Grit

I love the word grit when used to describe students who give their best effort to succeed. It is the effort they give especially when the learning gets tough that helps develop grit. Grit is the mental toughness needed for an individual to achieve success. Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania wrote in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance that "grit is a strong predictor of success and ability to reach one's goals."

As an educator, I feel we do a disservice to our students if we do not push them to work harder by reading at higher levels, solving more difficult problems, and grasping deeper concepts regardless of the subject matter. I do not expect my educators to develop easy lessons for the students. Teach with love and compassion, but do not accept lower level work. Push them to struggle. If they struggle and persevere, they develop grit. If they struggle and give up, they aren't developing the grit needed to succeed when the going gets tough. Anybody can succeed when things are easy.

So, a word to educators and parents: do not make things easy on your students and children. Push them to develop grit because we all know people who fold like a house of cards whenever things get tough. They cannot handle the pressure and blame others for their lack of success. Let's help our students learn how to deal with failure and still move forward.

Unfortunately, I did not possess this grit when it came to academics especially when I struggled in school. CBHS was definitely a struggle for me. Thank God I had teachers who would not give up on me and pushed me to succeed. They didn't make it easy on me. They held me accountable. Catching up academically at CBHS was my battle. My parents never dreamed of stepping in and finding a way to make it easier for me academically. That's why they sent me CBHS. They did not want to make it easier for me.  Just the opposite, and I'm glad they did.

I had grit in athletics but not enough for me to fulfill my dream of making soccer my career. I could have used more grit there. But, where I have always had grit is in the work place.

In all the places I have worked since I was a teenager, I have never been the smartest person in the room, but I did and will continue to out-work everyone in the room. I put in more time, energy, and passion into my work and have constantly moved up. I am proud of that. I love to work and I love where I work. And believe me, it takes every bit of time, energy, passion, and love to push forward at St. Ann. Most people wouldn't know this but it is a tough place to work.

For those of you who did not hear nor read my speech to the 8th graders at graduation (check out my previous blog to read the graduation speech), one of the things I focused on was not being afraid to fail. There is nothing wrong with failing if you are working hard to succeed, and you work even harder to pick yourself up and try again. Failure happens. Failure is a part of success.

This is a lesson Kelley and I taught our children early on in life, but we used a different phraseology with them. Instead of saying "Don't be afraid to fail," we would ask the question, "Are you afraid of success?" It was our way of teaching them that they cannot be afraid of dedicating the time and energy needed in order to succeed. Success isn't easy and it shouldn't be. You do not learn nor grow when times are easy. That happens through struggles and hard work; grit.

As a soccer player, if my team scored goals easily, it wasn't worthy of a celebration. Yet, the hard-earned goals are still etched in my mind. I am a believer that a hard-earned D, C or B is more worthy than an easy A. As parents, we need to remember that. Instead of complaining, making excuses, or looking for others to blame for hard-earned grades that are less than an A, we should praise our children for earning the tough grades. And, if they didn't work hard for that D, C, or B, there should be negative consequences involved. Think I was grounded and in summer school most of my high school years. I wasn't the best student. I paid the price. And, it helped teach me a valuable lesson. If you want to succeed, there is a price to pay.

There is something else I've learned about parenting. Do not praise your child(ren) for being smart and/or talented. Ex: You are so smart or I cannot believe how talented you are. Instead, praise your child(ren) for working hard in trying to accomplish a goal. The way I look at it, you might be smarter than me, but I'm going to outwork you. Being smart gets you nowhere if you don't have the grit to see things through.

My parents didn't praise me for doing what I was suppose to do. They praised me when I went above and beyond. I am very thankful for their parenting because they helped create the grit I needed to succeed in the workplace. My children were raised the same way. Through hard work and dedication, they have become the young people Kelley and I hoped they would be. We are extremely thankful. We led by example and our children followed. That doesn't always happen, but it did for us.

