Browning, Day 1, De La Salle, March 9, 2026
Currently, it is 7:10 pm on the first legitimate day of the De La Salle Immersion Trip. The team woke up at 6 am to ready for time at the school with the children. By 6:15 am, brother Jim walked through the trailer door and informed the team that the school had a snow day, and there was no class in session. I thought that Jim was joking initially, and I hoped that he was but he was not. I was devastated that we were not spending time with the students. I was eager to interact with the kids, to give and serve as well as receive and learn from them. I went back to my bed and slept for a few more hours. The lord bestowed that grace of rest upon me. After reflecting on the day, it was much needed. Chris coordinated with Jon to change the gameplan for the day. Chris made an influential midgame adjustment for the squad. We left at 11 am to East Glacier to hike and learn from the park rangers. The hike in the national park was planned for Friday before departing home. I was enthused to partake in the hike. I am leaving Thursday morning to visit my family, so I should have missed out on the hike; instead, I gladly laced up the snowshoes and hiked in the forest. We came to understand some of the culture behind the Blackfeet’s relationship with the federal government from 1850 to 1910. We were educated about wildlife and vegetation in the area; moreover, how to scout and track the animals. We competed in an activity called run and scream–a tradition the Blackfeet Indians utilized to see who would lead the bison off the jumps. The name of the game is self explanatory, simply we ran from a start line with one breath screaming to see who could make it the furthest. I was in the lead until my left snowshoe fell off and tripped me. I did a somersault and lied in the snow for a minute or so.
The drive to East Glacier and back to the mission campus were filled with fruitful conversations governed by the Lord. The roads were mildly poor conditions. The rest of the evening was chill. There was conversation, stories, puzzles, naps, silence, reflection, and prayer. There was chicken alfredo and broccoli for dinner–it was delicious. Many of the peers on this team I have never conversated or hung out with. These strangers have became good friends. I hope to continue friendship with these fellow servants. I respect these people and their personalities. We have broke bread together, enjoyed meals and talked endlessly. We have inside jokes about: “the buffalo guy,” “the buffalo runner,” “the wolf guy,” and “immersion.” I pray the lord conforms my heart to his, so I can treat these individuals with graciousness and love. Although today did not entail servitude at De La Salle, it was not a fluke because the lord planned a day to recharge and prepare for what is to come. I yearn to encourage the kids throughout this week. Tomorrow will be fulfilling and our assembly entrance will be exhilarating. We need prayer to share the Lord’s light and we need silence to be able to touch souls. I am extremely appreciative of this opportunity thus far. May peace be with you, god bless.
Maki McArthur, Junior, Chemistry Major on Pre-Med Pathway studying at Carroll College
When I woke up at 6:00AM, all I could think about was all of the uncertainty of the day. I was scared that I wouldn’t be prepared to spend a whole day in a grade school classroom and I had some genuine anxiety about it. I was worried that the kids wouldn’t like me, a fear that would be similar to a grade schooler’s on the first day of school. Then just minutes after I got out of bed, Brother Jim informed us that the De La Salle Blackfeet School was having a snow day. I felt feelings of relief, but also disappointment. In that moment I realized that I really wanted to go and make some sort of difference no matter how small and that now I would have one less day to do that.
Despite the disappointment, we made the most of the day. I became just a little more connected in the complex Blackfeet culture and I also built better connections with the people on the trip with me as well. My day was really highlighted by rest, the outdoors, and getting educated myself. In the morning I really felt grateful for the people on the trip and we had some fun conversation on the drive up to Glacier National Park. When we got there we went on an educational snowshoeing hike. This was great and I feel like I got to learn a lot about the Blackfeet culture both literally from our guides and physically from just recognizing how important the area is to them. Now I have a renewed motivation to do the best I can the rest of the week.
