Love Begins Here

TOP 5 - 2009

2012-01-14T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hello LBH Family,

As this New Year Begins, we are taking a look back on all of the joys and successes of the past three summers, all building to releasing the registration materials for LBH2012.

With that, please enjoy looking back on the TOP 5 Photographs of 2009, as well as some of those that didn't quite make it but came mighty close.

#5 2009: James was the ultimate story teller, earning his car group the BIG WIN during LBH's inaugural week!

‎#4 2009: The first LBH Core Team was classic. This half of the team (Jeff and Gina) were good for all kinds of laughter, inspiration and hard work, as it is depicted here. This team was a beautiful beginning to what has become a great line of holy, hilarious young adults willing to give up their time in service to the youth and the poor in the Madison Diocese.

‎#3 2009: First, let's recognize another rockin' member of 2009's CT - Michael - on the far right. Gosh, he brought the team a ton of gifts. Now on to the real highlight of the picture - the Golden Grahams. Those who made the choice to eat some of this cereal were ... surprised ... to say the least by the extra protein discovered in their bowls at the end of breakfast. (Note: LBH was not responsible for this. General Mills was certainly to blame.)

‎#2 2009: There were a great number of highlights of the last week of LBH that first summer, including having (now) Fr. Greg Ihm and Fr. Dave Caranno with us. However, this week was all about relationship building, and this photo is in memory of one very special relationship that we fostered in the Mount Horeb community that week.

‎#1 2009: Love Begins Here cares a tremendous amount about developing relationships with the people we serve, and our first summer has some stand out examples of it. We warmly remember the good people we worked with at Durward's Glen and the many people we befriended through the Mount Horeb Senior Center, including Dorothy and Jerry. However, what still stands as one of the most beautiful projects we ever embarked on was with a very special Madison family. This photo is from one of our last days of work at their home.

And a few more LBH 2009 Highlights:

This was the moment when I knew for sure that LBH was going to be truly great. The twenty-something teens we had playing in the backyard of our home for the week became fast friends, laughing and being so willing to share their lives with one another. Joy is certainly found on Love Begins Here.

Clare was our source of inspiration and a huge source of our joy during our first week of LBH as we helped out her family at their home. Only a few more years, and she will be able to join us on the Mission Field.

The beautiful girl on the right, Madi, was deeply changed from her first LBH trip. Learn more about Madi's story next week in the TOP 5 - 2010 stories.

Helping Jerry out in his yard is the one project we have revisited every summer, from our connection at the Mount Horeb Senior Center. Hard work and a great love for those we are helping always come together at Jerry's.

And with that, we can reflect once again on how blessed we have been throughout the years on LBH. Praise the Lord for the guidance and inspiration so far; may it continue for many years to come.

Watch for opportunities to serve the poor in your own homes today.

Peace,

Lindsay

The best 20 minutes of your weekend.

2011-09-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

It is autumn. Wow. It seems like just yesterday that we were immersed in our work on this local mission field, dancing around with glow sticks attached to dark clothing, hearing jokes about cookies being tossed into rivers and enjoying community life in a way that is hard to put into words. However, summer is not meant to last forever, as the Scriptures remind us again and again (see Sirach 51:30) that the Lord's timing is providential, and by his grace, we are called to a wide variety of things in the different seasons of our lives.

Even though we are called to loving our families, working hard in our school work, cheering on our favorite football teams, and being watchful for opportunities for service this autumn, I hope you would not mind taking a break this weekend to watch a little summer in review video. Blaine did a great job putting this together for our Shareholder Dinner last month, and we are now very excited to share it with all of you.

It is about 20 minutes long, so I would suggest finding a warm beverage for you and a loved one, and settling in to laugh, reminisce and be inspired by all that happened this past summer.

Once again, thank you for checking in on the latest and greatest from Love Begins Here.

Peace,
Lindsay

LBH Travels the World

2011-09-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hello Love Begins Here family,

Yesterday afternoon, the majority of Core Team's past happened to reunite on the streets of Madison after a daily Mass downtown. (Sadly, we were missing Michael & Jeff of LBH2009 and Jared & Molly of LBH2011, but seven for eleven on a random Monday isn't bad.) While friends of Peter were gathering about for a pizza party at St. Paul's to welcome the new freshmen to campus, he quite proudly exclaimed to his friends - new and old - this is my Love Begins Here family, when introductions were needed. I think the description is fitting, as that is what we aim to form on weeks at LBH - a close community where love can begin in the home. It was a pleasure to run into three former missionaries on the streets, as well. It makes me, and the Core Teams of summer's past, quite happy to see these young Catholics at Mass and desiring to be a part of communities in the Church.

As the masses head back to school this autumn, I wanted to take a moment and share a few newsworthy items from the LBH world. First off, the blog of the Women's Care Center in Madison featured Love Begins Here and the good work they did there at the end of July. Please check it out. As you do so, if you are in the Madison area, consider if you are able to help out with this year's 40 Days for Life.

(LBH2011 teens work to clear the landscape at the newly forming Women's Care Center.)

Ten Love Begins Here missionaries had the extreme blessing of being able to travel on an all-expenses paid trip to World Youth Day in Madrid from the 14th through the 23rd of August, where they were able to show their award winning short film at a film festival, as part of the official events of WYD! It was a blessed experience for sure, and we wanted to share a few Missionary of Charity related photos with all of you.

(Lindsay sported these LBH/Mother Teresa themed TOMS all week in Spain.)

(There was a number of exhibits about Bl. Teresa around Madrid that week, as this photo is advertising.)

(We spent a lot of time in Spain sharing with our new friends from all around the world about the mission of Love Begins Here. It was especially exciting when we ran into MCs and got to share about LBH with them.)

Not more than four days after returning from Spain, about a dozen members of the Love Begins Here family got together to host a Benefactor's Dinner for those who bought stock in LBH this past summer. It was such a beautiful occasion to share stories from the summer, enjoy some murkey with our guests and look ahead to the bright future ahead of us. To all of the supporters who came and those who could not - thank you. In all seriousness, you inspire us to continue doing this work and make it possible for us to do it with joyful, unburdened hearts.

As this new season arrives, know that the LBH team continues to keep all of your in prayer. Please do the same for us.

With love,

Lindsay

LBH Mission Director

August, already?

2011-08-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hello Love Begins Here friends,

We're sorry to keep you waiting for almost a full month here. There will be a lot more reflecting to come in the next week or so, before 10 of us from Love Begins Here head to Spain for World Youth Day together. However, today we got a very sweet card from a parent of a two year LBH veteran with some words I wanted to share with you all, along with a few photos from the past couple of weeks.

"This program my daughter has attended for 2 years, and she actually beams and glows when I pick her up. She also says, "LBH is the only camp I ever want to attend!" The Holy Spirit is truly alive, growing, burning and shining in all of you and our children. Many blessings to all of you. My deepest appreciation and gratitude."

Well said, LBH mom! Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. The Core Team feels incredibly blessed to be able to do this work for the youth of the Diocese of Madison and beyond, and it would not be possible without parents entrusting to us the lives of their stellar children!

Yes, you are seeing correctly in that center photo. Our great Bishop - His Excellency Robert Morlino of the Diocese of Madison - visited this past week on our final night of Mission Trips! What a blessing.

Look forward to more from the Mission Field coming your way very soon.

Peace,
Lindsay

The Holy Spirit is moving!

2011-07-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Readers,

Happy 4th of July! We here at Love Begins Here hope that this day brings you a chance to offer up some prayers of thanksgiving for the great gift of freedom and spend some quality time with your loved ones. I know the Core Team has spent a few days off doing just that. Before we totally switch gears to the awesome 35 Middle Schoolers coming our way to Baraboo tomorrow, we wanted to share a few reflections from High School Week 2!

Interspersed with these notable quotations from our evaluations will be photos from the car groups. These small groups provided for much fun, some spontaneous stops along the journey and a community to share the experience of service with throughout the week.

LBH is many things. It means a conscious choice to embrace Jesus. It means the beginning of a joy that remains constant and burning within all present. It means songs from our lips and our hearts. It means my cow and roundabouts and mulberries. It means inspiring people doing inspired work. It means hard work. It means the greatest of rewards. It can mean whatever it is made to mean, and we made it to mean everything. Love begins where love is given. Love begins here. - Erin, McFarland

In response to the question: What in your life might change as a result of your experience on LBH this week? Pray more. Love people. Serve them. Make more turkey meatloaf. Eat a lot of bacon. Rosary. Go to Kwik Trip more often.

To me, Love Begins Here means that anyone can spread the joy that is Jesus Christ. It means that a bunch of high schoolers can work to change lives and spread that joy. Love Begins Here means that anyone can bring love to others, no matter where they are or who they bring it to. - Dan, Madison

I have learned that although people need help all over the world, sometimes people in your own community are the ones who need the most love. Whether it's pulling weeds for them or just sharing a smile, any act of kindness is an act of love.

I've grown to appreciate our Catholic faith, our Blessed Mother, the Saints and the Trinity. After this week, I will try more to find Jesus in every experience and in more people. I will also become more aware of myself as a living tabernacle.

(This car group was missing Blaine, Susan & Ana who all had to duck out before the photo session!)

All in all, we had a marvelous week filled with so many blessed opportunities to serve our neighbors in the Madison Diocese. A special shoutout to Shileng (Christ the King's - McFarland) Youth Minister, Alex (a CtK Catechist), and Jessica (Sacred Heart's - Sun Prairie) Youth Minister. It was a blessing to have you all on board. We look forward to seeing most of you more often this summer.

With that, please pray for us this week as we welcome 35+ Middle Schoolers to Baraboo for a week of local, life changing work on the Mission Field!

Happy 4th of July,
Lindsay

Week 1: SUMMARY!

2011-06-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

Well friends, LBH Week 1 2011 has come to an end, and boy, did we have a phenomenal week. To summarize some of the beautiful lessons learned, I will treat you to a few photos and quotes from evaluations. Thank you to the beautiful young poeple who come and shared their hearts with the poor of the Madison Diocese from Madison, Dodgeville, Watertown, Ripon, Waunakee, Baraboo, Cuba City and more wonderful places!

The force... or the Holy Spirit really guided us through the week! Lots of Star Wars learning was completed, along with some seriously awesome learning about the truth and beauty of our Catholic Church.

Our opportunities to serve were widely varied this week from spending time at the Ronald McDonald House, Second Harvest food bank, the Mount Horeb Senior Center, helping out the Make A Wish Foundation and helping one another out in our community, we encountered the poor in many ways in our own backyards!

Everyone is jumping for joy in honor of evaluations like this:

Love Begins Here has changed my life. This experience has brought me so much closer to God and has helped remind me that everything isn't about me. I would be back to Love Begins Here in a heartbeat.

LBH is the chance to connect more with God and serve others in God's name. It's a chance for personal growth and self examination. It develops great friendships and makes everyone laugh. In short, LBH means I'm going to have the greatest week of my life.

For me, LBH means rejoicing for young people who are getting formation and catechesis that so many never have and might never receive... I am edified that this and future generations will be much more prepared for a world that can be toxic towards faithful Catholics. I look forward to the day when, as a priest, I will be able to support this program financially and spiritually. - Garrett Kau (Third Year Major Seminarian, Diocese of Madison - Pictured below with leftovers from the most incredible dinner of the week.)

And two quotes from a very profound evaluation from a young participant:

People may not be poor, but they may be sad, lonely, depressed or feel hopeless and unloved. We can serve people by just loving them and offering ourselves to them. Also, there is so much you can do to help people nearby; you don't have to go very far to find someone that needs help, everybody needs help in some way, and everybody and give it.

I definitely learned more about the vastness of Love and how I can love people better and more completely. I also find myself yearning for God to fill me up completely, so I can experience His love the same way I see the Core Team experiencing it. This experience this week has really healed part of me that I felt was broken, and I didn't know how to fix it. It may not be perfect, but it has been a start... This week has been amazing.

Well, that about wraps up our Week One reflection, and good thing, because we have 25 young people coming in tonight to experience another week of local, life changing mission trips. Thanks to all of the great people from Week One. The Core Team definitely loves you very much and is keeping you in our prayers.