Did we make mistakes as parents? Oh God, we made mistakes just as all parents do. But we never fought our children's battles for them. We taught them their battles were for them to fight and overcome. How else are they going to survive and become independent in this world? It is a dog eat dog world out there and we are all wearing milk bone underwear (thanks Norm Peterson from Cheers).

Yes, I have the right to give advice and lecture on parenting. I'm old enough, my children are grown up, and I have worked with thousands of school aged children. I have made mistakes, but I have also learned a lot of lessons. Learn from me so as not to make the same mistakes.

Teach your children to walk on their own two feet. Helicoptering and snowplowing helps no one. No one wants to see their child struggle but the sooner they learn how to fight their own battles, the better off they will be. I've heard several parents at St. Ann use this phrase when their child complains and I love it. "Suck it up, Buttercup. That's life." I heard a great quote last week that makes so much sense. "Don't love your children so much that no one else can."

I love my children and all my students. I love them enough to make sure to teach them to be independent and successful. I love them enough to not keep them from failing. I love them enough to teach them how to get up and keep working to succeed. And, I love them enough to not do it for them. It is hard to step back sometimes. But, it is necessary.

Wishing all children throughout Shelby County a restful and safe summer.

Now, go read a book.

St. Ann...Pray for Us!
Live Jesus in our hearts...Forever!

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal
St. Ann Catholic School

Holy Week!

1st Mexico Mission Trip 2008 in Diamante

I cannot believe that Holy Week is already here. I look forward to this week mainly because of the special memories it holds for me. When I was at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City, MO, I would take a group of students on mission to Mexico during Holy Week where we would team up with the students and teachers of Collegio Regis LaSalle.

The purpose of the mission was to take the

Mexico Mission Team in Cerro Blanco

consecrated hosts into the small villages in the Sonoran Desert so the locals could receive the Eucharist every day of Holy Week. Each of the small villages has a two-room school house and a church.  But, there are so many of these villages, usually 5 to 10 kilometers apart, that there aren't enough priest to go into the villages to provide the Eucharist during Holy Week. So, the missionaries would spend Holy Week in these villages in order to provide the locals with communion service where everyone had an opportunity to receive the body of Christ.

Cerro Blanco Concrete Floor Team 2009

It is my understanding that the Bishops of Mexico came up with the idea of creating missions where the missionaries are made up mainly of high school students from the Catholic Schools in Mexico. They train all year so they will be prepared for living in the villages and leading all Holy Week events and activities. Not only do the missionaries lead the Holy Week events and activities, they also serve the people of the villages by doing home repairs, organizing clean up projects, and even working to build churches.

On one mission trip to Cerro Blanco, our group of 17 missionaries (15 students and 2 chaperons) teamed up with some of the locals and installed a concrete floor in a church. The church had a dirt floor and no roof. Since then, another team has installed a roof on the church as well. I just got on to Apple Maps and was able to find Cerro Blanco on the satellite map. I found the church and it does have a roof on it.

Church Repair Team, Hermosillo 2010

On another mission to the outskirts of Hermosillo, we helped to refinish a church in order to have it ready for Easter Mass. We not only completed the work, we were also able to attend Mass there that Easter.

While in the villages, it is a tradition for the locals to invite the missionaries to their homes for lunch. This is when I learned that those who have the least give the most. It is amazing how that happens, and I have seen the same thing happen over and over. It is not always the case of the least giving the most because there are plenty of people who are well to do who reach deep to help others.

Anyway, back to my mission story. We would

Ana Lopez, my Mexican
Mission trip partner

be invited to lunch with folks that had almost nothing. As missionaries, we would go out in groups of two or three as to not overburden our hosts. They wanted to share their almost nothing with us as a thanks for our work as missionaries. I believe their almost nothing actually contributed to more kindness, more humility, more caring, and bigger hearts.

Eucharistic Minister in
Cerro Blanco

The most memorable meal was when a blind lady invited three of us to eat at her two roomed cinder block hut with dirt floors. She served homemade corn tortilla cooked on a wood-burning stove that was actually an oil barrel with a hole on the side to fill with wood. We watched as she hand-rolled tortillas and placed them on the stove top to cook. Since she was blind, she cooked by touch and feel without the use of any cooking utensils. Those were the best tortillas I've ever eaten, and being in her humble home made us appreciate her gift of food even more.

