Day Fourteen

Preparing to come Home Prayer for the Hungry There is nothing more profound Than the breaking of bread. God, we ask your blessing for all who are hungry and cannot come to eat. Who do not know the feeling of a second helping. Who know that The bread of affliction is real. May we be bread of the world. Maybe be peace. AMEN It has been an honor and a privilege to share this journey in 2013 with 13 compassionate, loving, caring human beings who listened and acted in every situation with grace,patience and a full heart. We have seen many groups of children, families, and students in challenging environments, whether it be in a shack with no running water or electricity, barefoot children without proper clothing or food, a school with paper copies instead of books, or a nursing college without proper technology. Everyone has greeted us with a warm embrace, grateful  for the human connection, the recognition that we are all people of God. We know that when one is hungry we are all hungry, when one is without a proper home we are all without that home. AIAIA cannot solve all of the problems of this country, but where we can make a difference, we will. Where we can bring food, we will. Where we can bring hope, we do with a full heart and the knowledge that we can make a difference.  We have established a lasting connection with honor and respect for their lives. While here, we have celebrated the Eucharist, a sacred ritual to ground us to our mission and to thank God for all we have, for all we have been able to accomplish, for all we can do in the future. It is with mixed emotions, we conclude our stay here as we will miss our friends and families, but we look forward to deepening our established roots to continue the journey long into the future. We couldn't do this without the loving support of all of you back home. Our appreciation of your prayers, love and financial support. "We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other.  We know God in the breaking of the bread, and we know each other in the breaking of the bread and we are not alone any more.  Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet,too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.  We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community." -Dorothy Day Peace and Blessings, The 2013 Delegation: James Cassidy, Pat Murphy, Paula Larsen, Beth Richards, Paul Larson, Liz Lehmann, Marie Thielen, Kathi DuRocher, Frank DuRocher, Jimmy Dunn, Don Von, Kollin Lund and Julie Vogl