Mission Possible - July 11

Today our morning was spent just around the corner at Reston's Lake Anne Fellowship House.  The Fellowship House is an apartment complex designed for individuals with limited income who are over the age of 62 or who are handicapped or disabled.  The Fellowship House also offers a variety of activities in the House's common areas.  Our Mission Possible group spent the morning making crafts with residents.  We made small flower pots with tissue paper flowers, beaded key chains, and "God's Eyes". 

After lunching back at St. Annes', we took a very energetic group to the Sunrise Assisted Living Center at the Reston Town Center.  We played charades with the residents -- the kids were the "actors" while the residents were the "guessers".  The charades presented included common activities like setting the table, movies such as Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, one legendary sports figure (Jackie Robinson), and Bible Stories (Noah's Ark and the Parting of the Red Sea.)

Today was another great Mission Possible Day! 

-Kim

Mission Possible - July 10

Today was definitely focused more on construction.  In the morning we visited Centreville Labor Resource Center, which connects employees with trades like painting and carpentry with people looking for workers with these skills.  In addition the center teaches construction skills and helps folks with their English.  We worked creating the frame for a raised garden bed which is an item that the workers there put together and sell.  Under the expert direction of their skilled employees our team screwed the boards together and sanded them down.  The workers from the center also talked to us about Guatemala where many of them come from, their lives here in Northern Virginia, their families, their work and taught us some Spanish.  The center is financially supported by businesses and local churches.  They have a website with more information at http://www.centrevilleimmigrationforum.org/centreville-labor-resource-center.html

Then we visited Habitat for Humanity.  We were surprised to find out that as well as building new houses they rehab older houses too.  The house we toured was undergoing some major construction, missing walls, no bathrooms, no doors.  Our hosts explained how Habitat requires that new homeowners invest their own time and helped to build their houses.  Here we decorated flowerpots for the new homeowners and put together some amazing creations!

Mission Possible - July 9

We had a fantastic day together today!

This morning we visited SPIRIT Open Equestrian Program at Frying Pan Park in Herndon (www.spiritequestrian.org.)  They use horses and horsemanship to enhance the lives of everyone with a focus on people with disabilities.  After orientation we spent time cleaning up the yard and mucking out the stalls of the inevitable gifts that the horses had left behind, moving some tarps and cleaning saddles.  It was a very rewarding trip; the yard looked a lot cleaner and tidier than when we started.

If you're interested in volunteering with horses check out their website or drop them an email.  They have volunteer opportunities and riding lessons!!!

After lunch we provided over 120 sandwiches to Embry Rucker Community Shelter in Reston (http://www.restoninterfaith.org/services/housing/shelter/.)  One of the staff at Embry Rucker also talked to us about the work they do to support people in our community and answered our questions.  An interesting statistic that she mentioned is that the fastest growing demographic that they're seeing are single mothers with one or two children.  They are also looking for volunteer support, St. Anne's is one of the founding organizations of Reston Interfaith who run Embry Rucker and we have several programs in which we work closely with them.

Mission Possible - July 8

"...let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." - 1 John 3:18

Every summer St. Anne's hosts a week-long local mission day camp for children in middle school. The team will travel daily beyond the walls of our own congregation to share their gifts for ministry in service to our neighbors.  

This year's theme is "Love in Action" and promises to be full of fun, challenges and wonderful times together.  Included is working at the Embry Rucker Homeless Shelter, doing a craft fair for residents at Lake Anne Fellowship House and preparing items for our food pantry.

Today we were preparing for Thursday's craft fair, doing introductions and getting to know each other.  We had some icebreakers and lunch at the park.

Photos from St. Anne's Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic

Friday, July 5 - St. Anne's Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic - Martha Furniss

Friday is always exciting on a DR mission trip. We were hoping to get a lot of work done at Dora's house and we were anxious to provide every child at VBS with a goodie bag.

Following a good breakfast at the hotel we got in our van for the ride to Yaguita del Pastor. The streets were busy, honking cars, motorcycles weaving across lanes, pedestrians seeming to take their lives into their hands while crossing the street. We crossed the bridge and started up the hill.

The door was open to the children´s shelter when we arrived. First on the agenda was to finish filling the goodie bags with their cookies, candies, pencils, stickers and a couple other items. Quality checkers folded tops, staplers clicked, someone counted and we stuffed 253 goodie bags into big plastic bags. Then we were off to Dora's!

The main roof was finished and the extension over the new kitchen was underway when we arrived at Dora's. Some of us handed nails to the workmen, some hauled fill dirt and some - well, Martha - played cards and talked with Dora. Martha's biggest success of the day was getting to see the book others have talked about over the years. It´s a book of photographs taken more than 10 years ago in the barrio. What a treat to see photos taken by someone who cares deeply about the people we have worked with. Too quickly it was time to leave Dora´s house. We took photos, shared hugs and trudged up the hill.

The Friday VBS session was PACKED! Not that we were surprised. We sang, we colored pictures, we took pictures, we hugged a lot. Because of the crowd, we had closed the gate and had left some children in the street looking through the gate. We passed them coloring sheets and crayons. And, too soon, it was time to distribute goodie bags. With prayers for a loaves and fishes miracle we started to dismiss children pew by pew. And when we finished... there was just one bag left! Miracle, indeed.

We left with heavy hearts. Goodbyes for a year. We´ll see some of the kids at church on Sunday for one last hug.