On Good Friday, we would reenact the Station of the Cross in full

uniform including Jesus carrying a cross. Each station was set up throughout the village as we would precess to the highest point in the village, which was usually a small mound, to the final station for the crucifixion. Everyone in the village took part in the stations. The American students learned their lines in Spanish in order to participate. It was powerful seeing your students on the cross next to Jesus. One year, I was a Roman guard. I did not like playing that role. Even though it was a reenactment, I could not force myself to turn around to watch Jesus carrying the cross.

Team Cerro Blanco in La Y Griega

Also on Good Friday, weird things would take place. One year, the full moon of Easter was extra bright and appeared to have a ring around it making it look like Saturn. The missionaries in the other villages saw it as well. The following year, we had rain and strong winds for most of the night on Good Friday. I know it rained because I slept outside in the Sonoran Desert during these missions. The next morning, I asked one of the locals about the rain. His reply was that he had never seen rain in that village except in December.

Satellite View of Cerro Blanco

On Easter Sunday, before the mission came to an end, all the missionaries and many of the locals from all the villages would attend Mass in La Y Griega, which is a part of the city of Caborca. Easter Mass was a celebration like I've never seen in a Catholic Church. The students celebrated and danced as they received the Eucharist. The priest was so overcome with joy that he just sat and watched the students sing hymns and dance, which took place after nearly 250 students had a group hug with the priest. I'm not too proud to say that I was overcome with tears and emotions watching this celebration of love and resurrection. It was always a great ending to fantastic missions.

I long to return to missions with my great Mexican friends from Colegio Regis. I hope to one day take students back to Hermosillo for missions. My life and the lives of all the missionaries changed for the better on every mission trip we attended.

Seth Nichols, 2015
Jacob Christian, 2016

On my final two mission trips in Mexico, I was partnered with Ana Lopez. We formed a great team and were the lead chaperons in Hermosillo and Cerro Blanco. She was like my little sister. Several years ago, Ana lost her battle to cancer. When Holy Week arrives, I think of Ana and the great times we had leading the high school missionaries in the deserts of Mexico. Ana Lopez...Pray for us!

Nick Agnew, 2014
Tony Craig, 2016

Since today is the first day of Holy Week, the students of the Catholic Schools throughout Mexico are now in the villages serving as God's ambassadors sharing His love with those who normally don't have the opportunity of receiving the Eucharist. Please pray for these missionaries and the success of their mission. They are spending a life-changing week doing what we all should be doing every day; serving God by living Matthew 25:40.

Student and Alumni Spotlight.

Adam F.

St. Ann was well represented at the 55th Annual State Bowling Tournament in Smyrna this weekend with both current students and alumni taking to the lanes. Adam Fillion ('20), and Ethan Nichols ('22), bowled in all events including singles, doubles and team. The team that Ethan was on came in 7th in the State out of 37 teams in their division. Alumni Nick Agnew ('14), Seth Nichols ('15), Jacob Christian ('16), and Tony Craig ('16) also bowled in singles, doubles and team. To participate, bowlers must be in a junior sanctioned bowling league.

Taylor D.

This weekend, Taylor Damore played in the St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Tournament with his Arlington Soccer Association '07 team! They had snow in that area this weekend so I know it was cold.

One last thing, I have to share a picture of our students using the new headphones in the computer lab thanks to Jim and Susan Garts!

Please keep St. Ann in your prayers as we make our way through Holy Week.

With Easter Break coming up, the next blog will come out in two weeks unless some fantastic things take place between now and then.

God bless you and have a fantastic Holy Week,
Didier Aur, Principal
St. Ann Catholic School

Build a Cross and Spread the Faith

I am constantly on the lookout for new, fresh, and innovative ideas to improve our schools. Every chance I get, I visit schools to see what good things are happening and figure out how I can take those good things and apply them.