A special shout out to the stellar adults that joined us this past week: Jenna, Renata, Tess, Garrett and Jared! You guys were all star chaperones and great models of holiness. You're all welcome back anytime.

Week One Video Blogging Adventures

2011-06-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Hello blog readers,

We're happy that you have stopped by. This week has been one full of tons of adventure so far and many great friendships being formed! We hope you are keeping up with our Vimeo Channel where we are posting our videos every day: www.vimeo.com/channels/lovebeginshere. We have posted a new video every day so far.

Some definite highlights of this week so far has been getting to serve the poor in so many cool ways, lots of fun at the Bishop O'Connor Center Pool, some epic relay races, the creation of some delicious, gourmet dinners and much, much laughter in the midst. From helping out on the East side of Madison with the Schoenstatt Sisters to the Senior Center in Mount Horeb we are truly finding that Blessed Mother Teresa was onto something when she encouraged us to find the poor right in our own communities before looking elsewhere.

Our spiritual lives have also been rocked lately with the beautiful homilies of Fr. Rick Heilman and the inspiring Collatio talks by the Core Team Members! Tonight we are in for a good helping of grace as we partake in the Sacrament of Confession.

Thanks for staying in touch! Try to begin some love in your own home today.

Peace,
Lindsay

Are you as EXCITED as we are?!?!?!!!

2011-06-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

So, Blaine here. Lindsay has been getting everyone excited for my first submission and I can finally say that it is ready. Head on over to Vimeo to check out our first week of preparation for Love Begins Here. Go ahead and bookmark this page because that very same page will be where we upload the daily vlogs. Go ahead and tell your family and friends to check us out and check out the awesome service that everyone is doing... and how much FUN we are having!

Follow this link (www.vimeo.com/channels/lovebeginshere) and sit back and enjoy watching great people do great things! We can't wait for High School Week 1 to start!

Core Team Fun

2011-06-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello LBH Readers,

This morning we are pleased to bring you the first official photo of the Love Begins Here 2011 Core Team. It sure looks like this is going to be a stellar summer with this energetic, faithful and super cool group of 6 leading the way.

Ned, Lindsay, Peter, Blaine, Molly and Nicky = CT LBH2011

We've been busy in the northwoods bonding over the past couple of days taking in the sun, tons of laughter, enjoying the lake and planning our hearts out for what's to come. Get ready to experience the first day of the rest of your lives in a whole new way!

Keep praying for us. We're definitely praying for you all.

The video is still to come! In the meantime our official A/V guy Blaine is updating our facebook page, so check us out there too: facebook.com/lovebeginshere.

Peace out!

Lindsay

Coming soon... the official Core Team Trailer.

2011-06-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hello readers!

A special welcome this day to any of the good people out there joining us on the blog after reading the most recent write up in the Catholic Herald. We're excited to share the good news about LBH with you. Feel free to come back and visit our blog often.

Things have been very busy in the LBH world this past few months, hence the lack of blog posting. However, you can start to expect big things in the next week, as our summer kicks off on Sunday with a week of preparations for the Core Team. This group of six really spectacular young adults will be journeying to the northwoods, planning, bonding and setting up our first site at St. Mary in Pine Bluff. We are in for quite the summer.

One of the coolest things you can be looking for on our blog this summer are vlogs (video blogs for the less hip). One of the CT members is our resident social media expert this summer, and he is quite jazzed to bring you the latest and greatest with me through film, along with write ups and photos like you have experienced throughout the past two summers.

To formally introduce ourselves, check back next week for a little video, but for now, enjoy the photos and brief descriptions.

From the right:
Science expert and lover of the UP, Molly is fresh off a year of teaching Middle Schoolers in Platteville and is excited to be spending her first official summer on the Core Team, after volunteering for 75% of LBH2010.

Next up is our resident videographer, Blaine who has recently graduated from Platteville this spring and is very happy to have the summer to discern what God wants from him next.

Like Molly, Nicky spent a fair amount of volunteered time working with the youth on LBH2010 and is going to be spending her summer away from her 2nd grade classroom to change lives on the Mission Field.

The only brand new face to the LBH world this summer is Peter, who hails from West Bend, is a very proud Badger, and could not be more happy to bring his previous mission experience to the Madison Diocese this summer.

The fifth face there is me - Lindsay - the usual voice of the LBH blog, who is SO excited to announce that this summer I will be changing jobs, beginning a position as Coordinator of Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Madison. (This means I get to spend even more time on LBH an the like!)

Last but certainly not least is Ned, coming back for his second summer on the CT, to experience more of the "best thing" he's ever been a part of.

That's the team, and like I said, those coming on the trips better be ready to have the time of their lives because these folks are a whole lot of fun and inspiration all rolled into one. Please pray for us during our week of preparation!

Until next week,
Lindsay

Holy Week

2011-04-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

Hello LBH faithful,

All those charged with the task of making Love Begins Here possible are praying for you in the midst of this most holy week. Come this week, I for one get so excited for the start to the Easter Vigil liturgy and especially the proclamation that this is the night. The night when the exsultet reminds us...

This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

While we have many exciting things to share and a funny video on its way, we'll save that for the great feast we'll find ourselves celebrating next week. In the meantime, enjoy a few HW treats to help aid you in your preparation for the coming of Easter, as we remember that it was not with out sacrifice and an abundance of God's mercy that such a Sunday morning was made possible.

Also, Archbishop Dolan of New York had a great blog post on Holy Week last year, and I would encourage you all to check it out.

That's all for today friends. Please continue to lift up the intentions of Love Begins Here during this week.

Peace,

Lindsay

Buy stock in LBH!

2011-04-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Do you believe in the mission of Love Begins Here?

Great. We sure think it's well worth our time in service to our neighbors and Our Lord!

Have you ever wanted to join in our work on the mission field?

We sure hope so, because we have a lot of fun while doing so. However, we do understand that not everyone has the opportunity to take a week away during the summer. In that case, we would ask for you to join in our mission through the buying of stock. It's a pretty simple process that begins with you clicking on the Stockholder Investment Program tab towards the top of this page.

Of course, we understand that everyone who wants to join in our work may not be able to support us financially at this time. In that case, we ask that everyone prayerfully support us - after all, it is what makes our work possible in the first place.

If you have any questions, please be in touch!

Early April Update!

2011-04-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Where did March go? I was shocked to come on here today to give a little update only to find that it has been a full month since we last shared the good news happening in the LBH world.

Before we get going too deep into all of the good things related to LBH2011, we have some sad news to share in the event you aren't a regular follower of our facebook page. On March 19, 2011, Our Lord called Madi from this earth. We place our hope in Him who come to earth to redeem us, as we are in the midst of remembering during this season of Lent. Please continue to pray for the repose of this dear young woman's soul. As I wrote in our last post, I think our summer theme is going to pay fitting tribute to her life and especially the battle she fought the last nine months of her life on earth.

In the midst of preparing for this coming summer, I have perused many photographs of this past summer, looking back on great memories, hearts changed, weeds pulled and people we served. So many of these memories have brought laughter at first sight, and this is no exception. On this - the first night of our last week of LBH2010, we found ourselves engaging in some intense competition while getting to know one another. I cannot remember the exact details of what made me prone to judging the efforts of a rival team, but I do remember how half hearted my apology must have been. While I was trying to make amends with a fellow Core Team member, all I could hear was the laughter of the youth all around us. I love that you can see this laughter and joy on the faces of those around us. If you're new to LBH or considering coming this summer, let this serve as an accurate reflection of how much fun we have with one another.

While taking this trip down memory lane, I also created a little promo video for this summer. I think it's pretty cool, so take a few minutes and check it out! Special thanks to Danielle and Eric from Waunakee for sharing their thoughts about LBH with the world!

Good memories all! Let's get excited to make a whole lot of new ones while committing ourselves to the service of the poor in our Diocese.

This month, please offer up some prayers for LBH lover and Madison Seminarian David Johannes. Next month, he will be ordained a deacon for the Church! We look forward to hearing his homilies this summer as they gear us up for work on the mission field.

(This photo of David was taken while contemplating this item

and determining its worth at a yard sale last summer.)

Look forward to more frequent updates as the summer draws near!

Peace,
Lindsay

The First Day

2011-03-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Thanks for being patient in waiting for the next official blog update to be published. Things have been busy in light of the missionary endeavor we know as Love Begins Here, as Core Team members are being recruited, registration materials are officially published, and more.

Before we get to the big announcement and reflection on our theme for the LBH2011, there is a prayer request to note. Lindsay, along with support and help from the good people over at our Diocesan Offices, have submitted the FIRST Love Begins Here grant proposal to the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities. With the help of this grant, LBH would be able to grow in many new and exciting ways. Please pray for the meeting of the board which will decide on whether or not our grant gets funded, which will be happening on May 14th.

The First Day

This summer, we are going to explore what it means to live like every day is the first day of the rest of our lives. Living life knowing that we have been made a new creation through the Incarnation, continually restored through the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession means that our lives can be full of hope.

When we have been filled with hope, we will then be able to share it with our neighbors. And, that is the mission of love begins here.

The theme for this summer comes from a song by Catholic Musical Rockstar Matt Maher in his song Hold Us Together. Some of the lyrics from this song have not only helped in creating the theme for this summer, but they have also been able to provide hope and light in the midst of the toughest kind of news that has been delivered to the LBH family this past month.

Many of you have been united in prayer with the us as we have prayed for Madi, who was diagnosed with leukemia this past summer during her week on LBH. Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer and support for this amazing young woman. A few weeks ago, Madi and her family learned that her body stopped responding to the treatments and she has not gone into remission.

As her mom wrote on her blog while delivering the news, "What I want for my girl, as does she, is for all who come in contact with her to CELEBRATE HER. Her life now. Live with her in this moment. Please do not grieve with her. She doesn't want to waste another second in tears. Just be present. Just enjoy. Do not ask her or us, how much time we have. We only know that we have NOW. Do not dwell in a place of sorrow with her."

And, by the grace of God and love of family and friends, they are doing just that. During a visit of some LBH friends with Madi, we saw her full of smiles, funny stories and hope of the life to come with Our Lord. She is living like today is the first day, an opportunity to be alive, love and change the lives of those around us. As Matt sings in our theme song...

This is the first, day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright, s'gonna be alright

Love, will, hold us together
Make us a shelter
to weather the storm

And I'll, be, my brothers keeper
So the whole world will know
That we're not alone

Madi, your LBH family loves you very much, and we are all continuing to offer up prayers for you every day.

Madi (left) with her favorite car group members, Slade, Jeff and Gina. Circa LBH2009.

Thanks for staying up with the latest greatest from the Love Begins Here world. Look forward to more regular updates as the summer draws near!

Peace,
Lindsay

Promo Video #1 2011 & More

2011-02-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

For those keeping track at home, we are 129 days and 16 hours away from kicking off our first LBH Mission Trip of the summer.

Where will we be kicking off exactly? Well, that's yet to be determined, but we should know in the coming weeks, and you will be some of the first to know.

We here at Love Begins Here do have some great news to share with you... our second location for the middle two weeks of LBH is ST. JOSEPH in BARABOO! The good people in that parish and Father Bakke are quite excited to have us for the week, and we are excited to see what good work can begin in that community. Look out Baraboo, love is about to begin from July 5 - 15.

Before we get to showing you our first PROMO VIDEO of the summer, the last exciting piece of information is that on Friday we will be rolling out our complete registration packages. We will officially start accepting parish rosters and individual registrations on Friday, February 18th.

With all of those great updates out of the way, please enjoy watching this inspiration flick.

LBH2011 Schedule

2010-12-12T06:32:00.000-08:00

Hello LBH Friends,

Praise the Lord! It's a beautiful weekend here in the Madison Diocese and not only because we have found ourselves blanketed in a nice covering of fresh snow. This past Friday evening two men were ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ for the Madison Diocese. Congratulations to Fr. John Putzer and Fr. Chad Droessler! The LBH Family is certainly going to continue praying for you and your priestly vocations.

