As a final project, the class was asked to write a paper and to make a visual presentation that demonstrates what we did for our service projects. I created this website for my presentation. I have also included my paper in the website, and that is what follows...

The topic of the assignment was "In doing Christian Action, what have I learned about God, about others, and about myself."

In doing Christian Action, and in doing other service that is not related with Christian Action, I interact with many people. Through my exchanges with these people, I have learned about God, about others, and about myself.

First and foremost, I have learned about God. God is always present. God is in every person who we talk to. With God comes God’s love. God’s love is evident in our interactions with other people and in people’s interactions with each other. We can see God’s love through good deeds that people do. When people pass on the street and exchange a simple “Hello, how are you doing?” or even a smile, they are sharing God’s love. Simple deeds such as these spread God’s love throughout the community and help to make everybody happier and more aware of God’s presence.

God does not only love me, or a select group of people. God loves everybody. At Sarnelli House, God’s love is very strong. God is not only present in the volunteers that work there, but also in the guests that come to eat. They always share themselves, and each person is a friend to everybody else.

Obviously, I witness God’s love through the actions of other people and through interactions with them. However, I do not learn only about God. I also learn about other people and about myself. I still remember when I began to serve at Sarnelli House in the beginning of my junior year. The first time I went, I handed out plates while the guests came to be served their food. Before this experience, I did not know what to expect as I had not done any service of this nature before. I was nervous and scared as I stood in the corner and handed out the plates. The people who came to the meal were very friendly thankful. Most of the guests said hello and returned a smile. Some of them went out of their way to thank me. These simple deeds made me very happy and helped me to realize how many people take for granted little things in their lives. The guests at Sarnelli House were not worried about new cars or the success of stock market. They were very appreciative of the meal that we were serving them. They could have taken their food and left, but instead, they stayed to enjoy the warm and friendly atmosphere, and they showed their gratitude for these “little” deeds that we shared with them. Before I went to Sarnelli House, I never realized how lucky I was to have warm clothes, a house, and a meal on the dinner table each day. However, Sarnelli House opened my eyes. Many people take for granted these luxuries because they are caught up with things like money and possessions. Money and possessions may bring “happiness” in life, but they are not the essence of life, and an excess of them is not necessary. People who do not have a good meal everyday or a place to spend the night are happy and satisfied with what they have. They do not come to Sarnelli House begging for food. Instead, they appreciate that Sarnelli House invites them to eat each week and are thankful for the work that the volunteers do.

When I began to work at Project H.O.M.E. in September, I already had some experience in working with kids at the site because of my work with La Salle’s TechSERV program in the summer. I even knew a few people already because I had met them or worked with them during the summer. However, my experiences with the kids during the program taught me more than I thought I would learn before I went there. When we began to work there, I had the impression that we were going to focus solely on working on the websites and reaching our goals. I had the wrong idea. The kids did not want to learn tedious and boring things about computers. They did not all have the patience or desire to do so. They wanted to learn, but they wanted to have fun with it and enjoy themselves. We changed our goals so that we could work on topics that interested the students. When they began to learn and enjoy themselves, it was fun for me to be working with them. They were very friendly and fun to talk with. Since the program has ended, I consider them as friends rather than simply the people that we taught.

Through working with people at Sarnelli House and at Project H.O.M.E., I have learned about myself. By interacting with them, I have seen many good qualities in many good people. I know that I am not perfect, and I want to strive to make myself better in these areas. I want to be able to help people who are in need and to be a friend to all. I do not want so become attached to things that I do not need that I take for granted the simple necessities of life. I want to be friends with the people around me and to share with them God’s love.