Last year while visiting my daughter in San Antonio, I stopped by St. Pius X Catholic School to look at their facilities. In the middle of their courtyard, they have a seven foot tall cross made of tiles and each tile was created by one of their students. Like that State Farm commercial where the lady said, "I saw it and I was just like I have to have it."  I saw the cross and I was just like I have to have it!

St. Pius X in San Antonio

I took several pictures of the cross and texted them right away to Carrie Sealey.  Carrie is a teacher at Memphis Catholic.  She is very artistic and highly creative.  I knew she could organize the students and staff to design the tiles.

I'm that guy who comes up with all these ideas but need lots of people to help to make the ideas come to fruition. Well, Carrie took the idea and ran with it.  She recruited her father, Cary Mills, to build the cross and Cary recruited Billy Truemann, a Memphis Catholic graduate, to help him. McKenzie and Pair Glass Company donated the aluminum for the frame of the cross and Paint a Piece donated everything else needed for the construction of the cross including the tiles.

Memphis Catholic Students Creating the Tiles

The cross consists of 276 tiles painted by the students and staff.  Once the tiles were painted, they were fired at Paint a Piece. The tiles were painted as part of a Catholic Schools Week activity. The
students and staff were asked to paint what the mission of Memphis Catholic means to them and how they plan to carry out that mission.

Fr. Kirk Blessing the Cross

Even though the conception of the idea occurred last year, the actual work began in February with the painting of the tiles and ended in May when Fr. Thomas Kirk blessed the cross during a Mass at the Memphis Catholic outdoor chapel. It has taken great teamwork to accomplish this project and now the community garden is almost complete.

The picnic tables  and benches of the outdoor chapel were stained by the seniors as their legacy project from the Class of 2017.  The seniors donated money for the project and the Midtown Home Depot and Behr Paints made a very generous donation to this project.

The outdoor chapel has been completely rebuilt. An altar, ambo, and credence table were added as well. A ninth grade initiative, led by teachers Rebecca Rosa and Tim Hankins, raised the money to add these to the outdoor chapel. Derrol Jowell, the super-talented maintenance man, built everything from scratch.

Memphis Catholic Cross

After all work was completed, we decided that two more items are needed to really make the project complete.  We need to add electrical power next to the altar and cross by running lines underground to these two areas. When a large number of people are present, we set up our sound system so everyone can hear the Mass. It would be a lot easier if we didn't have to run extension cords every time we have Mass.

And, we would like to add lights to the cross so that it is visible 24/7 by everyone visiting the school and/or driving down McLean. It would be a great way of making Christ visible to all. You never know when you will touch a heart. Kind of hard to touch a heart in the dark.

"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." - 1 John 1:5

Cary & Patsy Mills

We want you to join us. It is never too late to be a part of this project. It is a great way of evangelizing our faith. A couple of hundred people have come together to make this happen. This is my invitation to you to join our team. Please click on Catholic Tree to donate to Light Up The Cross! and accept my invitation. All are welcomed!

"Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 5:16

God bless you,
Didier Aur

Easter From Friends

This is a letter my son, Jonathan, wrote while on mission with Heart's Home in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.  Jonathan spent a year doing mission work.

Dear Jefferson City Friends,

       This is a picture of the kids in Brazil with their Easter presents. On this day, every child in our neighborhood was at our house playing games and was surprised with a present. The presents might have been the best presents that the children had ever received in their entire lives. The presents consisted of coloring books, crayons, and plastic Easter eggs filled with candy. It was all made possible by Helias Catholic High School, St. Peter's Catholic School, and the Balcer Family. The support that Heart's Home received from my friends and family back home was more than ever repayable. Even now, while writing this thank you letter, I get teary eyed. The loving Jefferson City community made an impact on those children's lives that they will never forget. Those children now have the option to stay inside or at the Heart's Home and color their books or draw with their crayons instead of running around on the streets. Keeping those children off of the streets will keep them away from drugs, sex, alcohol, prostitution, and even death. In this picture, you will be able to see smiles unlike any smiles you will encounter in our day-to-day lives. They are smiles caused by such an incomprehensible simplicity that we can't help but take a moment to thank God. Those are the smiles that got me out of bed every day at all hours and all situations. I want to thank everyone for their support. Heart's Home mission cannot be made possible without the love and support from back home. Thanks again and God bless.

