Pictures and Testimonies

This week I've decided to share some of the all-time best FOCUS Mission Trip photos and student testimonies. Hopefully they will be an inspiration for you during this Advent Season!

Pictures

Ghana, West Africa 2010

Ghana, West Africa 2010

Ghana, West Africa 2010

Kolkata, India 2010

 El Salvador 2010

Camino de Santiago, Spain 2009

Kolkata, India

Mexico, 2008



Student Testimonies

The mission to La Morita taught me how to be vulnerable to people whom I barely know and what it means to love selflessly and wholeheartedly. The Lord showed me that He is present in every given moment, if only one makes the effort to open their eyes to the beauty of those surrounding them in the here and now and stop dwelling on the past/future. Every moment is an opportunity to love and grow closer to Christ. The mission trip helped me to see that I am capable of utilizing every moment to bring greater glory to God!                -Sabrina Harris, Appalachian State University

We are not made for comfort, we are made for greatness." Ghana physically, emotionally, and socially stripped me from any comfort that I could possibly think of! Yet there was immense beauty in this suffering, because in the poverty of comfort, I realized the necessity of Jesus Christ in each and every moment of each and every day! Dependence on the Eucharist, prayer, and mass made this necessity so much so that upon returning to comforts, the challenge presented is to still have the same dependence on Christ amidst living in comfort. Poverty now has a profound and applicable meaning in my life.
                -Kelsey Bosworth, South Dakota State University

There are different ways I can find satisfaction in life, but I believe spiritual satisfaction through service to the Lord and His people is the highest form of pleasure man can attain. There is nothing more important and noble than investing in the Kingdom of Heaven, and this mission trip reiterated that to me. Everything about this trip, my team and the Salvadoran people, continues to motivate me in my ongoing commitment to be a better person today than yesterday. -                -Chris Ela, USAF Academy

I went to India to change the lives of others and found out quickly that the opposite was happening. The poorest of the poor taught me more on lessons of humility and patience than any mentor or teacher could have. My experience changed my life forever and will be something I will never forget.
                -Zach Kane, University of Nebraska-Lincoln