On that joyful note, we're also very delighted to announce the schedule for Love Begins Here 2011. Keep checking back here to see where these are going to be living... For now, we're thrilled to announce that our final two weeks are going to be taking place at St. James in Madison, WI home to 2-Year CT Member Gina Pignotti, Joe Tiller (LBH Superfan), and many LBH2010 Alum. It's going to be a great few weeks.

High School 1: June 19 - 24
High School 2: June 26 - 31

Middle School 1: July 5 - 8
High School 3: July 10 - 15

St. James - Madison, WI

Middle School 2: July 19 - 22
High School 4: July 24 - 29

If you haven't taken time lately to join our facebook group, now's the time. Feel free to check out www.facebook.com/lovebeginshere! If you are already a fan, please help us in spreading the word about the good things happening on LBH by suggesting that your friends also "like" us.

We pray that your Advent is continuing on well; enjoy the start to this third week.

Peace,

Lindsay

LBH 2010 Evaluation Highlights

2010-12-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Advent, LBH Blog Readers! We here at LBH hope and pray that this season is preparing your hearts to more fully receive our Infant Lord into your hearts in a few short weeks.

It's been a busy fall for the Core Team, as we have returned to the routine of the school year - which for most of us means devoting our time to the youth of the Madison Diocese in the classroom, at youth group, or even on the wrestling mats. However, this does not mean that LBH is far from our minds or our hearts, as often recall the fond memories of this past summer and pray in thanksgiving for the Holy Spirit touching and changing so many hearts - including our own.

This afternoon, I (Lindsay) had a chance to take a look again at ALL of the evaluations from this past summer. Once again, I was blown away by the work accomplished and good things to be said about LBH. I thought I would throw a few highlights out there for you to look at...

I have learned that beginning love here is not only about loving others, but also about loving yourself. - Danielle, Waunakee

The Daily Mass was EPIC. - Jimmy, McFarland

Love Begins Here means this is where you find your Love. - Andy, Darlington

LBH means to me that any time I am questioning my faith, I know I can come here or think about this and be reassured. - Haley, Cross Plains

I expected to like parts of the week and not like parts, but I loved every second of it. - Luke, Cross Plains

Love Begins Here means a ton to me. It means that we have to be that example of love to others in this hard, cruel world. We, in Christ, must show others his love through our actions. This I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I will do little things for the dignity and value of others. - Khauten, Madison

I have opened my eyes to see how love can help give others hope in our generation. - Dominick, Beloit

Big THANKS to the Catholic Herald!

2010-07-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hey blog readers,

I, along with the rest of the Core Team, hope that you all have had a great week of continuing to begin love in your own homes. It's been a good transition week for all of us, and we're still up for the challenge of loving our family members and friends in our "normal" lives.

We got some great press this past week about LBH in the Catholic Herald, and we wanted to share it with all of you. Thank you to Kat Wagner for visiting us in the Mission Field last week and hearing about LBH2010.

Feel free to stop by the Catholic Herald website to read the story:

http://www.madisoncatholicherald.org/news/around-diocese/1548-lbh.html

With that, enjoy this summer weekend. The Core Team will be reunited to process the summer, and we will certainly be lifting up prayers for all of the participants of this summer and our supporters!

Peace,

Lindsay

All Things New

2010-07-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hello faithful blog readers,

We're sorry that we've kept you so long without an update. We promise that a lengthier entry will be coming your way later today or tomorrow with a bunch of good details about this week, but for now, a few highlights...
- We were blessed to spend Tuesday evening with a generous parishioner who let us see the Madison area from new heights.
- The HS has been working overtime - Mohawks, weather and so much more.
- So much love has begun in this community and other places in the Madison Diocese. "Love begins when painting buildings," as one participant says.

Thank you for your support and prayers. Please keep them coming as we wrap up this final week.

Peace,
Lindsay

Extreme Church Makeover

2010-07-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

The 4th Week of Love Begins Here is off to quite the fantastic start, and we're really happy that you have stopped by to hear about it. While you're reading about the latest and greatest in the LBH world, feel free for up a few prayers for us.

There have been some definite themes emerging in the midst of our work this week - mainly those of Church remodeling and renovation or extreme competition. Let's get you caught up to speed.

On Sunday evening, much to the surprise of the Core Team, there seemed to be a secret competition among all of the families dropping off young people to be the first to arrive; in fact, this was taken so seriously that the majority of our participants had shown up 5 minutes before 5pm. With all of that eagerness, we quickly transitioned into getting to know one another in the kitchen, making dinner and playing silly games for quite some time. The following is the second place team (minus me) in the name game ball game.

Though competition was stiff, if paled in comparison to the train wreck we experienced next. After enjoying a delightful dinner of stir fry, we were on to more games and prayer, as we explored the darkness in our lives and gave them over to Jesus.

On Monday morning, we woke up bright and early to head over for 6:30 Mass at St. Maria Goretti in Madison. Not only was it wonderful to have the chance to get spiritually filled up for the day, but we also has the chance to go to Mass said by Fr. David Caranno, one of the two priests ordained this past month for the Madison Diocese. As an LBH-alum from last summer, it was great to catch up and have the pleasure of benefitting from his priestly ministry.

Anyways, after a quick breakfast, some lunch packing and getting on the road, we were ready to more formal begin LOVE in the greater-Madison area. One of our groups headed down to Ridgeway to give some help to St. Bridget in the form of beginning the task of cleaning and repainting the entire Church. Quite the task, but this fine crew was up to starting this task.

You can see a portion of the task that laid ahead of us behind them. It was amazing to see what fan be done by a small crew like that in one day.

The other half of the group stayed back in Verona, where we set to work painting, cleaning, repairing, and more around St. Andrew's. Again, we blew ourselves away with how much good can be done in the course of a day where people are giving all of their efforts over to Jesus. It probably didn't hurt that a pair of Jean shorts were thrown into the mix.

The above picture was taken while doing some work cleaning in the cemetery next door. Many analogies were brainstormed while literally clinging to the Cross.

After this hard day of work, we met up for dimmer, swimming and showers at a nearby state park. We encountered many new opportunities for competition, including scavenging for dive sticks or holding the first ever LBH dive and dance competition, which provided for many great laughs.

Upon returning home, we held one intensely fun BIRTH PARTY, because we're all alive.

We chatted about the tragedy of abortion, what it means to CHOOSE LIFE, and learned a lot about human development in the womb.

With such a busy day, we hardly had the energy to keep our eyes open as we brushed our teeth and crawled into bed, after praying Night Prayer together.

With that, blog readers, we're going to have to sign off for today. Tune in tomorrow for more good news from the Mission Field.

- Your LBH Correspondant, Lindsay

Location:E Harriet St,Verona,United States

Weekend Reflections

2010-07-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

As the Core Team and some of our favorite LBH2010 Volunteers has the chance to get away for the weekend to take in beautiful sights and experience new adventurers, we had a bit of time to reflect, as well. We have all been thankful for the ways that this summer has brought us closer to Christ, the youth we work with and each other.

A few of my favorite reflections and quotations from evaluations follow...
- A fellow CT member told me this weekend that they would be ready for a 5th week. The Lord has certainly provided us with an abundance of energy to go about this work for Him.
- "I realize that all of the small ways that you can help, even in your own community, are all very powerful, especially if you go about it for Jesus." - Week One HS Participant
- There has never been a shortage of work for us to complete or people to share love with. God is faithful, and these past weeks have been a great opportunity for us to learn to trust Him in deeper ways.
- As three different sets of parents dropped off their kids for this week, we had the chance to hear how their Middle School kids were impacted, changed and grew last week. We are always thankful for the positive feedback and words of encouragement from parents.
- We have been blessed by encountering many new supporters of LBH and have been humbled by their generosity towards us.

To wrap up this mid-summer reflection, I will leave you with the words of our very own Madison Seminarian, David Johannes, as he was reflecting on the question: What does Love Begins Here mean to me?

"The experience of Love Begins Here opens the participants heart and eyes to God's love. God initialized the love which calls out in our hearts to love our neighbor and this program responds to just that, I witnessed a joy from the youth that I didn't expect. Love was poured out to one another in this group, to other Catholics, in their homes and through a space designated to encounter Christ in a closer manner. Love was witnessed in the preparing of meals and then delivering them via meals on wheels, love was sweated out in the clearing of homes and conversations with the elderly, love was the compassion to a family with a disabled child needing treatment, love was the witness of the joy of Christ in our hearts to the disbelieved and non-Christian, and love was the friendship amongst brothers and sisters who would have otherwise called each other "stranger".

Love Begins Here is the response of love to the Father who loved us first and continues to love each of us with an everlasting love."

Praise the Lord! Please keep praying for LBH, those who lead it, those who participate in and those who so generously support us in prayer and through other means, that we can continue to serve the poor with joyful hearts.

Thursday and Friday in the MS LBH World!

2010-07-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

We sure had a busy couple of days... let's take a look at a few photo highlights of the past 36 hours or so to see where we have been and where we are going. Yesterday, we continued on in helping out the Nazareth House, which literally is right next door. Love was begun all over their gardens in the form of weeding, clearing, tilling and sweeping. They were looking quite nice once all was said and done. A number of residents even came out to visit with us, thank us for our work or just watch these good things happen.

During the day yesterday, we all also had the chance to visit Three Gaits, which is a therapeutic horse center. We painted, cleaned, helped out with office work, and even had a chance to meet some of the animals who are crucial in the treatment many people receive there. Here is a crew of kids who spent their morning painting and freshening up the property.

Another group yesterday afternoon tackled a large project of cleaning up a beautiful statue of the Holy Family, which was buried under a large amount of dirt and grime from years of build up. It took a large group of kids, a lot of elbow grease, and a little bit of Dawn. Mary, Jesus and Joseph were looking pretty good by the end of the day.

After our afternoon showers and rosaries, we had the privilege of experiencing a Seder Meal, as Jesus would have experienced it himself at the Last Supper, followed by the Living Stations of the Cross. When you see a Week 3 LBH Participant, feel free to ask them about what they learned about the 4th Cup. It will blow your mind. The following is Simon helping Jesus carry his cross.

While keep our good friend Sharon occupied, we got together one pretty awesome birthday party, because she was celebrating the beginning of her 50th year of life. We brought her outside for a beautiful sunset, sharing of the "Happy Birthday" song, and more, before heading back in for a birthday treat of pizza and ice cream cones. With all of that fresh nourishment, we were ready for an energetic session of Parish Time, followed by a game of reflecting on our weeks. All in all, we averaged a 9.74/10 for how we are feeling on the end of our week. That's pretty much an A+ week...

And if you ever doubted that 57 middle schoolers could make a difference in the world, check out this statistic: overall this week, 700 hours of service was given by our group in the Madison area. That equals a little more than 29 full days (24 hours a day) of "love beginning" all around us.

While we're in the business of sharing statistics, how about this: in 2 summers of Love Begins Here so far, 3,188 hours of service have been given to the greater Madison area by Madison area youth. That equals nearly 132 full days. Holy guacamole, God is good!

Stay tuned blog readers for all the updates of our final week of LBH starting Sunday. :)

Middle Schoolers GALORE.

2010-07-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well, faithful readers. We've kept you in the dark long enough. I bet you want to hear all about the goodness of what has been one crazy, fun, service filled week with a LOT of Middle Schoolers this week.

On Tuesday afternoon, a slew of enthusiastic pre-teens rolled into St. Ann's in Stoughton, WI, where we have been in the midst of an action packed couple of days.

(That action packed photo was snapped during a great game of Ship, Ship Cross My Ocean last night.) Upon arrival Tuesday evening, we spent a good deal of time getting to know each other in crazy ways, like playing train wreck and one intense name game competition. We also shared a meal of pizza and veggies, before we spent some time learning about how our lifestyle at LBH would resemble the lifestyle of the Missionaries of Charity (the order that our patron Blessed Mother Teresa founded).