Love,
Jonathan Aur

P.S. Not all of the children that were there that day are in the picture.

P.P.S. The boy on my left (Enrique) asked if we could take this picture "to thank the people who love us and don't even know us."

Second Generation of Mission Trip Leadership

My latest blog is not mine but comes from Ian Thompson.  Ian is a Helias graduate from the Class of 2011.  Ian is a mission tripper having participated in a Memphis and Springfield mission.  On the 2011 Memphis Mission Trip, Ian served as a chaperon.  Ian, along with many other mission trippers, has served a leadership role on mission trips not just for Helias but at their college/universities and parishes as well.  This is a letter Ian sent to me.  Pictured below is Ian's group at Little Flower in Memphis.

Hey Mr. Aur,

I just wanted to take this time to thank you for the opportunity to be a chaperone and to continue doing service.  It meant a lot to me to go back to Memphis, which was my first trip.  The Memphis trip last year is a major reason as to why I love doing service today, it's kind of where it all started for me.  So it was great to have a chance to go back.  I really enjoyed working with you as a chaperone, it was a different perspective for me. Going on Memphis made me realize just how much our world needs help.  Our world is a place that is filled with poverty,violence, and hate. I believe the answer to these problems is simple. The answer is Love.  I hope we can continue to work together in the near future.  I will be available to help on the St. Louis trip if you need it, since I live here! However, I understand that you have a lot of alumni eager to chaperone, but if they can't make it you know where to find me! I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas! 

God bless you Mr. Aur, you are a real inspiration! 

Oh my brother there's so much more, Outside this storm

It's sometimes hell, But this means war

Don't give up now, Just past a shroud

There's a light ahead, Go through the clouds

Just show me love

Would you be mad if the world were lies, And the only way to live was to love

Would you be mad if I was by your side, And I tried, I tried to help you up

And you said nothing's changed, I'm still the same

I just got confused for a while, But I still care

I still wanna share, All of our stories for a while'

Oh my brother

It's good to see you smile

-Joshua James-

Peace,

Ian Thompson

Helias Class of 2011

2011 Joplin Mission Trip

Another first time mission: Joplin.  Unlike the other first time missions, this was much better organized because of all the experience the chaperons brought to this one.  Between the chaperons on this trip, we have been on more than 25 mission trips.  Before I continue on this report on the Joplin Mission Trip, I want to commend the adults who make these trips possible.  Over the past five years, Helias has been on seventeen mission trips (Memphis-4, Springfield-4, St. Louis-3, Hermosillo-3, Ellington-2, and Joplin 1).  Just thinking back to the list of chaperons, if it weren’t for these wonderful folks volunteering their time to lead the missions, there wouldn’t be missions at Helias.  I made a list of all who have served as Helias chaperons.  The list is thirty-four people long.  Can’t thank these folks enough.

The Joplin mission started as a replacement for the Mexico mission.  Because of the violence in Mexico, the students at the Mexican schools aren’t going on missions or are turning their mission into smaller local ones.  The demand for missions at Helias keeps increasing.  We want to give our students the opportunity to go on these missions because for many of our students they are life-changing.

After the Joplin tornado, the city has been in great need of volunteers to help rebuild.  I contacted St. Mary’s parish in Joplin asking how we could help.  That’s the parish that was completely destroyed by the tornado.  They in turn put me in touch with the people at St. Peter who were coordinating the volunteer effort.  The people at St. Peter put me in touch with Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri.  So, between Catholic Charities and Helias, we were able to organize our mission.  

