Where I am NOW

        As it has been quite some time since my last post, I thought I should catch you all up on what is going on with my missionary work here on the West Bank of New Orleans.
        Recently, I moved into the main office of the Elementary school that I am a volunteer at. I do the attendance, see to aches and pains from the students and other work in the office as one of the Administrative Assistants. I still coach the Flag and Streamers team and sponsor the Yu-Gi-Oh Club with the youngsters.
          I was interviewed by a newspaper about my missionary work and went home for a surprise visit to my family for the Easter Break.
          We are bringing Spiritual Adoptions to Louisiana! With the help of previous SA programs from Chicago, we are starting with a bang! St. Rosalie's Salesian Youth Center is on a roll with prayer cards and 12-week baby models on the run. Our Lady of Prompt Succor is beginning the process for spiritual adoptions this week and can't wait to officially adopt their unborn babies April 22nd.
          I can honestly say that I am happy with the how things have been turning out this year. I am bittersweet about he fact that I will be returning to Chicago in the August to return to school but I am happy more so about the upcoming NCYC in November of which I will be hopefully returning to New Orleans to take a group from the Salesian Youth Center.
         The Sisters are doing well, please pray for them. They are wonderful women of God who have devoted everything to him in the hope of saving souls and creating an atmosphere of love for the children they minister to every day of their lives. I am honored to be living with such inspirational woman.
         If there is one thing I am taking from this year it is to never be afraid of what God has ready for those who love him. The children here at the school and at the youth centers are the face of beauty. They God's love to the world. The young people have and always will be the PRESENT CHURCH. Not the future, not the past, the present. The NOW.

They are why my future, starts now.


MHC Pray for us
SJB    Pray for us

Happy New Year from Louisiana!

What a way to end the year and ring in the new one. Movie and Dinner last night. Mass and breakfast this morning!

 I have met so many wonderful and influential people who I love and admire throughout my 20 years of life.  2012 is the year I will never forget. This was the year I began a new journey with my faith.  This was the year I began an endeavor with a volunteer mission. Today, however, begins a new way of life. One filled with happiness, joy, but most importantly, LOVE. 

" As a Christian and a woman, it is important to model a godly attitude at all times. Even a small look or smile can help show others the love of God."

I read that in a small book of encouragement a few days ago. I had been starting to think about new year resolutions and what it was that I wanted to do for this new year. I had remembered that back in late 2011, I began sending Monday Good Morning Messages to everyone on my contact list. As the year went on, I realized some people stopped caring. Some even told me it had become so routine that they knew it was coming and so they stopped reading them and just deleted them. There was always at least one person though, who would say "Thank you" or "I needed that today, thanks", and that in turn would put a smile on my face.  

So this year, I want to resolve to put a smile an another persons face, so as to show them the love of God through me, in this way, my future, starts now.

Mary Help of Christians     Pray for us
St. John Bosco                  Pray for us

Rollin' with my homies, and their Habits

   The reaction I get from others when they find out I live with Salesian Sisters makes me want to laugh every time. Their eyes go big, mouths drop, and the questions start pouring out. I love answering them though, as ridiculous, serious, funny, or awkward as they may be.

So here are some answers if you've ever had any questions about living with religious as a lay person. And if some questions start forming, I'm here to answer even the weirdest ones.

      No, Sr. Lucy is not my mom.        I lost my house keys twice already.       Yes, I pray everyday with them.

They are funnier to live with, trust me.                                       No, I'm not a sister in training.

        Yes, we go out in public together!                    Yes, we eat anything and everything, especially chocolate.

I get that awkward "hey you left your laundry in the washer" look when they need to clean their whites.

I get my own room yes, but I share it with a sowing machine.                    No, I'm not undercover or a spy.

   I've heard some pretty funny questions, but none the less, I answer them! Above all else, living with Religious is an experience to be had. Their funny, make fun of each other like regular housemates, and we eat dinner while we watch movies from time to time too! Having only lived with them for little under 2 months has been nothing more than a blessing in disguise. Yes, I've had my ups and downs, and of course I've been homesick, but I wouldn't have asked for a better community of Sisters to live with. Who wouldn't want to live with an on the go sister that keeps you on your toes, a young newly professed one, a quiet Canadian sister, or even a hilarious Asian sister that makes you laugh EVERY day.

  As the days go by, I can't wait to visit home and see my real sisters and my new baby nephew Ethan!
For now though, I know I'm giving my all at the school and Youth Center, but there is still so much to be done and that's why, My future, starts now.

MHC Pray for us
SJB    Pray for us

Nice to meet you Hurricane Isaac

    Having grown up in Chicago, I'm not very much used to Hurricanes or tropical storms for that matter.
Snow storms yes, maybe a few heavy rainfalls now and again, but hurricanes?

     The Sisters and I stayed next door at the school where it would be more safe. That first night was a bit scary, I'm not going to lie. I kept remembering the times when my sisters and I were younger, and the four of us would race to our parents' room during a storm. As time passed we all grew to sleep through storms, but that night, my first experience with a hurricane, I swore I was 7 again, and closed my eyes to imagine my mother there with me and my sisters playing games like old times by candlelight when there was a blackout.

