My perspective

Greetings to all from South Sudan!  In my last post, I gave my dad's top ten memories from his trip to Juba.  Well, now it is my turn.  Get comfortable and grab a nice snack and hot drink, as it is a little bit longer than normal.

It is tough to describe such a powerful, peaceful, fun and life changing trip.  While I have done a lot of reflecting on the trip that already has so much meaning, I know it will continue to bring meaning for the rest of my life.

The trip started with my dad visiting Juba for a couple of days.  While it was great so see him and I am so grateful for his visit, it was a trip more for others than me.  It was great for him to be able to see our compound and the work the Salesians are doing in South Sudan.  It was great for all of the brothers, sisters, priests, pre-novices, students, and children to meet him and for him to meet them.  It was great for him to experience South Sudan in a way that can't be done through just pictures and descriptive words.  We toured the village many times, went into Juba to show him the "big city", walked along the Nile river, and had a wonderful dinner on the banks of the North-flowing Nile.  To share my mission experiences with him was really cool.

For me, the real trip was when we made our way to Israel and the Holy Land.  Our first day in the morning we were both like kids in a candy store.  Everything we saw filled our entire beings with complete awe and wonder- even though we had really no idea what it was or what the significance of it was, it was SO COOL!    After wandering around aimlessly for a couple of hours, we started putting pieces together and gathering more information.  The highlight for me was the Garden of Gethsemane.  What shocked me was how close to Calvary it was.  As Jesus was praying to "if possible, let this cup pass from me" he was looking at and could see what lied ahead.  Yet he still followed that with "not as I will, but as you will."  This one really got me thinking from two different perspectives.  One of the greatest fears that I have, and I think a lot of people have, is fear of the unknown.  To me, that is where faith comes in.  Faith isn't faith until you have nothing to hold onto.  It is scary when we don't know exactly what is going to happen or what the future holds.  But it is in these moments that our faith and courage truly grow and we become better people and Christians through total surrender.  Then there is also the fear of the known!  This is another way we are tested and out faith grows.  I have always been amazed and inspired when people set lofty goals, knowing they are going to have struggle immensely, and do it anyway.  They are often asked in the beginning, "are you sure you want to do this?" or "you know what you'll have to go through to to accomplish that, right?"  They answer with a resounding "yes" and never look back.  Jesus knew the suffering he was going to have to go through, and his love for the Father overcame all fears.  May God grant me the grace to be able to do the same.

The rest of the trip was spent continuing to explore and learn, a half day trip to Bethlehem, and a day trip to Tel Aviv to walk along the beach of the Mediterranean Sea.  I'll share two of the many, many countless and priceless memories.  The first was praying the rosary in St. Anne's Church.  Being that my saintly grandmother's name is Anne and she prays the rosary every day before going to bed (she first prays to her guardian angel to finish it for her in case she falls asleep in the middle of it) I offered it up as a prayer for her and her intentions.  As I was going through the mysteries, there was so much peace in my heart, and images and joyful memories of my grandma and I continually flashed through my head.  When I finished, I just sat there smiling from ear to ear.  The second highlight was doing the Via Dolorosa, or stations of the cross.  My dad had said he wanted to "walk where Jesus walked" and this was what added so much significance.  To walk the same path Jesus did was just amazing.

I could go on and on and on, but overall it was a trip filled with so many wonderful memories and experiences, and to be able to share them with my dad made them all the more special.

For my next blog post, I will be stealing an idea from my site partner Tom and having a Q&A.  If you email me, Facebook message me, or reply to this post any questions you have about me and my mission, I will answer those questions in the next post.

Thanks you all and God bless!