Carroll College Campus Ministry

How Are You Going to Change Your Life?

Upon returning home from the headlights immersion trip, I was asked by my mother “how are you going to change your life after going on this trip?” I really had to think about this question. It made me reflect on all that I have experienced during this past week. 

            One experience that really impacted me happened at the Mother’s Day celebration. This celebration took place at the beautiful plaza next to the Dolores Mission. During the celebration we had the privilege of listening to beautiful music sung by young and old alike as well as heartfelt poetry. The highlight of this gathering was a clown who interacted with the audience and delighted the children with magic tricks and jokes all of which were in Spanish. At one point in the show he wanted to get the ladies of the community involved and started to drag them up to the front one by one. During his selection he grabbed my hand and my cries of “no, no, no.” did not seem to persuade him otherwise. When I got to the front he was having us do activities and asked us numerous questions all in Spanish. All of the questions I had no idea what he was talking about. During this experience I felt so uncomfortable and left out of all the jokes. Most of the laughing directed at my inability to answer the simple questions he asked.  This was one of the first times in my life I felt truly uncomfortable and left out. This experience made me think about many people in the community that only speak Spanish. How they must feel uncomfortable in many situations, not just this one time for me.

            The joy I felt and saw on this trip also impacted me greatly.  I saw the joy in the giggling children that ran around the playground at recess. I saw it in my host mother’s face when she showed off all the delicious food she cooked for us at our Thursday night dinner. I saw it in our tour guide at Homeboy when he spoke about his new job and all he had planned for in his future. And I saw it in the other students and Alumni that came on this trip throughout the entire experience.

            To answer my mom’s question there were two things I will take away from this trip that will maybe change the way I live my life. First I want to acknowledge how hard it is for individuals who have many barriers in their lives, particularly a language barrier, and how strong they are because they do not let it hold them back. I hope that I can learn from their example and overcome some of the simple barriers I have in my life such as preconceived judgments I have about people who are different then myself. I hope to take time to listen to other’s stories instead of form an opinion right away. Second I want to look for the joy in my community and to help foster joy in others lives. The joy that people had even in times of hardship was truly amazing and I hope to emulate this infectious joy. I feel honored and blessed to have the opportunity to go on this trip.

Amy Surbrugg

Gaining New Perspectives

I am very grateful to have had the time to think and reflect on everything I experienced in L.A., as there has been a lot to think about. One of the biggest things that I have come to realize is that it is necessary for us to seek the truth in everything. For most of my life, I have relied on the opinions and ideas of other people. Being in Montana, these opinions and ideas were probably not completely right or, in some cases, completely wrong. It is a blessing that I have had the privilege to educate myself on immigration, gang membership (or non-membership), and restorative justice (reintegrating ex-“criminals” into society and reducing recidivism). 

I have learned that we often have our own set opinions on such issues and aren’t even aware that they are inaccurate. Immigration, for example, isn’t even a problem in Montana, yet we still might have strong opinions on the matter. Yet, we don’t know or understand the first thing about it. After meeting homeless immigrant men, who many of them are undocumented, I came to understand immigration just a fraction of a bit better. What I do know, though, is that those men should not be denied access to anything that we have or any opportunities that we have. It is much easier to deny them opportunities if we don’t know them and don’t educate ourselves about them. I don’t think anyone could ever deny immigrants special opportunities or say they are against immigration if they were to actually meet and converse with the men that we had the opportunity to meet. They are human beings with dignity, and that is quite apparent when looking them in the face.

The same goes with people who have served time in jail. We had the opportunity to meet two men who had just served a period of time for second degree murder. What comes to mind when you first hear this? These men are probably worthless and evil criminals who should not be in society. Well guess what: they were employed at the office of restorative justice where we visited, helping others who had spent time in prison find jobs and support their families. The men were doing wonderful things in the world and were very capable. This is what people are not educated on: people who spend time in jail always go back to a place that encourages more and more criminal activity. They go back to a place where, in order to survive and support their families, they have to engage in criminal activity. These are very important things to think about.

I have also learned through reflection that although there is a lot of evil in this world (I am specifically thinking of Skid Row and gang activity), there is simultaneously a lot of goodness. We met several people who are currently doing wonderful things to improve the lives of those whose odds are against them. I believe that Carroll College has really shaped me to be able to do the same thing. While I have been very sad that I have had to say good-bye to my wonderful friends at Carroll, I find comfort in the fact that we have all been shaped to change the world. I know now that my decision to commit myself for a year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps is the right thing to do. I am very much looking forward to my experience in Philadelphia and I’ll always know that my experiences and friends at Carroll can inspire me to my very best work.

