April 20, 2010, our attempt to have a trip to Bolivia in August 2010, fell through due to high cost & flight scheduling problems/restrictions. 
 

An Alternative Proposal? San Salvador, El Salvador At St. Francis we've got a small window of time to pull this trip together and we can add people at this time (though they would need to act quickly!).    I have the potential to put together a trip through Maryknoll for this July 30-Aug 10.  It would be to San Salvador, El Salvador.  I would expect the total cost to be $1400 (if not a bit less).     We would stay in a retreat center.     We would work with Maryknoll in their various missions and learn more about San Salvador, its people, and the overall situation down there.     We would potentially work with children, youth, the elderly, physical work on the mission's grounds, etc.  What we do is partially up to us and partially up to what Maryknoll needs.     If you are interested, please let me know ASAP.  I need to see if there remains a level of interest in this.     Jen     (734-821-2126)

There are unique challenges to pushing yourself to serve the poorest of the poor in a foreign country.  During our time in Bolivia we will work with the families, school, and parish serving in a multitude of roles.

Our mission trip design is based upon meeting the following goals: 
a) Actual service work to be performed; 
b) Integrate into on-going, San Pedro Parish activities; 
c) Gain insights into Bolivian culture; 
d) Witness material poverty; 
e) Pray as a community; 
f) Grow individually and communally through daily reflections upon their experiences; and 
g) Inspire the participants to be more connected to the world community and to be more involved in St. Francis parish activities. 

Naturally, the art is to balance those interests and to clearly reflect the priorities of the participants.  You may wish to consider adding Spanish language classes, which could be done without eliminating any of the goals.

We calculate the price to be $1,600 per person.  This price includes round trip airfare from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Wilsterman Airport in Cochabamba, Bolivia (almost $1,100), meals, lodging and ground transportation.  Maryknoll Lay Missioners believes in absolute transparency.  Accordingly, we have calculated the actual costs to the best of our ability.   If the amount of the actual expenses varies, we will notify you.  If the airline tickets go up or down, for example, the actual trip expense will be modified.  In order to give the youths an opportunity to see actual family life and to keep costs down, they would be housed with families belonging to the Parish of San Pedro.  The costs would be substantially higher if you preferred housing in a retreat center.

We look forward to building bridges of faith, hope and understanding.   In mission to serve,   Joe Loney, Maryknoll Lay Missioner.

 

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St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Parish Social Ministry Office, 
2150 Frieze Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104