Prayer and Work, Work and Prayer: Mission thoughts from Julie

Julie Atkins of Arlington, Va. participated in the recent mission trip to Banica, Dominican Republic with 17 other missionaries of Commissioned by Christ. Check out her thoughts on the mission trip:

What a privilege it was for me to participate as the oldest person on the recent CBC mission trip to Bánica – in many ways a “MANUAL LABOR RETREAT” of prayer and work, work and prayer. We also did much team building among ourselves and with the people there as we strove to live up to our theme: “They will know us by our love for one another.”

A highlight for me was the visit to the family who will receive the first of the new houses from the money raised by St. Charles parish through its Dominican Republic committee. Their mostly mud home loses some of its walls each time it rains hard, so they are extremely grateful.

Catholics in Northern Virginia would surely be as proud as I was of the work of our Arlington Diocese and the priests who have empowered so many parishioners of Bánica to use their talents to serve the Church and the spiritual and temporal needs of the people. We completed six outhouses from digging the 10 foot holes, to mixing and laying the cement floors, building the wooden frames, and attaching corrugated zinc walls and roofs. But, we did not do it FOR the people of Banica; we did it WITH them. Church leaders, seminarians, young boys, older men, and the families themselves worked along with us. To show her gratitude, the woman in my site boiled yucca and roasted goat meat to serve the workers, most probably a hardship for her with goat meat scarce these days.

I thoroughly encourage participation in a future mission trip planned by CBC.

- Julie Atkins

Butterfly Effects: Alex’s thoughts before the Dominican Republic

24-year-old Alex Schultz from Lutherville, Md. is one of the missionaries heading for Banica, Dominican Republic on July 24.  It’s not only his first time on a mission trip, but also his first time out of the United States.  Let’s see Alex’s thoughts before embarking on this new experience.

Today I am finishing up my packing for Banica, Dominican Republic. I have never been on a mission trip before and this will also be my first trip outside of the U.S. I am really excited. I have wanted to go outside of the country before I was even a teenager. I think a mission trip is a great “first time” outside of the U.S. I have come to learn how to pack efficiently, so that is not much of a strain on me. I am more worried about getting bitten by a wild animal. I hear a lot about the wild dogs they have there. I am a big dog lover so it will be hard for me to refrain from petting them; unless they have really large, sharp teeth and are foaming at the mouth.

I really love building things. I am looking forward to using tools and being an efficient constructor with the (mission) team. I have taken part in building various construction projects and love fixing things, including cars. My biggest concern has been the language barrier. I have been trying to learn Spanish lately but I am nowhere close to being literate in it. However, there are others on the mission that know Spanish and can help me along with an English-Spanish dictionary.

I really like the idea of having no cell phones or computers around; just the mission team, me, the beautiful landscape, and God. Something that I have come to learn is that no matter where you are God can make you feel at home. Giving yourself to him and trusting him helps you see everything in a whole new light. Looking for purpose in your life makes you feel like you’re always on a mission and helps you appreciate the simpler things in life (at least to me it does).

Right now I have butterflies in my stomach. I see this as a great opportunity to spread the love of God to others. I really like the idea of taking my passion for Christ to another part of the world. I will have an opportunity to show others how far God’s love stretches across the world.

- Alex Schultz

Jessica’s Trip to Peru

I heard in a lecture once that all human fears stem from six primordial fears: failure, rejection, the unknown, death, isolation, and loss.

When you take a leap of faith, at least one – if not all – of those fears make you want to turn back immediately.  But that’s when faith has to take over and lead you on in spite of those fears.

That’s the way it was when I went to Peru.  I had no idea what to expect, I could have caught some dread disease, been caught up in a political uprising, the language barrier would isolate me for a time, I might have given up at any time and come home, having failed.  But, placing my faith in God, I went forward and when the plane landed in dusty, dry, brown Piura I had a feeling that I would be okay.

After a few months of acclamation to the town and becoming more proficient with the language, I started volunteering at a Crisis Women’s Shelter cooking and cleaning for the residents.  The friendships that I made blossomed into an almost-family.  They welcomed me in with open arms and I even became God-mother to a baby girl named Belin.  Meanwhile I helped the mission parish that ran the women’s shelter with groups of American volunteers that came into the town.  Some of the volunteers painted the interior of the Wome’s Shelter, they delivered food to needy residents, and started construction on an addition to the church that would become the first free clinic in the town.

Although the year I spent there was hard in many ways, mainly being separated from my family and friends, what I wasn’t prepared for was the reverse-culture shock that took me the better part of three months to fully recover from.  My culture shock to the US came in the form of self-isolation.  My naturally social personality just couldn’t manage to put myself out there and re-establish the friendships that I had made during and after college.