LA

I started writing a blog while I was in LA, but just wasn’t able to put on paper what I was seeing and feeling.  What we saw and what we experienced is hard to describe, but when I reflect upon this experience after being removed from it for a few days, three words come to mind: people, perspective, and powerful.

The people I met on this trip were quite fantastic, not only did I make some great friendships with my fellow travelers, but I also met people who had an amazing love and compassion for their community and families.  For instance, each of us got up one morning during the week to help a woman cook breakfast for the homeless men in her community.  I woke up with her at 3:30 AM once and was exhausted.  This woman does this 6 days a week for men she doesn’t really even know, she just knows that they are trying to make better lives for themselves and wants to help.  Pretty powerful.

Being in the midst of immigration was also an experience that I will never forget.  Poverty, violence, and fear are all realities to these people.  Poverty occurs because of lack of jobs, or lack of decent-paying jobs.  Violence occurs because people who can’t find jobs turn to gangs for acceptance and a sense of purpose.  Fear is a reality not only because of the gang violence, but because of possible deportation.  I could not imagine living one day like this, but this is people’s reality.  However, being around these people made me realize that we are not so different from one another.  They love just like I love, they laugh just like I laugh, and they have faith, just like I have faith.  The only thing that separates us is where we were born, which none of us had control over.  These are real human beings, with the same capacity to love like the rest of us and being in East LA gave me a new perspective on how I am going to treat the issue of immigration.  Pretty powerful.

Again, it’s hard to put into words what my emotions and reactions were to this trip to LA…but to sum it up quite frankly, the people were awesome, my perspective has changed, and it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. 

Peace and Blessings,

Elly

Images of Community

I think it’s a good sign that I spent an entire week participating in a service immersion experience and wasn’t able to find any time to write an entry for our group’s blog. Even though the twelve of us have returned from Los Angeles, I know that our journey will continue. As I process all that I witnessed and encountered over the past week, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on a concept that incorporates so much of what I experienced: community.

Community = open doors

Delores Mission is a church without walls. I am struck by the Delores Mission logo, which depicts a building made of people, and I can’t think of a more appropriate image for a church. For many years, before the mission built an additional structure to house the homeless overnight, the church itself was used as a shelter. You can still see the scrapes and chipped paint along the sidewalls caused by many mattresses drug from storage each night and laid on the floor and the pews.

I was also humbled by the willingness of community members to open their homes and host us overnight. Tessa, Mary, and I stayed with Rosa, her husband, and their three children. Each night as we arrived at the family’s home very late, Rosa (alerted by her 3 chiwawas) would greet us at the door. On Thursday evening we enjoyed a meal with the family, which included pupusas, traditional Salvadoran stuffed tortillas, and great conversation.

This image of an open door is truly radical, especially in this place. In a community accustomed to crime and violence, I expected to encounter gates, barred windows and locked doors not just literally, but also figuratively. As we said goodbye to Delores Mission and Boyle Heights, I was struck with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude toward this community that responds to violence with openness and love.

Community = family

While we were staying at the mission we continually heard of the escalating violence that had led to three recent gang-related homicides. Fr. Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries explains that many men and women who become part of gangs are under the illusion that the gang will provide unconditional acceptance and love – like a family. As many eventually learn, this acceptance and love is conditional and can disappear very quickly.

Throughout this immersion trip, I was continually reminded of how connected we are as a human family. Living in Montana, I’m not exposed to homelessness and violence to the same extent that I witnessed on Skid Row and in Boyle Heights. Very rarely do I meet undocumented immigrants or hear about gang-related crime. But this doesn’t mean that I’m not affected, nor does it mean that I can ignore any of these issues. I am returning home not only with my stories but also with the stories of others whose faces are fresh in my mind and whose words are fresh in my heart. As Mother Teresa said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

Community = reconciliation

One of our most difficult visits as a group was to Skid Row where we witnessed the effects of drug-related homelessness in an incredibly uncomfortable first-hand manner. Personally, I walked away from the experience very disheartened. When reflecting on the experience with others, I learned that I wasn’t alone.

One of our last visits before leaving Los Angeles was to the Office of Restorative Justice, an organization that responds to Jesus’ invitation to walk with both the victim and the prisoner in a very concrete way by reaching out to victims of violent crime, the incarcerated, and the families of both. Violent crime is so divisive and leads to many people feeling excluded and ostracized. It was so uplifting to hear about the specific way that this office is facilitate healing and forgiveness.

I have begun to experience reconciliation in a small way since visiting Skid Row. I have learned that it is only in community that I can sort out my feelings and find even the smallest ray of hope in an incredibly broken situation. The Office of Restorative Justice provided an amazing lens with which to gaze through, and I feel as though I’m returning to Montana with renewed faith and conviction that specific steps can be taken to restore wholeness within our own communities.

-Stephanie Pung