cross the border. Upon crossing it was immediately clear that I was in a much poorer, different country. Everything from the infrastructure to the way people dressed was different. After crossing we went straight to a school located in a town on the eastern side of TJ. The rest of that morning was spent mixing cement for a concrete pad at the school. There were only around 25 of us on the trip but waiting for us at the school was a group of over 50 Mexican families who were ready to work, and work hard! In the US when concrete is needed for a large project we have the luxury of having a cement truck back right up to the pad and pour in premixed concrete. This luxury is simply not fiscally achievable in many parts of the world, so we began the lengthy/tiring process of mixing away! Within 4 hours we were finished and had completed a 10x100 foot pad of concrete. It was an inspiring experience to watch how hard the families were working in order to better their community. The government simply does not have the resources to build simple infrastructure such as school for communities, so the communities are forced to do it themselves.

Following my stint as a concrete mixer we were served an incredible/authentic Mexican lunch where I used far to much of the hot sauce I was warned about..... After lunch we drove to the neighborhood where LMU had built a community center. This community center served as our home for the night and we had the chance to see some of the homes in the neighborhood that had been built by the organization the Norths started. Dinner was served at a place called Casa del Migrante. This center serves as a home for men who had been recently deported from the United States or were in town from Southern Mexico about to attempt to cross the border. Since my Spanish is not yet up to par i was luckily able to sit across from a man who spoke English. He had been living in the United States for over 20 years. Once say he was returning a friends car from his shop (he was a mechanic) and was pulled over because the license plates had expired the previous month. It was an extremely unfortunate situation for someone especially since it was one that was not even his fault. When he was deported he left behind his 2 high school aged children and his wife. He told me that he has been gone for so long that he no longer knows anyone in Mexico. No matter what your feelings are on immigration, it is truly heartbreaking to see firsthand a family being broken up with end in sight.

The night on Saturday was filled with two staples of Mexican culture: dancing and soccer! Four guys from LMU and I lost a close battle to some Mexican boys but we gave our best shot. The game was played on a dirt field with goals that were made out of plywood. There was a house covered in chicken wire that bordered one end of the field so that it would not get too beat up by being constantly pounded by soccer balls. It caused me to pause and think about the finely groomed fields that I grew up playing sports on. It didn't seem to matter what quality the field was, kids will be kids and never stop playing.

After a restful nights sleep on a concrete floor we spent our last morning at an orphanage. Since there was a pretty steep language barrier with the kids, I took command and made pancakes for everyone. It was a challenge at first, but I was able to get it down to a science by the end of the cooking session. I had breakfast with a few of the kids and played a game or two before leaving. Following the orphanage we packed up the van and made our journey through a two hour border crossing. All in all it was a great but exhausting weekend in Mexico. I would highly recommend making the trip to another country no matter how close/far it is!

After a week of work I was able to make the trip back to Omaha for a quick weekend trip. Luckily that same weekend my mom and sister Erin were passing through town to look at the University of Nebraska for college. While the decision not to attend UNL was made fairly quickly, it was a great opportunity to see them for dinner on Saturday. After dinner Michelle and I met up with my roommate Ken for next year at his parents house. It was a great time and really affirmed my thoughts that I was going to be living with a great person with a great family. It is going to be a great experience in Lincoln next year!

That night Michelle and I took Erin on a great tour of Creighton. We both put in every possible bit of effort we had left, but she decided to go to University of Portland! She is going to have a great experience there, I have no doubt. The next day I had to head back to LA, but I am so grateful for the time I had to be with Michelle and my family.

The next weekend was the famed JVC silent retreat. Yes I said that correctly, silent retreat! 3 days of pure silence in Northern California. That Friday after work we made the drive to San Jose to do some exploring in the Northern part of our state that we have had little experience with so far. No one but Julie had ever been to San Francisco before, so we decided that the city on the bay would be the location for our Saturday events. We started our day in the Castro, had lunch at fisher mans wharf, visited the Godiva chocolate factory, took pics by the golden gate bridge (check facebook), drove through haight ashbury, and just had an overall great experience. The day ended with a wonderful dinner cooked by the gracious San Jose JV girls. Both houses were so accommodating! I also had the chance to tour the JVC Southwest office with our program coordinator Andrew, who then took us to breakfast the next morning at a nice cafe near Santa Clara. After breakfast we packed up and made the journey to Applegate, CA!

It was a fun time getting to see everyone from the Northern California houses at the retreat, but unfortunately we only had about an hour of talking before the silence of the retreat kicked in. The retreat center that we were in was beautiful. It reminded me so much of the Creighton retreat center, which was nice. All of us were paired up with a spiritual director to talk to us for one hour a day, but besides that we were in silence. My director was is an English Professor at the University of San Francisco. She was so welcoming and fascinated by the idea that I am from the Midwest ha! It was nice to have an opportunity to relax, read, pray, and workout. Those four activities occupied probably 90 percent of my time each day. Often times life gets too hectic to sit back and truly appreciate the beauty of other and of the gifts we have all been given. There is a certain beauty to silence and I was able to take full advantage of that during the three days of the retreat. The best retreat I have had with JVC this year.

After an 8 hour drive back to LA on Wednesday, I immediately caught the red eye back to Omaha for Holy Thursday. I got to see Michelle and Gordon for a few hours. Both are doing such amazing things next year. Michelle is planning to study Spanish at an immersion skill located in Bolivia (jealous!)! Gordon is going to be a JV in Tucson, AZ next year. He is going to love it and hopefully I can visit him. So proud of both of them!

On Thursday night I rode to Vermillion with my friend matt. It was so great getting to spend time with him and just talk about life. That evening we met up with our other friend adam and his fiance Emma in Vermillion and hung out for most of the night. It is not very often that the three of us are together anymore, but it is always a blast!

Friday I got to spend the day with my family! I saw all of my grandparents, spent some quality time with my siblings, and of course saw my dog cooper. My mom worked all day and my dad didn't get home until 11 from a trip, so it was kind of a bummer that I didn't get to spend more time with them. It was a blessing to get home at all for the Easter weekend though and none of my roommates were able to. There was a sad moment on the trip home when I realized that I wouldn't be able to fly for free any longer because i an turning 23..... It has been such a gift this year and I am sure that I will be missing it.

Easter Sunday Mass was at Holy Name parish right by our house. It was over two hours and worth every minute. Gospel choir and a packed church of people worshiping is always a good time. We had an Easter brunch at our house for all of the JVs. Soooo much food and so many good people. There was even a house from Northern California that stopped by on their way back from San Diego.

That night Julie and I left for a week long service trip in San Diego with Verb students, but it is getting late and I will save that for another blog. I love and miss you all. Update me on your own life!