Our final celebration of the day was to welcome Bob's wife Lisa! She will be here for a baptism on Sunday and we are excited to share with her our love and wonder for this place.

Thank you for your prayers. We will be home soon. We might even write again before we head home to Virginia. But, for all of us, home is also Cristo Salvador and Santiago.

Wednesday July 3 - St. Anne's Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic - Martha Furniss

It's quiet right now in the Hotel Colonial lobby. There is a gentle mist, my cafe con leche is cooling on the arm of the chair as I write. Our band of 7 missioners has been busy! In the mornings we work with, and stay out of the way of, a crew of local workers as we rehabilitate Dora's house. Perched on the side of a steep hill, it now has a center dividing wall that will provide private bedrooms for the family. Work has also started on the bathroom and kitchen. There is a little concrete patio in front of the house but the space there is taken up by building supplies and used as a mortar mixing site. Those of us not "working" try to take up as little space as possible.

We are quite the entertainment for the neighbors. They watch from the doors and windows of their houses as we make our way down the steep, irregular steps and through some especially slippery spots. Hands are offered to me but I usually say no, as I don't want to take anyone down with me if I slip! There is a tree that is my particular friend. I grab it, plant my feet cautiously and smile with joy and relief at the sight of Dora's patio just down the path. 

While we stay out of the way, we make friends with the neighborhood children. Yesterday they taught Susan and me a hand clapping game. We take their pictures and they laugh to see themselves in the cameras. Dora shared a book written about the barrio. Too soon it is lunch time and we head back up the hill to the church.

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is going well. We have the usual challenges of 15 kids crowded into a pew that might fit 10 children comfortably and crafts that are either really cool and kids want more or a little complicated and we find ourselves helping more than we expected. The saving grace is that we have had Poly and his family ALL week! A master musician, priest of the Diocese of the DR, son of Padre Hipólito and long time friend, Poly is our song leader and so much more. We sing and dance, laugh and sigh, it's the usual routine for this trip.

Breakfast is ready. Café con leche, fresh mango, piña, papaya. Then we'll hop into the van and be on the way to church. We've got more to do. And we have so much more to share with you! We'll try to write more soon.

Two of the smaller VBS kids.

Bob hangs the rainbows.

The 4th of July in the DR

Growing up the son of a military man, I was used to being around persons in uniform, but this was different. It may have been the regal bearing of the soldier, the way he held himself ram-rod straight, or a slight aloofness in his posture. I knew there was something special about him. I was surprised to see that he was from the Dominican Republic. How was it that a person from a country that I... know nothing about was serving in the same army as my dad?

I find myself, once again, on the Fourth of July, in the Dominican Republic, remembering that Dominican soldier. In a country which was invaded by the United States not once, but twice in the 20th Century here was someone who committed himself to the same values, rules as actions as thousands of others. It may have been the first time I realized that the defense of principles of freedom and dignity, the safety of loved ones, and the desire for justice were not parochial, but ubiquitous.

We, here, your 2013 DR mission team, feel a real kinship with the gracious people of this country, this city, and this church who so generously share their lives with us. We live in a paradoxical time, in a paradoxical world. Globalization, the Internet, cell phones bring us closer together, yet they also have away of accentuating our differences. Feels like, in many ways, the more the world's peoples become more familiar with each other, the more polarized we become.

Today, here in the Dominican Republic, our friends will celebrate with us this, the birthday of our nation. We have been discussing our wardrobe, and will try to find, in what clean clothes we have left, articles in red, white and blue. I asked myself for a moment, "is that too jingoistic, are we acting like those 'ugly Americans' who think that the world revolves around what happens in the US?" And then I realized, the Dominican flag is red, white and blue too. A wise person said, "there is more to bring us together than there is to keep us apart."

We spent the past few days working with a family in the neighborhood below the Church, "Cristo Salvador." Dad, Papolo, mom, Dora and two teens will soon have their tiny house with a safe roof, a bathroom and a kitchen...for the first time. They have joy about the same things we do, they worry about many of the same things we worry about. Today, our Day of Independence, while we celebrate the good things about our country, we will celebrate the good things about this one as well.

 

--Father Jim

Domican Republic Photos -- Vacation Bible School Day 1 and Construction Project

Vacation Bible School - Day 1 

Mixing Mortar for the Interior Wall

Building the Divider Wall - Dora and Popolo's House

The 2013 DR Team

Dominican Republic Mission -- Sunday, June 30

Just like at St. Anne's at the nine o'clock, I walked into Christo Salvador five minutes before service time to find two regulars praying quietly in their pews. What a joy it was to see their eyes light up with recognition as I approached. I felt like I was at home. Ten minutes later the church was full and we were into the service. Throughout the worship, I was aware of those in our group who were experiencing Christo Salvador for the first time and those of us who had been there many times. My sense is the feelings were very much the same. I watched as the congregation literally reached out their arms and enfolded our little band. Like at a family reunion, well it is a family reunion, it's such a surprise to see how the little ones have grown.

 My mind turned this morning to all the St. Anne's folks who have visited this place, worshipped in this sanctuary, and at San Lucas. I guess it must be somewhere around 100, maybe more. Tomorrow we start a new week, working in the neighborhood below the church, down in the barrio. In the afternoon we with gather with 150 or so neighborhood children as we provide them with a vacation bible school. We'll be there, with the spirit of those who have been here before, and with the spirit of all of St. Anne's.

--Father Jim