Sand, Enchiladas, a woman named Lupe, and a beautiful Mission

We finally made it! We arrived in East L.A. yesterday afternoon.  Upon arrival we met the Jesuit Volunteer, Joanne, who will be guiding our service trip for the week. After brief introductions with Joanne, she escorted us to our home for the next two days.  After spending a night with all 8 of us girls in one hotel room on the way to east L.A. we were once again delighted to find we would have even more time to bond.  For the next two days we will be sleeping together in a classroom at the Dolores Mission School.  To those at home, this may seem like it would be a less than enjoyable experience.  However, after reading about the story here at Dolores Mission, we are more than honored and humbled to have this experience. Leading up to our trip to East L.A. we have been reading “Tattoos on the Heart”, a book written by father Greg who started the work here at Dolores Mission.  Dolores Mission does a lot of work with gang rehabilitation, assistance for the homeless, and assistance for immigrants.  Throughout the week we will get to see and participate in some of the work that Father Greg has for these three groups of individuals.  We are all excited for what the week has in store.  Consequently, spending a night together on a classroom floor was no discouraging task.  After getting settled (blowing up air mattresses with hair dryers and somehow fitting in 12 sleeping bags) we decided to take a little trip to Manhattan Beach.  For a group of Montana folks who drove 18 hours to get here, swimming in the 65 degree weather was a must.  After getting thrashed around by the waves, we had an amazing dinner at a local restaurant in Manhattan Beach to celebrate Natasha’s birthday!  When we got back to school, our first priority was to wash off the sand and head straight to bed because we knew tomorrow would be a busy day. 

Which brings us to this morning…. This morning we got up and got ready (three girls sitting on the floor in a elementary school hallway attempting to straighten their hair is quite the sight to see).  We attended mass at 9:00 am (the only English mass of the five masses celebrated at the Dolores Mission Parish every Sunday).  After mass we hung out with the locals from the surrounding neighborhood in the church courtyard.  We all had the pleasure of eating food prepared by a few of the local women.  Authentic Mexican food doesn’t even begin to describe that experience!  Per the suggestion of Mary and Laura’s sister Anne, we all tried the enchiladas, which were delicious.  Even more so than the food, we were delighted to share in the experience with the people of the neighborhood.  We had the opportunity to meet one of the Priests, Father Ted, and many of the locals.  It was amazing how hospitable and joyful they were! 

After spending sometime in the church courtyard we went back the school and Joanne introduced us to a woman named Lupe. Lupe has lived in this neighborhood for over 40 years!  She has seen it at the best of times and at the worst of times.  Lupe gave us an even better explanation of the history of the neighborhood and the work done by Father Greg.  She talked to us about the problem of gang violence in the area and how it has changed over the years.  Reading the book about Dolores Mission was inspiring in and of itself but actually hearing a firsthand account of woman who had lived here and raised 8 boys in this area gave the story of the neighborhood a whole new reality.  After learning more and more about Dolores Mission we are all very excited to see the ways in which Christ will work through us to touch this community even in our short time here.   These people are truly an inspiration in faith and a testament to God’s love and I can hardly wait for what the week has in store.

Peace,

Tessa

The Importance of Self-Worth

It is 2:00, and we are headed to Manhattan Beach! Today’s car ride has been very enjoyable. The scenery has been interesting and the conversations fruitful. In my car, we had a discussion about “Tattoos on the Heart,” a book by Father Boyle, who started Homeboy Industries.

We talked about the following quote:  ”Behold the One beholding you, and smiling.” What does this mean? It is an incredibly powerful quote and should be reflected on. Colleen had an interesting take: this quotes means that since the Lord loves us infinitely, we have a responsibility, in return, to behold Him. Father Boyle states that “He cannot take His eyes off us.” Why should we take our eyes off of Him?

It also means that, although we are all flawed, God loves each of us unconditionally, simply because we are who we are; who he made us to be. There is importance in this for each one of us individually. If we don’t recognize this, then we cannot completely reach our potentials, and therefore, fulfill the will of God. It hinders the growth of our relationship with God and growth in all other areas in life. If we cannot understand our own worthiness, how can we get anywhere? What implications does this have for the poor and marginalized, who face obstacles several times a day, and whose odds are completely against them?

That led us to the next discussion topic: why is it so hard for us to believe that we are worthy of God’s unconditional and eternal love? We came with a few reasons. It might be because our pasts are full of sin and we are ashamed and assume the Lord is, as well. Or maybe, because we cannot fathom God’s love for what it really is, we assume that He doesn’t want to be close to us. Colleen pointed out that Christian music sometimes gives us the wrong idea about our self-worth and being “unworthy” of God.

What does this mean for our service trip? Father Boyle did a great job writing about the soul’s self-worth.  It is something that we all need, although some of us don’t receive a sense of self-worth as much as others. Building relationships and kinship with the people we will encounter is a huge part of our service trip,in order to promote feelings of self-worth that everyone has as children of God. “Kinship- not serving the other, but being one with the other.” Father Boyle points out that service is a start; it is just “the hallway to the Grand Ballroom.”