Tanner Joyce, Freshman, Civil Engineering Major at Carroll College
Day 2 Chicago, 3/9/26
This morning, we started early with a beautiful Mass at 6:30a.m. led by Bishop Bob, one of the founders of this order. Afterwards, we ate breakfast and got to work under Sister Stephanie’s direction. She gave us different tasks to do in preparation for the food pantry that is held on the first floor of the retreat center every Tuesday.
We worked alongside the sisters and volunteers for about four hours. Whether it was transporting, sorting, organizing, or bagging foods and other goods, we all stayed busy and hard at work. I thought it was amazing to see how many different people were involved in this process and to see how generously people donate. You could tell this service is done out of love and it didn’t feel like just some chores, but rather like this would really make a difference in lives of our neighbors. Every Monday this food pantry goes through 50,000 pounds of food, which is something I can barely wrap my head around.
Once we got done, we got to pray liturgy of the hours with the sisters in the little chapel, which was very slow and intentional. Then we got to eat lunch with the sisters and students from the other school, Ferris State University, that had just arrived at lunch. I really enjoyed getting to sit among the sisters and get to know them a bit more while sharing a meal with them. After lunch cleanup we unloaded a few more pounds of food from a last-minute delivery and prayed a holy hour in adoration. A lot of us did have a hard time staying awake during this hour because of our busy morning, but it was a great time to take a moment to reflect and pray.
The next hour and half of our day was spent with elementary kids at the YMCA. This is a very crucial place in this neighborhood where kids from nearby schools can go after school, rather than getting into trouble elsewhere. We all had a wonderful time playing outside with these kids and just getting to know them and their sweet personalities a bit. We did this with some other students from Ferris, so we were able to get to know them too.
Before dinner, we played hacky sack in the sun and then ate a meal of pizza, tacos, and various items with the Ferris students. They are a big and fun crew, and I’ve had a good time getting to meet a lot of them. After dinner clean up, us Carroll students had a debrief in which we shared the various cool moments that we had from the day.
We really noticed how intentional the sisters are when they work, pray, and speak to people. My prayer for all of us is that we can be intentional and loving as they are and above all, as Christ is.
Alli
Day 1 – Arrival in Chicago, 3/8/26
Today we set off for Chicago to spend the week serving with the Franciscans at their retreat center and working alongside them among the poor. The day started very early. With daylight saving time and a 4:15 a.m. wake-up, the morning felt especially brutal. Still half asleep, we drove from Helena to Bozeman to catch our 8 a.m. flight. On the drive we prayed a rosary together, which was a peaceful way to begin the trip and helped set the tone for the week ahead.
After landing in Chicago, we took the train into the city and headed to Logan Square for lunch. Riding the train gave us a chance to see different neighborhoods as we made our way through the city. We stopped at Same Day Take Away to eat, and while we waited to be picked up we spent a little time outside tossing around a hacky sack and enjoying a moment to pause after the morning of travel.
Sister Macey picked us up from there and drove us to the retreat center where we’ll be staying. On the drive we noticed the variety of architecture and how closely the houses sit next to one another. It was interesting seeing the character of the different streets as we made our way to the retreat center.
When we arrived, Sister Macey gave us a tour of the new retreat building, and it’s amazing. Everything is so clean and clearly well cared for. During the tour she shared more about the ministries that take place here. They host a food pantry and have recently added free, quick clinics for the community. Since I’ll be a nurse soon, that especially caught my attention. Providing healthcare for the poor and marginalized I’m sure will make a great impact.
There are also spaces meant for community and rest, like a board game and lounge room, which make the whole place feel very welcoming. As she showed us around, Sister Macey talked about how everything here is a gift. Everything in the building has been donated, and she shared that with a lot of gratitude. It was a meaningful reminder of how generosity and faith can create something that serves many people.
We enjoyed dinner with the sisters at the retreat center and had time to talk and get to know them a little better. Tomorrow another college group from Ferris State University will be arriving, and we’re looking forward to meeting them and getting to know them throughout the week.
We ended the evening with Eucharistic adoration and some puzzle time together, which turned into a nice bit of team bonding after a long day of travel. It was a full first day, but it already feels like this week is going to be a meaningful experience.
