No Place Like Home

I miss home.

I miss sleeping in my room on Long Island. I haven't been there since January and I won't return until half way through August.

I miss hearing my sisters crazy music blasting from her room.

I miss the air compressor going on and off in my dad's garage at the wee hours of the morning.

I miss my moms cooking.


But all of these things are a sacrifice I'm willing to miss to serve the Lord who laid his life down for the salvation of my soul.

As my time living in the physical place of Covecrest quickly comes to an end and I prepare my heart to serve at Camp Hiawassee during the summer, and then live and serve in Atlanta, God is moving a lot of things around in my heart.

I'm struggling to feel a constant presence of home, and struggling to feel confident in what God is doing. With  the idea of being a nomad has entered my prayer. I haven't really moved around a lot, but I do call a lot of different places home. I went to school in Florida for four years, and I call that place home. I served summers at Covecrest, and Tepeyac claiming those places as home for weeks. I have friends and family who have welcomed me into their lives and opened up their homes to me. See the struggle?

BUT there is a freedom in the realization that came through prayer and reading through Pope Francis's first Audience. My home is truly in the Lord. My home is where Jesus is. My home is in the Mass, and the Eucharist, and the love of Christ.

"Jesus has no home because his home is in the people, his mission is open to all the doors to God, to be the presence of  God's love"- Pope Francis

Take these words of our Pope and rest in them. Take them to prayer and allow God to penetrate your heart and find rest in HIM.

Excuse me what...it's April?

Yesterday we celebrated my sisters 18th birthday. Which could only mean one thing ITS ALREADY APRIL!

Holy cow Batman, my time here is FLYING.


March Madness doesn't even begin to explain the amazing, beautiful gift that March was. March was hard, challenging, exciting, COLD(most days even FREEZING), packed with prayer and joy.

I'll give you a bit of a picture preview of the March Madness!

The Life Teen Men's Retreat was a HUGE blessing. It was a weekend of complete service. I was blessed with working long hours in the kitchen with other missionaries gals, praying and interceding for the 80+ men that were on retreat.

We were on CLOSE Pope watch here at Covecrest! Each of the missionaries randomly selected a bishop to pray for during the entire Conclave. All the guys (and a few of the girls!) participated in the First Ever No-Shave Conclave! It was an itchy few days, but praise the Lord of the gift of Pope Francis. When we found out who the Pope was all the missionaries were RUNNING around camp. SCREAMING and JUMPING for JOY!

Of course we had plenty of retreats on the weekend. This is a group of Saint Michael girls that I got to journey with throughout the entire weekend. It was a true blessing to be a part of their conversations, prayer and community.

This Easter I was blessed with going to Florida for a week. I spent time with Mission Partners, sorority sisters, and friends. God showed up in big ways. He gave me the courage to spread his love with each of the people I came in contact with

It wouldn't be a complete trip to Saint Leo without a little bit of work. I got do the voice over of my portion of the virtual tour!

Thank you for being on this journey with me. YOU are a blessing to me.

Drop Everything Now!

What does it mean to say YES? This has been the question that has been encompassing my every thought. I’ve been writing the word YES on my hand everyday for the past few weeks. When I don’t want to wake up in the morning, or love someone in my community the way they deserve to be loved then I glance down at my hand and remember. But, am I really going to take all that comes with a YES? I’m finding out slowly what my YES to Life TeenMissions means.

For me it means:
Loving when I’m tired,
Taking out the trash and getting that nights’ dinner juiced down my legs,
Lighting bonfires,
Writing talks,
Leading small groups,
Getting up early,
Doing what God wants me to do and NOT what I want to do,
Saying YES to letting God love me totally and completely,
Unclogging toilets,
Living in a house with 8 other women,
Cold showers some mornings…

So, maybe God isn’t calling you to be a Life Teen Missionary, or maybe he is, but he’s calling you to do something. Maybe he’s calling you to go to college. Or start a new job, in a new place, with new friends. Either way God has a plan by saying YES, dropping everything and knowing God will be victorious.

