Completed Puzzle

These past three and a half weeks have been unreal, but we’ve finally gotten a taste of every aspect of the program. The last piece of the puzzle, children’s camp, began for us on Tuesday. We arrived at Saint Mary’s just after 8am and joined the campers who had already arrived. A handful of kids opened up to us almost immediately and gruesome injury stories were shared over breakfast. After a time of open gym and a game of sharks and minnows, the campers split up into two groups. They then rotated amongst Greg and Michelle’s sports and games, Nick and Linda’s classroom, and the mystery activity led by James and me. We chose to start the camp off with oobleck, a gooey liquid substance that becomes a solid once pressure is applied. If you’ve never made it, you must! All you need is corn starch and water; and food coloring if you get extra adventurous. It went over very well. The kids, and even the teen leaders, were pretty amazed by it. Before we had started, we warned them that we were going to be making a mess. One of the girls said she didn’t want to do it because she didn’t want it on her clothes, but by the end, she was requesting that the oobleck be poured on her. Overall, it was a great activity to start out with and I think we gained the kids’ trust that our session will entertain them. When all of the sessions were completed and all remnants of oobleck had disappeared, it was time for their lunch. One of the girls taught me a clapping game and we sang some Justin Bieber together. When it was time for us to leave, she gave me a hug and would not let go. It took me a while to release from her grip, but it was so precious.

We work at the children’s camp in the morning hours every Tuesday-Thursday. As our bonds with the children grow, camp becomes more enjoyable each day. After their lunch, we attend mass at Saint Matthew’s, go home and eat our own lunch, and then go off to our respective non-profit organizations. Every part of the program has been going very well and I can’t wait for all that we’re going to experience this summer. It’s never been more apparent to me that I’m doing what God has asked of me. This confidence stemming from my trust in God has assisted me in making it through the struggles I have faced so far this summer. Another big help has been my fellow community members, so wonderful and caring. I’ve never been one to open up, but I think these four may know more about me than I do. Each of them has, in some way, helped me deal with issues I’ve been struggling with for years and I am very grateful for their help. I’m a pretty joyful person, but I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. My hometown was just attacked by nature, which has added some stress, but I know that God will take care of my people. If you’ve been watching the news at all, you may have heard of Minot, North Dakota. That’s where I’m from. Please, pray for the city of Minot. Thank You and God Bless!

--Mikayla

Food for Thought

Last night, Mikayla and I wrapped up our first week on cooking duty. I've found that one aspect of community life that I particularly enjoy is preparing food for each other, and getting to enjoy the food that others have made. For me personally, enjoying food offered by others is a way for me to learn to accept more graciously and humbly what others offer me in general. I also find preparing food for someone else to be another avenue of service to others.

Given our schedule, each cooking team prepares four meals -- dinner on Monday and Wednesday night, lunch on Saturday, and brunch on Sunday. Breakfasts are generally on one's own, as are weekday lunches and dinners on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Dinners on Tuesdays and Thursdays are brought to us by parishioners at St. Michael's.

Every meal we've had so far has been delicious.

There's nothing like a home-cooked meal, and there's nothing like cooking, in order to make a place feel like a home. At least for me, that's been a huge part of becoming more and more comfortable in the old rectory, here at St. Michael's. James and Michelle prepared roast chicken and pasta, homemade pizza, and scrambled eggs and toast. Mikayla and I made wet burritos, grilled chicken and pasta, and eggs and biscuits and gravy. (Saturday's lunch typically includes sandwiches, since we take those with us to the homes we fix up.)

James and Michelle are up for round two this week -- and they say there's no chicken on the menu, since we've had a lot of it so far. We're also excited for Tuesday, when we plan to visit a community of Franciscan friars just north of Flint, who grow all of their own food and have offered to serve us dinner.

The fact that James and Michelle are up for their second week of cooking duty means we start our third week of missionary work with Catholic Urban Project. It still seems like there's an entire summer ahead of us, but we've already finished a little more than a quarter of it.

I think everyone here is excited to see what remains in store.

