Skagit Pilgrimage - Final Wrap Up

The Skagit Pilgrims are home! We arrived back in Medina on Friday afternoon, after a long, hard, and busy week in the Skagit Valley. Our Pilgrimage was a wonderful time of service, learning, building friendships, and growing as people of God. The last two days of the Pilgrimage, Wednesday and Thursday, were very busy and meaningful. We continued Bible Camp in the afternoons and it was one of the most memorable parts of our trip. What all of the Pilgrims will remember are the kids running to our cars to greet us as soon as we pulled into the parking lot at the end of the week. Remember, on Monday, the kids and parents scattered as soon as we appeared – unsure of who we were and why we were at their homes. Relationships were built very quickly and the love and hospitality of God was made known through our time with the kids. It was hard to leave for the last time on Thursday and to tell the kids that we would not be returning the next day. We took that opportunity to tell them about the friendship that Jesus offers – he is a friend who is always present and will never leave. Our final craft with them was making friendship bracelets as a reminder of our friendship, the friendship of la Iglesia de la Resurreccion, and the friendship and love of God in Jesus Christ.

On Wednesday morning, the Pilgrims were given a tour of Sakuma Bros. Farms – one of the largest berry producers in the Pacific Northwest. The massive scale of this operation was a stark contrast to our time at Viva Farms earlier in the week. While our eyes were opened to the pride and dignity of Salvador at Viva Farms, we saw the struggle of the farm workers who have not been given the opportunity to farm their own land. The people employed as berry pickers at farms across the Skagit Valley are under immense pressure to produce and work at backbreaking speed. Jo also took us to the farm workers’ camp to see the conditions in which the majority of workers live. Each family has a small, approximately 20’ x 20’ room in which they live. There is no insulation, many do not have windows, and a sheet of tin is the only thing to call a roof. The only bathrooms are small, communal bathrooms shared by several hundred workers and their families. It was heartbreaking to realize that so many people live in such circumstances so close to home. The Pilgrims began to talk about and process what other suffering surrounds us that we choose not to see. Our hope is that we would open our eyes to see those in need around us and serve them with the love of Christ.

Our morning on Thursday was spent doing yard work for a supporter of la Iglesia de la Resurreccion. Several months ago, the youth group of Resurreccion held an even to raise money for several of the children from the congregation to attend Camp Huston. The youth group of St. Thomas had donated yard work as part of the auction for the event and we were able to support the youth of Resurreccion by cleaning up the auction winner’s yard.

Thank you for all of your support and prayers for the youth of St. Thomas to make our Pilgrimage a success. Thank you also for your incredibly generous support of la Iglesia de la Resurreccion through donations of diapers and school supplies. Not only did we have a car load of donations when we arrived in Mt. Vernon, but we had another car load delivered when we left on Friday! If you are a stockholder, remember that there will be a special dinner at St. Thomas on September 18 when the Pilgrims will share with you more about our experience. If you haven’t already, mark your calendar and stay tuned for more information in the near future!

The Pilgrims on a tour of the Sakuma Bros. blueberry fields.

Yahir is making great music on the tambourine he made at Bible Camp.



Kira and Israel are enjoying reading a book together.



The Pilgrims end the day with Compline at Larrabee State Park.

Skagit Pilgrimage Update - Day 3

Another great day for the Skagit Valley Pilgrims! We went back to Viva Farms this morning to continue working Salvador’s vegetable plot – doing a lot of weeding that he and his partner have little time to do. Even though we didn’t feel like we were accomplishing much by pulling weeds around lettuce, bell peppers, and tomatillos, Salvador is very grateful for our help in keeping his plot clear and fruitful. We were also able to spend some time with one of the owners of Viva Farms, learning more about why they do what they do. They hope to restore dignity to farmers who have worked in poor conditions at other farms for little pay, and to help them become self-sufficient farmers. The kingdom of God must look a lot like Viva Farms – people being liberated from injustice, experiencing their worth as human beings, and using their God-given talents to help others. While we are at Viva Farms, we purchased the produce for our meals from the Viva produce stand which allows the Viva farmers to receive a larger percentage of the money for their products – 60% rather than 24%.

Bible Camp today drew a smaller crowd of kids, but it was great nonetheless. The theme for today was “Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord.” Our craft for today was making musical instruments and then making music together – which was certainly joyful! We talked with the kids about how we can give thanks to God through music and hopefully whenever they make music in the future, they will remember that God loves them.

The youth group from la Iglesia de la Resurreccion came over to our campsite this evening to share a meal together. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to discover our commonalities, to spend time in fellowship, and to share our lives over a meal. Again, this was a taste of God’s kingdom – people brought together with shared faith and shared food. We ended our evening with Compline and a reflection time and the Pilgrims certainly have a lot to think about. We are beginning to process our experience and think about how our lives will change when we return home. Our time in the Skagit Valley is the beginning of a journey and we hope to return as changed people who will fight for justice, who will see the kingdom of God around us, and will be willing to share our lives with people who are different than us.