My biggest takeaway from the day is that everything is a gift and the Franciscan’s way of life is so so beautiful!
Kathryn
Browning, Day 5, De La Salle, March 14, 2025
Today was our final day with the De La Sale Blackfeet school. Throughout this week I had the pleasure of being with the Little Flower Academy, the 4th and 5th grade classes combined and the youngest age group in the school. This experience has been amazing. These kids are amazing. One of the most remarkable things to me was the ease and freedom with which they are able to be children. Earlier this week we learned from one of our speakers how one part of the Blackfeet culture is this ease with which they are able to acknowledge the unpretty and mournful realities. They have a natural and cultural inclination to share with one another in their mourning and suffering as opposed to hiding it from another, and just within one week I have been able to see the ways in which this makes many of them a people who are easy in openness to relationship and easy in giving their love. And so I think despite all of the compounded trauma and adverse childhood experiences these kids have inherited, they are so resilient and kind and childlike at least in part due to this part of their culture. I was blown away by their love, their joy, and their strength in the classroom to struggle to learn new things.
One particular joy from today was just in saying our goodbyes to the kids. One of them gave me a goodbye note today in the morning, saying I wasn’t allowed to open it until later. She had given it to me while in the middle of a giant game of Sharks and Minnows with the 8th graders so I couldn’t understand when “later” was, but it worked out alright. When we did leave that afternoon and began taking pictures and giving our hugs and saying goodbyes, she gave me a hug and then said ever so quietly that I could open the note now. She had thanked me for helping with math, “the other things,” and wished us save travels back to college. All of my goodbyes were every bit as precious and surprising in how much the kids already cared for us. It is a remarkable touch of the hand of God in this community to have so many wonderful kids who truly get to be kids, and who get to embody the love the Creator has for His children.
Macie Frans
Senior, Carroll College
Day 4, Denver, Christ in the City, March 13, 2025
During the street walks I met a lot of new friends and old friends from the street route Parks that I walked before. God gave me a beautiful grace to see the joy and peace I feel serving. This came naturally to me. Seeing the joy in my friends faces to talk and listen, brought me great joy. This whole week has been laughter that the Lord I feel has brought a light to my friends, but also my street mates, as we were walking along side with them.
Sydney Forrey, Sophomore, Carroll
Denver, Day 3, Christ in the City, March 12, 2025
When thinking about this trip the word simplicity is the word I would use to describe it. I tend to over complicate and think most things in my life, and serving the poor is absolutely one of those things. But the way Christ in the City reaches out the poor completely wrecked my thought processes about serving and has re made my foundations for fulfilling the command to love the least of my brothers. All it takes to serve and love my neighbors, no matter their material wealth, is merely an introduction on my part and an inquiry into how their day is going. It might be incredibly awkward and I might not have any idea about what to say, but the authentic reaching out is all that is asked of me. I don’t need to over think, I don’t need to have a script. Christ asks that I simply show up and offer myself to my neighbor, and He will take care of the rest.
Davis Greenwood, Sophomore
Browning, day 4, De La Salle Blackfeet School, March 13, 2025
Josie Gale Caritas Reflection Thursday, March 13, 2025 (Day 4)
Throughout the immersion experience, I have been working primarily with the 8th grade class. So far, we have had three full days with the students in the De La Salle Blackfeet School, and today was our last full school day with them. Today’s schedule looked a little bit different because Mass was incorporated into the school schedule, and the 8th graders were leading Mass. It was so wonderful to watch the students in the class I have been working with proclaim the word of God and lead the school through this beautiful sacrament. This was very nostalgic for me since my middle school would do the same thing in terms of having different classes lead Mass each week.
