Maggie's Mission Trip Memories

By Maggie Martin, age 17

This February break, I traveled to San Juan, Texas to go on a mission trip with two of my friends. I hope to go on a mission trip to Africa someday, so this trip was the perfect first experience to get a feel of what these missions are like. Going into it, I wasn’t expecting much. I knew that we would be helping poor families near the Texas/Mexico border, but I didn't know much else. However I can now say that this trip was the best thing I have ever done, and my eyes were opened in so many ways. 

We were set to take off on Sunday, February 16th, and I had all my bags packed Saturday night. I went to the send off Mass, excited about the next day, only to be told that our flights had been cancelled due to snow. Big bummer. We were devastated, and didn’t know if the flights could be rebooked. Thankfully, our chaperones were able to book us new flights (yay!!) for Wednesday, and our trip was extended to Monday, the 24th. 

We made it to Houston on Wednesday afternoon, and ran through the airport to make our connecting flight that was heading to McAllen, only to find out that it had been delayed (so you’re telling me we sprinted across the airport for nothing). We had seen a plane on the runway engulfed in flames, and joked that it was the plane we were supposed to board. The next two and a half hours were spent sitting around the airport, going on walks, and doing whatever we could to entertain ourselves. By the time we boarded our flight, it was almost 11pm, and we were exhausted from a long day of travel. We landed in McAllen around 12am, and made it to the Basilica hotel in San Juan by 1am. We quickly went to our rooms to get settled in and get some much needed rest.

Here's a rundown of what we did each day:

Thursday 2/20

• Morning mass and a tour of the beautiful Basilica, followed by breakfast and morning chores

• Walmart run to get snacks and necessary items for the week

• Headed out to Mission, Texas where we toured the community center run by a few religious sisters. It was a small building with a few classrooms for the children of poor families in the community.

• We all went to one of the sites that we were working on, and spent the afternoon cleaning that yard. This house was a family with 3 children, living in a small and rundown house. The yard was in really bad condition: trash was everywhere, chickens and dogs were running around, and there was a humongous pile in the back of ashes and scraps where several puppies searched for food.

• Worked for about 5 hours removing all junk and doing yard work, then headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. Dinner was at a local Mexican restaurant, which was tons of fun!

• We had opening ceremonies back at the basilica, where we talked about our experiences that day, and the things we saw. We received journals that we could use throughout the week, and I made good use of mine, taking time to journal each night so I wouldn’t forget anything that happened. Going to sleep that night was again very easy as we were exhausted and still feeling some jetlag.

Friday 2/21

• Another early morning and we started off with morning mass and breakfast, then made our lunches and headed out to the worksites.

• My group was assigned a house (actually it was a trailer) where a family of ten lived. Two parents and 8 children, with 5 under the age of 5. The trailer was really tiny and dark, because they had a single lamp for the whole space. It had two bedrooms: one for the parents and 3 of the kids, and then a closet-sized “bedroom” with a single mattress on the rotting floor for four of the kids. There was also a box of puppies out in the cold that we had fun holding whenever we got the chance. We were immediately humbled after seeing the conditions that this family was living in, and got right to work. We did any necessary demo, got rid of junk, began painting, and built bunk beds for the kids. We breaked for lunch at the community center and then got right back to the site, working until we headed back at 4:30. 

• That night we had dinner at the hotel, and then adoration and confessions back at the community center. Adoration wasn't the best experience for me (some people weren't taking it seriously) and it made me realize how grateful I am to be raised in the faith and have such great examples of what holiness looks like, whether it be my parents, my priests, or family members. Adoration finished around 11 and we were back to the hotel by midnight.

Saturday 2/22

• Woke up this morning ready to work as it was our last day on the site. We headed back out to Mission and got straight to work. Today I helped with a lot of construction, such as trimming one of the walls to put in a new door, cutting plywood for a new wall, and installing fire alarms (which I am very proud of learning how to do:). We also bought the family a new refrigerator and bathroom supplies, so we set those up. We put bedding on the bunk beds we built for the kids, as well as a rug and a dresser, and they were so excited to see their newly furnished room.

•  We worked hard, rushing to get everything done because we had to be out by 4:30. We finished up by taking group pictures at each of the sites, and saying bye to the families and the kids that had become our little buddies. It was hard leaving them, but we were happy to know that we had helped them in so many ways.

• That night we went to the Main Event, which is an indoor activity center that had bowling, laser tag, a ropes course, and an arcade. It was super fun and a great way to end the day!

Sunday 2/23 & Monday 2/24

• Our final day was spent enjoying some fun and warm weather (meaning the high 50’s) after the temperature was in the 30’s all week. We went to Sunday Mass at the Basilica, where a mariachi band played the music! We got all packed and cleaned our rooms before heading to a local park for a picnic lunch and some outdoor activities. 

• That afternoon was spent at a trampoline park, which was a lot of fun especially with a group as big as ours. From there we went to a homemade ice cream shop which was pretty good, but nothing even comes close to the Ice Cream Cottage ;) 

• After ice cream, we went to the Stations of the Cross on the Basilica grounds which were so beautiful and it was such a peaceful experience. 

• Dinner was at a nice steakhouse to end the trip, and I was the only one who got chicken tenders and not steak, a classic Martin kid move (they were excellent and the honey mustard was chef's kiss). 

• We had closing ceremonies back at the hotel, and had bittersweet feelings that night as we were happy to go home the next day but sad to leave the trip behind.

• We woke up at 2:30 am on Monday(crazy!) to get to the airport and check in for our 5am flight. It was a long day of travel but we made it back to Boston around 4pm, and ended up getting home around 6:30 that night. 

If you took the time to actually read all of that, I applaud you. If you skipped around, I don’t blame you at all. So after that long winded explanation of my day to day in Texas, here are my thoughts now that it's over. 

This trip was better than I expected in all aspects. I made so many new friends and we shared so many funny and memorable experiences together. Seeing the poverty that so many people live in was truly eye opening, and it made me so grateful for my own living conditions. I realized how much I take for granted in my life, whether it be hot showers, the food I get to eat, my bedroom, or simply a roof over my head. We are offered so many opportunities that any of the kids in the family’s we helped may never get to experience. My heart breaks for them, especially knowing what their everyday life looks like, but they smile through it all. They taught us a lesson about joyfulness, because even with their circumstances, they were the happiest little kids and were so excited that we came to their house to help them. We bought gifts for them, and after giving one little boy a new toy, he immediately ran off to show his parents with a huge smile on his face, not putting the toy down all day. Another little girl started dancing when she saw her new bunk beds, overjoyed that she had a real bed to sleep in. The joy was contagious, and we felt just as happy to be helping these families. Moments like these made me realize that happiness does not come from material things, but from acts of love and service. This trip inspired me, and I would like to go on as many mission trips as I can before getting married and having kids. Experiences like this are so important to me, and I’m extremely grateful for this mission and the work we were able to do.