We ask for your continued prayers for our group of Pilgrims– for rest, for energy, for our open to the ways God wants us to grow and change, and for continued bonding and fellowship among our group.

Fresh strawberries - straight from Viva Farms!

Nathan is loving being a farmer!

Israel, concentrating very hard on decorating his rain stick.

Marisol's hands are covered in glitter paint from her rain stick.

Our youngest Pilgrim is also our best Spanish speaker!

Lolo loves Sponge Bob!

William is working very hard to make his rain stick sound perfect.

Skagit Pilgrimage Update - Day 2

After a restful night’s sleep, the second day of our Pilgrimage began bright and early at 7:30 am. After a quick breakfast of French Toast, lovingly prepared by several of the youth, we left for la Iglesia de la Resurreccion to meet the vicar, Jo Beecher. Jo is a wonderful lady who works very hard with the Hispanic laborers of the Skagit Valley. She took us on a tour this morning of the farm land, pointing out crops and telling us what it is like to be a farm laborer. Many of the people she works with consistently work 16 hours a day during the summer months. They can only count on work from about May-November, and then are either unemployed for the winter, or if they are lucky, pick up one of the scarce farm jobs to prepare the fields for the next spring. The weather this spring took a huge toll on the crops, particularly berries, and the farmlaborers, who are paid by the pound of the crops they pick, have been hit very hard by the lack of work.

After our tour of the fields, we made our way to Viva Farms. Viva Farms rents plots of lands to farmers, who are then able to tend their own crops, not rely on competitive jobs from other farmers. Today we worked with Salvador, who has been a part of la Iglesia de la Resurreccion for over 10 years. He has recently completed some extension courses through Washington State University in agriculture, business, and marketing. Salvador has had a plot at Viva Farms for 2 years now and grows a variety of organic vegetables. One of his restaurant customers is Agua Verde, a great Mexican seafood restaurant in the University District of Seattle. Salvador put us to work this morning weeding his land. We will be going back to Viva Farms tomorrow to work with one of Salvador’s partners.

After a short break for lunch, the Pilgrims left for Bible Camp at the farmworkers housing. Although this housing project is new and the people living there have adequate shelter and heat, it lacks adequate facilities for children and families. Jo decided to take us to this housing project because most of the workers who live there have children, and there are no areas for children to play and they miss out on many of the recreation activities that other children enjoy during the summer. When we arrived, there were many children playing on the sidewalk outside of the buildings. As we approached, the children scattered and went back into their homes, unsure of what a groupof white people were coming for. The tension was broken when we brought out our snacks, t-shirts for the children to design and color, and dozens of children’s books to read to them. Their apprehension about our presence wassoon broken and over 20 children came to spend time with us. A great time was had by all and we look forward to going back tomorrow to continue building relationships, sharing the love of God with them, and receiving Jesus from them.

Our evening ended with a wonderful Compline service and reflection time about our day. The group of Pilgrims has already experienced a lot, even in one short day, and this will certainly be a life-changing experience for all.

Salvador tells us about his vegetable plot.

Kyra, hard at work in the dirt.

The kids at Bible Camp are having a great time making t-shirts!

Skagit Pilgrimage Update

Our group of Pilgrims from St. Thomas has made it up to the Skagit Valley and we are settled at our campground. Thank God for safe travels! We left immediately following Mass on the Grass and arrived in Mt. Vernon around 3pm. After pitching our tents and organizing our supplies, we left for la Iglesia de la Resurreccion for Misa (Eucharist) and a dinner with the congregation. The Holy Eucharist service is the same as what we celebrate at St. Thomas – except it was celebrated entirely in Spanish. This was a great experience for the Pilgrims because we are able to see that there are no barriers to God – not language, not culture, not geography. Our dinner with the people of Resurreccion was a lot of fun! We were able to play with some of the kids from the congregation and we look forward to spending more time with these kids throughout the week during Bible Camp.

On the schedule for tomorrow is a tour of the farm country in the Skagit Valley, visiting several migrant camps and farm working housing projects, working in the fields with some of the people from Resurreccion, and putting on a Bible Camp for the kids of the farm workers.

The response from the St. Thomas community to our request for diapers and school supplies for Resurreccion was overwhelming! We brought with us somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 diapers, several hundred baby wipes, and six backpacks all stuffed with school supplies. Thank your for your support, not only of the Pilgrims, but the people we are serving this week! We also brought about 100 kids books to leave with the kids we meet during Bible Camp – we hope they will treasure these books as their own, long after we leave.

We ask for your continued prayers – for health, for unity in our group, for the Holy Spirit’s leading in our interactions and activities, and for the love of God to be made known to and through us.

Keep checking back throughout the week for more updates on our Pilgrimage!

The pilgrims liked the books we brought for Bible Camp - here they are looking at "Where's Waldo?"

The sun was out when we arrived to set up our campsite!

Ghost Stories

Sermon preached at St Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, Washington by The Rev. Stephen Best on the eighth Sunday after Pentecost, August 7, 2011.

Download the text of this sermon here.