Our evening gathering included some contemplating of the darkness in our lives and how to let in Christ, who is the light. We also enjoyed some birth cake while chatting with our friends who came with from our own parishes. After a busy day, we enjoyed a good night's sleep, so we could be well rested for the day of work ahead.

On Wednesday morning, we had the pleasure of waking up and celebrating Mass with each other to kick off our day. After having the great gift of the Eucharist come and nourish our lives, we were ready for breakfast and leaning about what the day held in store for us.

Some of us spent time visiting with elderly members of the community and playing cards at a neighborhood nursing home.

We also got to work in the gardens in the courtyards of this nursing home.

And, some of us painted in classrooms here at St. Ann's.

There was also a crew of hard workers that put together our dinner of tacos and all of then fixings.

After these hours of hard work, the LBHers headed to the local community center for a quick shower and a time to rest for a few minutes. Upon returning to St. Ann's, we enjoyed that delightful taco dinner that was prepared for us by our fellow Mission Trippers. Wow, that feast was pretty much nothing compared to the feast of grace that we enjoyed by receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation later that evening. We would like to give a big shout out to the three priests who heard our Confessions - Fr. Randy (Holy Rosary, Darlington), Msgr. Healy (St. Ann's, Stoughton), and Msgr. Baxter (St. James, Madison). After loving our Lord and the gift of forgiveness, we headed out for the aforementioned game of Ship, Ship Cross My Ocean, some quality time with our Parish groups and got ready for bed, so we were able to spend the whole day ahead of us serving the Lord by way of helping our neighbors in need.

We'll give you the update about todays good work tomorrow, so stay tuned! In the meantime, keep offering up the prayers for us. We appreciate your love and support in that way.

Trees, rummage sales and ice cream stops, oh my!

2010-07-05T08:39:00.001-07:00

What do you get when you mix Madison Seminarian David Johannes in with a handful of high school youth, some good tunes, him driving his red Volvo, and a final destination? Well, you some serious detours through the greater Madison area to find the best ice cream or custard possible. This was taken to new heights yesterday, as his car group made a 9am pit stop at the local Culvers for some tasty breakfast custard. Mmmm... at least that stop was well deserved for that car group because they were the first out the door on the way to morning Mass.

Anyways, we are jumping the gun just a bit. Let's take a look at some highlights of the recent days.

Tuesday evening we spent a bit of our evening in Governor Dodge State Park playing, laying in the sun, competing and catching some air. Many beautiful sights were taken in.

On Wednesday, we took off for Middleton where a new project of garage cleaning and garage sale preparations laid before us. Upon arriving, a crew got to work moving a van and camper out of the driveway and the others took some senior portraits and cheesy family photos.

After such successful distractions, we got to work cleaning and sorting. Some of the items we found really took some time to get acquainted with.

Once Seminarian David got this tree working, we had some serious tunes to jam to. Lucky us.

As we were busy in Middleton, a group resumed work in Mount Horeb with some older members of the community. This great photo was snapped while working at our good friend Jerry's house, who we've had the pleasure to spend lots of time with both this year and last on LBH.

The final group worked spent one last day in Dodgeville at the Kramers clearing out some very large trees in order to see more easily the beautiful cross on the far end of their property.

Those who worked out there definitely recalled being able to see the God face to face in their work.

After all of that great work, we made a stop by the O'Connor Center for a swim before heading home and enjoying the 2010 LBH hit meal of chicken stir fry. We are loving the fresh foods and meal preparation by the kids this year. During dinner, Fr. Bakke joined us taking the total of priests in our presence to two, as Fr. Randy from Darlington had already joined our group for our afternoon of work. Good thing they did, because after dinner, we were ready to receive some serious grace in the Sacrament of Confession. We are so grateful for there presence and love of LBH. After receiving the Sacrament, we played some ultimate spoons, ate peach pie, an shared about our days.

Before praying Night Prayer and turning into bed, we also got in a game of sardines. David revealed some interesting talents during the game, and we found out about one thing that CT member Aaron... he's not a huge fan of creepy laughing voices.

Thursday brought the aforementioned trip to morning Mass and a lot more cleaning, organizing, and mulching. We certainly had a lot of fun beginning love in the Madison area, and some of our car groups even had a little bit of time to spare so they made a quick trip to the Madison zoo.

A lot of fun ensued and even though we were tired when we got back to St. Mary's, a quick round of naps and a rosary got us through before the EPIC events of the night. Those events are too much to be included in this post, so stay tuned for the post to come, which will detail the awesomeness of our Thursday night and Friday morning.

Location:Trees, rummage sales and

Week Two Has Begun!

2010-06-30T09:01:00.001-07:00

As Sunday morning rolled around and the Core Team gathered back together, the excitement built and things moved along so smoothly, that we could hardly wait for 5 o'clock to come. Not only were 16 or so awesome kids from around the Diocese coming to join us, but we had a seminarian and four awesome adults on their way. Even Nicky, who chaperoned last week, couldn't get enough and was on her way back for another week. Anyways, here is three quarters of the Core Team ready for everything the week is going to throw at them.

Quickly upon the youth and the aforementioned phenomenal chaperones, we began getting to know one another. Through a very cool, newly invented ball rolling game and a quick game of train wreck, we felt like great friends before it came time for a dinner... well, everyone except for Ned and Brooke who got into a bit of a quarrel when he found out that she's not a Green Bay Packers fan. Thankfully, this is the only thing even resembling drama that we've seen this week.

We were treated to a round of root beer floats after a delightful dinner of lasagna soup, garlic bread and salad. While enjoying gout dessert, we got to learn a bit about MoT (Mother Teresa) and the Missionaries of Charity, who we model the work and prayer of LBH after. The night ended with some nice sharing in Collatio, including some stories about where we have spent time in the darkness away from God's love.

After going to bed with that on our minds, as well as the new adventures that await us this week, we popped out of bed somewhere in the neighborhood of 5am to take this sight in. How beautiful is that?!?

We chatted for a bit about being alive again and living in the light of Christ, as well as about out theme for the summer of LBH, which is CHOOSE LIFE! We made some plans to choose life all week long in everything we do.

This sunrise session was followed by a great breakfast of pancakes and bacon, as well as packing up our lunches to enjoy at our worksites. We then headed off to a little slice of Heaven, both literally and figuratively. Our host priest Fr. Rick came down to a chapel tucked away in the woods, conveniently on the same property that a lot of our service is happening this week, where we spruced up the area around the outdoor stations and huge rosary walk. Mass was beautiful, as always.

After Mass and learning more about the Kramers who own the property, half of our group got to work there and the other half headed to Blue Mounds to to give a hand to some Senior friends who needed help in their homes or yards. It was an action packed day of service, which everyone approached with a whole lot of enthusiasm!

After our work wrapped up, we stopped for a quick swim and shower, before heading back to Pine Bluff for a much needed rest hour, due to our early morning. While rest hour and rosary praying occurred, a couple of us adults got ready for a serious celebration of our lives. (Happy Birth!! You're alive!) This included pizza for dinner, birthday cake and ice cream, lots of balloons, some lively discussion of how thankful we are for the gift of life, and a rousing game of saltine cracker eating.

Wrapping up our evening in the best way possible, two seminarian friends of ours taught us about Night Prayer and we gave it a shot. It definitely felt good to wrap up the day by chatting with Jesus about it.

Today has been another great one, but you'll have to tune in for the update on it tomorrow. For now, please remember all of us in your prayers as we go about serving the poor of our community.

Week one comes to a close.

2010-06-29T09:59:00.001-07:00

As noon on Friday of this past week rolled around, the youth may not have been exactly jumping for joy quite like this, as the country side of Pine Bluff was the site to the goodbyes to to our newly made friends.

In the midst of our goodbyes, the leaders heard a whole lot of great things coming from the kids. They watched the lives of others get brighter and came forth out of the darkness in their own lives to truly be alive again. I think it would be accurate to say that we did in fact see the light before the sunrise this past week, if we could take our inspiration here from both St. Augustine and Matt Maher.

With many youth this past week coming into their second week of LBH, many of us knew or had heard from those we knew and convinced us to come on the trip that the week held great promise. But, only God could have clued us in on exactly how bright this world would become and the many new things we would experience. Some of us went whole days or the entire week without complaining, we didn't update our Facebook statuses constantly and we went without some of our usual comforts - cell phones, iPods, makeup, comfortable beds... really, the list could keep on growing. Through all of that, Mother Teresa's promises really held up - by living simply, we were able to love others and the One who gave us life more deeply. And, that's what Love Begins Here is all about.

The Core Team would like to thank all of those who came on this week of Love Begins Here. You growing desire to persevere throughout the week, your love of each other, and your excitement about LBH truly inspired us and is continuing to do so as we are in the midst of our second week.

We would also like to thank those people who helped us out in big ways this past week, including Fr. Rick, Fr. Francisco and Fr. Vernon for celebrating the sacraments with us and for giving us a home. To the Schoenstatt Sisters, St. Vinnies in Monroe and the good people at the Mount Horeb Senior Center for allowing us to serve them and alongside of them. And, a great huge thank you to Tony Butler for being a great example of what it looks like to answer Jesus' call to serve, being our biggest fan and helping us find projects to work on this week. And, of course, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to you - our blog readers and supporters. Thank you for loving us and keeping us in your prayers.

Speaking of prayers, please keep Madi and her family in your prayers. It's going to be a long road to recovery, but with people like you all supporting them, the journey will be filled with Christ's peace.

Stir Fry Kind of Day

2010-06-24T12:01:00.001-07:00

Phew, it's crazy to believe that we're already halfway done with our last full day of this first week of LBH! Let's take a moment and check in to see what happened since we updated yesterday.

There was a bit of yawning yesterday as we awoke to a new day of serving the Lord and our neighbors. Fr. Rick, who is our host priest this week, has become a favorite of this crew. Understandably so, as he has given us a home, delivers awesome homilies and celebrates the sacraments for us. Yesterday was much the same, as his words and the Eucharist definitely nourished us for the day ahead.

After all of that goodness, we packed up for the exciting day ahead. Two carloads of servants headed out to the Schoensatts to finish up the last of our yardwork, painting, and hanging of changing tables. The rest of the cars headed to the Mount Horeb Senior Center for some new adventures meeting new friends, disassembling trampolines, cleaning up yards, and delivering meals.

At the end of the afternoon, we could pretty easily say that we saw the hardest work yet. Good thing we got in a quick swim, some friendly diving competitions, a couple games of 500, and a shower before returning for our evening rosary and dinner. Speaking of dinner, Abby and Aaron's car put together a stir fry for the group, and it was phenomenal. Gina Pignotti, returning Core Team member from 2009, remarked, "I think this is the best meal LBH has ever seen." Some debate continued.

Post-dinner, we had the fine pleasure of hearing Ned share with us about the awesome Sacrament of Confession before having the chance to experience it for ourselves. These LBHers were definitely feeling the sanctifying grace, as Fr. Rick and Fr. Fransisco (who made the trip from Lodi) spent some very quality time with us. Praise the Lord!

Add some funny stories, peach cobbler, and God moments into the day, and it was time for bed.

Today, we would ask that you would continue to pray for us as we finish out our week. Also, an update on Madi... Her spirits are still super high. Today she is receiving here first chemotherapy treatment, so prayers for that to go well would be great!! Her family and friends are loving all of the LBH pray support.

Offering up our work!

2010-06-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

"And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home." - Wendell Berry

Tuesday morning of this week kicked off with a number of blessings, including a beautiful homily from Fr. Rick on making our work great for Jesus and a chance to fuel up for the day at breakfast. As we got off and on the road for the day, we got some rough news, and we would like to share it with our blog readers, so you may off up prayers with us for it.

The beautiful lady on the left side of this photo is Madi. She had been counting down the days until joining us on her second summer of LBH this year. When she came on Sunday, with very high spirits, we knew she hadn't been feeling all that well over the past couple of weeks, and after one awesome day of work and play, she left on Monday night to see the doctor. That trip led to Madi being admitted to Children's Hospital in Madison with leukemia, which we found out as we were driving to the sites on Tuesday. The rest of the day was marked by a lot of prayer for Madi and much hard work offered up for her. As Madi assured me on the phone as she delivered the news, she is a fighter and will do everything in her power to beat this! Evidence of that determination is pictured below... She dominated Matt in some intense battles of strength and balance on Sunday night.

