Packing our Bags!

On Saturday June 21, 17 youth and four adults from St. Mark's will be heading to the airport in the wee hours of the morning.  We'll fly from Charlotte to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we'll engage in a week of service with the people who live there.  Our "home base" for the week will be at a retreat center in the town of Cayey, an approximate 50-minute drive south of San Juan.

Puerto Rico is a mountainous island in the Caribbean Sea.  It was settled by the Spanish in the 1500s and became a territory of the United States in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War. Today, fifty-six percent of Puerto Rican children live in poverty and the overall poverty rate is greater than any other US state.  Many people from Puerto Rico seek better opportunities in the continental United States, leaving behind those who are uneducated or elderly. 

Our partner organization, Lifetree Adventures (www.lifetreeadventures.com), will be facilitating our work while we are there.  Though we have yet to learn of our specific tasks, we expect to be working with people who are elderly, of low-income, or who have disabilities by repairing homes, providing yard work, or working with children.

Those of us traveling to Puerto Rico are thankful for all who have supported us, both with prayer and their monetary gifts.  We ask that you hold us in prayer during our week of service.  We hope and pray that God is able to use our gifts, that we are open to learning from our sisters and brothers in Puerto Rico, and that we return with hearts burning for justice, peace, and love.