Unfortunately, culture shock is never the same twice, and everyone has different reactions.  I’m always surprised even at my own reactions which are never predictable or the same.  The best remedy for culture shock – going or coming – is prayer – HANDS DOWN!  There’s nothing that calms the waves of emotion that accompany major life changes than quiet time in front of the Eucharist.

Overall, the year I spent in Peru, the months of recovery, and now the reflection on those experiences has made me a much more intuitive person.  I trust myself more, and I’ve learned to listen to the whisper of my guardian angel telling me what I should do.  It’s also put things into perspective – as any amount of travel can do – as to the comforts of my everyday life that I routinely take for granted.  Now, sometimes, I intentionally take a cold shower when I want a hot one – just to remember what it was like to live in Peru.

- Jessica Aldrich, Commissioned by Christ President & CEO

Lenten Challenge Reflection

Instead of giving up, give more. That was CBC’s slogan for our Lenten Challenge.

As a fledgling organization, we are constantly trying to find ways to raise awareness and engagement with our mission.  We developed this Lenten challenge to help Catholics better understand and practice the three pillars of Lenten observance – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – while raising awareness about our mission trip in July to the Dominican Republic .  You were able to visit our website to download and print a Lenten calendar in the shape of a cross with colors indicating which pillar of observance to practice each day.  In addition, you could download the Lenten daily practice guide and follow along via facebook and twitter.  The use of social media was integrated into the challenge to encourage interaction and sharing of Lenten experiences with other Catholics.

As Easter has passed, we can each reflect on our Lenten journey.  How well did you do?  What could you have done better?  Well, CBC is now asking ourselves the same thing about our Lenten Challenge.  While we were able to directly engage with some people through social media and increased website hits, we would’ve liked to see more engagement between Facebook fans and Twitter followers throughout the challenge.

What kinds of issues related to your Catholic faith or mission trips are you interested in?  How can we make your Lenten experience better/simpler?  Is this a challenge you would try to do next year if you knew about it earlier?  What do you want to talk/learn about more?  If you have any feedback, send us a Facebook message, Twitter DM, or comment on this blog.

During Lent (February 17 – April 4) we had a total of:

318 absolute unique visitors on our website

41 unique pageviews of our Lenten Challenge

56 seconds average time on Lenten Challenge page

39.85% of you visited the site from a referral site such as Facebook, Twitter, Catholic Herald, Catholic By Grace blog, and Google.

10 Facebook “likes”

7 @replies on Twitter

4 Facebook comments

2 Retweets on Twitter

Special thanks to the Arlington Catholic Herald and Catholic By Grace blog for sharing the CBC Lenten Challenge on their blogs!

The rise of CBC

It was a warm spring afternoon in March and I was kneeling in front of the Eucharist trying to pray about what I was going to do with my life after graduation from college – looming only weeks away.  I desperately wanted to be a missionary, spreading the good news and doing the work of the Church. 

But reality was much different.  I knew I needed a job.  But my job search wasn’t what distracted my prayers that day – it was an idea that had been slowly forming for months . . . or maybe years.  The idea was to start a Catholic organization to lead short-term mission trips for working adults and families. 

I soon gave up on my prayer and went to talk to my friends.  I casually mentioned my idea to my friend, Ryan Woodard, and he immediately became serious about starting an organization.  A few weeks later we discerned the name: Commissioned by Christ.  We decided that the name most embodied what we were being called to do – follow Christ’s great commission to go out into the world.

My hope for CBC’s future is to become the go-to international Catholic organization bringing Catholics closer to Christ by leading short-term mission trips for working adults and families.  We will have simultaneous trips running year-round from multiple parishes and dioceses throughout the US.

CBC will build relationships with international Catholic mission sites, religious orders, and communities by returning year after year.  And will work to establish new relationships with missions in need of short-term mission teams.

We will have independent offices across the US and internationally reaching out to new parishes and new dioceses to bring more lay Catholics into the mission life of the Church. 

My hope for this blog is to start a dialogue about the mission life of the Church.  We Catholics should all be aware about how much the Church’s missions accomplish world-wide.  How much good God is doing through ordinary people.  And the positive impact that a prayerfully prepared mission team can accomplish within a community in the span of a week or 10 days.

The Church does so much charity with so little and constantly shows Her love for the poor.  Catholic social teaching is rich in practical and theological concepts about the way we can responsibly live our lives in society.  And mission work is one way to bring Catholic social teachings into our everyday lives.

CBC’s ultimate mission is to inspire zeal and love for Christ and the Church throughout the world.  And it is my constant prayer that with God as our guide, we will touch millions of lives and bring His Church into a close-knit community.

- Jessica Aldrich, Commissioned by Christ President & CEO