The first step was to find housing.  Marianne Mitts from St. Peter sent me a list of churches and agencies who would possibly house such a large group.  Catholic Charities told me that once we found housing to call them back to set up the work.  I started down their list of names.  Grace Pointe Assembly of God in Carthage was one of the churches on their list.  They said “yes” right away so we were set.  I traveled to Carthage and Joplin on October 27^th and 28^th to meet with both Grace Pointe Assembly and Catholic Charities to get an idea of the living arrangements and work we would be doing.

We could not have found better hosts than Grace Pointe.  My first contact with them was Sandy Copeland.  This wonderful lady put me in touch with their pastor, Larry Graham.  Pastor Larry said yes to Helias without batting an eye.  Next, I met Melissa Smith.  Ms. Melissa and her family treated us like royalty.  They cooked and served us breakfast and dinner every day!  We had a great place to sleep and friendly faces to greet us in the morning and as we came in from work every day.  Wow, couldn’t ask for more than that.

When I first met, Pastor Larry and Ms. Melissa on Thursday, October 27^th, it was 11:00 pm and we met at Grace Pointe.  This was the evening of the great Cardinals comeback against the Rangers and the Helias football victory over Bolivar.  I think we all remember that evening.  They gave me a tour of the church and facilities as we arranged for our arrival the following week.  They stayed there with me until well after midnight to make sure everything was in order.  I spent the night at the church and traveled to Joplin the next morning to meet with Amy Rogers and Catholic Charities.

Amy Rogers of Catholic Charities gave me a tour of Joplin and took me to the locations where we would be working.  CC and Grace Pointe really rolled out the red carpet for Helias.  We worked with some awesome people in Carthage and Joplin.  After touring Joplin, I realized that we were going to need more professional help.  As always, God provides.  Glen Bruemmer, Mark Gallatin, and Ron Vossen came to our rescue and volunteered to come help our students with the work we had before us.

Now, it is time to back track on this story and go back to the sign-up for Joplin.  We were hoping to have a maximum of forty students on this mission.  We ended up with fifty!  What do we do with fifty?  This is only one less than our biggest trip and that was to Springfield two years ago.  How do we manage fifty students when we planned on forty?  God took care of this issue because Grace Pointe and CC said bring them all.  In the end, two students couldn’t make the trip so we took 48 students.

Next, we had to find the chaperons.  I can pretty much count on Theresa Buhr if she is in the country.  Well, she was in the country.  I’ve lost track of how many missions Ms. Buhr has chaperoned.  Jacki Crider signed up for another mission.  She has been with us on a St. Louis and Memphis mission and you’ll never find a better person than Jacki Crider.  Fr. Mark Smith said yes.  This was Fr. Mark’s sixth mission I believe.  Chris Yarnell signed up as well.  Mr. Yarnell has chaperoned one of our Mexico missions so I knew how valuable he would be to this mission.  The last piece to our chaperon puzzle was Debbie Kolb.  Ms. Kolb’s son was on his second mission and she wanted to be a part of the Helias mission trips.  She has experience not in missions but in taking the youth from I.C. on NCYC and March for Life.  She was a fantastic addition to our trip and we hope to see her on future trips.  Art Davis, our bus driver, is fantastic!  Bob Vanderfeltz found Mr. Davis for us and what a find he is.  Thanks Mr. Art Davis for getting us to where we need to be and being a part of our missions.

So, we are set.  We got the bus, students, chaperons, housing, food, work assignments, supplies, and paperwork.  It is time for our mission to begin.  I almost forgot a couple of others; Mr. Veile let us use the music department Excursion and Bob Vanderfeltz located a trailer for us.  This made traveling so much easier and saved us a lot of money.

Another thank you goes out to all the parents who donated materials for us to use when rebuilding the houses.  Also, thanks to Scruggs Lumber for the donations.  Thanks to Chris Yarnell for taking his truck and all the equipment and tools.  Thanks Fr. Mark for the tools as well.  Everything was very much needed.