Outreach: Day 1

We experienced our first day of door-to-door outreach today. We spent our time in a neighborhood on the east side of the city -- in terms of socioeconomic status, neither the worst neighborhood, nor the best. Neither is it the safest neighborhood, nor the most dangerous. There is poverty in this area, and there are abandoned houses, and in the several blocks we walked, covering less than a square mile, there were three burned-down houses -- burned down most likely by arsonists. These characteristics fit with the picture of Flint that's commonly painted by the news.

But there are people here, too -- people with hope and the desire to reclaim a city from violence, injustice, and a slow economy. And no picture of Flint could be complete without considering these people. They're moved to pray for the city's recovery, for the safety of its residents, for guidance for its children, and for jobs. But at least one man we met described common feelings among his neighbors -- the feelings of having no representation in municipal government and of being inadequately served by police and fire departments. We'll call this man J.

At the end of J's block, a telephone pole lays across the sidewalk. It was struck by a car, the driver of which staggered around the accident scene, smoking marijuana after the collision. J said it took two hours for police to arrive; in that time, the driver abandoned the scene. J says police response was similar when several neighbors reported vandals stealing aluminum siding from one house. And so the neighborhood feels overlooked -- like no one cares.

Enter our door-to-door outreach. We're not expressly encouraging conversion to the Catholic faith; instead, we're letting people know that someone cares about what's going on. We missionaries can't right the wrongs that have occurred here, but we can let people know that we're praying for them, and that we'll pray for whatever concerns them.

This is a neighborhood where people answer the door with looks of suspicion on their faces, often greeting us from behind screens, within the safety of their homes. With everything that's happened here, that's not surprising. But it's truly amazing to see that suspicion turn to relief. I'm convinced that these may be the most authentic facial expressions I've ever witnessed, in that the people we've met have been so surprised, but so relieved, that someone cares about their concerns, that they become willing to acknowledge, to admit that they're concerned. Their surprise overtakes their guarded suspicion, offering respite from the reservations they may have about anyone who knocks at their doors.

And so an experience that began with some anxiety ended very fruitfully. Sure, some people refused to answer the door, or turned us away. But we left the neighborhood with a long list of intentions, and prayed for each one in the chapel at St. Michael's.

It's worth noting that before we left, J found us again -- an hour or so after we first talked with him. He invited us to a neighborhood Bible study, held in his neighbor N's yard. N's fences

are covered with a wide range of sports and motorcycle memorabilia, as well as some of the hot-rod art of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (including the famous Rat Fink). N welcomed us, along with J, and their friend M, and we talked for an hour or so about how God moves through Flint -- and about the wonder that brought these three neighbors together with five missionaries, all of whom hope to see this city renewed.

Living Simply

We Catholic Urban Project missionaries in Flint have a week under our belts now, and we can't have imagined a more satisfying introduction to this faith-filled summer of service and simple living. We're doing all of this in pursuit of deeper Catholic faith -- to grow with each other in our relationships with Christ. And so Christ has been at the forefront of everything we've done together, including our opening retreat with CUP's Ypsilanti missionaries, our daily recitations of morning and night prayer, and door-to-door outreach to people on our neighborhood.

Despite being merely a week into the program, it's hard to write concisely about everything we've so far experienced. Each one of has so far served at local non-profit organizations, helped clean the rectory basement, and worked to fix up a house. Those experiences will continue throughout the next eight weeks, but there's still more to come, including a children's camp, among other plans. Blessings and challenges await along the way.

There are five of us here, living in the rectory at St. Michael's Catholic Church. Nick is our site director; he coordinates service opportunities and lends calm, confident leadership to our crew. The remaining four of us come from all over the country: Mikayla, a student from North Dakota State University; James, a student from Washtenaw Community College, an hour south of Flint; Michelle, from Gonzaga University, way out west in Washington; and me, Greg. I've just finished my degree at Central Michigan University. Each one of us is excited about the weeks ahead.

Expect future posts to detail our service experiences, to describe how we encounter Christ throughout the summer, and to tell the stories of some of the people we meet. We'll also write about community life, as we have fun together, encourage each other, and battle the Michigan heat and humidity.

This is Catholic Urban Project, Flint-style.