Witness to Faith

Reflections from ………Cairo Mission 2008
By Anthony Pena

Attending this trip was amazing. I was able to experience things that I wouldn’t normally do, and talk about things that I kept inside for so long. Some of these events opened my eyes. I saw people who do not have the things that I have. The citizens of Cairo taught me to appreciate what I have, and to stop and think about others.

On the second day, my group went on a prayer walk. It was pretty interesting. Our leaders had us pray out loud. I’m not really the one to pray out loud, but for some reason I felt more open. Some of the houses that we walked past looked like they were about to fall down. After we were done, my group was sent to work on a community garden. I thought it was nice, we had planted tomatoes and other plants. A little work couldn’t hurt anyone. When we arrived for our last day of Kids Club, I was a bit nervous to actually talk and get to know the kids. But I learned to relax and keep my cool. This kid Thomas was so nice. Overall my experience with Kids Club is something I will remember forever.

Now the work sites were a totally different story. We were told that previous visiting groups had worked on Ms. Martha’s house, but when we arrived there were little scrapes here and there. It wasn’t until our lunch break that we realized there were four coats of paint. It was difficult until we found this awesome scraper. It made the scraping a lot easier. I have to say I drank a lot of water. The lady was so nice; she gave us lemonade and let us come into her house when we wanted to cool off. Scraping her house helped me to learn how to work with others.

Basically this whole trip changed me as a person. It changed the way I act around people, and it made me appreciate what I have. And if I could, I would have tried to make Cairo back to the way it was during its prime days. I hope that the town will get back on its feet, so that future generations will have a better life.

By Anthony Pena

If you are what you are called to be,
 you will set the world ablaze.
St. Catherine of Siena

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