When I said YES I didn’t know every detail that was going to happen this year but God did. His plan is better than any expectation I could have placed on the year.

Just say YES and God will take care of the rest.

February Update

I know, I know it's March! But here is a bit about what's been going on in February. 

Just like January, February flew by. My dad and sister came up the very first weekend and went to work on the Art Barn. During summer camp, the Art Barn is the main location for all arts and crafts, as well as a musicians corner. Teens who don't want to run around during free time have the opportunity to hang out in there glorifying God in their art. It is beautiful to watch my family join into this mission with me. 

One huge highlight of February was a group of 50 teens from Long Island came to serve with us at camp! They were sophomores and Senior leaders from Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville. It was a week full of blessings. They were incredibly loving, and willing to serve. One of my favorite moments was the morning it snowed. The teens just jumped in and started serving, outside in the FREEZING cold. We had the opportunity to go on home visits and it brought tears to my eyes to see the ways the teens were listening closely to these elderly people, and the ways they spoke about their lives. One teen asked to close us in prayer when we were leaving a house. The way he prayed was so genuine and heartfelt. One of the projects I was on in the afternoon was paving the patio by the Art Barn. It was very tedious work, and required a lot of detail. The girls I was working with brought such joy to a rather mundane task. We sang a range of songs from Backstreet Boys to Taylor Swift. They brought a spirit that rekindled my joy in service. I am so thankful that they were able to be here. Here is a picture showing the pure JOY the Holy Trinity teens brought us after three hard days of laying bricks! 

The rest of February was filled with hours on the phone interviewing college students to be summer missionaries. This summer God has placed me in Hiawassee Georgia with five other full time missionaries to lead a middle school summer camp. The interview process was so interesting to be on the other side of the phone. The Holy Spirit has been moving and by this afternoon all of our teams will be formed, and summer camp preparations will be in full swing. 

As summer camp begins to rapidly approach us, and we have more and more groups coming during the week I beg for your prayers for myself and the other missionaries. My prayer this morning is based on this verse from Psalm 51"With a spirit of fervor sustain me". This weekend will be a big push through for me as well. I am on home team this weekend (local outreach and preparing meals), then Saint Leo University is coming Sunday-Friday for a week of work, then Men's Retreat. There are many opportunities to serve, and tons of opportunity to fully rely on God to give me the strength to continue loving. 

Happy Sunday

Today I had to opportunity to go to mass with a group that is visiting here with us today and here is the song they sang during communion. It just hit my hear and made me really think about the mass, and the sacrifice I was participating in.



Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

Who Am I- Casting Crowns

Life Teen Harlem Shake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07-S70Sy8BY

40 On the Floor

Lent is just a few days away, or maybe by the time you read this blog it's already begun. Nonetheless maybe the temptation of the thing your fasting from is really eating at you. Suddenly you see chocolate popping up every where you go! 

This year for Lent I decided to give up my bed. I am so attached to that incredibly comfy piece of plastic, that it's mildly ridiculous. I struggle every morning to remove the warm blankets, and peal out of bed to start my day. 

Then one morning I received an email from one of the Life Teen Missionaries in Haiti about a young girl we met during our trip to Haiti. Taina was visiting the base when the missionaries were making beds for some of the guests they would be having. The young girl, about 10, asked the missionaries for a small mat (not even an inch thick) to take home to sleep on. When asked if she had a mattress she said no, that she just lays a sheet out and sleeps on top of it. 

I couldn't even finish reading the rest of the email. My heart broke. 

There I was sitting on my iPhone, in a warm dining room, eating a hot meal, after complaining I had to get out of my comfy bed, when this young girl didn't even have a mattress between her and the floor. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

When I went home that day, it made me sick to even look at my bed. I decided that night I would be sleeping on the floor from that night till at least through Lent. 

I challenge you, YES you, to think about kids like Taina when you complain you have to get out of your comfy bed to start your day in the morning. Maybe this Lent your can join myself and some of the other missionaries by sleeping on the floor. Don't even think about grabbing your pillow. Just you, the floor, and a blanket. #40onthefloor