On July 24th 2000 I went to St. Lucia on a mission trip with my church, St. Cecilia's - 106th between Lexington and Park. We have done mission trips like this for 5 years, for 10 days during the summer.

This is my fourth year going on one of these trips. This is the second year in which we went on a trip outside of the United States. Last year we went to the Dominican Republic. I was not expecting this trip to live up to last year¹s trip. Last year's trip was so great that when I found out about this year's trip I didn't think it would be as good and I almost didn't go.

The first trip that I went on was to Portland, Maine. We were part of an organization, called Habitat for Humanity which is in collaboration with the St. Joseph Project. On these trips we go to a state were there is a high poverty rate. Habitat for Humanity had the funds so that they could buy the tools and the materials necessary to build a house. We had hammers, saws, drills, wood, screwdrivers etc. Anything we needed for a task we had. More than one group worked on a particular house. Each group would come for a week and work on a house that was in a different stage of completion.

One time we worked on a house that was only the foundation. The next time we worked on a house that had all the frames up and was 75% done. We had to put in the insulation. After that we had to make sure that all of the drywall was up. Then the director of our site had to put up the electrical wires and get the house going. In Maine we were supposed to be sure that we completed a certain task for that given week.

When we went to the Dominican Republic we did not have a specific job on which to work. We had a lot of little things to do. We had to help put in the foundation in a convent, put a roof on a chapel for nuns, and also work with a day camp. The first thing that we had to do was to be counselors for about 75 kids in a day camp. We played games with them and also did some arts and crafts, then we helped them read and write. When we were working on the Convent we got to the site and there were a few guys there working so we had to get in and help them. We had to mix the cement and pour it in with wheel barrows. We had to get the water from big ?[edit]

When we got to St. Lucia we were greeted at the airport by three of the youth group members. They gave us pins and gave us a warm welcome. I was a little upset because when we got there we had to wait two hours at the airport because they thought that we were going to be at the airport in Vieux Fort instead we got to the airport in Castries. The funny thing is that the airport in Viuex Fort is only Ten minutes away from where we are staying. After they picked us up at the airport we had to take a 2-hour ride back into Vieux Fort.

The next day when we went to work we were introduced to Our Lady of Assumption. This church is made of stone and it is red and yellow on the outside and yellow and blue on the inside. The roof had no color but it was rusty and if something wasn't done soon it would not last too much longer. We then took the church and completely transformed it. We changed the outside of the church and made it all a nice beige color. The paint that we used was a sealant type so that it would last. The roof then needed to be fixed so we took steel brushes and scraped off the excess rust. Then we added a red paint.This paint also had a sealant, which will give the roof 10 to 12 years of life. On the inside of the church we changed the inside to white with a blue trim.

When we finished the church we were happy to see what we accomplished. On Sunday when we went to church the parishioners were very excited when they saw what their church looked like. They were thanking us and very happy for what we did for them. I always like doing things like this because I could see something that I did will affect the lives of other people. I am glad that my church gives me the opportunity to go to different places around the world. If it wasn't for St Cecilia I would be stuck not going anywhere and not being able to experience life and experience what the rest of the world looks like.

I want to get out of the ghetto and be able to see the world and this gives me the opportunity that I probably would not be able to accomplish on my own.

Also to be posted with the edit to this story, Oscar's reflections on life in St. Lucia.