Some of that work we offered up for Madi included more weeding, cleaning and a whole lot of gazebo painting. The Schoenstatt sisters are loving the color of the gazebo and our hard work, which they have shown us by baking delicious cookies for us each afternoon for a snack.

The other half of the group returned once again to Monroe for hard work sorting and organizing for the local St. Vinnie's. Much laughter was shared throughout their day! Here is just a glimpse of the massive work they had undertaken.

After our work was finished, we headed home where a delicious taco dinner had been prepared by the wonderful people in Nickay's car, which we enjoyed after praying our rosary together. As dinner came to a close, we finished making cards for Madi, donned some brand new Love Begins Here tshirts, and took some group photos. Much success was had in that department, as you can see below.

Following all of that action, we jumped in our cars and paid Madi a visit. As we came home to join each other after a quick stop at the pool and showers, this entire group came to a mutual consensus that we had seen God most clearly in our days during our visit to Madi - she was full of smiles, courage, funny stories and a whole lot of joy.

It was another long day, arduous and humbling too, but we know we arrived home, having continued to begin love.

We would ask that you continue to pray for Madi, her healing, as well as her family and friends who are making the journey with her.

4:45am and a little bit of sacrifice.

2010-06-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

As the sun was rising yesterday, so were we. Praise the Lord for being alive! Watching this beautiful sight was a great way to learn more about this summer's theme: Choose life!

Feel free to visit Deuteronomy 30 to learn more about and hear it from Moses himself. After our early morning adventures, some napping and pancakes were greatly needed. After praying our rosary, we headed out for our day of service. Some of our group made their way to the St.Vinnie's in Monroe to sort through donated clothing. The other half of the group paid a visit to the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary on the East Side of Madison to help with a variety of projects including painting bathrooms, cleaning and preparing outdoor furniture for painting, encountering scat of various kinds, garage domination, and weeding all over the place. These five spent an extra hour of service finishing the garage domination project and definitely had a lot to be proud of at the end of their day.

Many of vehicles took an almost overly scenic route to Mass after their service projects were finished. However, a slightly late arrival did not keep us from a definite highlight of the day - receiving Jesus into our bodies and having the classic opportunity to have Fr. Vernon encourage us to think and pray hard about our vocations. (Speaking of Fr. Vernon and vocations, let's keep Greg Ihm and David Caranno in our prayers this week, as they will be ordain priests for the Madison Diocese this Friday. Come Holy Spirit!)

The above photo taken during the day would be an adequate way to describe how we were feeling when it came to eat pizza and veggies for dinner and share funny stories about the day. After a brief period of male and female bonding during a storm warning, we headed to the pool for a good amount of jocularity and playing with crazy pool toy. Our evening was capped off by a reminder of what it means to work as Madison's own Missionaries of Charity and an opportunity to examine our consciences.

Today has been another great day, but you'll have to wait for the update tomorrow. Keep up the prayers for all of us and those we are serving. We truly would love to continue bringing light and love to this world.

2010-06-21T05:45:00.001-07:00

With an exciting few final weeks of planning underway, the Love Begins Here Team was more than ready to get to work today. Though our preparations today were not without hiccoughs, like forgetting the set of keys in Baraboo and someone forgetting their own pin number while checking out at the grocery store, the Holy Spirit provided in the way of spaghetti noodles and the events of the night going ever so smoothly.

(These ladies from the greater Baraboo area are ready to begin love in Pine Bluff!)

At 5:04pm this evening, 16 of our 21 youth this week had safely arrived, with some super cool chaperones to boot. (No need to worry - we were anticipating the late arrival of the other 5 young people and are still eagerly awaiting out final friends tomorrow morning.). Anyways, as the clock struck 5;05, a group got started on a delightful dinner of Lasagna Stoup, while the other half of these young missionaries headed out sided to challenge each other in various competitions. We even had the chance to learn some of the Native Pine Bluffian language. Lucky us.

(Core Team members Ned and Gina face each other in intense physical competitions.)

Anyways, as dinner neared completion, we took some time to get to know new friends and connect with friends from LBH's of the past, as well as be inspired to get to work at making our own stories. We had plenty of time to do so over the aforementioned dinner, which got rave reviews, thanks to the hard work of those who prepared it and Rachael Ray for giving us the Lasagna Stoup version of Strega Nona. We may have some left-overs on hand.

(Feeling like legit missionaries, these cousins jumped in willingly for dish duty.)

Post-dinner was followed by more jocularity and a round of root beer floats to celebrate Rudy's birthday. Happy 15th!! Now that we were all feeling comfortable with each other, we headed to the local crypt. Yes, it is as ballin' as it sounds. Over there, we did some sharing of and praying about the darkness in our lives and how we can avoid the light of Christ at times in our lives. Despite the heavy topic, our attempt at turning out the lights was filled with much laughter, both from the boys and the girls lairs. With all of the joy we experienced in only our first evening together, there is truly no telling what is to come during the next 5 days.

Please continue to pray for us as we head into the community for our first day of service tomorrow!

Location:Gammon Pl,Madison,United States

5 Days Away

2010-06-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last night, as Gina and I hung out with Jesus, substantially present to us in the Blessed Sacrament, in beautiful Minocqua, WI, we thought about what we would be doing one week from then. We don't want to reveal too much at this juncture, especially as some of our readers will be participants in next week's kickoff of LOVE BEGINS HERE 2010. However, we can tell you that it involved a good amount of fun, some intense math problems resulting in numbers well into the 9,000s, and contemplating a lack of sleep - for one reason or another.

Mysterious. We sure think so.

We have a whole lot of work to do in the hours... days... weeks to come, but we are sure looking forward to doing it all for the greater glory of God. Please pray for us, as we go about this mission, as well as for our fellow Core Team members, Aaron & Ned, as they travel to opposite ends of this fine country of ours, as we are left in the Northwoods of Wisconsin planning our little hearts away. Seriously, they went on vacation this week, and we want them to travel safely home.

If you're feeling in the mood to pray, we might also suggest praying for the participants during the next couple of weeks, especially that they are ready to work and serve with joy and are open to everything the Holy Spirit has in store for them.

Perhaps we'll update once or twice more over the coming couple of days, but in case we don't have a chance to do so, stay tuned next week as things get started and we begin blogging daily about our adventures.

Welcoming the 2010 Core Team!

2010-06-08T21:53:00.001-07:00

Over the past two days, the 2010 LBH Core Team had a chance to bond and get started on the planning. It's going to be a life changing summer, no doubt. Come Holy Spirit!

Given we are 11 days away and counting until our first Mission Trip of the season, I figured it was about time to give a little introduction of this year's CORE TEAM for the trips.

Lindsay Becher
That's me. The most common voice of the LBH blog. I have many special abilities, which include always having a story to tell about my roommate Nicky (who gets to experience her first LBH trip this summer), predicting people's temperments, and always picking the wrong lane to check out in at the grocery store. During the school year, my time is split between evangelizing the youth of the greater Baraboo area and daydreaming about my two favorite summertime activities - LBH and playing at my family's cabin. This past year, I also took some time to travel about the US and experience new things, like kayaking in the Everglades, marching for life in DC, and running my first half marathon in Madison. I look forward to sharing these experiences and more with those beginning love here in the Madison area this summer!

Ned Lease
Having lived in the Madison Diocese most of his life, this Core Team member has a special love for all things requiring heaving lifting - or in the case of this picture, making sure heavy columns outside of the Bishop O'Connor Center are secure. Having wrestled in college, while attending the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Ned continues to pursue this passion in the realm of High School Coaching. Outside of coaching and teaching tech ed classes during the school year, he spends time loving his family - especially his nieces. Speaking of his nieces, Ned's dream way to die is by being mauled by a demonically possessed bear (who also dies in the altercation), while trying to save his nieces' lives. Ned also has a special gift for catching rabbits with his bare hands. We will make sure to report all such occurrences during LBH right here on the Official Love Begins Here Blog.

Aaron Lofy
This new LBH Core Team Member hails from Hartford, WI, though he currently lives in Madison as he anticipates his final (5th) year at the UW. This past year has been a busy one for Aaron, as he has been trying to live life to the fullest, praying and asking for the intercessory help of St. Joseph (his personal fav), teaching catechism to HS students in Mount Horeb, and having fun. Typical summertime activites Aaron enjoys include water skiing, boating, bonfires, hanging out with family and friends, and sunsets. While taking in new vistas this summer, he is quite excited to get to know all of the young people on the Mission Trips and having the opportunity to serve alongside of them. He knows that serving in this way gives him a sense of joy and happiness, which comes from giving of oneself. Check back often to see how this giving of himself goes this summer.

Gina Pignotti
This tap dancer hails from Kenosha, WI, where she still returns often to visit her family, whom she is very close to. Not only does she tap dance, but other athletic persuits she engages in include climbing mountains, playing water polo (which she did at the UW), and dominating on the basketball court. This past year, in the midst of loving and teaching Middle School kids at St. James in Madison, her mad organization skills sure came in handy; however, no matter how organized she was, she never looked forward to correcting the piles of math homework left behind by her students. In her spare time, Gina spends time loving the Blessed Mother, enjoying snap peas and salmon, and getting excited for what the summer holds in the Love Begins Here world. Stay tuned to see what kind of fun Gina has while serving those in need in the Madison Diocese this summer.

Welcome Catholic Herald Readers!

2010-04-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

(In case you didn't have a chance to read the CH Article, go ahead and do so here.)

We're glad that you have stopped by to check out the LBH Blog and the good things we have going on. Please stick around for a while and see what LBH has to offer. A few stops I would suggest...

- The previous post features the promo video for Summer 2010. Take a look and enjoy.

- Promotional Material posts. Take a tour of the good looking materials available to use and distribute, in order to get youth in your area excited about this summer.

- Last summer's posts. They really give you more insight into the fun, challenge and faith present on the LBH Mission Trips.

In the coming weeks, I'll be busy on here introducing this year's Core Team, sharing more about the theme, and updating on how the preparations are going. Keep stopping back to visit, learn more about LBH and get excited for what's to come this year.

The one item of business that has not been blogged about yet are this summer's locations. They are...

Weeks 1 & 2 (HS): St. Mary's, Pine Bluff

Week 3 (MS): St. Ann's, Stoughton

Week 4 (HS): St. Andrew's, Verona

In advance - thanks to the pastors and staff of these parishes for providing us with homes during these weeks. We look forward to working in your community and celebrating the sacraments with your Parish.

Prayer Request: For all of the youth who are signed up for LBH and those discerning, that they may be open to the movement and inspiration of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and for the grace to desire to give of their time to others on a Mission Trip this summer.

Thanks all!

Lindsay

Promo Video!!

2010-04-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

Check out the promotional video for LBH2010!

Love Begins Here 2010 Promo from Lindsay Becher on Vimeo.

More promo goods.

2010-03-26T07:54:00.001-07:00

Lives are about to change this summer. Get in on the action now. :)

Promotional Poster = Ready to go!!

2010-03-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

Use this poster (11 x 17) to promote Love Begins Here in your parish this year! Visit the Diocesan Webpage for LBH to download a PDF of the poster. Fill in your contact information and dates and you're ready to promote. Contact Lindsay (lbh at straphael dot org) for more information or promotional materials!!

2010 Theme: Choose Life

2010-02-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

(This photograph was taken at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, while I traveled there on a pilgrimage for the March for Life in January.)

I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. - Dt 30:19-20

When our great ancestor and leader Moses spoke these words to the Israelite people, he did not intend on this message from the Lord to end being heard by those crowds alone. He knew that they would serve to inspire and call to action generations to come, both in the Old Covenant and the New. Blessed Mother Teresa certainly heard those words - through her service to the poorest of the poor, she lived them out and CHOSE LIFE every single day. We are called to do the same.

