As a result of our "Connected in the Spirit" relationship with St. Jude, our 2 parishes will be participating in a joint mission trip the first two weeks of July.  The focus of this effort will be on construction and repair projects.  There will be a total of 16 people traveling on this mission trip. Parishioners not involved in the actual trip were given the opportunity to help purchase construction supplies by contributing at a special collection during a weekend Mass. Thank you for the many ways that you generously support the outreach ministries of our parish.



A Letter from The Travelers:

Dear Nativity Friends:

I am guessing you will hear bits and pieces of the work completed on our trip.  I wanted to give you a brief overview.

   1. We primed and painted the complete interior and exterior of the mission house including: 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, hallway and kitchen. We accomplished all of this while living in same space - making it a little more challenging.

   2.  A team repaired approximately 44 school chairs.  They removed the wooden backs and seats, painted rusty frames, cut new seats and backs, painted and reassembled.  These are used in the church classroom and a daycare.

  3. We completed three exterior wall murals - Noah's Arc, a bible verse-- With God all things are possible - In spanish of course. We felt that was a message of hope to the community. Thirdly, a mural on the nutrition center--- of hands reaching out to each other, allowing locals and the girls who did it to put their handprints all over the wall.

 4.With Don Brunson leadership, a construction team built a house for a homeless woman, who suffered from Epilepsy, and her three sons aged 10, 7 and 5.  What a moment it was for the entire group when we took her to the house.

 5. We built 4 benches for additional seating in the church, painted them and painted existing benches to match.

 6. The church acquired some property and the government was threatening to take it away if they didn't build on it, accusing them of acquiring property for future gains.  We were able to bring in truckloads of rock to bring it up to grade, level it and get the concrete foundation poured to build a chapel.  The local diocese had hired an architect to build but they didn't have any funding available. So we were able to pay for it and get it done.  This will allow time to build later on. And more importantly they won't lose the property.

  7.  There was also the Baptism of Steffany and reception..

  8.  There were numerous social connections made.  Too numerous to mention.

All in all Nativity and St. Jude have a lot to be proud of.

                                                                                                Thanks,   Matt Braun