CLICK HERE FOR A SLIDESHOW OF PHOTOS FROM THE MISSION TRIP.  (But first, please see comments at the bottom of this page before downloading!)

Ten teens and two adults from St. Patrick Parish attended a mission trip on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Yakama, WA from June 17th to June 22nd.  The purpose of the trip was to provide a life-changing, Christ-centered youth mission opportunity. (Click here for more information about YouthWorks, the organization that coordinates these mission trips.)

The teens who attended were in grades 9-12 coming from both high schools in the county.  Three girls and seven boys made the trip.  Janice Davis and Chris Fenton were the adult leaders.

After checking in and an orientation on Sunday we were set for four very full days.  Each day began at 6:45 a.m. and concluded at 11:15 p.m.  All participants were given the responsibility of preparing meals or clean-up on a rotating basis.  Morning devotionals were part of every day as well as “Club,” a time set aside for spiritual growth that included scripture and relevant discussion.  Each day ended with a time that the individual groups met and reviewed the events of the day as well as time for prayer.

The first two days were spent painting homes.  We either scraped the outside of a home, or painted the interior or exterior of a home.  The homes were owned by Native American people who were in need of painting and were elderly, unable to paint the home themselves.  A deep sense of appreciation was conveyed by the occupants.  We were able to spend time with these people and learn about their culture.  One homeowner made us Indian Fry Bread and talked with us while she prepared the bread.  We were fortunate to be able to spend time with these people.

The second two days we spent with Native American children.  We picked them up at their homes and took them to “Kids Club,” an afternoon in the park with games, crafts, reading time, and just spending time together.  The teens performed skits and sang songs that conveyed scripture from the Bible.  After two hours the children were taken home.

Evening activities included a tour of the Imperial Farms, a community barbecue, an introduction to Native American Culture and a Prayer Circle.

Our teens experienced personal and spiritual growth.  They saw poverty that they had never seen before.  They developed relationships with the young and the old.  They felt the presence of God in the music we sang, the work that we did and the prayer time we had.  They learned more about the Native American Culture and about a place that is very different from where they live.

MISSION TRIP SLIDESHOW
On July 21-22, 2007, the Youth Group presented a slideshow of photos from the mission trip at all the weekend Masses.  Click here to download an abbreviated version of the slideshow.  NOTE:   This is a PowerPoint presentation (.ppt format), approximately 5.4 MB in size.   If you do not have the PowerPoint program, you can download a FREE PowerPoint Viewer from Microsoft here.  Follow the instructions on the Microsoft download page to install the viewer.

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for their support!