On Wednesday, November 2^nd, we are ready to load up the troops to head out to Joplin to start our mission and I was already exhausted.  I had already worn myself out organizing and setting up the trip and the trip hadn’t even started.  Oh God, please give me strength.  Not only was this a new trip, but we only had eleven returning mission trippers and of the eleven, five had only been on one mission trip.  On top of all that, we had a record number of freshmen going: fifteen!  What was I thinking?

Before I go any further, I want you to know that this was a fantastic mission trip and the students were excellent.  I could not have handpicked a better group of young people to have gone on this trip.  The chaperons were tops!  The students could not have been in better hands.  The leadership from this group looked as if they came right out of a Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, or Jim Collins book.  Tremendous!

We arrived at 8:30 pm Wednesday, November 2nd at Grace Pointe.  Ms. Melissa was there to greet us and the place was all set up for our group.  We had already eaten dinner just outside of Springfield so we were ready to get started on our evening prayer service and then it was bedtime.  The prayer service went well and the students spent the rest of the evening in small groups getting to know each other and making new friends.

Wake up call for Thursday was 6:45 am with 7:30 Mass followed by 8:00 breakfast.  We left Carthage at 8:40 to meet Amy Rogers at the Catholic Charities warehouse at 9:00.  The work was assigned. Chaperons decided on who would lead which project and teams were formed.  Everyone went to their location and started working.  The biggest crew went to work at the Monroe house.  Fr. Mark and Mrs. Crider led that painting project.  Mr. Yarnell and Mrs. Buhr were in charge of removing and replacing windows on Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Kolb and I were in charge of the special project house and was it ever a special project.  It was a special project because the owner kept going to the workers and changing their work orders.  We would work on one project a certain way when he would have us do it another way using other material.  Catholic Charities would hire the workers and the owner would call in some friends to do it instead which led to many problems.  We were told that once a group goes to work on the special project house, they never go back to work there again.  They were right.  We worked there one day and we did not return to work at that house again.  Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bruemmer joined us at the special house.  They did more work than anyone there and they made no plans of returning to that house.

After working on the special house, that team went to work at the mobile home securing the foundation.  It was knocked off its foundation by the tornado and we laid a new foundation for the home to set on.  That project took parts of two days to accomplish.  The kids led by Mrs. Kolb did a fantastic job.

We worked until after 6:00 pm before starting the drive back to Carthage.  We arrived back at Grace Pointe pretty tired.  Ms. Melissa had dinner waiting for us: dinner at 7:00 pm, followed by showers and clean up time, and then prayer service.

The prayer services are pretty neat.  The students work with Fr. Mark on setting up meaningful services.  The students decide on a theme and then work with Father to make sure that the bible verses, stories, and activities follow that theme.  Fr. Mark does a great job of working with the students on these services.

Friday’s routine was much like Thursday’s except we went straight to the job sites and started working.  We didn’t have to meet with Catholic Charities because we took care of all the assignments the night before.  Fr. Mark, Mr. Bruemmer, Mr. Gallatin, and their team worked on the Monroe house.  They added flooring to their painting assignment.  Mr. Yarnell and his team continued to work on windows on Pennsylvania.  Mrs. Kolb was in charge of the team doing cement work in another house on Pennsylvania.  Mrs. Buhr, Mrs. Crider, and their team painted the outside of a house on South Connor.  That’s the same street where Extreme Home Make Over built 7 houses in 7 days.  My team as usual had the worst job and that was removing insulation from a third house on Pennsylvania.  As you have probably guessed, Pennsylvania was a street pretty hard hit by the tornado.  I worked with a fantastic group mainly because they all volunteered for that nasty job and worked hard with no complaining (except for a little whining from Jenna Duncan).  As the work progressed, different groups moved around some between the houses on Pennsylvania.  Later that afternoon, my group delivered about fifteen cases of library books to Joplin High School.  Mrs. Shelley Swoyer, the Helias librarian, organized a book collection for Joplin HS.  We were honored to have delivered those books.