Within the 8th grade class, I have loved being able to work in small groups and one-on-one with students to complete missing work or provide more hands-on help for students struggling in a specific area of study. Through this, I have been able to learn a lot about the students. Earlier this week, I was working with a very shy student on math and all of a sudden she turns to me and this fountain of information started coming out of her mouth about the types of music she likes. I was both intrigued and excited at the same time that she felt compelled to share her interests with me, and it turns out that we have a lot in common when it comes to genres, songs, and bands that we like. In working with another student very little, I joined her for the chess enrichment activity and she began opening up to me about her family life and how close she is with her dad. I felt so blessed that this student, after knowing me for only a couple of days, was comfortable opening up to me in that way. Another student, very very shy and soft-spoken, when he speaks at all, has started coming out of his shell during my individual work with him. It is beautiful watching him be confident in the work that he is doing and the growth I have seen in just two days. Yesterday, when I first started working with him, it was difficult to get just a one word answer out of him, but now today, still with a little resistance and hesitation (but not nearly as much as yesterday), he makes eye contact, answers with confidence, and smiles.
I have also thoroughly enjoyed connecting with the teachers in the school. Specifically, with Mrs. Armstrong. She has been at De La Salle for a few years and teaches 8th grade homeroom, 8th grade ELA and Social Studies, and 7th grade ELA and Social Studies. I remember earlier in the week the two of us having a casual conversation during a break between classes and she opened up to me about two extreme losses she has experienced within the past month. She told me that sometimes she doesn’t want to come to school and wants to just stay at home and sleep, but she knows that’s not good for her and it wouldn’t be good for her students. In this conversation, she emphasized how important it is that her students receive a good education, but also how much she cares for each and every one of her students. I was so inspired by her devotion and commitment to her students and how she is able to put aside the difficulties in her life to provide them with an environment in which they can learn and grow. This immersion experience has been a beautiful encounter to the universality of the Church and a prime example of Jesus loving each and every one of His children. I feel blessed to have been able to witness selflessness, growth, excitement, child-like faith, determination, love, and so much more throughout my time in Browning. Thank you to the community of Browning, the De La Salle Blackfeet School, University of Providence, and Carroll College for this wonderful opportunity.
Browning, Day 3, March 12, 2025 De La Salle Blackfeet School
March 12, 2025 – Day Three in Browning
The third day at De La Salle started wonderfully. I woke up to Roy singing and I knew immediately that it would be a blessed day. This whole week has been an incredible blessing and I am so very excited to be able to partake in it with friends and strangers who have now become my friends. I have experienced many graces over the short three days and today was no different.
The 6th graders, which is the class that I am assigned to, have started getting more comfortable with us in the class and I have felt more of a laid back and open presence in the classroom now. An example of this was at lunch today, multiple students asked if I could sit with them and we ended up conversing about life. They told me about their families and siblings and what they liked to do in the free time off of school. It made me feel more of a friend to these kids rather than just another immersion student. I think that my experience here has been very different than I thought. When I came here, I imagined these kids to be so incredibly different from me when I was their age. But that could not be further from the truth. The people at this school are just normal kids, who laugh and cry have fun exactly as I did in school. Some have a different family life aspect and are living in a very impoverished place, but they are still kids nonetheless. It is very powerful to see that these kids are not much different from others and that they still are very much worthy of love and attention as anyone else.
Last night we were asked about moments in the trip where we have loved as God loves, seen as God sees, and/or done as God does and so that question was on my mind and my heart all throughout the day today. I think that just being with these kids and being a part of their lives has really allowed me to almost enter in to their struggles. Obviously, I have not seen or experienced many of the things that these kids have, but being able to see them and get to know them has really opened my eyes. My first couple days here, I found myself getting frustrated some of the kids not wanting to work and wanting to just converse with their friends and goof off. But after reflecting on that and the context of their lives, I came to the realization that this time at school can almost be a get away for these kids. This may be the only time where they actually get to spend time with their friends and just be able to be themselves. If I was in their position, I would want to just spend time with my friends and just be a kid as well.