This summer, we will embrace the theme of CHOOSE LIFE in our own acts of service to those in our communities and homes. Things are going to start moving fast towards LBH2010. Stay tuned for more information coming your way soon. Let me know if you have any questions - lbh@straphael.org!

Peace,
Lindsay

On Life

2010-01-19T13:44:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

We pray that you all are having a blessed January day right now. The LBH Core Team of 2009 did find their way into each other's company this past week, and it was a blast. In the midst of a long brunch at one of our favorite spots on the East side of Madison, we caught up on life, sought one another's advice, reminisced a bit about the summer, and played a game of Bananagrams, which I happened to win. All in all, I think it was long overdue and much enjoyed. That reminds me that we are still due for scheduling an LBH 2009 reunion. We'll get right on that.

But before that happens, let's spend a few (more) moments of our day contemplating the gift of life. Let's continue sending up the prayers and offering up sacrifices for the people of Haiti, and in particular the Missionaries of Charity who work there, that their work of sharing God's love may continue and bear fruit. Praise the Lord that the sisters there are still alive and doing the Lord's work on earth.

In other news, this week marks the 37th anniversary of the passing of Roe v. Wade. In thinking about the tragedy of abortion, let us be reminded of and inspired by Mother Teresa's words - "The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself… the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”

Please keep all of those headed out to the March for Life in DC in your prayers, as well as those who will be making their love for all life known more locally.

In Christ,

Lindsay

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

Hello LBH Participants, Supporters, Prayer Warriors...

It seems as if the Core Team from 2009 did not exactly hold up their resolution from the fall to continue blogging and entertaining you all via the World Wide Web. (I, as the team leader, will go ahead and assume a good deal of responsibility for this.) Things will be different this year. It's a New Year's Resolution, of sorts.

We pray that your Christmas' have been blessed and that this New Year brings you many opportunities to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor within your own backyard. I have a feeling God will not stop this year with the gifts of those opportunities.

Other than weekly posts, I think we also may launch an interactive feature to the LBH world, in the form of weekly questions. They will run the gamut from silly to serious. Please participate as often as you would like. I have a feeling the questions will also make their way to our Facebook page, so feel free to participate there as well.

How about we kick this week's off with a little reflection:
How has the experience of LBH changed your life during the past 6 months?

We look forward to hearing your answers!!

Peace,
Lindsay

2009-10-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Plans for 2010 have begun. For now, enjoy the new logo and preview of the color scheme we will be seeing more of as we prepare for next summer.

Also, in case your interest is peaked, the following are the planned Mission Trip weeks:

HS 1: Sunday, June 20 - Friday, June 25

HS 2: Sunday, June 27 - Friday, July 2

MS: Tuesday, July 6 - Friday, July 9

HS 3: Sunday, July 11 - Friday, July 16

We remain in prayer, united with all of those who participated in LBH 2009 and supported its mission! Please keep us in your prayers as well.

Peace,

Lindsay

Just Smile...

2009-07-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hello Love Begins Here friends!

I hope you are all well! I had a funny little thing happen today that I thought I should share…

After morning mass and the pick-up of a cutie (reasonably priced!) dress from Kohl’s for Alison and Phil’s Wedding this weekend (YEAH marriage!) I made my way to the Catholic Family Bookstore in Kenosha (I’m spending some time with my family there) to pick up a breviary – Love Begins Here inspired me to finally get one (I’ve been meaning to for a while), so I can pray morning and evening prayer.

Anyhoo…I strolled in rockin my paprika flavored Love Begins Here t-shirt. After taking a few steps in the door, I caught the teary eye of a stranger who was talking with the owner. Visibly, she was struggling with something, so I flashed her the Missionary-of-Charity-encouraged smile…

To my surprise, she smiled in return, caught a look at my t-shirt, said, “well, if love begins here, then I need to be a part of it” and ran at me for a what turned out to be a good…L…O…N…G…15-20 second bear hug.

By the end of the hug, all three of us (the woman, the owner and I) were laughing and the woman said she felt “a lot better.” I’m still not sure who she was or what she was struggling with, but I do know that a paprika shirt and a smile opened the door for Love to begin in Kenosha today.

Stay near the Lord this week and “begin” His Love wherever you are!
Peace,
Gina

Two weeks later.

2009-07-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hello LBH Blog Readers,

The LBH Core Team of 2009 wishes you all well, two weeks after the final week of LBH 2009 ended. We welcome our newer readers to the blog, who may be joining us after our recent publicity in the Madison Catholic Herald. A special thanks to Mary and Kat who did a fantastic job helping us out with coverage this past year. I will get to posting the link when it is available on the Herald's website tomorrow.

Please know that we will be updating our lovely blog every week or two during the "off-season" so as to keep you up to date on the lasest and greatest. Initial discussions have been taking place regarding plans for next summer. We will reveal the plans as they become finalized.

For now, I'm going to leave you with a few words of Blessed Mother Teresa to reflect on for the day...

We have been created to love and be loved, and then he has become man to make it possible for us to love as he loved us. He makes himself the hungry one - the naked one - the homeless one - the sick one - the one in prison - the lonely one - the unwanted one - and he says: You did it to me. Hungry for our love, and this is the hunger of our poor people. This is the hunger that you and I must find, it may be in our own home.

Begin love in your home today. We're praying for you as you go about it.

Peace,
Lindsay

Look out!

2009-07-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

It’s true, LBH Week 3 is coming to a close and we must look out to the road ahead. Before doing so, however, let’s mosey back to our last couple days...and as we do, may I suggest you keep a look out for slug bugs, talking gnomes, small signs exchanged in circles, and water gun donning stealth shooting high schoolers…

Surprising enough with all this looking out, Wednesday morning began (as do all mornings of LBH) with a time of looking in…at our ability to see Christ in others and to serve Him by serving them. After a healthy helping of our Lord’s grace in prayer – and Gina and Dave’s flapjacks in the kitchen – we were off to do just that…serve Christ through our service to others. A number of crew members headed into Madison to continue work on the classrooms at St. James School. Second coats of paint and a few kosher donuts later, the team made their way to the Bishop O’Connor Center (BOCC). There, they met up with the other members of the LBH crew who spent their day delivering meals (and smiles) to the homebound and chattin it up with the seniors at the Mt. Horeb Senior Center.

BOCC pool time is always a blast, especially when you’re on the lookout for airborne inner tubes, flying footballs worth points, and Olympic-esque races between worthy opponents (Better luck next time, Blaine! Love, Gina). Pita pizzas provided a tasty dinner follow-up, but not nearly as scrumptious as what followed…

Confession time with Fr. Rick…man, it feels great to look out on life with a new pair of eyes and a clean soul. Thank you Jesus for forgiveness and grace…and the gift of strawberries – in shortcake form – it’s only appropriate to celebrate feelin’ good after the Sacrament, right!?! The ladies tasted some additional sweetness later when they found a way to get four on a couch before heading to bed.

Good morning blog readers, it’s Thursday on our journey back in time and the LBH crew is up for a last day of prayer and action. After some time of prayer and Toaster Strudel, we scattered one last time to finish beginning love (in the formal sense) in the Madison area. One crew did final touch-ups at St. James School. Look out SJS middle schoolers - Mother Theresa’s inspiration is etched in your walls (literally)! A second crew delivered meals to homebound and finished up some yard work that was begun earlier in the week and a final crew did yard work and window cleaning at another home (Upon completion, they were serenaded with ice cream bars and brownies as a thank you – it was debatable who was more thankful when all was said and done…Dorothy, your brownies are to die for!). All teams rendezvoused at the Senior Center for a final card playing hurrah with our new senior friends.

With our work complete, we headed for the Mt. Horeb community pool where elbows were flying in what could possibly have been the most epic game of water basketball this town has ever seen. For those that didn’t get enough competition in the pool, Cherry Cherry commenced on the playground…but all that fruit talk made us hungry, so we headed back home for the most delightful leftover / made-to-order-bar dinner of all time. Speaking of that which nourishes us, Christ’s presence in the Eucharist was our source of reflection for the close of the night. How very blessed we are to have this gift. May it continue to strengthen us as we leave from this place…

Look out world, here we come!

So much to do; such minimal internet access.

2009-07-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

The past few days have kept us pretty busy, and we are thankful for all of the good times and hard work we have been able to do to keep us busy. Such busyness combined with a lack of available Internet in our home has limited our blog updating; however, we hope to provide some good reading for you and a satisfying update.

Let's go ahead and jump right in. Monday morning we woke up bright and early, ready to start the day praying it up. After reflecting on our lives in solitude and action, we got to breakfast and to work. One car group went over to the Senior Center, met some new friends, and spent the afternoon delivering meals and exploring Mount Horeb. The other three quarters of the group drove into Madison to St. James School and revamped two of the classrooms by giving them a new paint job.

After all of the hard work for the day, we were able to get back together for a quick dip in the pool at the Bishop O'Connor Center before we hit the showers and got ready for Mass. With only a couple minor detours, we all arrived safely in the bustling town of Paoli, WI. The St. William community was looking pretty proud of their newly cleaned Church, and Mass with Fr. Vernon was the highlight of the day. And, it was really great to have Greg Ihm around for Mass, too. We love our seminarians and Fr. Vernon's advice and tips on discerning vocations.

Monday evening came and passed with some discussion of the dignity of the human person, an intense scavenger hunt (and two mile sprint), stop at the local ice cream shop, a couple rounds of the sign game, and laughter long into the night.

We woke up even earlier on Tuesday ready for a journey back to Verona to see Fr. Vernon and celebrate Mass with the community of St. Andrew's. After Mass we were not only treated to a "second homily" further encouraging us to embrace the grace and accept the invitation to salvation, but also a delightful breakfast at McDonald's by Father! We were happy to have the time to enjoy each other's company and the sustenance to get us started for the day.

During the working hours of the day, the crew split into two. One group hung out around to deliver meals and eat with some folks at the Senior Center before heading off to a mobile food pantry. (Check out the coverage they got on the news last night: http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/50167382.html. Watch for Dave Carrano's face in the midst of the story.) The other group spent the afternoon using their extreme makeover skills on a local gentleman's backyard.

After gathering together competitions of all kinds continued on, including gnome searching, sliding at lightning speeds on the Mount Horeb pool's slide, nerf gun wars, and more than a few games of Cherry, Cherry. After taking a quick trip through the history of the Church's social teaching, we headed off to bed.

Once again, we are expecting the best today and are excited for what Jesus has in store for us. We hope to get one more post out to all of you before the end of the week - keep checking back in. Happy New Encyclical Week!

Week Three Begins: Mount Horeb Style

2009-07-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled that week three has begun, and it is off to a fantastic start. Here's a quick top 5 list as to the reasons why we know that it's going to be a good one.

5. We have three great adults that joined us for the week - two of which are seminarians for our own Diocese. Praise the Lord for the gift that Greg, Dave, and Blaine have been and will continue to be to us.
4. Laughter was in no short supply.
3. Fr. Rick, the pastor here in Mount Horeb, delivered one solid homily this morning. It totally fired up the whole LBH Core Team and friends for the week.
2. The youth who showed up today are rock stars. Not only are they prayerful and ready to serve, but they are one competitive bunch. The intensity is building, and we are excited to see how good it gets this week.
1. The Holy Trinity is giving us our direction for the week, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, Bl. Mother Teresa, and the whole company of angels and saints in Heaven. Way to go universal Church!

We will post a more full description of what we've been up to... with photos. Look forward to it by Tuesday morning.

Don't blend in.
- Fr. Rick

June LBH Highlights

2009-07-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

First off, we have a few comments from the end of the week evaluations/reflections to share with you...

I didn't think all of this would mean so much to me. I never would have thought that by the end of the week I'd be crying or care about the group/family as much as I do. My outlook on Church and the Mass reversed - I can't wait to go.

I think now that love doesn't only begin here in Madison, but it begins in the here that is in our hearts... and the only way to connect with that love is through God.

I understand now that you don't have to go around the world searching for the poorest of the poor. You can serve God the way Mother Teresa did by helping people in your own community.