God bless and thanks for reading!

Laura Gillette, 12’

Tattoos on the Heart Discussion #1

One of the organizations we will work with this week is Homeboy Industries.

All participants on this Carroll Campus Ministry Headlights trip received a copy of Fr. Greg Boyle’s (founder of Homeboy Industries) book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, and have been reading it in preparation for the trip.

Here are the questions we used to guide our discussion while traveling from Mesquite, NV to Los Angeles this morning:

Making A Better Neighborhood

It’s Monday afternoon, and I’m not sure that I’ve fully realized what all I experienced this past week. It was a week spent in Boyle Heights with the people of Dolores Mission Parish, the poorest parish in the entire Los Angeles archdiocese. It was the best service-type immersion trip I’ve ever experienced, and this is why.

Every trip like this one has a certain amount of unsettling experiences, seeing poverty and brokenness, addiction and pain. L.A. definitely had that. Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles is packed with people struggling with addiction and mental illness who will likely never leave, because they have no vision for anything better. There was no shortage of unsettling there.

This trip had something else too. Boyle Heights was the epicenter of terrible gang violence in L.A. in the 90’s, and today it is a safe and beautiful community. It turned itself around because the people of the neighborhood, inspired and encouraged by Fr. Greg Boyle, chose to make it happen.

Their actions essentially ended the violence in the neighborhood, drastically reduced the drug trade in the area, and made a safe place for their children to grow up in. As a community, they found the one solution: prayer, courage, devotion to the Gospel, and selfless giving. In a word: Christianity.

The people of Boyle Heights were some of the most authentically joyful people that I have ever met. Despite all the hurt they have seen, all the lack of resources, and prejudices stacked against them, they are truly joyful because they have their lives and they have each other. They have little, and they constantly share that. They house homeless men in the church because they don’t need it at night and the gospel tells them to care for those in need. They treat every person around them like family, because that’s just who they are.

The women of Boyle Heights have been a huge driving force in this Christian neighborhood renewal. They had the courage to take guns away from their children who were gang members. They had the courage to treat gang members like their own children regardless of who they were or what they had done. They had the courage to gather at the entrance to the neighborhood with signs that said “If you’re here to buy drugs, go home.”

One woman who works at Dolores Mission Parish who spent a lot of time with us was Ellie, a relative newcomer to the area. She had worked for the Catholic newspaper in L.A. and was drawn to Boyle Heights specifically because she saw so many press releases coming from this one small parish. She was drawn to the vibrant community that did so much with so little and moved there when she got a chance (and when a job offer came up at the parish, she took that too). I have to agree with Ellie’s decision, knowing that I would never live anywhere in Los Angeles except Boyle Heights, as close as I could get to Dolores Mission Parish, where faith and life are no different.

Nathan Scheidecker

The Experience Thus Far

So much has happened between our arrival late Sunday night and the evening tonight. I feel our entire group has grown together as a family. It is not uncommon of people to think of each other as a family who are not blood related. This is perhaps one of the most important lessons learned from the Dolores Mission community. It is plain to see that every member of this community is a family.
Sitting tonight at a homemade meal from our host mother is a perfect example of that. Tonight at the Quintero household, the mom said something simple, yet profound. She said, “The community has little money, but great heart.” This is true. Every community member lifts each other up. Because of this, what was the poorest and most crime ridden part of L.A. is now a much safer than ever before. Not only that, but these people are by far the greatest examples of servants I have ever encountered. These people love, simple and true as that. They do not discriminate, they serve.
Anyone coming to this mission would benefit as a human. It is common on mission trips for the people coming on the mission to get much more out of the experience than they give. I know this is especially true for me. My heart has been truly changed by the people of Dolores Mission. I feel I am a better person for the experience, and truly a member of the family here. I wish I felt as if I contributed more to the community, but I have truly enjoyed the experience here. Stereotypes I have had have been totally erased. The people here are beautiful.
I am excited to head home tomorrow. It seems we only arrived a couple of days ago. Everyday has been long and exhausting, but at the same time has flown by. I hope we have been able to make an impact on people, on you. If you as readers can take anything from this blog, take that. Exercise control on which you judge. Even the most hardcore, tattooed gangster will surprise you with the amount of humanity and love he possess. Anyways. I am excited to return home.

Cheers,
Travis

Walking the Streets With Officer Joseph

The week has flown by! Tomorrow we will have mass with the students in the morning and then begin the journey home. There is still so much to reflect on and process and hopefully on the way home more blogs will be written.

Our days have been long and there has been so much that we’ve seen. The transparency of this community is really amazing. Of course, there is the desire that people’s lives would be easier so there isn’t a need for such transparency to tell the story of human suffering and perseverance. However, suffering is a real part of life and while here we have encountered suffering we have also encountered hope and joy!

Yesterday we visited the skid row community. We arrived to the Central LAPD station ready for what we thought was an hour long tour and were not sure what to expect. After waiting in the lobby for over an hour for Officer Joseph to arrive I could tell the students were wondering if this was really worth their time. I was a bit worried since he hadn’t arrived and it was pouring rain this part of the day might have to be cancelled. Finally, he arrived and we immediately saw this was not going to be an ordinary experience.