The last thing I want to say is that a lot of these kids are not where they should be school wise. When talking about the question above in reflection on Tuesday night, one of the fellow Carroll students spoke about how God doesn’t love us for the things that we do or accomplish, He loves us for being us. I think this is a perfect reflection in being here this week. A lot of these kids are not good at math or good at science, but that isn’t why we should love them. We love them for being creations of God and being part of the family of Christ. So it has been an incredible grace to be able to try and love as God loves in that way.
I can’t wait to finish the final two days and I will be sad when my time here comes to an end. This trip has exceeded all expectations and I recommend doing something similar to all people who truly want to experience the love and grace of Christ.
Chuck Markham, senior, Carroll College
Caritas Denver Reflection, Christ in the City 3/11/25
Being in Denver has opened my eyes in so many ways. On Monday we had training and a street tour. On Tuesday, we went out to our street assignments for the first time. In Matthew, the Lord tells us to be “poor in spirit” (Mt. 5:3). Though I have heard it listed in the beatitudes my whole life, I have never experienced a tangible way to be poor. These last two days, my eyes were opened to the poverty that is a reality for so many, so many that could just as easily be me. In my friends who live on 16th street in Denver, I have seen many parts of my own heart: many ways I lack trust and dependency on the Father, many ways I lack poverty where it is needed, and many ways I lean on my independence over my dependency on the Lord. We can learn many lessons from the poor like not to take our home for granted, not to take our friends and family for granted, and not to take all the free gifts from the Lord for granted. It can be easy to think we deserve what we have been given, to get caught in the lie that it is ours, but it is all free gift from the Lord. While the hardships are real, I was struck by the joy that is present in such circumstances. My friends on 16th have a beautiful hope and receptivity about them. Walking with my friends on 16th street showed me the reality of deep hurt in our humanity, where my own heart is poor, and where my heart could use much more poverty.
Thanks!
Celi Chapman, Sophomore, Carroll College
Browning, Day 2, March 12, 2025, De La Salle Blackfeet School
So far, the trip to Browning has been a blessed time. Since the beginning of the trip, I have been amazed at the sense of community Browning clearly exhibits. In the first mass, during the sign of peace, everyone spent nearly two minutes giving peace and even during communion, continued to shake hands and exchanged signs of peace throughout the pews. Being able to play a part in the community of Browning has been so pleasant as I came in with the mindset that the community would have been more broken in the poverty that is present. However, the poverty seems to drive a real love between the people in uniting in their sufferings. Many of the people I have encountered suffer well, and this is something I wish to take into my own life.
In a reflection we had tonight, Roy, the campus minister of University of Providence (who is also joining the trip with us,) asked the question: “What does it mean to do what God does, see what God sees, and love as God loves?” I have been reflecting on this question tonight and the answer reflects a lot of my outlook on the trip thus far. For one, the answer to this question revolves around love, as He is love, sees through the lens of his love, and what he “does” is love. Seeing through a lens of love and charitability must then be the lens we tend to strive for in our own lives. But how do we actually learn to do this?
I have found that my perspective on how to view others has changed even in the two days we have been able to spend with the students here in Browning. Many of these students deal with real struggles, such as alcoholic parents, abuse, or other stresses that make the ordinary life we take for granted much more difficult. In this way, when in the schools and a student is paying attention, or struggling to pay attention, I find myself have a different reaction that I normally would, one that is more understanding and charitable to what may be going on in their lives outside the classroom. Rather than seeing them for what they do or how they present themselves, I have seen them in a more real and clear light, as children of God who suffer. Though their wounds and sufferings come out in different ways, they clearly love God and love each other, and as St. John of the Cross said: “In the evening of our life, we shall be judged by love alone.”
I have been blessed to see so many smiles on students faces as well as my own as I have been able to see the beautiful humanity that is here in Browning. I ask for prayers for these students, their families, and the many immersion trips that will take place in the future at this school. These students are our family in the Church, and suffer just like us, just in a different way. I am very happy I came on the trip to see this new perspective and am very excited to continue to learn to love and see these students as God sees them.
Ryan Frampton, Senior, Carroll College
Carroll College Campus Ministry 