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I truly cannot put into words my gratitude for the past two years and the opportunities this church has provided me with. From the friends I’ve met through Outreach Camp, Service team, shoe drives and many more to the people I’ve served all around the world, and all the lessons I’ve learned, words are really not enough to explain everything I’ve been blessed with all because of this Parish. Last year I was given the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel with Soles 4 Souls to Honduras and I can honestly say it was the most life-changing event I had ever been a part of.
A couple of months after I got home I found out I had the opportunity to travel with Soles 4 Souls again but this time to Atenas, Costa Rica. I genuinely have never been more excited about anything! My friends from school can vouch for me I talked about how excited I was every single day, like seriously every day. It really feels like the months from planning for Fest, collecting shoes, and mission trip or small group meetings flew by and before I knew it it was one week until I left for Costa Rica. Unfortunately, everything wasn’t going as perfect as I had imagined it would getting ready for this trip, my family had just received the news that my grandfather didn’t have a lot of time left and was in hospice care. I can easily say deciding to leave and go to Costa Rica was the hardest decision, but knowing what my grandpa would want for me, me and my family decided to put our trust in God. I know this was God’s plan for me and I cannot thank everyone who went on this trip enough, especially Jen Katzfey, Father Jay, and Laura Mark for their constant support. There is absolutely no way I would have been able to have the strength to fulfill our mission in Costa Rica without them.
Even though the days felt long our 6 days in Costa Rica went by way too fast. I’m so grateful for the connections and relationships I built with our Soles 4 Souls partners and employees, our drivers, cooks, translators, (who are really all just incredible, inspiring, friends)our mission team, and the amazing people we had to privilege to serve in Costa Rica. Every day I was amazed by the people we met and everything I learned from them. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing connection with people at every distribution despite a language barrier. One story we actually heard in our “base” by MariaElena our cook really touched me and changed the entire trip for me.
MariaElena is genuinely an angel we all saw her as the happiest, most generous woman we have ever encountered and to see the pain she went through telling us her story truly broke my heart. She told us her reason for living in Costa Rica and the story of her son. She talked about how her family lived in El Salvador until gangs wanted her son to join them. These gangs search for successful youth and unfortunately they threatened him that if he didn’t join them they would kill him. MariaElena told us the story of the night the gangs came to her house and she had to witness the brutal murder of her son who had so much life ahead of him. My heart ached listening to her story and there was not a dry eye in the room from anyone around me. MariaElena feared for her younger son’s life so they moved to Costa Rica hoping for a safer life. They found connections with our Soles 4 Souls partners and now work and live with them. MariaElena’s story changed everything for me, that was one specific turning point in my life that I will always remember. Sitting outside listening to this beautiful woman and her incredible son share such a horrific event felt more than surreal. All I could think about was how unfair this was and not only how much it saddened me but how much anger I felt that events like this actually occur and they aren’t rare. I was upset that MariaElena and her son had to live with this pain, and that I couldn’t do more to help them. Every problem I had from that very moment seemed so small and I was overwhelmed with guilt for how blessed I was. This story and overall trip impacted me so much more than I could have imagined it would. Before we left Costa Rica each missionary chose someone to write a letter to that we had met that week and I chose MariaElena. Her story really affected me and I am so touched and inspired by her family's resilience. Even though so times were difficult to hear and to go through during this trip it was so impactful for me.
In the airport, Father Jay asked us one word to describe the trip and I chose, “unforgettable”. It only took a couple of days in this beautiful country to completely change the lives of our group of missionaries and I think we would all agree this years mission trip was undoubtedly unforgettable. To EVERYONE that made this trip possible I cannot thank you enough. I went to Costa Rica to serve others and got so much more out of the trip than I could have ever given to another person. I am beyond grateful for this incredible opportunity!—Ryleigh Barrett, Missionary