Seminary Students Experience Box of Joy Packing Event and Mission Trip

Last Christmas, seminarians from Theological College in Washington D.C. were blessed with the chance to serve as Christ’s hands and feet to poor Guatemalan children.

The effort began with a Cross Catholic Outreach Box of Joy packing event, where they helped prepare gift boxes of toys and other special items for children who might otherwise get nothing at all for Christmas.

Deacon Elmer Herrera-Guzman

– organized the students and helped raise funds to purchase the gifts. Within an hour, nearly 100 Boxes of Joy were ready! The students then got to personally deliver the boxes to the children during a Cross Catholic Outreach mission trip to the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima in Guatemala.

Michael Keiler

– a seminarian from the Diocese of St. Augustine, participated in both the packing and the mission trip. He shared that he was motivated by his desire to experience the needs of the poor and by his interest in foreign cultures. For him, this was more than just a simple volunteer opportunity. He set out with the mindset that he and his fellow seminarians would grow in holiness as they learned from Guatemalan families’ simple way of life, and he considered the trip an important part of his continuing formation in preparation for the priesthood.