Giving the touch of love at the Missionaries of Charity's Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 14, 2011 -- At the beginning of the 2011 New Year, 17 American and Canadian missionary college students gave up their Christmas break “vacation” to go on a Mission Youth trip to Haiti.  There they helped at the Children’s Hospital of the order started by Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, the Missionaries of Charity. Their work ranged from feeding the children and dressing their wounds to painting their school and building benches. Regnum Christi consecrated woman Paola Trevino tells their story.

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The Beatitudes of Jesus Christ come alive in Haiti.

You see them in every person you meet: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who weep, they will be comforted.  Blessed are the hungry, they will be satisfied.  Blessed are the meek and humble, they shall inherit the earth.”

Our missionary T-shirts seemed to supply us with the qualities that a missionary needs.  Before the mission trip, we were just normal people.  But we returned home as mural artists, carpenters, painters, nurses, and consolers.

During the week, the missionaries where able to leave Christ’s message imprinted on the walls of St. Therese School.  We painted the mysteries of the rosary, a crucifix, and portraits of St. Therese of Lisieux and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  We built twenty desks for sixty school children.  We painted the Chapel and Parlor of the Missionaries of Charity.  We cared for eighty sick babies.

How were we able to do all this?  Those are the miracles of a mission.  The Lord asks, and when souls are generous to respond, He delivers.

What Christ says in the Parable of the Sower, about returning a “hundred fold,” is true.  We gave up everything during those days, but received so much more! Following are comments in the missionaries’

	Working on a construction project for the Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

own words of how the experience affected their lives:

“I will try a whole week without complaining.”

“I learned to see Christ in every person.”

“If I am able to love these people that I don’t know, I need to love the people closest to me, my family.”

“Being here changes the way you see life.  It is real.  Death is real.  Faith is real.  When you pray, ‘Now and at the hour of death,’ and that hour is now, it just makes everything real.”

“I have seen so much joy here in Haiti, and I don’t think I could count on one hand the number of people from elsewhere who have that happiness.”

“It is overwhelming, all we have seen and experienced.  One of the Haitians told me that missionaries like you are what give us courage that our country can be rebuilt.”

“Their hope is so real, and I feel how God is answering their prayers through us.”

“Being in a country that is so wounded I realized that my faith needs to mature.  Rather than waiting for God to run after me, I need to reach out and be there for Him.”

“I have traveled a lot, and I have seen a lot, but this was a shock.  It was so different from anything I have ever seen.  All you see is ruins.  There are no jobs, there is nothing here for these people, and yet you see the joy in them.  I have done work projects before, but never on a mission trip where you can feel God’s presence so intensely.  These kids don’t even want you to pray for them.  They just want you to be with them, to love them.  I know I can always pray, and do what I can.  They never lose hope, so I can’t either.”

The priest who accompanied the group told us, “When I go home I will share the stories of the people here, but also of all of you. Your generous love, you’re selfless giving.  It was an honor to be a bridge to God for all of you.”

The Mission Youth experience in Haiti is a witness to how to live the Beatitudes at home.