Officer Joseph told us a little about himself as we all stared at his biceps that instilled a sense of awe. He told us why he works the most dangerous streets of LA with what is categorized as, “the least desirable population.” As he spoke it was clear this work is a ministry for him. He talked openly about God and about his love for the people on the streets that he is entrusted to keep safe. He told us that he was a Christian and apologized to us that he might use some inappropriate words but he wanted to be “real” with us about what the streets are like. He told us about his family and his own need to always defend himself and the other police officers he works with. He spoke to us about how he knows he can’t change people of this community because they don’t want to be changed but he can protect them. They suffer from drug addiction and mental illness and have not experienced a lot of unconditional love in their lives. He also talked with us about the programs that have been started for them and about the people who have committed themselves to run shelters and work with the police to clean up the streets. The amazing part about this was even as there was so much he could have been doing out on the streets, Officer Joseph talked with us like we were the most important thing he had to do on this day. We looked at pictures and videos of crimes and of the reality of drugs on the streets.

When it was finally time to go out “on the streets” it was definitely more than a bit unsettling that as we walked we had officer Joseph leading us and Officer Richards following behind and constantly placing himself between us and the street. We walked not more than a four block radius (maybe even less) but in that four blocks we saw enough to leave us speechless for most of the rest of the night about our experience. Gang members selling drugs, mentally ill people who have no where to go, volunteers working to clean up the streets, piles of trash laying out by buildings that smelled horrible, empty bottles of alcohol, probably more than a few prostitutes, and lines of people waiting for meals at shelters.

As we walked, Officer Joseph would stop and give us the stories of the people. He pointed out a man who formerly was a very prominent member of the Crips, he pointed out people he had worked with to try and find housing or beat addiction, he showed us one of the many places Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are held, he introduced us to a woman who lived on the street but now works for Volunteers of America in helping others, and he pointed out people ready to exploit those on the street at any chance. As we walked he also talked to us about the difference between offering charity and supporting the services that already exist. He was passionate about people coming to help on Skid Row but only doing so if they are interested in being an advocate for people to change their lives and not simply just giving people a meal or some clothes to wear. His view was that simply giving things to the people makes his job more difficult because it enables people to continue to live in the destructive patterns of their lives and never seek help for change. What was amazing about this walk however was not all that we saw that shocked us but how Officer Joseph was treated on the streets. People came up to him to shake his hand, one man talked with him about his son, people yelled out hello to him from across the street, and as we walked people would follow and have conversations with Officer Richards about their lives.

This walk challenged my own image of what police officers do on the streets of large cities. These men were not out looking for the worst in people they were out serving a community, building trust and protecting very vulnerable people. Even today as we relaxed and had fun these images came up in conversation about this experience on the streets with Officer Joseph and Officer Richards. This encounter did not offer me any thoughts on what solutions might come up to change this situation but rather offered a picture of a man who chooses to lift up the dignity of others and does his job because he desires to lift up the best in people.

The deepest sense of humanity was visible on these streets and we were privileged to walk them with a man who sees something different than most who walk them sees. I woke up this morning thinking, if Jesus were walking down these streets how would he interact with the people?

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/03/25/lapd-officer-deon-joseph/

Peace,
Colleen

Thursday is a day of rest… or so it seems!

Today was a day of free time and relaxation. We spent some time on Venice beach doing some wave hopping (in my skibbies) and after getting ripped off at a beachside restaurant, we went to Hollywood for a few hours. It was good to chill out for a few hours, but nothing will erase what I saw yesterday on Skidrow, a section of LA that is infamous for crime and poverty. I saw several people talking to themselves and a man even pointed at a tattoo on his hand and threw up his gang sign to me. All I could do was put my head down and stay silent. I kept thinking to myself, “This is not how humans are meant to live…we are supposed to be something more”. As hard as it was to see in Skidrow, these were in fact humans and deserved the dignity and respect that anyone else would. However, the officer that gave us the tour, Deon Joseph, showed me that it is possible to shine the light of Christ in such dark places. He was a man willing to give the human beings of Skidrow the dignity that no one else would. He knew the people individually and would say hi to them on his rounds and if he saw something that was hurting the community, he would stamp it out in a forceful fashion, which I appreciated. I am thankful for the trip to Skidrow because it showed me the realities of my Catholic…my universal…my human community.
I had my last underwings meeting with my students today. I asked a little guy named Jose what he was going to be for Halloween. He said, “A Birthday Cake!” and proceeded to dance, I assume, like a birthday cake would dance if it could. This made me realize that God is here teaching my heart to love simply on this trip, but he is also filling Los Angeles with hope. It has been a blessed place to spend time, and the eyes of my heart are open wider than they have been in some time.

When we left the beach, I realized I smelt great. So I thought of a new fragrance for men. It’s called “The Beach”. It gives you that excellent smell of coming fresh off of the beach. I have a proposition with Calvin Klein tomorrow before I leave, so I’ll let you know how that goes.

For Now, Truly Yours, and Sincerely,
Tyler J. Frohlich