I understand now that Mother Teresa wasn't just talking about needing money, food, and clothing, she was talking about being spiritually poor.

And a few photographs to share...

The results of the LBH Week One Competition are posted above. It's pretty clear that this winning team was proud of their prizes and the big V. They hustled in the mornings and made us laugh long into the night. Way to go James, Matt, Hillary, Jessica and Gina!!

Lindsay was pooped on by a bird. This picture... and much laughter and help followed. Perhaps Gina or Jeff will jump on here soon to tell the story.

A definite highlight of Week Two was getting to explore the Glen of Durward's Glen. Here is the gang before we got to our exploring.

During nightly check-ins, limited to 11 or so pretzels, Gina Pignotti used her sentence structuring skills to come up with this beauty. If anyone (who wasn't present on Week Two) comments with the correct answer, there will be a prize in store for you.

Give me Your eyes.

2009-06-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

This Tuesday has brought some pretty good times this far, and during this siesta, we figure that the youth (and us adults) are gearing up for much goodness to come.

During the afternoon yesterday, we finished up our work on a couple trails and began some new ones. As we have continued that work today, two groups are currently working towards each other to complete the trail that has both the highest elevation on this property, as well as some of the most beautiful views. We have been taking plenty of stops to smell the roses, as well as hydrate ourselves.

Wow, we're really getting ahead of ourselves this morning. You may like to know that there were a few tired and sore bodies waking up here at Durward's Glen this morning, but it's definitely worth it, because it lets us know that we've been working hard. Mass was beautiful, as always, followed by an adventurous breakfast of cereal eating, and a reflection on Jesus' command to see His face in those we interact with every day. Choruses of "give me your eyes for just one second" rang out throughout the rest of the day.

Later on, we are looking forward to continued games of sardines, a bit of a bonfire, and a cookout. But first, the gang is currently stirring and making their way out to the Mission Field to clean trails and do some exploring. We are looking forward to the last of our time here together this week and coming back to the "real world" renewed tomorrow.

Wheelbarrows, glens and woodchips, oh my!

2009-06-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hey avid LBH readers,

We are glad that you have joined us back here again. We're sorry that we did not give you the update over the weekend - there are some funny stories that we would like to share with you from this past weekend, but those will have to wait, at least for now. In the midst of such waiting and patience building, we would love to share with you how stellar of a week we have gotten off to.

Yesterday evening, 14 middle school kids from around the Diocese of Madison covered at Durward's Glen Retreat Center. Throughout the evening we ate some good food, in the form of individually made pita pizzas and salad, played a number of games to get to know one another and took a walking tour around DG. Following all of that goodness, we gathered together for Collatio, which is Latin for to come together or assemble. During Collatio, we chatted about our restless hearts with Gina, St. Augustine and some golf balls. This gave us a lot of good things to proces through in the Parish Time that followed and good sleep in excitement for the events of today.

After morning Mass and some additional reflection and prayer time, we enjoyed a hot breakfast of pancakes and sausage before heading out to work. The morning hours passed away quickly, as we got to work repairing and creating new trails. This took the form of destruction and clearing, as well as much hauling of woodchips with handy wheelbarrows all pushed by hnad. Who knew serving God's creation and those who enjoy it could be so much fun and hard work at the same time?

This newly tired group rolled into lunch hungry and a bit tired. After regaining sustinance, the troops took a bit of a siesta. During this past hour, they hit the trails again.

There's a whole lot of fun in the works for tonight, so look forward to reading more from us tomorrow! And, if you woulnd't mind, as long as it's the Lord's will, we would not mind a few prayers being thrown up for the holding off of the impending rain. We have a lot of exciting work to accomplish in the great outdoors.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us!!

2009-06-26T08:24:00.001-07:00

Sorry this one is coming out a bit later than usual. Enjoy. It's another unique read today. More pictures and a wrap up later today.

We are here live from the upstairs typing this wonderful message just for you. (And yes you should feel special) This day has brought fun adventures, strengthened friendships, and continuing competitiveness with the morning routine. The race for points continued this morning with a mad dash to the Maria Goretti Center… unfortunately our team still hasn’t figured this out! We began our morning prayer by reflecting on the Eucharist and what it means to receive it. (It took a little bit cause being outta the house in 30 seconds doesn’t help) Alison gave a wonderful talk on how to hug a bear… well figuratively. She explained to us how receiving the Eucharist is similar to hugging Christ. (Between early morning yawns, that is) we left Maria gritty and trekked back to our home sweet home for some breakfast, a tad slower than we came.

We had a nice breakfast… cereal, bagels, and toast, YUM! This morning routine also included a morning dance party to get our blood flowing and pumping through our veins. After this fun jolly time we got ourselves packed and ready for the day and crammed into the cars. We enjoyed some more team bonding, including the sharing of several new talents. (Dylan’s parents should be proud) Our group bonded really well today, and so did all the others, as we learned later. We headed downtown to the campus church of St. Paul.

There we were given the wonderful opportunity to confess our lovely sins that we keep near and dear. Thanks to the priests we won’t feel guilty for not telling out parents the whole truth... Just kidding we love you very much and would not even dare to do a dumb foolish thing like that. The experience was really touching for several people. Mass began at 12 o’clock. It was a special mass because one of special people in our special group got to read quite possibly the longest reading in the entire Bible. After mass we once again loaded up the cars for the trip to the Schlueter’s house to finish our special missions.

We had to even sacrifice our precious lunch time to arrive a little earlier by eating in the cars… too bad for speed limits. We split up into three posses when we got there: The manly men worked on flooring the dining room, a clothes-putting-away crew, and an outdoor flowering team. Flowers were planted, dressers were organized, and plans were plotted. Oh… and by some miracle Matt Williams was actually able to cut a piece of flooring in under five whole minutes.

Soon the outdoor team became the grilling team…and let me say, the hotdogs were excellent because they had some good looking grill marks. By the end of the day the house was looking like Extreme Home Makeover actually did come. The new hardwood floors were shining, newly painted walls were gleaming, and the furniture was spicing up the place like oregano on a pizza. Wow, punny. Although a lot was accomplished, we were all feeling a little sad. I don’t think anyone could believe the last full day was here already.

This afternoon we were visited by the family’s priest from St. Dennis. He played an important role in helping Bart and the entire family make it through the toughest times during Clare’s illness. Bart sang and played the guitar for us and Father prayed over the home and for us, blessing us for the hard work we had done. We were also concerned for Clare, who had to leave earlier in the day because she had a fever. (Because of her cancer, this could be dangerous to her health, so she needed to go to the hospital.) So the end of our day was filled with prayers for Clare along with the satisfaction of a job well done.

We left the home around 8, bound for swimming! After a quick stop at the house, Jeff forgot a shirt… and another quick stop… for Gina’s swimsuit…we finally managed to arrive at the pool. After a long, sweaty, and thus far shower less day, we were all excited for a long luxurious cool deserving swim in the pool. It felt good to feel refreshed. Frisbee, cannonballs, and swan diving (lessons courtesy of Slade, James, Dylan, and Matt) soon were on their way. We also shared the ways we saw God in our day…in da pool!

After swimming was over, we adjourned to the gym for Collatio. Gina spoke to us about the meaning of the Eucharist and we had another round of sharing time. It was amazing to hear all of the ways our group was touched by this trip. Our faiths were strengthened, just as much as the bonds of friendship we made in this short…oh, and we had a TON of fun in the sun! Who knew all of this could come from making other people happy and helping a deserving family?

Phil played the guitar and we sang, reflecting on the day. I have to say, a few tears were shed…but the number of smiles greatly surpassed the tears. We packed up once more for home, but our car got a got a little sidetracked. (we really shouldn’t mention this) The stop may or may not have involved Frosties, though…. just sayin’. It was a late night (it’s 2:43 AM after all) but well worth it. As we sit here and think back on the day, we can’t help but wonder when we’ll all be together again. Surely, this trip will be forgotten by none for a very long time.

Signing off to the lovely serenade of Abby’s snoring,

Matt and Liz =)

2009-06-25T00:18:00.001-07:00

We’ve made it to mid-week and the enthusiasm hasn’t waned in the slightest! Many of us have actually started to settle in to the routine and are finding the days easier and easier as we go - both in work and in our relationships with each other. :) This morning at prayer we challenged ourselves in a reflection on how we are to see Christ in everyone, and so to serve Christ through everyone we meet; the rest of the day seemed to be the fruit of that mediation.

But before we get to the service and to the labor of the day, how can we forget the fun. Our pool games are getting more complicated and surprisingly more fun. Today we raced. It began with my personal favorite: the butterfly... my favorite not because I’m particularly good at it, but because the truth is actually the exact opposite of that case... it’s my worse... and it seems to be the worst for most people... which makes the racing quite the entertainment for both the swimmers and the spectators.

After Mass, we were back down to business. Today we split up into two groups: one went to the laundromat, the other stayed at the house to paint and finish the flooring. The four and a half hours leading up to dinner flew by, and by the time we knew it, almost an entire bedroom was cleaned and painted, most of the living room floor was in place, and the laundry crew did many, many, many loads. (Ask any LBH participant what that means...)

It’s a good thing that Papa John’s on the East Side of Madison gave us a sweet deal on the pizza for dinner, because we were all grateful for the sustenance and time to chat with each other about the good times that had been had thus far. Post-dinner was the daily rosary, asking for some Marian help in the work we were still going to be up to. Leaving the house close to nine, one car made a quick stop at the grocery store, so we could celebrate John the Baptist’s birthday with locusts and wild honey... or, ice cream sundaes.

Collatio brought us deeper into knowledge of each other, the humor of the day, and God’s infinite mercy as the night revolved around preparing for Confession tomorrow. As we wound down the night, the kids simultaneously wound up... perhaps to be expected? After night prayer, there was much bonding to be had, minor theft of LBH mascots, and more jocularity.

All in all, we would have to say it was our best day yet. Please keep the prayers coming as we finish the work on this family’s house. We will be praying for all of you - our readers. (We were glad to break into the 70’s on our daily number of visitors. Keep spreading the word about our blog!!)

St. John the Baptist, pray for us!

Our inspiration.

2009-06-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

Hey!

It's has been a hectic day with well over 90 degree weather and an intense day of work. Started out the day with our brand new spiffy state-of-the-art kiwi green tee-shirts that stuck out like a light on a pitch black night with the wolves howling and the wind blowing through the dark, tall trees. We took a group picture with these tee-shirts on, taking both a goofy picture and a normal picture. After we had our "family picture" we went and had some bagels. We had blueberry (my favorite) and many other varieties, donated Panera Bread, and much much more... To wash this down we had some chocolate milk as a treat. It was delicious.

Once we got our stuff ready and packed our lunches for the new day ahead with swimming and cleaning and putting in flooring. We got to the Bishop O' Conner Center and put our swim suits on and hit the pool, well most of us. The pool included Sharks and Minnows, an intense game of 500 (a football game), and a amazing victory for me over Gina in a 50 yard sprint in the pool. As the chlorine got to us we got out and took showers (hopefully), so we would smell clean for the Daily Mass.

When the priest came out for Daily Mass he looked surprised as he sang the opening song, because there were all of a sudden 30 more people in the church all pumped up to sing and praise the Lord. Mass passed quickly and soon lunch was upon us. After lunch, we all piled up in the cars and headed over to the house to do some damage.

When we arrived at the house the kids were at Noah's Ark for "A" day, so the house was empty. We hit the ground running and got working right away. It was an uproar with vacuums and hammers and the normal hubbub trying to compete with the noise. The basement crew worked and worked and worked and cleaned the entire basement so clean that you could eat off of it (well sorta...). It was a big difference than the basement when we started. It was stuffed so full you couldn't even walk in it.

The flooring in the front room was also competed with help from Tony. It was a big accomplishment today with all the jobs that were completed. Hopefully tomorrow the flooring will be complete and the painting can begin.