Work day two in Joplin came to an end.  We worked until after 6:00 pm just as we had the day before.  Since we are all on one bus, at about 5:30 pm, Mr. Davis starts making the rounds picking everybody up at the different job sites.  We arrived back at Grace Pointe just in time for dinner.  Once again, Ms. Melissa and her family were there waiting for us.  After another wonderful dinner and homemade desserts, it is back to showers, clean-up, and prayer service.

We had a special treat for the students after the prayer service.  Both Pastor Graham and Ms. Melissa were missionaries at one time in their lives.  When we first met, I learned of their missionary work.  I asked if they would give a presentation to our students on “Why Missions.”  They were happy to do so.  Both are very passionate about mission work and gave very emotional presentations on why missions are so important.  Pastor Larry’s example of the seven billion people has been very much on my mind.  When Ms. Melissa talked about the poverty she encountered, it reminded me of the mission work we did in the villages of the Sonora Desert.  I hope their presentations stick with the students and chaperons as well.

Saturday was the hardest work day.  The morning started the same way.  It is nice to start each morning with Mass.  I’m glad Fr. Mark was with us to celebrate Mass.  The only other mission where we attend Mass every morning is the Springfield mission.  We arrived a little later on the job site that morning but that was by design.  Because much of what we were doing was painting and/or outdoor work, we felt it best to let it warm up a little before starting.  Where we were working, there was no electricity and water.  So, we had no heat or bathrooms and we had to bring our own water.  Work started at 9:30 this morning.  The Monroe house no longer had Mr. Bruemmer and Mr. Gallatin.  They had to return to Jefferson City.  Instead, we had Mr. Ron Vossen lead the painting crew.  What a treat!  Mrs. Buhr was also at the Monroe house.  Mr. Yarnell continued with the window crew.  Mrs. Kolb and the cement crew finished the work at the mobile home.  Mrs. Crider and the painting crew finished the house on S. Connor.  My crew put a roof on a shed behind the house where we removed insulation.  All the crews had to finish before we could leave.  So, all the crews worked until pretty late.  When we left that day, all the concrete was poured, the shed was roofed, house on S. Connor painted, windows were installed, and the Monroe house was as complete as we could get it.  The special house is still there and is still special.  I hope to never see it again.

We arrived back at Grace Pointe well after 7:00.  As usual, Ms. Melissa was there to greet us with a smile and dinner was served.  Same routine as before followed by prayer service.  At the end of prayer service, we watched two short videos.  The first video was on the beatitudes.  The beatitudes were what we used for the second half of the prayer service which was reflection time for the students.  The second video was my son’s video about his year-long mission in Brazil.  This was followed by my presentation on “Why Mission.”  After my presentation, we moved to the reflection part of the evening.  We extended the lights out time to midnight so the kids could spend time together in a non-work setting.

Sunday morning started much the same way except that we had to pack everything up, clean up, and get ready to leave Grace Pointe.  We attended Mass at St. Ann Catholic Church with Fr. Bill Hodgson.  After Mass, we planned to return to Jefferson City and eat breakfast on the way home.  The parishioners invited us to participate in their pancake breakfast.  This was followed by a tour of the Stations of the Cross.  If you are ever in Carthage, take the time to drive through their Stations.  It is beautiful.

The ride home was pretty uneventful.  The bus was very quiet and sleep came easily to most of us.  I had looked at Joplin as a one-time mission but it will take many, many years for Joplin to recover.  I hope to take a group there again.  I wouldn’t mind trying to line up a mission to return to Joplin this spring.  I know the demand is there from the Helias students.

This was my fifteenth Helias mission.  I don’t go on the Ellington mission because that’s an all-girls mission sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame.  Each mission we go on gets bigger every year.  I’m not sure what will happen with missions in the future because they are getting almost too big for one person to handle.  Thank God for the chaperons.  I just keep putting my trust in God and I know everything will work out.  There’s another very important factor which makes these missions such a success and that is that the students who go on these missions are absolutely wonderful.  They are a true blessing to serve with.  They are the face of Christ to those they serve.