Mopping and clean up after the storm still continues.
    Yesterday morning we prepared all the school food from the freezers. Pizzas, donuts, cinnamon buns, french bread, chicken patties and sausage links and served them to those who needed food. Last night we delivered over 150 hot meals (biscuits, rice, carrots, spinach, shrimp dinners, chicken breast, gumbo) from the kitchen at OLPS not including the food from the morning. So many homes were still without electricity due to the storm.
     As we delivered food, we found families living in their cars because it was their only means of keeping cool in this heat. It was an experience like no other that I was blessed to be a part of. It's days like these that have me thanking God for everything I have and the wonderful people who give to the communities that need it the most.

So it was nice to meet you Isaac. Can't say I'd ever want another Hurricane to roll on by, but I'd love to keep helping the community any way I can. And with that, my future starts now.

MHC Pray for us
SJB Pray for us

This is me, who I am, who I'm meant to be

For those of you wondering what exactly I am doing in New Orleans, let me explain.

    First of all, my name is Jessica Amarillo. I am a proud Alumni of Lane Tech College Prep in Chicago, IL. On August 17th, I, along with about 24 others proclaimed, "Here I am Lord to do your will" as we took a leap of faith to serve others as the Salesian Domestic Volunteers and Salesian Lay Missionaries of Don Bosco.
    I live as a missionary in a community with four sisters in Louisiana.  This year I will be assistant teaching in a Kindergarten class at Our Lady Of Prompt Succor as well as helping at St. Rosalie's Salesian Youth Center and Parish.

    I heard time and time again

  Jess, what are you doing? What about school? What about your family and friends? Don't do this.

    I simply smiled back and told them that this is what I am meant to do. I know deep down in my heart that I am meant to help anywhere I am needed. Right now though, God needs me in New Orleans.
     At first, I was skeptical about deferring school for a year, but many of my new friends who are on this journey reassured me that I am mature beyond my years and that this was an experience that I could take with me, regardless, throughout my life and reflect on it in the future.
    As for my family and friends back home, I don't feel I abandoned them, even though some like to think so.  I like to see it as giving us all room to grow. Grow in our relationships, faith, but mostly, to grow as individuals. In order to succeed, make a change, or grow, one has to come to the realization that it all starts with ONE. One idea, one spark, one move, one you. I was sitting in mass at St. Louis Cathedral here in Nola this past June with the Gospel Roads group and I couldn't help but thank God for all that he has blessed me with. I kept praying that He would give me that extra courage to leave my family back in Chicago, and start a new chapter in my life. The mass progressed, the first reading, then the responsorial psalm, and next, the second reading began.

" We are always courageous,

although we know that while we are

 at home in the body

we are away from the Lord,

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Yet we are courageous,

and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.

Therefore, we aspire to please him,

whether we are at home or away.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

so that each may receive recompense, 

according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil."

-2 Corinthians 5:6-10

 I felt a sense of tranquility come over me and I knew then that God was going to give me the courage I needed, not all at once though. It's like a mother who doesn't let her child have all of the chocolate cake at once, but in moderation, serves her kid just enough to get them by. No matter how much I want it all now, I know I'll get it when I deserve it and need it. Mass continued as usual, we sang Alleluia, and then, a reading from the Gospel according to Mark. 

Jesus said to the crowds:

"This is how it is with the kingdom of God;

it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land

and would sleep and rise night and day

and through it all the seed would sprout and grow,

he knows not how.

Of its own accord the land yields fruit,

first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,

for the harvest has come."

He said,

"To what shall we compare the kingdom of God,

or what parable can we use for it?

It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,

is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.

But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants

and puts forth large branches,

so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade."

With many such parables

he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.

Without parables he did not speak to them, 

but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

I had heard the story about the mustard seed before, but I never took much from it until that day in the Homily when the visiting bishop said, "...You've planted your seed, but you can't make it grow...now let go and let God".  From that moment on, I had faith in God that he would allow me to continue on my journey in peace. Knowing I've planted that seed with my family and friends was just the first step in allowing us all to grow. By taking this leap of faith and joining the SDV's, I've let go and let God, completely this time, because I know I can't make it grow. 

   For now though, I love being a witness of God's love and I am blessed to be able to do this year of service. The Salesians have been an amazing part of my life these past 2 years and I am grateful to be part of this family.

So this is me, who I am, who I'm meant to be, but most importantly, who God wants me to be.
And for those of you who are wondering... Yes. My future, starts now.

MHC Pray for us
SJB Pray for us
   

Note to self...

  A few months ago, I wrote myself a note and tucked it away into an envelope where I wrote DO NOT TOUCH TIL AUGUST 26TH. Little did I know, this would be the night I closed the gate behind me at the convent at Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Westwego, LA, with my parents waving goodbye on the other side.

"Dear Jessica, 
   Sometimes it's going to get tough, but remember, God is there for you. Cheering you on, right there with you. Feel like crying? Go for it. Just remember, you're not alone, not even a little. It's just a long way home. Remember, you're not HOME yet, so don't get too comfortable. You're gonna make it."

   I guess I was right all those months ago when I first wrote myself that little note. I'm not alone at all. The Salesian Family has taken me under their wings in so many ways (and it's only been a few days!). It's so amazing to know that there are so many loving people out there, especially though, that there are so many right here in New Orleans who have my back.
  So here's to my journey as a Salesian Domestic Volunteer this year and to all the SDV's and SLM's out there getting ready for their missionary years away from home. I don't know about "y'all", as they say it down here, but my future, starts now.

MHC Pray for us
SJB Pray for us