When missionaries on the Diocesan Youth Mission Trip arrived in Costa Rica on June 5, they began their trip wide-eyed and unsure. Many of the high school students had never left the United States; some had never engaged in hard labor or gone without certain creature comforts. Stepping into an unfamiliar country with simple amenities and a slower pace of life, many of these high schoolers found themselves homesick, uncomfortable, and uncertain at the beginning of their trip.
But, by the time the missionaries returned to Dallas June 12, they were changed: stronger, surer, cheerier. They had embraced the simplicity of their lifestyle in Costa Rica, marveled at the beauty of their natural surroundings, and perceived God’s hand in both.
“It’s like a fresh start almost after this mission,” Cistercian Preparatory School student Ben Brittian said of the trip. “I feel like a different person in so many different ways.”
By Amy White
The Texas Catholic