We had a nice supper with the family afterwards of subs and chips which was pretty good with the cookies that came along with it. After supper followed a rosary, which was heart felt from every one of us. As the rosary passed, the dad got up and said some words of thanks that were really kind. We said our goodbyes for that day and headed over to St. Bernard's where we gathered and waited for the flooring group to stay and finish the floor. We played games to help us keep entertained and for the most part it did work. They flooring group eventually came, and then we started our evening prayer and sang a nice song.

Clare and Gina eating dinner together. I

t is always a joy to have this little one around. She's a fighter!!

We all packed up after it was done and went home to have our bedtime prayer and get ready for bed. The bathrooms were running full blast for a good 30 minute period but they finally relaxed and lights are now turning out. Well It's time for me to finish my day and go to bed, so have a good night, and I'll talk tomorrow.

Matthew F.

Love Begins Here 11th Grader

Monday

2009-06-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

I think I have a pretty good idea of what it means when someone says they have a "case of the Mondays" but what we experienced today may have helped shift that definition... for the better. Despite a 7:30 am wake up call, we saw bright, shining faces racing out to St. Maria Goretti to make their way to the top in The LBH Competition.

This lovely threesome happens to currently make up 3/4 of the last place team at the moment, but a comeback is in the works for the coming days. Anyways, onto Maria Goretti... we had the chance to reflect on solitude and why we need it. Long story (or reflection) short, Jesus did. And, we try to follow Him. Our role model Mother Teresa also gets down with prayer in the mornings. "Without prayer, I could not work for even half an hour, I get strength from God through prayer..."

Post prayer, we took our time to relax and play with eachother out at the Bishop O'Connor Center, home of the diocesan offices. They have a lovely pool, which we took plenty of advantage of after a quick swim test.

Post swim-time, we fulfilled our Sacramental needs by stopping in at Daily Mass, which was followed by a picnic on the lawn in front of the aforementioned BOCC. After all receiving all of that sustenance, we finally headed off to the destination that really sets the tone for the entire week and is what has brought us together. On the East side of Madison, our crew of 30 showed up to our worksite. Though a bit unsure of what we were exactly going to be doing, it was pure joy to find out and spend those hours in service. Enjoy the following photographs of our crew cleaning, doing yard work, organizing, ripping out carpets, organizing dumpsters and more.

Not only were we hard at work, but we also had the chance to eat a meal and pray a rosary along with the family that we are serving and working alongside.

On our way back home, our cohort from St. Bernard's in Madison welcomed us into their home and we shared about our days, prayed some more, and heard from Jeff on the subject of the dignity of the human person. Ending our evening with a bit of parish time and night prayer, all of us at Love Begins Here are more than ready to call it a night. (In fact, all but two of us have.)

Please keep up the prayers for us. We look forward to our continued service tomorrow, which will include laying some new floors. Check back Wednesday morning for much more.

Week One Begins!!

2009-06-21T22:43:00.001-07:00

Today was a phenomenal first day of Love Begins Here, and we are so thankful to have these beautiful young people and their adult friends hanging out with us this week. Given it's super late and the Core Team just finished their meeting, I will stick to posting a couple pictures today of the highlights. More to come tomorrow.

We are definitely loving the trampoline in the Schiedermayer backyard!

Gina and Jeff were rocking the post dinner clean-up with four eager high school helpers.

Dinner was thoroughly enjoyable. We loved our all-natural dinosaur chicken, as well as the homemade mac & cheese and veggies.

Phil and Matt won the most heated game of the night - bird on a perch. Competition was tough, but they certainly persevered. It brought a fair amount of joy to this winning duo.

We're praying for those who are at home this week, especially all of our dad's out there. Please keep lifting up those prayers for us, as well. Happy Father's Day!

Peace,

Lindsay

Hello from Madison!

2009-06-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today, the LBH team arrived in Wisconsin's beautiful capital city and are beginning to settle in in preparation for week one of Love Begins Here. Each day of planning gets us that much more excited for the upcoming retreats. We all cannot wait for the moment when everyone will show up and our many activities (work, prayer, and fun) can begin!

Making us even more excited was the fact that this afternoon we got to meet with members of the family whose home we will be working on this coming week. We got to visit, walk around a bit, and visualize some of the projects that we will be starting out with in just a little under a week. And I've got to tell you, the whole time we talked I just wanted to start right in. It is going to be so much fun and so very meaningful! The family is absolutely awesome: so much love and all beautiful smiles. It warms my heart to think that we'll be able to help them in the midst of their needs. Love truly will begin here!

In other news, Gina has continued her Bananagrams victories and is currently holding first place, yet Lindsay is starting to make a move for the top spot. You'll just have to stay tuned to see who'll have the crown at week's end. Finally, us guys got a point just this evening, when Michael proved himself capable with a strong win right before dinner. Yes! I, on the other hand, remain winless, and assume it will remain that way. (I guess, that's what happens when you go to college for engineering and immerse yourself in numbers all day: you somehow forget about words.)

Anyhow, thanks again for the prayers. Keep 'em coming! And keep getting ready for three wonderful weeks of service right here at home in the Diocese of Madison!

Peace & Love!
LBH Core Team

Exciting News!

2009-06-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Exciting things are happening here in Baraboo, WI as details are being finalized and team training is going swimmingly. I'm Michael, here to give you an inside scoop on the goings on.

The locations and general work outline for weeks 1 - 3 have been finalized (Hooray!):
Week 1 -- Madison, WI -- General home repair on one house
Week 2 -- Durward's Glen (near Baraboo, WI) -- Trail repair and other flood damage repair
Week 3 -- Mt. Horeb, WI -- Food pantry and free-meal serving, general home repair

Team training is off to a great start. We are currently in Baraboo, finalizing talks, schedules, and finding some time for fun as well. Two of the more noteworthy events:

Gina blew us all away with her mad Bananagrams skillz, a word game where everyone races to be the first to use up all the their tiles to form a crossword-like grid. Our current hypothesis is that Gina has 2 left-brains. Even though it was our first time, Jeff and I did nobly well. Lindsay, a veritable word-smithing professional however, was crushed by the defeat. That is, until she was finally able to pull off a victory.
Last night we all wrote a bunch of questions over beach balls and tossed them to one another, learning an interesting fact or tidbit about each team member. When asked to create an entirely new school subject, Jeff came up with Wonderology--an awe-inspiring, upsidedown and insideout, Chestertonesque style class. If she had to be an astronaut or a firefighter, Gina would choose the former... even though Apollo 13 freaks her out a bit. Lindsay wishes that the moon would be made out cranberry-Chipotle-cheddar cheese. And I... well I wouldn't mind living in Italy.

We are so grateful for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us (especially for our safe traveling as we visit work sites) and everyone that will be attending.

And please drop us an email if you have any questions!

God Bless!
Love Begins Here Team

E-mail Quandary

2009-06-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Please take a moment to ask yourself this question: Have I sent an e-mail to LBH@straphael.org or lovebeginshere@straphael.org in the past month or so?

If your answer was affirmative, we unfortunately have not received it. If you wouldn't mind re-sending the e-mail, that would be great. If you would rather give Lindsay a call (608.290.9004), that would be wonderful, as well.

We're sorry for this technological hiccup. Thanks for cooperating with us! Look for more good news to come in just a little bit.

Peace,
Lindsay

Welcome!

2009-05-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Lindsay here, representing the LBH Core Team. We are thrilled that you have stopped by the Love Begins Here Blog. There will be many exciting things to watch for in the coming weeks of preparation, including the introduction of the Core Team this coming week - it will be posted by Tuesday evening. If you ever have any questions, leave us a comment to let us know, and we will do our best to answer you.

As we move closer to the summer, we will offer packing tips, answer common questions, and do whatever we can to get you excited - including announcing the finalized locations! During the summer, we will update our blog a couple times a week so your friends and family at home can keep up-to-date on what is happening out in the Mission Field!

For now, I'll leave you with the words that are going to inspire our Mission this summer, from one of my personal heroes, Mother Teresa. Even though she spoke these words back in 1979, I feel like she is speaking to me personally still today.

And so here I am talking with you - I want you to find the poor here, right in your own home first. And begin love there. Be that good news to your own people. And find out about your next-door neighbor - do you know who they are?

Mother Teresa, 1979
Noble Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

Keep on enjoying this Easter season. May the joy of Christ fill your lives.

Meet the 2009 Core Team

2009-03-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we figure it's about that time to introduce ourselves. Over the coming weeks and months, we will all take turns writing for you and such. Let us know if you have any sort of questions.

Name: Gina Pignotti
HS Graduation Year: 2001
Alma Mater: University of Wisconsin - Madison
Hometown: Kenosha, WI
What she is spending her time on during the 2008-2009 school year: Teaching Middle School at St. James School in Madison, leading Confirmation classes, praying rosaries, and dominating on the basketball court.
Favorite summertime activity: Hiking and camping in the backcountry, occasionally Gina is also seen with a good book out on trail.
Hairstyle she has never attempted but desires to: Dread Locks
Song that would play when she enters the room: U2 - It's A Beautiful Day
Favorite Saint: MARY!!!
What she is most excited about for LBH this summer: Working hard, having fun, learning, and praying with youth from a variety of parishes. "I love the philosophy of LBH - service in your own backyard with our brothers and sisters in our near Catholic community."
And... "I don't have a functioning TV (haven't for nearly 4 years), and I don't have a Facebook account - and I actually live a very happy, fun life."

Name: Jeff Dole

HS Graduation Year: 2003

Alma Mater: Iowa State (2008), Currently attending Loras College, Pre-Theology Seminarian

Hometown: Pella, IA

What he spent his time on during the 2008 - 2009 school year: Studying philosophy and enjoying life as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Dubuque, acting as the President of the Loras Philosophy Club, catechizing 10th graders, and rotating breviaries.

Favorite Summertime Activity: Swimming

Song he wishes would play every time he enters the room: Sigur Ros - inni mer syngur vitleysingur

Favorite saint: St. John the Beloved

What is he most excited about for LBH this summer: To be immersed in prayerful service, having fun, meeting otehrs, and sharing faith...

And... "I still eat cookie dough when you are not 'supposed' to, I love questions of faith and truth, and who ever said that fairy tales are just for kids?"

Name: Lindsay Becher
HS Graduation Year: 2003
Hometown: Janesville, WI
Alma Mater: University of Wisconsin - Madison (Undergrad) and Ave Maria University (Graduate)
What she is spending her time on during the 2008 - 2009 school year: Coordinating fun and faithful programming for Middle School and High School kids at St. Joe's in Baraboo, becoming acquinted with her mad cupcake baking skills, finishing Grad School and loving Canon Law.
Favorite kind of juice: Pineapple Orange
Song she wishes would play every time she enters the room: Brett Dennen - Blessed
Favorite book of the Bible: The Gospel of John
Favorite Summertime Activity: Reading in Hammocks
What is he most excited about for LBH this summer: Meeting all sorts of new people, bringing kids from my parish, and finding new ways to serve in the Madison Diocese.
And... "I bake when I am feeling stressed, secretly wanted to be a tour guide in the Wisconsin Dells when I was little, and have dreams of being a legit graphic designer."

Name: Michael Peterson
HS Graduation Year: 2006
Hometown: Gays Mills, WI
Alma Mater (soon enough): University of Wisconsin - Madison
What he spent your time on during the 2008-2009 school year: Like Jeff, becoming a top notch philosopher and historian, co-leading a FOCUS Bible study, running like Forest Gump, and praying.
Hairstyle he has never attempted buy secretly would like to: "I don't think I've ever thought of this very important question until now; I've pretty much always had the same old vanilla 'do.' I would love to be a skinhead for a whiel, though I'm not sure if that really counts as a hairstyle (lack of hairstyle)."
Song he wishes would play everytime he enters a room: On a bad day: Star Wars Imperial March. On a good day: Smash Mouth - I'm A Believer.
Favorite Saint: St. Therese of Lisieux
What he is most excited about for LBH this summer: The chance to be of service to our communities, to help others grow in faith, to pray, and to have a blast.
And... "I once accidently shut down an IMAX movie theater."

Phew... that's us. We look forward to meeting you all this summer and learning ridiculous things about you, as well. Happy (almost) Feast of the Assumption!